Thirty-Seven
“I assure ye, Laird Ramsay. I had seen yer wife!”
“But my mother says that she hadna seen my wife on the trip here, so how did ye?”
Clearly the guard was confused and alarmed. He knew of Ramsay’s legendary anger. The laird’s eyes were dark. He was clenching his jaw so tightly, the guard heard grinding. Ramsay stood tense. His movements were tight and controlled, but the guard wasn’t fooled. The Ramsay laird barely had his temper contained. Smoke was escaping through the laird’s nose.
“Nay! I say I’ve seen Lady Ramsay, but I didna see her that day. I have seen her before.”
Five days of hard riding had led them to the McLeans at the border.
“But ye told me ye had seen her!” Athyn yelled.
“Aye, Athyn. How was I to know that ye meant if I had seen her that day?”
“We waste time. I go riding to Wynton’s. Join me if ye like,” Connor said abruptly and impatiently. He mounted on his steed and rode to Wynton’s. He was more certain than ever that she lived.
It was a bittersweet moment.
Yes, his wife was alive, but she also feigned her death to get away from him. That hurt him deeply like a sword straight through his heart. The ironic thing was, he thought he no longer had one.
*****
“Ye can’t go by! Shtay here!” the guard slurred, as he stood up unsteadily.
Connor ignored the drunk and walked into Skorthyne.
Wynton was walking down the stairs and looked up when the door opened and Connor strode through.
“Where’s my wife?”
“Who,” he paused, “is your wife?” It slowly dawned on him. “Ye married your half sister?” Wynton yelled in shock and laughed. Connor strode up the steps, grabbed Wynton by the neck, and held him up off the ground.
“I willna ask ye again. Where. Is. My. Wife?” he growled with deadly calm.
“What are you doing? Get away from my father!” Christopher yelled.
Christopher, Eric, and Robert stood below. They failed to see Connor’s men directly behind them.
“I don’t know where the little bitch is! Hadn’t you stated that she was with you? Binouix said he would be going to take her!”
Connor slammed him against the wall again, knowing that this sorry excuse for a father didn’t know where Maddie was.
A thought came to him: she hadn’t come here after all.
Where was she then?
Fear gnawed at him. Her being here with a known enemy would have been preferable to her being elsewhere with an unknown one.
Connor released Wynton and Wynton sagged to the floor.
“You got what you wanted, Ramsay. You avenged your sister’s violation by using Madeleine, who is our half sister and yours!” Christopher said smugly.
Iain pushed him from behind and Christopher turned around drawing his sword. He inhaled sharply as he realized that he and his brothers were outnumbered.
“Which one of ye bastards violated my sister?” Iain boomed. “There’s unfinished business to take care of.”
Connor came down the stairs. He heard shuffling behind him and turned around, drawing his sword in time. The blade of his sword pricked through Wynton’s stomach and he let out a moan.
“Fight with honor, Wynton, not when a man’s back is turned.”
“Get out of here you savage! Go and make that bitch’s life as miserable as she had made mine! Go bed her and have children touched by the devil,” Wynton said tightly.
“Ye buffoon, she isna my half sister. Ye confused the names many years ago. It wasna Laird Ramsay who took your wife. It was Laird Menzies. If you hadna been so inebriated and such a bloody idiot, ye may have been able to hear the difference!” Connor said heatedly, pressing the sword into Wynton harder.
Wynton had gone pale.
“I chose the wrong girl! At least she wasn’t vulgar-looking like the rest of the Scots,” Robert said, laughing.
Iain looked murderous. He moved forward.
“So it was ye! Shall I make it so that ye never bed a woman? Or should I just end yer worthless life?”
Robert looked to Iain. Fear was evident on his face. He made the mistake of drawing his sword and charging forward.
Iain’s sword went cleanly and swiftly through his middle.
“Bastard,” Iain said and spit on him.
“Anyone else want to challenge us?” Kiel said, drawing his sword.
“Leave! Now!” Christopher yelled. He looked down to his dead brother and then looked over to Eric.
“Leave now, Ramsays. You have avenged your sister’s dishonor by slaying our brother.” Christopher knew better than to challenge the huge Scots.
Connor looked at Wynton one last time.
“Either of ye attempt to attack any of mine, and ye shall pay with yer lives,” Connor roared and descended the steps.
I’ll be closer to the Lord…
It echoed in his mind. It was a line from the letter she had written. He had read it so many times that he knew it by heart.
At the front door, he turned and asked, “Where is the convent Maddie was going to devote her life to?”
Wynton looked as if he didn’t want to answer and Connor took a threatening step forward.
“It is about an hour’s ride from here. Travel north on the trail, and where the path forks, go right.”
Connor slammed the door behind him.
“We ride north, men.”
Connor knew then that she hadn’t died. Although everyone had said that she had, somehow he had known deep in his gut that she hadn’t.
He had forced punishment on himself.
He had blamed himself.
He’d grown to hate himself for having done what he did to the woman he loved.
Every day since she left, it had been harder and harder to breath knowing that he would have to live the rest of his pathetic life without hearing her laugh, seeing her beautiful face, or touching her soft skin. There had been a small flame of hope in his broken heart that had refused to die, though. Even as his head screamed that she was dead, his heart had known the truth all along.
If his wife had been dead, his heart would have stopped beating long ago.