The Reluctant Highland Groom (7 page)

Ramsey thumped his hand against the wall. “We need to strike the Gunns, by God, but we haven’t the strength to do it! What’s more, they know it.”

“
Ramsey?”

“
This strike on the McHughs will be the first of many. They’ll observe our reaction, and move from there. They can’t strike our heart, we’re still too strong…but they can attack smaller villages, keeps, and homes, and plague supply trains and harm innocents. And I can do naught here within my walls.”

Alec nodded, the enormity of the situation pressing on him. How did Ramsey manage it?

“
It will take us a few years to build the necessary strength to fight them. Damnall, but I wish we had more men!”

“
Will de Montfort send others, once
his
enemies are vanquished?”

Ramsey shrugged. “That was part of our agreement, aye, but when will he have the strength to uphold it? I know not.”

The elder Munro continued, “We must return Cara to the McHugh lands, that much is clear. She will be a figurehead, something for them to believe in. If we can strengthen them through the winter, we may yet be able to stand off any attempts by the Gunns.”

“
Meanwhile, they run amok.”

Ramsey nodded. “Indeed. Why did ye come, Alec?”

“
Cara fancies herself the McHugh. I told her she couldna do it on her own, but I don’t know that she believes me. She needs someone strong beside her, or others will not listen.”

Ramsey turned away from the hearth to face Alec. “Is it a marriage ye suggest, brother?”

“
Aye. Men will not think twice to cross a woman, but they might with a strong man at her side.”

His brother nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose she is in my charge at the moment, and it would fall to me to choose a husband for her. Finding a man of appropriate strength and status, of course, will be difficult…”

Alec smiled thinly. “Brother, let me go to the McHugh lands and make some inquiries.”

“
Ye think ye can find her a proper husband from what’s left of the McHughs?”

“
I didna say that.”

Ramsey actually grinned, then swiftly retreated to his desk. He scrawled a few lines on a clean piece of parchment, then handed it to Alec. “Take this. It gives me blessing, as Laird Munro, for what ye choose to do. But do hurry, Alec. Time is of the essence.”

Alec made the parchment disappear into his tunic, and bowed slightly to his brother. “Thank ye, Ramsey.”

“
Thank
ye
. And hurry back.”

Alec strode out to the stable with a renewed sense of purpose.
The Gunns will not win this one…and I will see Cara protected.

Yes. She would be safe. That was all that mattered.

***

The next morning, Cara awoke with a start. With a sad glance to the empty chair in the corner of room, she realized Alec had not returned. At supper, he’d seemed distant, almost preoccupied, and Cara had worried Alec regretted what they had done.

But she didn’t. She loved Alec Munro with all her heart, and whatever happened to her from that point forward, she would never regret the one chance she had to feel his touch on her bare skin—to feel him inside her.

Her cheeks glowed at the memory and she dressed herself quickly, hoping to catch sight of him soon.

The great hall was quiet when Cara made her way downstairs. Sabrina sat by the fire with her young son Jamie playing at her feet. When she heard Cara, she turned and smiled.

“
Have you seen Alec this morning, Sabrina?”

Sabrina shook her head.

“
He left last night,” she said. “He didn’t tell you?”

Cara frowned, unsure of what to do with herself next.
He left? He’s just gone?

“
You mean he didn’t say anything at all to you?”

The tone of Sabrina’s voice startled Cara. Something was wrong.

“
Where did he go?”

“
To the McHugh holding,” Sabrina said, pushing herself to her feet. “He said something about you getting married before it was too late. We all thought it meant you’d agreed to marry one of your kinfolk—the one Ramsey met when he visited…”

She most certainly did not agree to marry her 17-year-old cousin Fergus.

“
No one asked me about this,” she said. “Is that what he spoke to Ramsey about after Alec took me from the room?”

Sabrina nodded warily, then seemed to relax when Cara did not immediately lash out. “Fergus thought a wedding betwixt the two of you would secure the McHugh holdings, and prevent any further dissent.”

The idea made her stomach turn, but it was not a terrible idea at face value. Fergus might even be correct…if he weren’t, well,
Fergus.
“Do you really see him as a leader of men, Sabrina?”

“
Men can grow into their roles,” Sabrina said.

Cara glared at her.

“
What do you want me to say, Cara? I dno’t think he suits you or the role, but if that’s Ramsey’s decision…”

Alec would never go along with it, though…would he?

The thought was almost too painful to bear. After what they had shared, would Alec cast her off to her freckled cousin? Could he just throw her aside that way?

Men have done it before, and men will do it again…

Hadn’t he warned her about what men would do? She could hardly pretend she was innocent to such matters.

Damn you, Alec!

Sabrina must have seen the story at least partially written on her face, for she hurried over. “Oh, I...Cara, what’s happened?”

Cara shook her head, pressing her fist against her mouth. There was no use in weeping over it; she’d just need to figure a way out of this situation. “I just thought Alec...I mean...”

“
You thought Alec would...what?” Sabrina took a closer look at her. “You’ve been spending a great deal of time together. I suppose Ramsey and I thought perhaps...”

Cara smiled humorlessly. “I thought the same.”

