Ransom (39 page)

Gideon laughed. “You're most perceptive, Laird, for it does indeed involve our Bridgid. There has been yet another request for her hand in marriage.”

A resigned look on his face, Ramsey asked, “Who is it this time?”

“The soldier's name is Matthias,” Gideon said. “He's a MacPherson and I would warn you that if Bridgid agrees to marry him after turning down so many of our worthy and proud Sinclair soldiers, there will be hell to pay.”

Now Ramsey laughed. “If Bridgid is anything, she's predictable. We both know she isn't going to agree to have this Matthias, so you needn't worry about the repercussions. Send her in, and I'll put the question to her. I'd like Brodick to meet her.”

“Why?” Brodick asked.

“She's . . . intriguing,” Ramsey explained.

“Begging your indulgence, but her mother requests an audience first, Laird. She wishes to speak to you before Bridgid is summoned.”

“Is she waiting now?”

“No,” Gideon answered. “I'll send someone to fetch her.”

“When we're finished,” Ramsey said. “I want you to give the order for all the men to gather in the courtyard at sunset. Every single man must attend,” he added.

“Accept no excuses,” Brodick interjected.

Gideon immediately nodded. “As you wish,” he said. He studied Ramsey for several seconds and then asked, “Are you planning to make an announcement then? Do I congratulate you?”

“No,” Ramsey replied.

Curious about Gideon's remark, Brodick asked, “Congratulate you on what?”

“I've been asked by the elders to consider marriage to Meggan MacPherson. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do. 'Tis the truth I haven't had time to think about it. I'll admit it would make my life easier if the two clans were joined by marriage.”

“You'll break a lot of hearts,” Dylan couldn't help remarking. “There were quite a few pretty young ladies following after you, but I noticed none had the courage to come forward and speak to you.”

“They usually hound him,” Gideon said. “Today, however, they were most timid. I believe I know the reason why they stayed away.”

“And what would that reason be?” Brodick asked.

Gideon decided to be blunt. “You, Laird. You were standing with Ramsey, and that's why the women didn't come forward. Though they're clearly besotted with their laird, they're more frightened by you.”

Dylan grinned. “'Tis good to know that you can still make the ladies fainthearted, Brodick.”

“We don't have time for foolish banter,” Ramsey muttered,
clearly uncomfortable with the talk about the young ladies' behavior. Brodick knew it embarrassed Ramsey to be chased after because of the way he looked, and as his friend, Brodick used that knowledge to his advantage. Whenever he could increase Ramsey's discomfort, he did exactly that.

“It must be sheer hell for you to be cursed with such a pretty boy's face,” he drawled. “The agony of finding a different woman in your bed every night must wear you thin. I don't know where you get your stamina with this terrible burden you bear.”

The muscle in Ramsey's jaw flexed, which pleased Brodick considerably.

“We know you've had as many women in your bed as I have,” Ramsey snapped. “But I meant what I said. There are more important matters to discuss.”

Weary now, he walked to the table, deliberately shoving Brodick out of his way when he tried to block him and gaining a good laugh from his friend. Motioning to Dylan and Gideon to take their seats, Ramsey sat down at the head of the table, grabbed a pitcher of cold water, poured another drink, and asked the young squire waiting by the doorway to fetch them some warm bread and cheese to ease their hunger until supper was ready.

As soon as the boy left the hall, Ramsey suggested that Brodick fill Gideon in on all that had transpired. “Our commanders are going to have to coordinate their efforts for the attack,” he said. “Iain wants Winslow and Dylan and you to handpick the soldiers who'll ride with us into England.”

“We're attacking England?” Gideon asked, astonished.

“No,” Brodick answered. “Though the thought of it warms my heart.”

He leaned back and then told Gideon what had happened
and how Gillian had saved Alec Maitland. Gideon had trouble taking it all in. When Brodick finished, the soldier, shaking his head, whispered, “Dear God, it's a miracle Alec survived.”

“His miracle was Gillian,” Brodick said. “If it were not for her, Alec would be dead.”

“And no one would have known there was a traitor in our midst,” Ramsey pointed out.

“Who would do such a thing?” Gideon asked the question, then pounded his fist on the tabletop as he offered an answer. “It must be a MacPherson because they are the only ones who would gain in this. There are many who would cheer your death, Laird, and all of them are under Proster's thumb. Though he's little more than a boy, he has gained their loyalty. They are rebels, pure and simple.”

“My mind is not so set as yours, and I will be certain before I act,” Ramsey said.

He raised his hand for silence as the squire came hurrying into the hall with a platter of bread and cheese. After the boy placed the food on the table, Ramsey ordered him to wait in the kitchens and then resumed the discussion. “We must help Gillian find her sister. I have given her my word.”

“It's a certainty that the woman is a MacPherson?” Gideon asked, rubbing his jaw as he considered the matter.

“Yes,” Ramsey answered. “Her name's Christen, and she's a few years older than Gillian.”

“The family surely changed her name in order to protect her,” Brodick interjected.

“Still, I'm hopeful that Brisbane and Otis will know who she is. Nothing escapes their notice.”

“I might be able to help,” Gideon said. “My father also has a strong memory and knows most of the MacPhersons.
He hates them, but he's civil to them,” he added. “His sister married a MacPherson. She's dead now, but she was ill-treated by her husband, and my father will never forget that. Still, he would help you, Laird, if he can. If a family took a child in, then my father would most likely know about it. Now that he's feeling better, he detests being confined and this puzzle will help distract him. With your permission, Laird, I'll go to him as soon as possible.”

