The Hellion and the Highlander (4 page)

He let that thought drift away as Averill began
to read. It quickly became obvious the story was one she’d read often and knew almost by heart. He wasn’t surprised. Books were an expensive item and, wealthy as Mortagne appeared to be, he doubted even here, there were many books to choose from.

Relaxing back in the bed, he closed his eyes and allowed her voice to flow over him. One part of his mind was enjoying the life she gave to the characters and the tale she was recounting, while another part marveled that he was here, safe and comfortable in a soft bed, well fed, with a woman’s sweet voice filling his ears after so long as a prisoner in a foreign land, with an empty belly, a hard stone floor for a bed, and little hope of ever enjoying anything else.

I could get used to this,
Kade thought, and smiled slightly to himself.

“Here you are, then.”

Finished with her wash, Averill set the damp linen in the basin of water Bess had brought to her and turned to take the gown Bess held out. She froze, however, her hand drawing back when she saw which one it was. Eyes widening with horror, she breathed, “Nay.”

Bess grimaced sympathetically. “Aye, your father said to dress you in your finest.”

Averill closed her eyes, knowing what that meant. He only had her dress in her finest when she was going to be paraded before yet another prospective husband. The dark red gown Bess was holding out was indeed her newest and finest. It was also the one that had seen her repeated humiliations at the hands of rejecting suitors. Obviously,
her father had decided on whom he wished next to approach about marrying her, and the suitor was arriving today.

She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. It had to happen sooner or later and more than a week had passed since the last would-be husband had rejected her so cruelly. That had occurred the day that Kade had awoken from his long sleep.

Despite her upset, Averill found herself smiling at the thought of her brother’s friend. She had spent the better portion of this week in Kade’s room, reading to him, talking to him and—after the second day—helping him walk to one of the chairs before the fire in the morning and back again at night so that he wasn’t always stuck in his bed.

Kade was much improved from when he’d first woken. He no longer looked as pale and thin as he’d been on first awaking, and was even beginning to talk of joining Will at the lists. The only thing that hadn’t improved yet was his sight. While Averill was concerned about that for his sake, for her own she was somewhat relieved, for she was not looking forward to his reaction when he was able to see properly again. Right now she was nothing but a voice and a blurry image to him, and she worried about what he would think of her when he saw her for the first time.

“Come now,” Bess said bracingly. “’Tis not as bad as all that. Mayhap this one will accept you to wife.”

Averill let her breath out on a sigh and allowed
the maid to help her dress. Drink or no drink, she doubted very much if this time would end in anything but rejection either, but since her father had gone to the trouble of bringing the man here, she supposed she would have to go through with yet another humiliating inspection and rejection by a prospective husband.

Kade was hanging from the bed frame when the door suddenly opened. Freezing, he turned his head guiltily to see who had entered. Relief coursed through him when he saw that it was Will.

“You are exercising,” his friend said with amazement as he pushed the bedroom door closed and crossed the room. “How long has this been going on?”

Kade grimaced but eased himself down. He released the top frame of the bed as his feet settled on the floor, and admitted, “’Tis the third mornin’ I’ve done so. Though,” he admitted dryly, “the first morn I was no’ able even to lift meself all the way up once.”

“Hmm.” Will nodded solemnly. “You have lost a goodly portion of the weight and strength we worked so hard to regain after escaping our prison.”

Kade grunted at the observation and moved to sit in one of the chairs by the fire rather than return to his bed. He had started out trying to rebuild his strength the first day he’d had solid food. Averill had gone below to eat her dinner. She’d offered to
send Mabs up with his meal, but he’d convinced her not to “trouble” the maid, that he could wait until she returned if she would not mind bringing it. The minute she’d left, he’d slid from the bed and tried to walk. Kade had only managed to take a few steps—and that while holding on to the bed—before his trembling legs had forced him back into bed. He hadn’t given up, however, and was up again the next chance he got, forcing his legs to carry him a few more feet.

After the third day of solid food and walking, he was strong enough to pace his room several times, though he hadn’t let anyone know. He’d then started trying to reclaim the muscles in his upper arms as well. As with his legs, it was slow going.

“Does Averill know?”

Kade shook his head quickly. “Nay, she’d fuss.”

“Aye, she would,” Will agreed with a wry smile. “She would fear you were rushing things and probably have you tied to the bed.”

