At the Highlander's Mercy (23 page)

T
he bride was radiant, or tried to be, everyone agreed, even though her face was a ghastly shade of green as she walked up to meet her husband. The ceremony had already been delayed by her sudden bouts of illness. Though most of the men thought it must be her nerves, all the women recognised it for what it was.

The groom looked worse for the wear, but so did the bride’s father who escorted her forwards and presented her before the priest. The Matheson laird limped and held his chest during some of the ceremony and he had difficulty leaning over to sign the contracts when they were presented to him.

None of his family was present, save one cousin who stood as his witness. That one
seemed to be the only one enjoying himself, for he frequently laughed aloud at the groom’s moans and groans.

The vows were spoken, rings and kisses exchanged and the priest declared them married and husband and wife. Before clapping or cheering could begin, the bride bolted for a bucket and several people found it difficult to keep their own food down at the sound of her retching.

‘Bad food, do you think?’ Duncan, the MacLerie negotiator, asked his wife in a joking tone from where they stood in the back of the church.

Marian slapped him and laughed. ‘I think not,’ she answered, as they all remembered her condition on their wedding day.

‘I did not think he would come for her,’ Rurik said.

‘Did you have to be so harsh to him?’ his wife Margriet asked. ‘And then he faced Connor as well? No wonder he is still limping.’

‘I did not damage any of his important bits,’ Rurik said.

‘Rurik, not here,’ his wife chided.

The group followed the procession back over to the keep where a feast had been prepared. If this wedding was last minute or rushed, no one
complained. Duncan had little trouble drawing up the marriage contracts and getting both lairds to accept them. Lilidh brought a handsome dowry to her new husband, along with a renewed bond between their families. Too late to mend the rift between Connor and his old friend Angus, but soon enough to allow Lilidh and Rob their happiness.

Some time later, fulfilling their tradition of being last in their hall, Connor and Jocelyn joined them at table where they raised a cup and sent up a cheer for the newly married couple. After a few cups were shared and the hall grew quiet, Connor finally spoke about the past.

‘I was wrong all those years ago,’ he said. ‘Something you do not usually admit,’ Jocelyn said.

‘Something he never admits,’ Duncan added, holding up his cup in a mock salute.

‘The night is late and we should seek our beds,’ Rurik said, beginning to rise from his seat.

‘Not so quickly, Rurik,’ Margriet said. ‘We need to discuss the wager.’

Connor was suspiciously silent, as was Jocelyn.

‘I understand why Connor is not boasting of our victory in this match, the women always thought they would make a good match,’ Duncan explained.

‘Her marriage to Iain was a good one. They seemed happy,’ Connor added, trying not to lose completely.

‘Jocelyn,’ Rurik said, ‘you are strangely quiet about this.’

Duncan watched as the woman he’d brought for his laird long ago blushed. ‘What have you done?’

‘I … cheated!’ she said with a laugh and a guilty glance thrown in her husband’s direction.

The mother of the bride was not supposed to interfere, but apparently Jocelyn had broken that rule and was unrepentant about her violation.

‘What did you do?’ Marian asked. His wife had tried to influence their daughter’s marriage choice, as well. Women, Duncan had discovered long ago, meddled where they were wont to.

‘I sent Rob a note about Connor’s plans,’ she said, looking around the table at them. ‘The boy needed a push.’

‘Tell them,’ Connor growled at her.

‘Twice. I sent two notes. Once before the match with Iain and another when I discovered that Lilidh was …’ She stopped before announcing it officially.

‘Just so,’ Duncan said.

Margriet met their eyes and smiled. ‘So this would appear to be a draw, then—her first marriage was the men’s choice, this second one ours.’

‘I wonder who will be next?’ Connor asked as he rose and took Jocelyn by the hand. Duncan could see that the strain between his laird and his wife seemed to be easing. A good thing, for the bond between them affected everyone and everything in Lairig Dubh and the strife between them was too obvious to ignore these last weeks.

‘Well, since my daughter and yours are married now, it would seem only fair if Rurik and Margriet’s was next,’ Duncan said, taking his own wife’s hand and kissing it. Standing, they looked down on Rurik and Margriet, who now looked as though they had both eaten something spoiled.

‘I can only pray not,’ Margriet, the woman raised in a convent, said with panic in her eyes.

‘Isobel is too young yet to be thinking of this,’ Rurik declared as he crossed his arms
over his chest in a gesture that warned them not to contradict him. None dared argue with him.

