Seduced by a Rogue (43 page)

As the fellow slid off his horse and tethered it, Mairi said curiously, “How did you stop my men? We heard no battle down
there on the road.”

“Nay, for me da be too clever for that,” Will said. “Sithee, sound travels with such ease as might surprise ye hereabouts,
up and down the dale. Me da didna want to warn anyone approaching the Hall that we were there.”

“That
was
clever,” she said. “What do you want us to do now?”

Phaeline said tersely, “
I
want to know how Fiona is.”

“She’s good is what she is,” Will said. “Mayhap ye’ll see her, mayhap no.”

“I certainly will see her! You had no business—”

Her words broke in a sharp cry, as Will backhanded her across the mouth.

“Ye’ll be silent unless ye want more o’ the same,” he said. Turning back to Mairi as casually as if he were just continuing
their conversation, he said, “As to what ye’ll do, ye’ll first sign over yon Annan House to us, and then—”

Distant horns interrupted him, first one then another.

“Bless us!” Will exclaimed. “That be Douglas! And Kirkpatrick, aye!”

“Johnstone!” one of his men shouted.

“And Dunwythie,” Mairi exclaimed, astonished when she recognized it.

Will’s face paled. “They must ha’ defeated the sheriff!” Turning, he shouted across the hill, “What be the old man a-doing?”

“Trying to leave!” the shout came back. “But them bastards he stopped be fighting our lads now. Do we ride to their aid?”

“Nay, we take these women to the tower, straight-away!”

“You won’t!” Mairi said angrily, digging her heels into her horse and wrenching her reins hard to pull its head away from
Will’s grasp.

As he reached for it again, two horses came over the eastern brow of the hill. Both riders had swords drawn and Will, seeing
them, lost interest in Mairi’s horse. Grabbing his own reins with both hands, he whirled his horse southward and spurred it
hard. His remaining two men followed.

As Mairi drew a breath and turned toward Phaeline, one of the approaching horsemen reached for her bridle as the other rode
past her to take Phaeline’s.

“Release our horses, damn you,” Mairi said.

“With respect, m’lady, we dare not,” the man said. “Ye must come wi’ us lest there be more o’ them villains hereabouts.”

She recognized him then. “You serve Sir Hugh. Do you not know us?”

“Aye, m’ lady, I ken ye both fine. But we were told to look after ye just now.”

“Has Sir Hugh not taken command at the Hall?” Mairi asked. “I heard Dunwythie horns and others that must have been Douglas,
I suppose. Why should Sir Hugh even have expected me or the lady Phaeline to be here?”

“
Hugh
did not expect that,” a voice behind Mairi said grimly. “But
I
feared that you might do
just
such a daft thing. Then Gib told us that you were
both
here.”

Mairi turned sharply to see Rob striding toward her, his expression as furious as she had ever seen it.

“What the devil were you thinking, coming here?” he demanded as he gestured away the horseman who had held her bridle.

“These are
my
people,” Mairi said, her own temper soaring. “Would
you
stay safely in Dumfries if Trailinghail were threatened with attack?”

“Nay, I would not, but I am a swordsman, lass.”

“Where is Gib? Is he safe?”

“Aye, he must have run like the wind for he had none left when he reached us. But he told us you were here. We’d feared Will
might have taken you down to Old Jardine, but when I saw movement on the hillside, I sent these lads up around on horseback,
left my own horse below, and crept up through the shrubbery.”

“But there was a man on that side of the hill, keeping watch,” she said.

“He won’t trouble us further, or anyone else, come to that,” Rob said.

She swallowed. “Will and the others rode off.”

“So did Old Jardine, aye,” he said. “I saw as much, for I came up the hill on that side before moving to see to yon watcher.
Your own men fought bravely when they heard the horns, and most are safe. But you’ll hear all about that later.”

“We could not see anything after Will came. Where is your brother?”

“Still at the Hall,” Rob said. “Hugh and I were about to join him inside when Gib found us. We still need to talk to him,
so you must…” He paused, grimacing.