Sabrina looked as crestfallen as Cara felt, and stooped to pick up Jamie. “Ah, Cara, I’m sorry. This must be difficult...”

Difficult
did not begin to describe it, but Cara supposed she was glad for any sympathy at all. Sabrina could never hope to fully identify with her—Sabrina had chosen the man she wanted—but she reached out to give Cara a squeeze.

As the day wore on, all the pieces of a wedding arrived from the village a few miles away. Alec was sparing no expense marrying Cara off to her adolescent cousin and getting rid of her.

By midday, there was still no sign of him, and Cara had paced a groove into the stone floor. She was seething and had determined to tear Alec’s head from his shoulders the second he dared show himself.

The afternoon meal passed with Cara touching none of it and Sabrina fretting even more, when finally riders were seen approaching the keep. Some wore McHugh colors, and one wore the unique red and blue of the Munroes.

She raced down the tower steps and waited for Alec in the courtyard, hands balled at her hips and her lips curled into a snarl.

As he rode in, Alec caught sight of Cara and frowned.

“
Why aren’t ye dressed, woman?” he asked. “Ye canna go in a chapel like that.”

He pointed to her simple frock in confusion.

“
I’m not going into a chapel, Alec Munro,” she spat. “How dare you!”
Silence fell over the gathered crowd of McHughs and Munroes as Cara squared off against Alec.

“
Ye’ve got no choice in this matter, Cara,” Alec said angrily. “Ye’ve no father, no brother. Ye’ve no one to protect ye. A husband is yer only choice.”

“
I’d rather take my vows and join the order at St. Leonard’s!”

Alec narrowed his eyes.
“They’d not have ye in yer condition, Cara,” he said. Her cheeks flamed instantly, and she heard gasps and murmurs spreading through the crowd.

“
I’m not going to marry Fergus, Alec,” Cara gritted through clenched teeth. She knew she was crying now, but didn’t care and didn’t bother to wipe the tears off her cheeks. “I don’t expect anything of you, but do not try to force me to marry another.”

Alec stood dumbfounded for a long moment, before running his hand through his hair and shaking his head.

“
I’d take Fergus limb from limb if he ever so much as touched ye, Cara. Why would I make ye marry him? Me, ye foolish peahen. Yer marrying me!”

Cara’s mouth fell open, and she put her balled hands over her eyes. She was going mad, that must be it…nothing had made sense since she arrived at the Munro keep months ago. Nothing had gone according to her plan, and it seemed nothing would from this point on.

The excited murmuring of the crowd had died down again, and she knew they were all staring at her.

“
Cara?” Alec sounded concerned.

“
Alec, I think...”

He sighed. “Thinking again? Isn’t this where all our troubles began in the first place?”

She would have taken it as an insult if he hadn’t been standing so earnestly in front of her.

“
You don’t want to marry me, Alec,” Cara said weakly, shaking her head. “Don’t commit yourself to me like this. You’d never forgive me.”

He crossed the space between them in two long strides and grasped her face in his hands.

“
I’d never forgive myself if I let ye go, Cara McHugh,” he whispered. “They doona need me here. I need ye. Yer people need ye. We’ll go back to yer home and rebuild the McHughs and torture the Munroes with our weekly visits. Our children will beat up their children and our fields will yield more in a season than theirs will in two. What do ye say, Cara McHugh? Will ye marry me?”

She was fairly certain the crowd was holding its breath.

Her smile stretched all the way across her face. “Of course, you lackwit,” she said. “Of course I’ll bloody marry you.”

***

The two were wed that very evening by Father Eamon, the McHugh priest who’d been fetched by Alec that very day. Fergus, it turned out, was not invited to Alec’s wedding.

Father Eamon arrived with the slightest slur to his words and a wobble in his step, a wineskin dangling from his left hand. Alec pursed his lips and shook his head. “I swear to ye, he was sober when we left.”

“
Father Eamon has always been most fond of his drink,” Cara said. “No matter, though. He’s never missed a sermon yet.”

They were married in a small, joyful ceremony, one punctuated by laughter and the occasional misstep by the ever-jolly Eamon. Cara could not help but notice Alec’s eyebrows lifting higher and higher as they trudged on, but he seemed to take it all in good spirits.

“
Get used to it,” she whispered to him when Eamon paused to ask Jamie for the rings. “He often dined with my father and Connor. He will be at the keep often.”

“
I canna wait,” Alec said dryly. “At least things will not be boring.”

They spent another day at the Munro keep, gathering what they needed for the trip back and making last-minute arrangements with Ramsey to obtain the necessary stores for the coming winter. Alec stayed back slightly, letting Cara take the reins for much of the negotiations.

“
I want to pay you,” she said.

Ramsey shook his head. “Yer my sister now, by law if not by blood. I’ll not have it.”

“
And I’ll not be depleting your food stores for nothing!”

They glared at each other until Alec got between them. “Take the bloody food, Cara. We’ll make him suffer for his generosity later.”

Once he’d escorted to her the stable and their waiting mounts, he gave her a light slap on her bottom. “I swear, woman, ye do make things difficult for yerself. Do ye enjoy it?”