Highlanders forbidden la.., p.18
Highlander's Forbidden Lass (Lasses 0f Tweeddale Book 3), page 18
part #3 of Lasses 0f Tweeddale Series
“This message from Laird Campbell could no’ have come at a better time. He seeks to meet with us, me and my men, which are all of ye, and he with his men, at a middle ground. He intends that we should hold a peace summit, and when we can come to an accord together, that we sign a peace treaty, ending the feud between our clans.” Robert spoke evenly, and watched the responses of those around him.
John nodded with interest. “Father, I think this is a good opportunity. Ye know that I have concentrated most of my efforts, not so much on the clan and the feud with the Campbell’s, but on business. I have set my sights on being a merchant, and working in trades. I’ve been accumulating some wealth for us, bonding with other merchants and dignitaries as I’ve made connections, and helping us to grow our future in that direction. Creating a peace with clan Campbell will open up trade routes through their lands toward southern Scotland as well as to the sea. As ye know, our Loch Awe here at the castle is a landbound body of water, but their loch… Loch Fyne, it opens to the sea, and vessels could get in and out of it. If we had a peace with them, we could expand our trade much easier and faster, no’ only within our own country, but with other countries as well through their loch! This is a brilliant move!”
Duncan glared bitterly at John and then turned to Robert. “We canna meet them for a peace summit! What do ye think that will solve? Nothing! They still have the favor of Queen Mary! They still have far greater lands and wealth! Titles! They have far more power than we do because our clan was stripped of it by Mary’s great, great, great-grandfather, King James I! No royal has since graced us with those things again! If we do no’ go and take it for ourselves, we will ne’er get it back. We have the strength in numbers now to take it all back by force! If we agree to a peace treaty with them, we remain as dogs beneath a table, begging for scraps, and that canna be any longer! Nay! We must go after them now, while we can! We must fight them with all our might and defeat them, and in doing so, we will become one of the greatest clans in the Highlands, or even in all of Scotland!”
Panic shot through Ian’s heart. He knew that if there could somehow be a peace made between the two clans, then the possibility of his being able to marry Madeleine was substantially greater and would be much easier for both families to accept and support.
“Father!” he interjected, stopping his uncle. “John is right! We must try for a peace treaty with them! For far more than the considerable benefits of trade. It would dae our whole clan good to follow John’s lead in trading as a merchant, but think of the good that it will dae for our people in their daily lives! No more battles or fighting, no more injuries, no more lives lost! Think of what it could mean to call the Campbell’s our allies! We could change the course of all of our lives with this peace treaty! It would be the greatest act that ye have done in all your time as Laird! Please, father,” Ian implored, leaning over his brother across the table and taking his father’s hand in his, clenching it passionately, “Please… I beg ye, dae this thing and bring a peace to our two clans! I tell ye now, father, I want it more than anything.”
Duncan eyed his nephew sharply, but both he and his son Patrick remained silent. Colin turned and looked at Ian in surprise, though he said nothing either. Robert’s eyes moved between them all, and then he lowered them back down to the letter before him. Drawing in a deep breath, he nodded to his two sons.
“I wish for peace in our lifetimes. I dinna want either of ye, nor any member of our family or clansmen,” he turned and looked at his brother Duncan and his nephew Patrick, “to ever be in mortal danger, no’ when I could change it. No’ when I have this chance to create a land where our people do no’ live in fear of being hurt or killed. John, ye are right about the possibility of trade. I know ye have worked hard to focus on that, rather than on the duties of the Lairdship, but they tie together. Ye will be Laird one day, and ye ken how to rule this land fairly, but ye also have an eye on the future, on wealth and growth for our clan, and that is best done with peace and a strong ally as our neighbor. I will write an agreement to this peace summit. We will go and meet with Laird Campbell, and we will talk with their clan and find a way to make this peace happen.” Robert was about to stand up when Duncan vaulted to his feet and roared, bringing his fist down hard on the table.
“No! Robert, ye are a fool! Dinna waste this chance to take from them what should be ours! Take it by force and do it now!” he demanded.
Robert rose from his seat and gave his younger brother a cool look as he spoke with intensity, though he did not raise his voice. “Remember, brother, that ye are speaking with your Laird! I will meet with them, and there will be a peace. As long as there is breath in my body, this will be my singular priority. That is the last that I will hear of it!”
Robert left to go to his study to write the letter of response. Black Duncan strode from the hall angrily, and Patrick followed him. John stood and gave his younger brother a warm clap on the shoulder. “Thank ye, Ian, for standing with me. I hope that father does bring this peace about.”
John left the hall, and Ian and Colin were alone. Colin grinned at him and laughed lightly. “Ye are my best friend, and I did no’ ken if I would ever see ye again, but here ye are, back at Kilchurn, and ye are much the same, and also… different.” Colin and Ian had been inseparable as boys, and Colin had not yet had a chance to see Ian since his return to Scotland.
“’Tis good to see ye too, Colin. Ye are looking so well. It’s been too long since I last saw ye, but I am glad to be back, and glad to see ye, brother.” Ian felt more pleased about seeing Colin than anyone but his father and brother.