Kade smiled faintly at the idea. Averill could be the sweetest creature he had ever met, but when it came to the matter of his recovery, he had found her surprisingly stern.

“Mind you, she might be less concerned did we tell her you were able to see properly again.”

Kade sighed at the words. They were true, and he couldn’t deny it but found himself surprisingly reluctant to risk admitting he could see. The worry that she might avoid him once she knew was
enough to make the idea unattractive to him. The girl had become the bright spot in his otherwise long and drab days. Kade enjoyed the hours they spent chatting of this and that, and was reluctant to see it come to an end and have her become uncomfortable and shy in his presence.

Though he would have to soon, Kade acknowledged to himself. The last week had seen him regaining enough health and strength that he was growing impatient to leave the room and begin working in the lists with Will. He wanted to build his strength back up to where it had been ere he and the others had been captured and imprisoned. But he also wanted to sit by the fire at night and enjoy the talks he normally had with Averill without her being self-conscious and shy.

“Where is she?” he asked suddenly. Hers was usually the first face he saw in the morning. She had taken to breaking her fast with him so that he need not eat alone. Will normally did not show up until after eating, and it was only for a quick visit before he headed to the lists.

“She is below,” he answered. “She was instructing her maid, Bess, to bring you some mead, bread, cheese, and pasties when I headed up.”

“Her maid?” he asked with surprise, ignoring the way his stomach rumbled at the mention of food. His appetite had been the first thing to return to normal. “Is she no’ coming?”

“Nay, and ’tis lucky for you she is not, else
she would have been the one to find you up and about.”

Kade shrugged that away, but explained, “I didna realize it was so late. ’Tis still quite dark out.”

Will glanced toward the open shutters with a frown. “A storm is threatening.” He grimaced and turned back to Kade to add, “In more ways than one.”

“Oh?” he asked curiously.

“Father has arranged for another lord to arrive today to look over Averill with an eye to marriage.”

Kade sat back in his chair, a scowl flickering over his face. “He’d best be kinder than the last oaf.”

“Aye,” Will agreed. “I nearly rammed his teeth down his throat when I heard what he’d said to Averill. There was no need to be so cruel.” He scowled at the memory, then added with disgust, “And with Father’s new grand plan, I fear this one could be a complete debacle.”

“What is this new plan?” Kade asked curiously, then guessed, “Cover her hair and hide the birthmark with a smudge of dirt?”

“How did you know?” Will asked with surprise.

Kade snorted with disgust. Leave it to an Englishman to try such a trick. The man was not thinking straight. Averill would be the one to pay when the covering was gone and the dirt cleaned away and the groom discovered he’d been tricked. Besides, what message did this give to Averill?
That her father agreed with these men? That even he thought her looks unsightly?

“He means well,” Will said sadly. “In truth, he is worried over his health and wants to see Averill settled and happy before he dies. He promised our mother on her deathbed that he would.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, he equates a woman’s happiness with bearing babies and does not consider that an unhappy, bitter husband might be a stumbling block to Avy’s happiness.” Will ran his hands through his hair with frustration, and added, “And that is not even the worst of his new plan.”

Kade raised an eyebrow. “There’s more?”

“Oh, aye.” Will’s mouth twisted with disgust as he reminded him, “She stammers.”

“Aye,” Kade acknowledged, wondering what the father could possibly do about that, then asked with disbelief, “Has he ordered her no’ to speak to the man? Will he present her, bundled up, dirty, and mute and expect to gain her a husband?”

“Not mute, no,” Will said dryly. “He is down there right now making her drink whiskey.”

“
What?
” Kade asked with disbelief.

“Aye. Father is sure if Averill would just relax around these men, she will not stammer, and he is equally sure whiskey will relax and loosen her tongue.”

“Dear God,” Kade breathed.

“Aye,” Will said dryly. “Averill was trying fever
ishly to talk him out of it when I was below, but he was having none of that. When I tried to support her in convincing him, he suggested it may be better did I wait up here with you while Lord Seawell and his mother visit.”

Kade’s eyebrows flew up. “He sent ye to me room like a naughty boy? And ye let him?”

Will flushed, but said quietly, “He is my father…and my lord. The whiskey will not harm Averill and, much as this plan of his would suggest he’s lost his mind, he has not, so I cannot disobey him. Well, not openly,” he added with a grin. “I bribed Mabs and Bess to keep close and come to me if they think I need intercede.”