But they all knew she was not. And some of them knew that a certain man was already showing an interest in the lovely Isobel Ruriks-dotter, though none was brave enough to say so to Rurik’s face.

‘Be well, friends,’ Duncan called out as he and Marian walked hand in hand to their bedchamber. ‘The morning will come far too soon.’

And that night, like so many nights, happiness filled the halls of Lairig Dubh.

Keppoch Keep
Three Years Later

‘M
y father does not look happy,’ Lilidh whispered to him as they watched the Earl of Douran enter their gates.

Rob turned to glance at Gavin MacKenzie and noticed the same expression on his face. ‘Neither is Gavin,’ Rob pointed out to his wife.

But there was so much depending on this meeting of two of the wealthiest and most powerful chieftains in the west of Scotland that the lack of mirth did not surprise him. It had taken him more than a year to work out the details and arrangements for this parlay and Rob worried over its success. Lilidh squeezed his hand.

‘It will all work out fine, Rob,’ she whispered before letting his hand drop and taking a step back and away from him.

He would allow no such obeisance from her now since any success was in large part due to her efforts as well. No one could force the Beast of the Highlands to do something he was loath to do except for the wife and daughter he loved so much. When Lilidh enlisted her mother’s support, Connor had had no choice but to agree.

But his face showed just how much he did not wish to be here.

‘Connor, welcome to Keppoch Keep,’ he said aloud as he waited for his father-by-marriage to dismount and approach.

Since he was an earl, Rob bowed respectfully as Lilidh curtsied and they waited for Connor’s signal to rise. Considering that Gavin MacKenzie was of lower rank and bowing as well, Rob almost laughed as Connor dragged out the moment much longer than was customary. Then he watched as Connor gained power over his adversary, as he’d done many, many times before.

‘Connor, may I introduce you to the MacKenzie? Gavin …’ Rob said, turning to the
younger chieftain. ‘May I make you known to the Earl of Douran, the MacLerie?’

As expected, Gavin bowed again. ‘My Lord Douran.’

A smile played on Lilidh’s face now and a matching one tugged the corners of the irascible Connor MacLerie as he let the man remain bowing before him. Then Connor reached out and offered his hand to Gavin and he rose and shook it.

‘Come now, Gavin. We are linked by marriage already and hopefully more soon, so please call me Connor. This is my wife, Jocelyn MacCallum, Lady MacLerie.’

He was so predictable in this that Rob found it difficult not to laugh. As the two men introduced their wives and close kin, Rob and Lilidh watched as the first step to the negotiations went smoothly. Then Lilidh invited them all within for the prepared meal and, as the group moved into the keep, Rob tugged Lilidh’s hand to keep her at his side.

‘Does he never use a different greeting?’ he asked her in a low tone so none would hear.

‘Only for someone higher in noble or royal status than he,’ she whispered back. ‘It is successful in reminding others of their lower status, so he continues.’

They reached the dais and he watched as his steward guided everyone to the appropriate seats, which only long discussions and strategic planning could devise so that none were insulted. Once everyone was seated, both at the high table and those below, Rob took his cup and rose to make his official greeting to all those visiting Keppoch Keep.

But as he held his cup aloft, everything around him seemed to cease. Time itself seemed to pause as he beheld all that he had achieved in his life.

Lilidh’s smile, one that held promise and love and passion, reminded him of her support and love since they finally chose each other over everyone else. Now, she carried their second child—a secret she would reveal to her parents during their visit here.

Connor and Jocelyn—his parents for many years—now sat as friends and allies at his table.

His cousin Symon—once his adversary and now the commander of all Matheson warriors—sat next to his wife of a year. Marriage to Mairi MacKenzie had forged a strong bond between their clans, but more importantly, had given Symon the happiness that had been missing from his life for so long.

Gavin MacKenzie and his wife, Edana, were
new allies and, with Lilidh’s and Rob’s efforts to re-establish relations between the MacKenzies and the MacLeries, a new stability and peace would begin in the western Highlands.

But his gaze always came back to Lilidh.

The love of his life.

The woman who had helped him become the laird he wanted to be.

It always came back to Lilidh and his love for her. One that was threatened by his immaturity and stupidity, but one that was reclaimed in time.

So, at this moment when he should have been the chief and welcoming his important visitors to this significant meeting, the only words he could think of were of and for her. Knowing the pain and the cost of almost losing her, he held his cup in her direction and returned her smile, ignoring all the others there.

‘To Lilidh MacLerie,’ he began. His throat thickened as he thought of all the things he wanted to say to her, about her, before their kith and kin. All the words vanished until he was left with only those. ‘To Lilidh,’ he repeated.

