Plead Forgiveness (Loyalty Series) (60 page)

“Bella! Bella!”

Upon waking at Doran Castle, Hamon was told that his
sister was alive. After that, nothing could stand in his way from seeing his
Bella. During his ride images of her learning to walk and run came to mind. He
had taught her about nature and animals. He remembered how much she loved being
outside, just as he did. How she would cuddle up next to their wolfhounds when
she had been scolded, but leap up when one of her brother’s entered the hall,
then fly into their outstretched arms. She and her mother were, and would
always be, the heart of the Mackenzie Clan.

Joy radiated from him as he lifted his baby sister
into his arms, and swung her around as though she were still that wee spitfire
he remembered.

“Bella! Bella, my God . . . I . . .” Like his father
and brothers before him, emotion choked his words and moisture gathered in his
eyes.

“I love you, Hamon. Thank God you are well. I was so
worried about you.”

He pulled his head back from her shoulder and said, “I
love ye, wee Bella.” He paused to look at the blood and tears on her pretty
face.
She was a mess, a beautiful mess.

“Ye look just like her, ye ken.”

“Like?”

“Like mother.”

She began sobbing, but they were tears of happiness.
Grinning ear to ear, he pulled her in tight, then noticed the crowd watching
their joyous reunion as well as his brothers, father and Gavin. His smile could
not be contained as he scooped her up like a babe, and carried her into the
tent.

As soon as he sat her down on a stool, she bolted up
and said, “Keir! I must tend to his feet. Guy, Hamon are ye hurt? My satchel .
. . I must get . . .”

Amusement and tenderness flickered in Gavin’s eyes as
he held out her satchel. Before taking it, she wrapped her arms around his
waist, hugging him with all the joy she felt.

“I will get ye some water, my love,” he said as he
cupped her face. He then whispered, “I love ye, and am so happy for ye. I will
be back in a moment.”

“I love ye,” she whispered. The tenderness in his
voice made her want to weep again, but when she looked around the tent and saw
the smiling faces of her father and brothers, she started giggling.

When Gavin returned a few moments later, he stood back
with Alex and enjoyed the spectacular scene of Ella with her brothers. As she
tended to Keir’s injuries, Hamon and Guy were trying desperately to clean her
face. Stubbornly, she continued to move her face to see around their insistent
hands.

Both Gavin and Alex burst out laughing when they heard
her next comment.

“Get ye gone! Och, I canna see what I’m doing!”

Guy laughed along with his brothers, and then said,
“’Tis good to hear yer Highland burr has returned.”

The siblings continued to speak and jest the way they
did when they were children, keeping their sister well occupied so their father
could slip out of the tent.

Gavin would never forget the smile on her face as she
ministered to their injuries, or the frown that replaced it a moment later when
she realized her father was gone.

“Papa?”

Gavin walked over to her and said, “He has gone to
kill the man who hurt ye for eight years.”

“Bella,” Guy began, “we can stay here or we can-”

“We go,” she exclaimed as she jumped to her feet.

Guy spoke to his brothers, “Gavin and I will take her
to the bailey. Meet us there.”

Gavin asked his wife “Are ye sure ye want to watch
this?”

Ella nodded without hesitation. She took hold of his
hand, then Guy’s, and dragged them from the tent. Abruptly, she stopped and ran
back inside. She kissed and hugged her brothers, then asked, “Ye will come?”

Keir and Hamon smiled, then Hamon said, “Aye, Bella.”

She ran out of the tent, and then pulled both Gavin
and Guy by their hands once again, trying desperately to speed up their
sluggish pace.

Alex felt such pride in his daughter when she entered
the bailey with her husband and brother. Most women would not want to watch one
man kill another, but not his extraordinary daughter.

Ella had no trepidation about watching her father kill
Greystone, the man she had learned murdered her mother. She did not relish in
the sight of killing as did some warriors, but on this day she wanted and
needed to see her father end Philip’s life.