Colin tilted his head a little and gave Ian a curious look. “Tell me, Ian… why are ye so keen to have a peace with clan Campbell? I dare say that no one at this table wants this peace treaty more than ye! What is the reasoning behind it?”
Ian held his breath for a long moment, peering at his old friend. “Can I trust ye?”
Colin looked affronted. “Have we no’ lived and nearly died together? In our days of wild and fearless youth? Have we no’ shared every secret of our lives? There is nothing that ye could no’ trust me with. Ye are my best friend. Tell me what ‘tis that has ye so keen for peace.”
Ian knew that he could believe in his friend, and he glanced around surreptitiously before sharing his secret with him. There was no one else in the room. “I have fallen in love with a bonnie lass.”
Colin was thrilled, and he brightened immediately. “Why that’s tremendous! I could no’ be happier for ye! Who is the lass?”
Ian bit at his lip for a moment and then spoke quietly. “The daughter of Laird Campbell.”
Colin’s eyes grew wide. “No… ye dinna fall for her…”
“Aye. I did. I want to make her my wife.” Ian smiled and his eyes twinkled as both the dimples in his cheeks deepened.
Colin laughed and shook his head in disbelief. “Ye could no’ fall in love with anyone the family might approve of!” Then he hesitated and spoke quieter. “Does she love ye as well?”
“Aye.” Ian nodded and beamed. “I saw her just today, at the wee dell just past the old chapel hill. The one that goes down by the creek.”
“I know the very one.” Colin laughed again. “Ye are a sly fox, meeting her there. I hope that no one knows about it. I hope ye both made it out and kept your secret safe.”
“I ken I did, and I believe she did as well. We are going to meet there again tomorrow, and each day after that, until I can wed her, and she is mine to have before God and all,” Ian vowed in a low voice.
“Ye really dae love her,” Colin sighed pleasantly. “Then I am happy for ye, and I wish ye both the best, and I pray that ye can be together as man and wife when this peace treaty is signed.”
“I want nothing more, brother,” Ian told him, rising from his chair. “Come now, and tell me what I have missed while I’ve been away.”
Colin laughed and walked with him. “Ye will be grandfather before I can tell ye all of that!”
In one of the far halls of the castle, Patrick slipped into the door of his father’s study. Duncan was standing before a window, gazing out bitterly with his hands behind his back. Patrick walked silently toward him, and Duncan did not turn to face him immediately.
“Father, we are of the same mind in that we both believe that this peace treaty should no’ be signed,” Patrick began, and then he lifted his hands and smoothed his long, greasy black hair away from his face, pushing it over his shoulder.
Duncan exhaled slowly. “My brother is a fool, and this is a fool’s errand.”
Patrick drew nearer to his father. “But ye wish to fight with them,” he began, and then he lifted his chin and closed his hands together behind his back. “I believe there is another way. A better way.”
Duncan finally turned from the window and locked his eyes on his son. “And what way is that?”
Patrick took another step forward and leaned over his father’s desk, planting his fingers on it like daggers on point. “If we fight them, we will lose precious lives, lives of those within clan Arthur, and with those lives lost, we are weaker, but… this peace summit affords us an opportunity we would ne’er otherwise have.”
“And what might that be?” Duncan’s face and expression remained cool.
“There is no better way to ensure peace between our two clans than for ye to marry Lady Claire Campbell.” Patrick grinned as if he had just given his father the keys to the universe.
Annoyance etched itself around Duncan’s coal dark eyes. “It may have escaped your notice, but Lady Claire Campbell is already married to Laird David Campbell.”
Patrick lifted one hand, holding his finger up in the air as if to pause his father’s train of thought. “Aye, but ye could force Lady Claire to marry ye if she was a widow. There will be no other chance to take Laird Campbell’s life, but in coming to this peace summit, he has brought himself right into our hands.”
Duncan narrowed his eyes furiously at his son. “Fool! I dinna wish to wed my way into that clan for power! It is better to take it all by force! If we kill Laird Campbell then that leaves no male heir to take the lairdship, and that leaves them wide open for the Arthurs to take it; for me to take it! My opportunity is coming, and I will no’ miss it!”
Patrick bowed slightly to his father, and then turned and walked from the room. As he walked down the long hall to his own chambers, he whispered to himself. “There are far better ways than force to take control of the Campbells, and wiser people to do it.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Madeleine’s heart pounded steadily throughout the morning as she ate breakfast with her family, watching her father and her uncle from the corners of her eyes to try to see if they had noticed her deception, as if it might somehow be obvious to the casual observer. If they did notice anything different about her mood or behavior, they said nothing about it to her.
She waited anxiously for them to leave on their rounds for the day as she tried not to pace back and forth in the halls and rooms near them. She wanted to be close enough to them that she could see them leave and then make her getaway, but not so close that she drew attention to herself.
It seemed to her that it took an eternity for them to finish eating, ready themselves, and then at long last, to saddle their horses and leave the castle. Her father gave her another warning just before he rode away, reminding her not to leave. She nodded obediently, but did not meet his gaze, nor did she verbally agree to his command.
