An English Bride In Scotland (24 page)

“Leave her with me,” Ross said quietly. “I shall bring her back after we tend to the boy.”

Annabel hesitated, but then nodded and allowed Marach to lead her out of the barn as Gilly moved off to have a word with the men.

“Is Seonag all right?” Annabel asked as the warrior walked her out to where the men had left their horses.

“I am no’ sure, m’lady,” Marach said quietly. “She was unconscious when we left.”

Annabel nodded, and then bit her lip and asked, “What do you think my husband will do to Kate?”

“I am no’ sure about that either, m’lady,” he admitted apologetically. “But the laird is always fair.”

“Aye,” Annabel murmured and wondered what would be fair in this instance? Her sister had been nothing but trouble since arriving, but now she had stolen from him, kidnapped her, and attacked Seonag.

Annabel pondered the matter of Kate’s pending punishment while they waited for Gilly and the other men to join them, and then during the ride back to the keep. But once there, her concern for Seonag pushed it aside and she rushed inside and upstairs the moment Marach lifted her down off his horse. She could hear feet thudding behind her, and knew Gilly and Marach were hurrying after her, but didn’t slow until she reached the upstairs landing. Annabel paused then, only because she had no idea where they had put Seonag.

“The room next to the master bedchamber,” Marach said without being asked as he led Gilly off the stairs.

Kate’s room, Annabel thought and hurried there. Giorsal was seated by the bedside talking quietly to Seonag when she entered, and the sight was a happy one for Annabel. She had grown quite fond of Seonag during her time at MacKay and was grateful the older woman would recover from her sister’s attack.

Rushing forward, Annabel surprised the woman by giving her a careful hug as she said, “I am so glad you are all right.”

“Oh, aye, and so am I glad that ye are,” Seonag said, blushing slightly. As Annabel straightened, she said, “We ha’e been sitting here fretting over whether the men found ye or not. ’Tis glad I am they did and yer well, m’lady.”

Annabel gave her hand a squeeze, then turned to smile at Giorsal as well before turning her attention to the second woman in the bed. Effie. Pale and with a nasty head wound, the embroiderer was not awake.

“She’s just sleeping,” Giorsal said reassuringly. “She woke up a few minutes ago, but dropped off again shortly afterward.”

“Oh, good,” Annabel murmured, recalling the thud she’d heard after Effie had said someone was at the door. She supposed Annabel or Grant had knocked the woman out after gaining access to the cottage, and felt horrible that she had not wondered about her well-being at the time.

“Well?” Giorsal said. “Sit down. Tell us what happened. We ken Kate knocked out Seonag, and we presume she stole the family coin and fled?”

“And I see ye’ve a new lump on yer forehead, so she must ha’e knocked ye out again too,” Seonag said dryly.

“Aye,” Annabel admitted and quickly explained what had happened.

“So yer sister was behind it all?” Giorsal said slowly. “And she killed her stable boy?”

“Nay,” Annabel said at once, and then frowned and said, “Well, aye, but ’twas an accident.”

Seonag shook her head. “There is just something wrong with the girl. Her head is no’ working right.”

“Aye,” Giorsal agreed.

Annabel merely nodded. She suspected they were correct. While Kate was selfish and spoiled, her obsession with Annabel’s happiness and determination to destroy it was just madness.

The sound of the door opening drew Annabel’s attention and she stood up when Ross appeared. When he gestured her over, she moved to the door and then followed when he took her arm to urge her out of the room. He led her to their bedchamber, ushered her inside, closed the door and leaned against it.

When Annabel paused in the center of the room and turned back to peer at him uncertainly, he said, “We need to discuss yer sister.”

Annabel’s eyes widened and she clasped her hands in front of her and murmured a faint, “Oh.”

“We buried the lad and sent word to his father at Waverly,” he said quietly.

“Oh,” Annabel repeated, and then nodded. “Good.”

“And then we brought yer sister back to decide what to do with her. I thought ye should ha’e a say in her punishment,” Ross explained.

“Thank you,” Annabel murmured, thinking she was lucky to have such a considerate husband. Most men probably would have simply dealt with the matter and informed her of what had been done after the fact. Truthfully, though, Annabel almost would have preferred that in this instance. She had no desire to deal with her sister, or the guilt that would no doubt follow any decision on her punishment.

