Two
“I hope I didn’t offend you, Laird,” Maddie said after hours of riding.
Connor rolled his eyes. This was the twelfth time she said this. She thought she had offended him when she laughed and said her hound’s name was Ramsay. He wasn’t angry, but he was peeved. It was such a fine name wasted on a hound.
There was no choice. Connor was riding with her. His head was beginning to ache from her incessant chatter. There were no other horses and he’d be damned if he’d let the other men hold her.
No! Correction. He would take this opportunity to begin his plan. It would be the Great Fall of Lady Wynton.
“Connor,” he said.
“What?” she asked, turning her head back and bumping his chin.
“Connor. Not laird, or sir, or milord. Connor.”
“I shall make an effort,” she said, nodding her head and bumping his chin again.
He sighed.
“So did I?” she asked again after many minutes passed.
Thirteen.
“Did ye what?” he asked, buying more time before responding. Connor was beginning to think this was a mistake.
“Did I offend ye?”
Fourteen.
“Nay, milady, ye didna.”
“Maddie,” she corrected.
“What?” He began to count backwards from one hundred.
“Maddie. Not lady, madam, or milady. Maddie.”
He smiled behind her. Iain looked over to him as if an apparition manifested itself on Connor’s horse.
Connor scowled at him.
“Aye. Maddie.”
She kept squirming.
“Are ye uncomfortable? Ye must be used to riding with a saddle, if ye ever rode at all.”
“Nay, Connor,” he liked the way she said his name, “I am used to riding. In fact, I’m used to riding bareback, however, much higher on the horse. Thus, my problem.”
His eyebrow arched. Impressive.
Hours passed since she opened her mouth again. Night was falling and they were a couple of day’s ride away from Keisealle. They were traveling along a path that would shorten their distance and time. The fact that he didn’t plan on stopping to rest would make a difference also.
“I apologize, Connor. I need to…how shall I put this? I need to…um…stop.” The deep blush appeared, even through the bruises forming.
He understood what she was unable to say. He halted the men and she dismounted. She ran into bushes and Connor turned to his men.
“I believe that this is going to be more difficult than I thought it would be,” Connor said.
“Aye,” Iain said grinning, “She’s beautiful.”
Connor looked at Iain like he wanted to pummel him into the ground. He looked at the rest of his men, too, giving them a warning glance. He was traveling with Iain, Kiel, Bruce and Hugh, another commander. Kirk was left at the castle.
“Doona lose focus, Iain. I willna. Although it was nay as we’d planned, still it worked in our favor,” Connor said.
Maddie was coming back to them.
“Are ye thirsty, Maddie?”
“Yes, a bit,” she said looking up to Connor. He handed a pouch with water down to her. She drank and returned it to him.
“God bless you, Connor. Thank you.”
She hadn’t realized how large Connor’s horse was. She shrugged. She’d try to pull herself up there.
Maddie moved to the side of the animal and planted her hands on the horse to force herself up. She moaned in pain when her weak wrists didn’t have the strength to support her.
“Here, lass, let me,” Connor said. In one swoop, he brought her up in front of him. His arms were on each side of her holding the reins.
“Good heavens, you’re strong,” she said, squirming as she settled in front of him.
“Just let us know when ye need to stop, lass. We will be riding straight through without stopping until we reach my holding.”
She nodded while yawning. She bumped his chin again.
“How long is that?”
“A couple of days.”
She nodded again, and once she realized what he’d said, she sat up straighter. “Days! That’s far!”
“We live in the Highlands, Maddie.”
“Why take me there, when the borders weren’t so far away from where you helped me. At least not days away,” she asked, a bit confused. Why would he take her all the way to the Highlands, when England was closer?
Connor was impressed at her keen intelligence.
“As I told ye, I didna want to set foot in England. That was not our way of journey. We were headed to our castle, and are expected shortly. Any lingering, and our clan would send out a contingency to inquire as to our whereabouts.”
Iain looked at Connor, nodding his head in approval of his quick thinking.
“Oh, I see,” she yawned again. “But you won’t stop? Don’t you need sleep?”
“We’re Highlanders. We doona need anything.”
Iain shot a knowing glance at Connor and Connor ignored it.
Another two hours later, she spoke. Connor found himself wondering about her peculiarity.
“I find this funny.”
“Find what funny?”
“Well, not funny, haha, but funny ironic, don’t you?”
He breathed in deeply and exhaled. He hadn’t the slightest idea what she was rambling about. He then remembered his many reasons for not having taken a wife yet.
“What is funny?” They were a crazed lot.
“That in one day, I am taken from my home by brutal men, and now I am with a stranger who saved me from them. No offense, Laird, but I’m starting to think that I have made a mistake. Am I in a bad nightmare?”
Connor rolled his eyes. He had thought the same himself, earlier. When had this gone awry? She could not keep quiet.
Memories of Katie crying came back to him. Torment and agony in her voice as she dreamt and cried out in her nightmares. The halls echoed her misery. She would barely talk about what had happened. Only their mother could console his young sister.
One of Madeleine’s brothers was responsible, if not all of them.
Connor stiffened, remembering why he was taking this woman back with him. Lady Madeleine probably lived a happy and stable life at home, one that was nightmare-free. She didn’t relive a rape over and over again when her eyes closed for the night.