Alex Mackenzie looked over at his children. Gavin
stood behind his daughter, with his arm wrapped around her waist. Next to him,
Hamon stood tall and proud with his hand on his sister’s shoulder. Guy stood beside
Bella, holding her one hand, while Keir sat on stool in front of her, holding
the hand she laid on his shoulder.

Alex silently spoke to his wife, knowing she was with
him.
My beloved, do ye see our children! They are together again! I promise
ye, my love, I will protect them until death . . . until ye and I are reunited
once more. Then we will watch our children protect each other as we always knew
they would. I love ye, Emma. And today justice will be served.

Throwing a sword at Greystone’s feet, Alex then
roared, “Cut him loose.”

Philip staggered to the sword, picked it up, and then
spat, “The day has finally arrived to kill you, just as I killed that bitch
wife of yours. The day you took her from me, I vowed to have my revenge.”

“Ye will die for killing my wife and inflicting eight
years of pain on my daughter,” Alex roared.

Philip decided to incite the man further. “Did I tell
you how much Montgomery and I enjoyed flaying the skin from your daughter’s
back? I beat her often and with relish. When she tried to crawl away, I kicked
her over and-“

Alex bellowed the Mackenzie battle cry, lunged at
Greystone with his claymore raised high, then savagely attacked his greatest
enemy. Greystone met him halfway, parrying each blow with a ruthless precision.

Philip quickly realized that despite his strength and
speed, his opponent had one clear advantage. Alex was left-handed, which forced
Greystone to adjust how he blocked and attacked. As the fight progressed,
however, his original assessment waivered, due to the man’s alternating
stances. He then realized that the result of this unpredictability kept him on
the defense, which he was unaccustomed to. Deciding to take a risk that could
very well cost him his life, he evaded yet another powerful downward cut then
struck Mackenzie in the face with the pommel of his sword.

Alex shook off the blow, then unleashed eight years of
pent up rage. He felt neither fatigue nor pain as his claymore hissed through
the air. The sheer velocity and driving force increased steadily with each
blow, sending Philip stumbling in a futile effort to remain unscathed.

When Greystone felt steel slice through his side, he
made one last attempt to destroy his greatest adversary. Using what little
strength he had left, Philip raised his sword high in the air with the intent
to kill.

Seeing the opening his enemy presented, Mackenzie
lunged forward, thrusting his blade straight through Philip’s stomach.

Greystone lowered his arms, then looked up from his
mortal wound with blood gurgling from his mouth. Shocked disbelief was etched
on his face when he tried to speak. “I-”

“Will burn in hell for eternity,” Alex growled,
finishing the dying man’s statement. He then twisted the blade still deeply
embedded within the body of his wife’s murderer, putting an end to Phillip of
Greystone’s life. When he yanked his sword free and watched the body crumbled
to the ground, Alex felt surreal gratification.

“Papa!”

Hearing that beautiful voice call out to him, Alex
turned and saw his youngest child sprinting across the bailey. He caught her as
she flew into his arms, and then heard the zealous cheers of the three clans
united as one.

Clan Mackenzie, Macleod and Fraser stood together and
watched the powerful Laird reunite with his beloved daughter after eight long
years. Her brothers, husband and the Macleod blackguard watched the tender
moment and their heart’s swelled with the knowledge that Isabel . . .Bella . .
. Ella was finally home.

An hour later, Gavin and Ella stood in Keir and Eva’s
solar suite as maids rushed in to fill a large tub in the joining bathing room.
Keir had insisted they take the suite since it was equipped with a sitting room
as well as a bedchamber, and encouraged them to make use of the wardrobes
within.

The aftermath of such a momentous reunion left Ella
unusually quiet, engrossed in her own thoughts as her husband undressed her
with loving care.

Gavin understood that that such high emotion had left
her drained, especially after the terrifying night she had just endured. Even
when he saw the multiple cuts and bruises that marred her face and body, he
spoke not a word as he lifted her into his arms and lowered her into the
steaming water. His eye remained full of tenderness as he bathed her, waiting
for her to break the silence.