“We rode in on the heels of a lone rider,” Ross continued. “It was the messenger with yer mother’s response.”

Annabel bit her lip, not sure that made any difference. She suspected that even if her mother agreed to take Kate in, Ross wouldn’t allow her to leave and go on her merry way without demanding some form of punishment for what she’d done. In truth, Annabel couldn’t disagree with him if he did.

“Your parents want nothing to do with her,” Ross said quietly. “They say she has made her bed and may now lie in it. She is dead to them.”

Annabel’s breath left her on a small sigh. She wasn’t surprised, but supposed some part of her had hoped her parents would prove they had some small measure of caring for the daughters they’d given life to. It seemed not, however. “Does she know?”

“I haven’t told her, but she may have guessed,” Ross said with a shrug. “She asked to go to confession while I read it, and I told a couple of the men to escort her there. But once in the chapel, Kate cried sanctuary.”

Annabel stiffened, her head jerking up and back as if under a blow at the news. While the news had caught her off guard, she probably should have seen that coming. Her sister would hardly wish to stand judgment and would hide behind whatever she could. Claiming sanctuary was actually clever.

“Father Gibson felt he had to give it to her, but is no’ too pleased to have her there,” he added.

Annabel wasn’t surprised. Five minutes in Kate’s presence was five minutes too long and she didn’t doubt her sister was already driving the priest mad.

“So he suggested giving her permanent sanctuary and sending her to Elstow Abbey so long as she agreed to take the veil,” Ross said quietly. “And she agreed.”

Annabel’s eyes widened. Kate would hate Elstow. She would hate the abbess, the chores, the hard physical labor, the shared baths, the plain, tasteless food, the restrictions, the punishments and penances. Annabel had no doubt Kate would refuse to whip herself at the abbess’s instructions . . . at least until she heard what the alternative punishments were.

Her sister had no idea what she was agreeing to. Her selfish demanding ways would not serve her there, and certainly would not go over well with the other women. And she would be under constant scrutiny. Kate had no training that would make working in the stables an option, and that was the only place with any freedom at all, and even there it was scant. And she would have to—

Annabel’s eyes widened suddenly and when Ross arched an eyebrow in question, she told him what she’d just thought of. “If she is taking the veil, her hair will be shorn for sure.”

They stared at each other in silence for a minute and then Ross said, “She will no’ like that.”

“Nay,” Annabel agreed. Kate was too vain to accept that well, but she would have to do it to hang on to the sanctuary she wanted.

It suddenly occurred to Annabel that this would mean they were completely switching lives. Kate would now be living the life that had stretched out before Annabel until she’d been dragged home to marry Ross while she lived the life that had been meant for Kate until she’d run off with Grant.

Only, Annabel suspected Kate’s personality would turn the experience from just unpleasant and unhappy to utter misery. Life at the abbey would either reform Kate or kill her . . . or possibly it would kill both Kate and the abbess, Annabel thought. But in a way, it seemed the most fitting place for her sister. Certainly it was better than a beheading, life in a dungeon, or any of the other punishments Annabel had feared would be meted out.

Releasing the breath she’d been holding, Annabel nodded. “Aye. Send her to Elstow.”

Ross straightened and crossed the room to take her into his arms. Annabel was still for a moment, but then relaxed into him with a sigh and immediately felt the sack containing the MacKay treasure still hanging from her skirt. She should have put it away first thing, Annabel thought unhappily. Actually, she should not have left the chest unlocked and open for Kate to take it in the first place, she reprimanded herself and then bit her lip and murmured, “I am sorry.”

Her husband pulled back enough to peer down into her face with surprise and asked, “For what?”

Annabel had meant to say for leaving the chest open for Kate to nearly get away with the MacKay treasure, but the response that came out was, “Everything.”

Ross shook his head and assured her, “Ye’ve nothing to be sorry fer, Annabel.”

“Aye, I do,” she countered and pointed out, “You have had nothing but trouble since marrying me.”

Ross caught her face in his hands and met her gaze as he said solemnly, “Aye. There has been little else but trouble since our wedding, but none of it was yer fault.”