Madeleine watched from one of the tower windows, and when she saw them vanish beyond the crest of a hill, she raced to the stable and saddled Bruce, jumping on him and rushing him out away from the castle, along the same path beside Loch Fyne which she had taken the day before.
She was driven by a combined force of joy, happiness, excitement, hope, fear, and passion as she and Bruce raced along the ridge and through the same fields that they had the day before. The journey took less time than it had the previous day, because Bruce ran the entire distance, rather than stopping to take in the view here and there as they had done on the prior morning.
Madeleine came into the dell and breathed a great sigh of relief when she saw Ian waiting for her, and her heart felt as if it would leap right from her chest. She swung down off of her stallion and let him cool himself at the water’s edge. Ian closed her in his arms and kissed her long and blissfully.
“The waiting is so painful and wonderful,” he murmured, his kisses moving from her lips to her neck. She felt traces of heat where his mouth had tasted her skin, and it took her breath away, leaving her desperately wanting more.
“‘Tis…” she gasped as he began to peel her clothes from her. He sucked hard at her breast, teasing her nipple with his tongue and teeth as his fingertips slipped between her thighs and into her body, massaging her firmly and making her cry out for him.
“How am I ever going to get enough of ye?” he groaned, taking the last of their clothes from them as he inched himself slowly and tantalizingly into her. She held tightly to him, barely able to breathe for the intense pleasure blazing through her body as he began to move in her.
“I dinna ever want ye to get enough of me.” She panted as she rocked her hips against his.
“And I ne’er will. The more I have of ye, the more I want.” He groaned as he closed his hands firmly over her rounded hips and thrust himself deeper into her. She shuddered then, feeling the tidal wave of pleasure wash over her, and it was only the first of many times that he brought her to her fullness before he let himself release fully inside of her, holding her tightly against him as he buried his face in her neck, breathing her in; one with her.
When their passionate fires had cooled and she lay beside him, holding his hand in hers and kissing his fingertips gently, he gazed into her eyes and smiled. “I have some good news for ye.”
“What is it?” she asked, leaning up on her elbow, curious and happy.
“Your father has sent my father an envoy with a request for a peace summit where he wishes to sign a peace treaty between the two clans.” Ian’s excitement almost vibrated in his voice.
Madeleine’s eyes grew wide, and she clutched his fingers in her own. “And? What did your father say about it?”
“He returned a letter to Laird Campbell, saying he will meet with him and that he hopes to sign a treaty of peace ending the rivalry between our clans. Dae ye realize what this means?” Ian sat up and touched Madeleine’s cheek softly.
A tear swelled in the corner of her eye. “It means that if there is a peace between our clans, then we can be married, and our families will accept it!” She barely dared to whisper. “Oh Ian, dae ye think it will happen?”
“Your father and mine both seem to want it, and if they dae, then it will happen.” He reached for her and pulled her in close to his chest to embrace her, running his hand over her long dark curls as they fell down her back. “Ye will be my wife.”
“And ye will be my husband,” she replied, and closed her eyes, praying with all her might that somehow it would happen and her dreams would come true.
“I have something for ye,” Ian said quietly, and she leaned back and looked at him in surprise.
“Dae ye?” She smiled, eyeing him. “And what is it?”
Ian reached into a pocket and pulled out a beautiful ring of gold, constructed of thin bands woven together like a braid, and inlaid at the top of it was a ruby, glowing red in the sunlight. “This ring I offer to ye, and I ask ye to be my bride, and my partner, all of my days. Will ye marry me?” He held it out to her, taking her hand in his, and she laughed with joy as he slipped it onto her finger, where she looked at it for a long moment before throwing her arms around his neck.
“Aye! Aye, my love, I will! Forever!” She laughed again, never so happy as she was at that moment. Madeleine leaned down and kissed him, and it wasn’t long before they were making love again.
* * *
Black Duncan walked into Laird Arthur’s study and found his brother sitting at his desk. Robert looked up at him and laid down the paper he had been reading. “What can I dae for ye brother?” he asked, giving him his full attention.
Duncan stood at the desk, opposite Robert, and gazed down at him, his dark eyes like mirrors, only reflecting, and never showing what was behind them. “I have come to talk with ye about the matter of the peace treaty with the Campbells.”
Robert leaned back in his chair and indicated one of the chairs before his desk. “Please, sit with me, and we will talk.”
Duncan ignored his brother’s offer and walked around the desk slowly, going to a window at the side of the room. He stood there, looking out, scanning the view for a moment, before turning and clasping his hands behind his back.
“I feel that ‘tis imperative that I come to ye and compel ye yet again, Robert, to see reason and join me in a campaign to go to war with the Campbells! This is the time to overtake them, and if we do so, we will succeed! I have no doubt of that. Ye will become the Laird that returned to this clan its old fortunes and great spread of lands! Ye have this one chance, and I do no’ wish to see ye waste it on a fickle whim of fancy! Peace cannot come unless it is fought for and won! It can only be won by defeat of our enemy. There is no other way to see it!”