“Lady Wynton, when we arrive at my home we’ll send word to yer father. If ye so change yer mind, I can turn around and bring ye back to the borders,” he offered, although the last part as a ruse.
So they were back to formalities again, she thought. Lady. Laird. Milady.
She shook her head. A chill ran through her spine.
“I hate the dark, Laird. Even worse, I hate being in the dark alone. I wouldn’t know how to get back. I apologize for sounding ungrateful. Forgive me, I didn’t mean to. I appreciate your help. ‘Tis just that it’s odd that I just met you and yet I do trust you. I’m thankful for how you helped me when confronted by those men. It’s just that…well…never mind. I’m sorry.”
For some reason unbeknownst to Connor, he was interested in what she was going to say.
“What?”
“No, that’s fine, Laird. ‘Tis not important. Feeling sorry for oneself is unacceptable,” she nodded her head and bumped his chin.
“Tell me.”
“No.” She paused for a moment and pointed a finger. “Look over there. I think I see a boar!”
“Aye, they roam about here. Doona change the topic.”
She turned her face to the side, and in the dim sunlight, he could see her blush.
“‘Tis that no one has ever defended me. Except for you.”
“What do ye mean? Are ye an only child?” Connor asked innocently, obviously not wanting her to know how much of her life he already knew.
“Nay. I have three older brothers and I’m the youngest, but we’re not so close. My youngest older brother is six years my senior. I was a mistake.” She stopped abruptly. “I’m sorry. Self-pity. Self-pity,” she chastised herself, shaking her head. “But yes, my brothers wouldn’t come to my rescue…I mean, not as well as you did for me tonight,” she laughed. “There’s always a reason for everything and God was trying to make me stronger. And he did. No room for self-pity,” she said nodding as if she made perfect sense.
She made sense and then she didn’t. He didn’t understand her, but he decided to try and chip away some of the confusion.
“Mistake?”
“Oh, I don’t want to go into that.” She waved her hand. “God is merciful and forgiving. I shall soon have forgiveness.”
“Forgiveness?”
She was going to make him daft.
“What did ye mean when ye said ye were afraid of the dark?”
“Laird, I…shouldn’t have said anything. The past is the past, and so it shall remain. ‘Tis unimportant.”
Maddie bolted up and would have fallen off the horse if Connor hadn’t placed his arm around her waist.
“What is the matter?”
“I heard a noise and I saw something in the trees over there.”
Connor looked and saw nothing.
“Ye really are afraid of the dark, arena ye?”
“Yes.”
“How do ye sleep at night?”
“Candles. Ramsay keeps me company. He and God are my companions. I am ever devoted.”
Connor grimaced as he was reminded of the hound that bore his name.
“How is it that ye are afraid of the dark?”
She hesitated and he felt it. Each time she talked about her fears, she grew tense.
“I…well…I hate speaking of my flaws, Laird, and-”
“Connor.”
“Yes, yes, Connor. My apologies. It used to be my punishment.”
He held on to his patience. She was so confusing.
“Punishment? How?”
“I was not a very well-behaved girl. And so, more times than not, I was punished by being placed in a dark barred room alone.”
Connor thought about this interesting piece of information. That was cruel for a young girl to experience.
“Who would punish ye?”
“My father or brothers. Whoever caught me misbehaving.”
Connor smiled slightly thinking about how she would have misbehaved. What could she have possibly done? Talked too much? Used trickery on others? Didn’t eat enough? He thought it was more likely the last one. She was so light and thin. She looked as if a gust of wind would knock her down.
“What would ye do to cause these punishments?”
“Oh, Laird, I cannot speak of my sins. The punishments were justified, ‘tis all,” she said and remained quiet.
She was a mystery, and completely eccentric.
“What were they?” he found himself insisting.
She sighed. Obviously he wasn’t relenting.
“I wouldn’t clean well enough or the house wouldn’t be kept right. Or the rushes were a week old. Small things.” She left out a couple of others.
Connor shook his head. A girl so young shouldn’t have been saddled with such responsibilities, or at all, for that matter. She was a Lady, and her position didn’t allow for such menial work.
Maddie’s shivering caught his attention. He reached back and pulled out a plaid covering.
“Here. Not even yer shawl and thick gown keep ye warm.”
She was quick to refuse.
“Nay, Laird, I can’t. What if ye or another grows cold? I can’t accept that.”
“My name is Connor, and I insist on ye using it.”
“Nay. I’m fine, really.”
She was infuriating! Lord, give him patience. At least she wasn’t selfish.
Connor noticed that as the night went on, she slowly began to relax. Her shivering, however, continued. He knew she was asleep when her head lolled down. He wrapped the plaid around her. After a while, when she continued to tremble, he wrapped his left arm around her, too. Her shaking slowed, until it stopped. Connor almost felt bad for not stopping, but he just wanted to get back to Keisealle.
Yes, he almost felt bad.
Connor knew Katie was battling her night demons at home while this woman dreamed with angels.
Maddie snuggled in his embrace. She didn’t like being alone in the dark. He rolled that thought over in his mind. She must have been one demon child. Not clean well enough? She was probably glossing over the full truth. He didn’t feel so bad, then, for going forward with his plan.