“But if you had not married me—”

“I’d have missed out on the best thing in me life,” he interrupted firmly, and then added wryly, “And despite all the troubles, or mayhap because o’ them, I have thanked God every day since waking to find yer sister here that it was you I married and no’ her.”

Annabel laughed shakily and then closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest with a sigh. “Aye, well . . . still, if you had refused me and married someone else you could have avoided a great deal of difficulty.”

Ross kissed the top of her head and assured her, “Yer worth every bit o’ trouble yer sister has caused and more. I meant what I said at the barn, I do love ye, Annabel. Ye brighten me days and make me keep a home.”

She lifted her head and tilted it back to peer up at him, surprised to find tears rising to mist her eyes. “I love you too, Ross. I thought I would spend my life at Elstow and had resigned myself to it, but I am ever so grateful that Kate’s actions placed me here with you instead. I did not know life could be so . . .” She paused, several thoughts coming to mind. She hadn’t realized life could be so full of caring, color, happiness and passion. But in the end she simply said, “Wonderful.”

Ross smiled and then bent to kiss her. It was a sweet kiss at first, full of love, but then as happened when they were together, passion began to take over.

Moaning, Annabel withdrew her arms from around his waist to slip them up around his shoulders and then rose up on her toes to plaster herself against him. Ross immediately dropped his hands to cup her behind. Raising her off the ground, he then started to carry her to the bed, their bodies rubbing together with each step. But he paused when a knock sounded at the door.

Breaking their kiss, he glanced toward it and barked, “Go away.”

“Is that any way to talk to yer sister?” Giorsal called out with a laugh. “ ’Sides, I am only knockin’ to tell ye Carney is back and he’s brought a certain gentleman that I am sure Annabel’ll want to see right away.”

“Damn,” Ross groaned and leaned his forehead on Annabel’s.

“What is it?” she asked with concern.

Ross hesitated, but then admitted, “The task I sent Carney on was to fetch the cloth merchant here so ye could buy what ye want. Ye should ha’e gowns of yer own, made just fer ye, not me mother’s castoffs.”

“Oh,” Annabel breathed, tears threatening again, and then she hugged him tightly. “Thank you, husband. You are the most wonderful, considerate husband any girl could ask for.”

Ross smiled crookedly, but then sighed. “I suppose I should let ye go talk to the man.”

Annabel was tempted, but then shook her head. “Nay. He can wait a bit.” Tightening her hold on his shoulders, she raised her legs to wrap them around his waist, managing the task despite her skirts, and said, “I think I should like to thank you properly for such thoughtfulness.”

“Oh?” Ross asked with a grin, continuing toward the bed. “Well, while yer in the mood for thanking me, I should mention that I dealt with the spice merchant ere bringing Kate back.”

“You did?” Annabel asked, eyes wide. She’d quite forgotten about the man, what with everything that had happened.

“Aye, I did,” he assured her. “And after I gave him a couple coins, paid for his stay at the inn, and threatened to hunt him down and geld him if he didn’t agree, he promised no’ to warn anyone away from MacKay.”

That startled a laugh from Annabel, and she shook her head. “You are a wonder.”

“Yer happy then?” Ross asked seriously, pausing in front of the bed.

“Oh, aye, husband. I am very happy,” she assured him solemnly, then unwrapped her legs from around his hips and kicked them lightly until he turned sideways to the bed to set her down. She immediately took a step toward the door and Ross turned to follow her movement, as she’d expected. It placed him with his back to the bed.

“Where are ye going?” he asked with a frown. “I thought—” The words died on a startled gasp when Annabel suddenly turned and gave him a shove. Caught by surprise, Ross tumbled back onto the bed with his legs hanging off from the knees down.

“Nowhere,” Annabel assured him solemnly as she quickly undid her lacings and removed her gown. She then walked up between his knees until her own knees bumped the bed, and added, “You are stuck with me, husband.”

“Then I am the luckiest man in Scotland,” Ross growled, sitting up to slide his arms around her waist. He squeezed her tight briefly, and sighed, “God, I love you.”

“And I love you,” Annabel assured him solemnly, and then pushed him back on the bed and bent to crawl on top of him, saying, “Let me show you how much.”

Read on for a sneak peek of

Lynsay Sands’ next Argeneau novel

ONE LUCKY VAMPIRE

On sale September 24, 2013

from Avon Books