The hall filled with cheering and she blushed as they called out her name over and over until it blended together in one roar. Rob reached down and kissed her hand. ‘I will tell you the
rest later,’ he said, pulling her close and touching his mouth to hers.

‘Until later, my lord husband,’ she whispered back before nodding her thanks to those present.

The meal took some time and hours passed and though Connor and Jocelyn made it their custom to be the last to leave their hall, Rob decided that he would forgo that custom this night. Breaking away from his family and hers, they sought the quiet of their chambers. A momentary stop in the nursery to see that Tavish was sleeping and then he pushed open the door to their rooms.

Before she could walk away, Rob pulled Lilidh into his embrace and kissed her as he wanted to—letting his passion speak to her of his love. As with every kiss, she moulded to him, holding back nothing until they were breathless. He held her face in his hands and gazed at her, thanking the Almighty that she’d given him a second and third chance to come to his senses.

‘What did your parents say of the news?’ he asked, kissing her forehead and cheeks. ‘Were they surprised?’

Her laugh enticed him. ‘Mother was thrilled
and said she knew. Father …’ she paused and laughed again ‘… Father grunted.’

Rob smiled. He expected no more and no less from his father-by-marriage, though he knew that privately the
Beast of the Highlands
would be pleased. ‘And you feel well?’

‘Aye,’ she said, standing up on her toes to touch her mouth to his. ‘This time is completely different from the first.’

He touched her cheeks and lifted her chin as though examining her closely. ‘Not a bit of green at all.’

Lilidh stepped back and shook her head as she released the curls from their ties. ‘And the strange cravings that I had later in Tavish’s carrying have begun already.’

His body reacted, remembering some of the cravings she had that had nothing to do with food as he thought they would have. Nay, she craved … him!

When she tossed her gown and shift to the floor and watched him with hunger in her gaze, he tugged his belt until it dropped, letting his plaid join her garments on the floor. And when his erect flesh was revealed as he lifted his shirt, her gaze heated even more and she slid the tip of her tongue along her lips, sending heat through his blood into every part of him.

He had lost the ability to think at that moment and only discovered it some time later as they lay together in their bed.

‘So now the hard work begins,’ she said quietly, entwining their hands together.

Rob lost his breath at the thought of more of Lilidh. His flesh answered the call admirably, but her laugh as she pressed her lovely arse against him warned him that he’d misunderstood.

‘I meant in the talks. The hard work begins on the morrow now that you have them together.’ She turned in his arms to face him. ‘Duncan seems to support your efforts. And Rurik as well.’

‘Duncan knows the bargain is good for the MacLeries,’ he said. ‘Did you hear Rurik call me “Laird”?’

‘Aye,’ she said. ‘Not “Boy” any longer?’ Rurik had taken their battle three years ago in his stride, as he always did.

‘I have stepped up in his esteem, I think.’

‘And once this treaty is worked out, everyone will know how brilliant you are,’ she said, kissing him.

That moment in the hall came back to him and he shook his head in reply. ‘They should
know how brilliant my wife is, since much of this was your doing.’

Lilidh caressed his face and leaned up on her elbow. ‘All of this is my doing.’

‘All of it?’ he asked, attempting to argue when at this moment with her so close he would allow her anything she wished or agree with anything she said, truth or exaggeration no matter.

‘I did ask my father to relent and allow you to enter the keep,’ she admitted. ‘And I did forgive you for your stupidity.’

As she slid her body against his, he nodded. Whatever she wanted …

‘And it was my idea that you should seek an alliance with the MacKenzies.’ Whatever she claimed …

She could claim that she had lit the stars afire in the night’s sky and he would agree with her, for her leg now rubbed up over his thighs, getting ever closer to … He swallowed against the tightness in his throat as her hand now followed the same path.

‘But my best idea was not to follow my parents’ custom and wait for everyone to retire this night,’ she said, the arousal in her voice making it deeper. He loved that tone.

He rolled then, trapping her beneath him, as
he slid between her thighs and entered the place he most wanted to be. A soft sigh escaped her as they joined as one and no other words were spoken for some time. Then, exhausted from the passion they shared, he said the only thing that truly mattered.

‘You make me feel worthy, my love.’

Half-asleep, she only smiled at his words. Then, as she fell deeply into sleep’s grasp, he pushed the loosened hair from her face and kissed her gently. He knew he would treasure her always for making him worthy of her love.

Always.