Highlander Medieval 06 - Her Highland Hero (30 page)

“What of John?”

“He is dead. By his own hand. He knew for trying to murder me, he would not live long. He took the coward’s way out.”

She didn’t feel any pity for the man. If he’d been decent, he could have had everything, but her. Then she wondered about the dowry. Would her father give it to Marcus? Mayhap not, because he had taken her to wife without getting her father’s approval.

“Yet, if he had waited, he could have taken your place in a legitimate way,” Marcus said.

Lord Pembroke shook his head. “He was a hothead. He could not wait to take my place, once he learned I was entertaining the notion of allowing Isobel to wed you and allow him to have the earldom and properties at some future date.”

“What about Lord Fenton?” Marcus asked.

“I turned the matter over to King Henry. One of the knights that Lord Fenton murdered, King Henry himself had knighted. I received word that Lord Fenton and the men who helped him are in a small, filthy cell.”

He deserved worse, after what he had done to both Marcus and to the good men who served as her escort. “Good. What about Jane?” Isobel asked.

“After what she did to Sir Travon? No one trusted her any longer, and she had to find a position with another household.”

“I still do not understand what John would have gotten from Lord Fenton should he have handed me over to him.” Isobel thought how bad it would have been for her if she had become his wife.

“Lord Fenton knew John had killed…or thought he had killed me. He threatened him with reporting it to the king if John did not give up both you and your dowry to him. He knew he had lost the earldom, but at least he would have had you. Should John have ever died unexpectedly? And you gave birth to a son in the meantime?”

“Lord Fenton would have taken over the earldom in our son’s name. We had considered such,” Isobel said.

“When men like that have no scruples, no telling how the game would end up playing out.”

“And Cantrell? What part did he have in all this?” Isobel asked.

“He would do anything for money. Sell his soul if he had one. As soon as he overheard I had given Lord Wynfield the order to have a couple of men send Laird McEwan on his way, Cantrell sneaked out to warn Fenton’s mercenaries. He was to witness the deed, then let Fenton know that Laird McEwan was dead. Fenton would have had his men get rid of the laird’s body, and no one would have been the wiser.” Her father took a swig of his ale.

“But Marcus did not die.” Isobel squeezed Marcus’s hand, thankful to God that he had managed to fight off the three men and survive his injury.

“Nay. But Cantrell could not tell Fenton right away that Laird McEwan killed his mercenaries. And he thought for certain as wounded as the laird was, he would not make it very far and die from his injury. The mercenaries were to take care of the body, only now they were dead. Fenton had to take care of all of them, finish the laird off, also. So he sent one of his men to see what happened, and he discovered the slaughter. He moved two of the mercenaries’ bodies before Lord Wynfield arrived with men, searching for Laird McEwan. At that point, Fenton could do no more to cover up his foul deed.”

“What has become of Cantrell?” Marcus asked.

“Hanged for the traitor he was.”

Lord Pembroke sighed. “I sent a missive to Laird Laren MacLauchlan, explaining about my dear wife losing her first bairn, that was his, but I do not know if anyone can even read in his clan. Even if someone can, it will not guarantee he will believe me. As to a more important matter, I do not want you traveling all that way to see me, daughter. When the time comes, I will visit with you and the wee one.”

Isobel smiled and gave him a hug.

“You have not asked me about Isobel’s dowry.” Her father eyed Marcus with genuine compassion.

“Under the circumstances…”

“Under the circumstances, the lady’s dowry is yours, and I would hope that when you have a daughter, you will save it for her.”

“We thank you.” Marcus clapped his hand on Lord Pembroke’s shoulder, and the older man smiled. “And welcome you into the clan.”

Her father looked pleased to hear it, and nodded, smiling a little. “Now about the hunt scheduled for the morn,” her father said to Marcus as though he was talking to his new son about more important business, and he walked off with him as Marcus gave her a wink over his shoulder.

Edana and Mary quickly joined her.

“So tell us, Mary,” Edana said. “You took care of Isobel when she was a wee bairn, aye? But you also cared for her mother when she was carrying a bairn in her belly. What can we expect?”

Mary smiled with such joy, Isobel knew then if she had any reservations about starting over in a new household, she didn’t now.

***

“I believe the wedding and the first day of the celebration was a success.” Marcus wrapped his arms around Isobel in bed late that eve. He couldn’t have been more pleased about how well everyone had gotten along and how much his kinsmen had jested with him about dancing with Isobel that was not like any form of dancing they’d ever seen. But he hadn’t wanted to give her up for anything, after what had happened the last time he had been with her at a celebration like this.

“My father has always been the one to win men over in his quest for peace,” Isobel said, “and yet you won him over so completely this day, I am in awe.”

“He is a good man. He could see how happy we are together and how my people love you as one of their own.”

“Aye. I am home.”

“Do you miss Torrent Castle?”

“A little.”

“Then I will have to work harder at keeping you perfectly happy so that you dinna think on it any longer.”

She laughed, then placed his hands on her breasts. “No one can make me happier.”

“Ah, lass. You are the joy of my life.” He began to kiss her neck, careful to touch her breasts with the utmost tenderness.

“Hmm, I wonder who won the bet, concerning when I would be with child.”

“We did.”

That was all that needed to be said and she thought of nothing more but of soaring into the heavens with her heroic Highlander.

Thanks be to those who helped me to bring this book to you: Loretta Melvin, who brainstormed with me for days and days and days, making sure I had tied up all the loose ends. Neither of us knew who the villains were until the end. But when we did? We were ready to celebrate. Vonda Sinclair and Judy Gill, my critique partners, who continue to amaze me with catching all the stuff I can’t ever seem to catch. Donna Fournier, who will ensure I really have tied up all the loose ends and sometimes come up with stuff that makes me have to change a lot more stuff–laughing, Dottie Jones, who is so good at catching my dyslexic derivations of sentences that sound perfectly fine to me, and oh, yeah, her comma genius, Maria McIntyre, who is my newest beta reader to help make this the best it can be, Bonnie Gill, who is a pleasure to work with, invaluable, and falls in love with my characters time and again, and Loretta Melvin, who, after all the work she did on helping me to tie up loose ends, reread it all over again. That’s dedication!

Thanks, lassies! You are the greatest!

About the Author:
Bestselling and award-winning author
Terry Spear
has written over fifty paranormal romance novels and four medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance,
Heart of the Wolf,
was named a 2008
Publishers Weekly
‘s Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the
USA Today
bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance, continuing her new series about shapeshifting jaguars, loving to share her hot Highlanders, and having fun with her young adult novels. For more information, please visit
www.terryspear.com
, or follow her on Twitter,
@TerrySpear
. She is also on Facebook at
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