“Must what?” she asked bluntly. “Ride north to keep safe with Lord Johnstone? Or Kirkpatrick? Are they not both here?”

“Nay, the horns were ours. Did Jardine hurt you?”

Phaeline said urgently, “We must get Fiona away from those horrid people!”

“Not today,” Rob said. “The Jardines will have entrenched themselves at Applegarth by now, madam. None of us wants more conflict
if we can avoid it.”

Mairi said, “If the fighting has stopped, we should leave this place. But I shall go nowhere except to my home, sir. You may
come with me if you like.”

From the abrupt way his eyes narrowed and his gaze bored into hers, she knew he had been rigidly containing his volatile temper.

She met that fierce gaze steadily, hoping Phaeline would have the sense to keep silent. Whether her stepmother recognized
in Rob a man she could not charm or simply could think of nothing to say, she did hold her tongue.

Mairi let the silence lengthen but did not look away from Rob.

Then, softly, she said, “The Hall and its people are my responsibility, and the sun has gone down. If the sheriff and his
men will not leave peacefully, then I will send again for lords Johnstone and Kirkpatrick. Together, surely we’ll outnum—”

“Alex’s men are with me,” Rob said. “And Hugh sent for Archie before we came. He will have told Old Jardine as much if he
got a chance. In any event they will find out soon enough, and they have no allies here in the dale.”

“Sakes, we don’t want Archie here, either,” Phaeline said, speaking for the first time. “He is more likely than anyone to
want to take control of everything.”

Mairi saw Rob’s lips twitch then and allowed herself a smile. “Shall we go back to the Hall, sir? Together we should be able
to persuade your brother that he has no good reason to stay there.”

He hesitated for only a moment before saying, “I’ll talk to… nay, then…
we’ll
talk to Hugh and see—”

“…and
explain
to him what
I
have decided to do,” Mairi said firmly.

Rob drew a breath and suppressed a simmering urge to argue, recognizing it as simple proof of Mairi’s accusation that he liked
to control all around him.

She was watching him expectantly, braced for battle, and the lady Phaeline watched both of them. So he smiled and said, “Let’s
go find Hugh.”

Mairi’s smile flashed then, warming him and banishing the last shreds of his anger with her for scaring him half witless.

The two men who had ridden up the hill to help joined them, one leading a horse that Mairi explained was the one Gibby had
ridden. Rob mounted it and on the way down to the road they collected his from the woods where he’d left it.

They found Hugh on the road with his men and their own, but no Jardines.

When Mairi asked Hugh what had become of them, he said, “Your man Gerrard here told me they hied themselves off when they
heard our horns.”

“Aye, m’lady,” Gerrard said then. “We damaged them some, but our lot came through wi’ nae more than a couple o’ scratches.”

Returning to the Hall together, they found more serious injuries there, and learned that three of their own men and several
of Alex’s had died.

As they dismounted, Gibby ran to Mairi. Nearly tearful with relief, he exclaimed, “Ye’re safe, m’lady! Did the laird kill
all them treacherous villains?”

“Nay,” she said, ruffling his hair. “We let them go. The man who interfered with us on the hilltop is my sister’s husband.
Sithee, he fled when the laird and Sir Hugh came with their men, and for that we have
you
to thank.”

“Aye, sure. But they must ha’ been right cowards then. And so I thought them, too, when I seen that Will-one raise his whip
to ye,” Gib said with a grimace.

“What is this?” Rob demanded.

“Naught to concern anyone,” she replied coolly. “He merely threatened me. We’ll see to the burial of all the dead in the cemetery
here, Hugh,” she added.

“Thank you, my lads will see to it, aye,” Hugh said solemnly. “We’ll make camp in your woods, too, lass, if we may. I want
to be away before dawn.”

“Aye, sure,” she said. “But I hope you will sup with us tonight, sir.”

“I’m going to find Alex,” Rob said to her when Hugh had accepted her invitation. “Are you still going to come with me?”

“You know that I am,” she said, giving him a look.