“Harrumph,” Kade muttered. He was tempted to intercede himself, but Lord Mortagne had not quibbled once about having Kade land on his doorstep and had provided a bed and care to both him and his men as he recovered and recuperated. And as Will said, the whiskey would not harm Averill. However, he decided, if this latest lord caused problems or hurt her in any way, it would not only be Will going below to tend to matters. Kade would be accompanying him. He might not have regained his full strength yet, but he could stand on his feet and swing a good fist and would be happy to do so for the woman who had spent so much time and care tending to him.

“So,” Will said suddenly, “I asked you shortly after you awoke if you liked our Averill, and you
claimed you hardly knew her. It has been a week. Do you not find Averill sweet and enjoy her company?”

Kade hesitated, a small frown plucking at his lips, then sighed and reluctantly admitted, “Aye.”

Will knew him well enough that he narrowed his eyes, and said, “But?”

“She’s almost too sweet,” he admitted on a sigh. “There’s no spark of passion in the lass. I’m no’ a good patient. I get surly and cantankerous and more than once ha’e tried to prick her temper the last few days, but she doesna react at all except to grow sweeter still. ’Tis as if she has no temper at all.”

Will raised his eyebrows. “And that’s a bad thing?”

“’Tis unnatural,” he said firmly.

Will shook his head. “Not in England. At least, my own mother was just as sweet all the days of her life. ’Tis a trait admired by most Englishmen.”

Kade’s lips turned down with disgust. “Then yer fools. A woman’d no survive long in Scotland like that.” He scowled. “Were bandits to beset Averill, I fear she’d thank them for troubling themselves.”

Will chuckled at the suggestion but didn’t argue it either. Instead, he sighed. “Then I suppose I should not suggest that you marry her?”

Kade gave a start at the words. “What?”

“Well, you did mention while we were imprisoned that did we ever escape, you would have to find a bride to bear your bairns ere you ever did anything so foolish again as rushing off on Crusade,” he pointed out solemnly.

“And yer thinking Averill and I…?” He didn’t finish the question but sank back against the bed with a frown to consider the suggestion. But as much as he liked the girl, and while it would save him the trouble of hunting up a woman later, he could not imagine marrying and taking Averill home to Stewart.

Kade had a battle ahead of him when he reached his family’s home. A few years before leaving on Crusade, he’d received a letter from his sister spelling out how matters went. Mother had died, and Merry had taken over the running of Stewart. Their father was still laird in name and threw his weight around when drunk, but mostly he was too sotted to run matters, or too hungover to do so. Little Merry was running Stewart and would do so until she wed as she’d promised their mother on her deathbed.

This news had immediately brought Kade home to Stewart, where he’d waited three days to find his father sober enough that he could broach the subject of taking over the task as laird himself rather than leaving it on Merry’s shoulders. He had, obviously, broached the subject wrongly. His father had refused even to acknowledge that his wife had for years run Stewart and that Merry had now taken her place. He was the laird at Stewart. He made the decisions, he insisted. He ran the castle and all their people. He was the great Laird Stewart and had every intention of remaining so and Kade could go jump in a loch if he
thought he would take the title from him ere he cocked up his toes.

His father had then, with Kade’s two younger brothers backing him, suggested Kade get the hell off Stewart land.

Kade had left, and had someone asked him why at the time, his answer would have been the same as Will’s for not interfering with his father’s plans for his sister. Eachann Stewart was his father, his laird, and was of right mind. But while he’d believed that at the time, and while that might be true of Lord Mortagne, after thinking about it all these last years, Kade realized his father wasn’t in his right mind at all. The drink had a hold of Eachann Stewart and was keeping him from being a proper laird, or even any kind of example for his two youngest sons.

That was what Kade was returning to, a possible battle to take over running Stewart, then no doubt a lot of hard work to set the place to rights if his sister’s betrothed had claimed her and his drunken father and brothers had been running Stewart into the ground in a whiskey-induced haze these last years. As much as Kade liked Averill and had enjoyed his chats with her since waking, Stewart was no place for a sweet and gentle woman such as her. Dear God, she would not survive a month in such rough surroundings, he thought unhappily, and shook his head. Perhaps he would have risked it were there a little more fire under the sweetness, something to suggest she might thrive despite ad
versity, but…nay, he would not take her there just to see her grow weary and worn down by misery.