“Please forgive me,” she whispered as she took hold of
his hand and looked into his piercing blue eyes. “I planned to tell you last
eve, but I should have done so sooner.”

With his free hand, he cupped her cheek and said,
“Aye, ye should have told me sooner, but I understand why it was so difficult.
Ye were verra young when ye lost yer mother, as well as yer father and
brothers. Greystone took advantage of yer vulnerability, and influenced ye in
believing a horrific lie. Powerless for eight years, ye were blinded by his
vicious manipulation. I acknowledge that it was the fear he instilled in ye
that made ye hold yer tongue.” The warmth of his smile echoed in his voice when
he added, “However, ‘tis my hope ye will ne’er be so daft again, and that ye
realize how important ye are to me.”

Ella broke into a dazzling smile then wrapped her wet
arms around his neck and said, “Aye, husband. I swear to nae be so daft again.”

Noticing that she had gotten him fairly wet, she
asked, “Will you join me?”

“Ye are almost too tempting for words, vixen, but I
would see ye drying by the fire afore I allow myself to bathe.”

It was clear to him, by the circles under her
beautiful eyes that she was exhausted. But even in her fatigued state, she soon
became playful, and tried to look under his plaid.

“Enough, my wee wanton,” Gavin said as he quickly
moved away from her nimble fingers. He pulled her to stand, dumped a bucket of
cold water over her freshly washed hair, then groaned out loud.

The sight of her beauty, delicate and startling,
seemed like some painter’s imaginary vision. She tilted her head back allowing
the water to wash away the soap from her hair and cascade down her glorious
body. Her sleek golden tresses molded to her slender back and rounded breasts,
while the icy water turned her pink nipples hard and appetizing.

His gaze, riveted by her body, drifted up to her face.
Spiky black lashes outlined her glade green eyes and her flawless skin was
moist with droplets of water. And when her deliciously full, pouty lips suddenly
curved into a knowing smile, all thoughts to abstain from his wife were lost.
He hastily picked her up and carried from the bathing room to the bedchamber.

Gavin proceed to make slow, tender love to her on the
fur pelt by the fire. Together they found the tempo that bound their bodies and
hearts as one, until they shattered into fiery sensation.

After cleansing his wife’s body, he saw that she had
succumbed to the well-deserved sleep of a satisfied lover. He chuckled as he
slipped a chemise on her limp body, then wrapped a dry plaid around her
delicate frame. Before leaving her to bathe himself, he combed out her tangled
hair and spread it out so the fire would dry her golden tresses.

He quickly bathed and returned to the attached
bedchamber, then stared at Ella curled by the fire as he dressed. For a moment
he was content to observe beauty greater than any he had ever encountered. He
was amazed at how angelic she looked, especially after witnessing her fight the
man who intended to slay Arth if she had not intervened. He was thankful that
the wolf dog was so protective of her, and that he had killed the man who dared
to strike his wife.

Gavin smiled when heard a familiar scratching sound
outside the chamber door, then chuckled when he opened it, and in rushed the
subject of his thoughts. Arth greeted him for a scant moment, then tore through
the room until he found Ella sleeping on her side. The beast quickly settled
down in the crook of her knees, and was content to lie with her until she
awakened.

As he was shutting the door Nicholas and Paen
appeared, and were eager to see that all was well with him and his wife. He
gestured for them to enter, then whispered, “Ella is sleeping.”

Both Nicholas and Paen caught a glimpse of Ella and
Arth curled together by the stone hearth in the adjoining bedchamber, and
grinned at the sight. Firelight cast a golden aura over her body, but the view
was cut short when Gavin closed the solar door.

Over the next hour, Gavin learned about Nicholas’s
heroism in rescuing Lady Eleanor and Sir James, Righ’s return to the gates of
Doran Castle, and that a large party would soon be arriving at the Mackenzie
stronghold.