They saw Alex sooner than Rob had expected, because he strode out through the gate as they approached it. His demeanor suggested
anger, but his expression was less decipherable. His mouth tightened when his gaze met Rob’s.

However, instead of the angry remarks Rob expected to hear, Alex said, “I am glad to see you safe, my lady. I swear, it was
never my intent to cause you harm.”

“Indeed, sir?” Mairi said. “Then why did you send so many of your men to add to the Jardine army? ’Twas Jardines who tried
to harm me.”

“So my man told me, and I offer my deepest apology to you,” Alex said. Then, meeting Rob’s gaze at last, he said, “One of
the lads on the gate told me you had come. I talked to Ian Rigg then and sent the others out to help with the injured.”

“Sakes, Alex, you set them on us from the trees—on me!” Rob said. “And all to take a woman’s property because you thought
she was weak. As you have seen for yourself, she is nowt of the sort.”

“I do see,” Alex said, looking ruefully at Mairi.

She had not, Rob noted, accepted his brother’s apology.

“Those who were killed died through sheer folly,” he said. “I did not know the two who fell upon me, and Sir Hugh’s men knew
none of them. Once I saw Jock MacGowan and Ian Rigg, I was able to call our lads to order. You should have known they would
respond to my orders as they always have.”

“Oddly, I thought I was in command,” Alex said on a bitter note.

“Aye, well, that is what happens when you entrust your duties so often to others,” Rob said. “Your men outside accepted my
command and that of Sir Hugh Douglas of Thornhill. And, by the bye, lest you think of stirring more trouble, you should know
that he sent for Archie before we left Thornhill. So, before long, the Douglases are bound to descend on Annandale if not
all Dumfriesshire.”

“Tell him he let them vicious Jardines get their oozlie hands on my lady, aye,
and
her mam,” Gibby said clearly from behind Rob. “
He’ll
be sorry for that.”

“What the devil!” Alex exclaimed. “Who dares to speak so insolently?”

“’Tis just me,” Gib said, stepping forward, his bony shoulders squared. “But I’m thinking Herself will be gey wroth wi’ ye,
too, when I tell her them Jardines o’ yours were a-going to kill our lady Mairi.”

M
airi saw Rob’s jaw tighten and dismay on the sheriff’s face.

To them both, she said, “Will said that as my father was dead, killing me would make Fiona heiress to our estates. He said,
too, sir,” she added, looking at Sheriff Maxwell, “that you had sent word to Old Jardine of your coming. Will told us his
father would make the facts plain to you, as he saw them. They captured the lads we sent ahead to warn the other lairds, too.
Faith, but I fear for their lives.”

Alexander Maxwell frowned heavily, and for the first time, she saw a true resemblance between him and Rob. The sheriff was
a few inches shorter and heavier, but their frowns were just the same.

His voice gruff, he said to her, “That ought not to have happened, my lady. I certainly never imagined such a thing. I got
word to them because they had aided us before and I thought they should know to expect trouble. And I sent men to meet them
lest a much larger force from the south overcome them before they joined us.”

Rob said, “We should get those lads of hers released, Alex.”

“Aye, we must,” the sheriff agreed.

“Oh, pray, sirs,” Phaeline exclaimed. “You must rescue our Fiona, as well!”

Rob said, “Madam, pray try to understand that although the sheriff can demand the release of men seized whilst going about
their lawful duties, as those messengers were, he cannot interfere between a man and his wife.”

“Faugh,” Phaeline said. “She is not his wife. He abducted her, Robert Maxwell, just as
you
abducted our Mairi.”

Mairi saw Rob wince and wanted to defend him, but she kept silent. Although she would welcome rescue for Fiona, if the sheriff
lacked the authority to interfere, it was more important that they do what they could for the gillies.

Sheriff Maxwell said quietly to Phaeline, “You have reason to be angry, madam, with both of us. But my brother is unfortunately
right about the lady Fiona. If she is Will Jardine’s wife, even if he has simply declared her so and she has not denied it,
I can intervene only if
she
tells me she wants to leave him. Even then, he has the right to take the matter before a magistrate, who would hear them
both.”