“Gideon's father broke his leg in a bad fall,” Ramsey explained to Brodick and Dylan. “It's good news to hear that he's going to mend. For a time, we thought he wasn't going to make it, and Gideon rushed home to be by his side.”

“If he cannot walk again, he would rather die,” Gideon commented. “But now there is a glimmer of hope. If you don't need me for a couple of days, I could leave now. I could be halfway there before darkness falls.”

“Yes,” Ramsey agreed. “The sooner you speak to your father, the better. Brisbane and Otis will take days worrying about their duty to the MacPhersons, and you could be back with the information we need before those old men make up their minds to tell us the truth.”

“Christen might come forward on her own,” Dylan suggested.

Gideon started to stand up, then changed his mind. “Laird, you said that we'll be riding into England, but where exactly will we be going?”

“We don't know . . . yet,” Ramsey admitted. “Gillian hasn't given us the names of the Englishmen who held Alec captive and made the bargain with the traitor.”

Perplexed, Gideon asked, “Why hasn't she told you, Laird?”

Brodick answered. “She has it in her mind that if she
tells us who the men are, then we'll attack, leaving her uncle vulnerable. She also worries that I'll force her to stay here.”

“But that is what you're going to do, isn't it?” Ramsey asked. “You surely won't allow her to return to England.”

“It's complicated,” Brodick said. “Gillian's headstrong.”

“Which is why you were drawn to her,” Ramsey pointed out.

Brodick shook his head. “How can I demand her trust knowing all the while in my heart that I'm going to betray that trust? Hell, I don't know what to do. I don't like the idea of breaking my word to her, but the thought of her in such danger is unacceptable.”

“You're going to have to work this out with her and quickly. We need the names,” Ramsey said.

Gideon stood and bowed to his laird. “With your permission, I'll take my leave now.”

“Give your father my good wishes for a full recovery.”

“I will,” he promised. He started toward the entrance, then turned. “Laird, with all this news I forgot to ask . . .”

“Yes?”

“Do you still want the men to gather in the courtyard tonight? I'll have Anthony give the order,” he hastily added. “But if you aren't going to announce your decision to marry Meggan, then may I ask why you wish to address your men? Perhaps I should stay.”

Ramsey realized then that an important detail had been left out of the telling. “We have an advantage in finding the traitor,” he said. “Gillian saw the man as he was riding toward her estates.”

“She saw him?” Gideon asked, astonished.

“Aye, she saw the bastard,” Dylan confirmed. “From the description of where she was hiding, I'd say she was close
enough to spit in his face, but the fool never knew she was there.”

“And that's why I want every man to come to the courtyard. Gillian will look at each one of them, and if the man is there, she'll spot him,” Ramsey said.

Gideon shook his head. “And she'll recognize the traitor for a certainty?”

“Yes,” Ramsey said.

“Then she must be protected at all costs. If this man knows she can point him out, he'll surely try to silence her before—”

“She's well protected,” Dylan announced. “We Buchanans aren't going to let anything happen to her. She belongs to us now.”

Gideon blinked. “Lady Gillian belongs to the Buchanans?” he asked Ramsey, confused by Dylan's boast.

His laird nodded. “Aye, she does. She just doesn't know it yet.”

R
amsey's audience with Bridgid KirkConnell's mother, Leah, left a bitter taste in his mouth. When the woman had walked into the great hall, Ramsey's first impression of her was positive. Though in her middle years, Leah was still a striking woman. Aye, time had been kind to her. After listening to what she had to say, Ramsey's opinion of her radically changed, and by the time she left the hall, the sight of her sickened him.

He and Brodick had gone to the lake to wash and change into clean clothes, but as soon as he'd heard Leah's petition regarding her daughter, Ramsey felt the sudden need to wash again. Leah's perfidy blasphemed motherhood.

Brodick returned to the hall a few minutes after the encounter frowning, as was his usual inclination, because Gillian was still talking to Brisbane and Otis. He was anxious to hear what news they'd given her. There was also the fact that he wanted her by his side, an admission that made his frown intensify, for even he realized he was acting like an infatuated boy.

He found Ramsey slumped in a chair, his head bowed as though in prayer.

When his friend looked up and Brodick saw his sour expression, he asked, “What ails you? You look like you've swallowed lye.”

“I feel as though I have,” Ramsey admitted. “I just finished an audience with Bridgid KirkConnell's mother, Leah.”

“I take it the meeting didn't go well.”

“The woman is foul,” Ramsey muttered. “How in God's name am I going to tell Bridgid that her own mother . . .”

“What?”

He sighed. “Leah's jealous of her daughter,” he explained, shaking his head over such a sin.

“Did she say as much?”

“No, but it was very apparent that's the root of her trouble. Leah is newly married, and she doesn't like the way her husband looks at Bridgid. She thinks he lusts after her daughter, and she wants Bridgid out of her house.”

“Maybe she's thinking to protect Bridgid,” Brodick suggested.

Ramsey shook his head again. “No, her daughter's welfare is the last of her concerns. She went on and on about how old she looks when she's standing near Bridgid.”

“For God's sake,” Brodick muttered. “Why must you deal with such petty matters?”

“Like you, I, too, must look out for all my clan, and Bridgid is part of my family. Stay and meet her,” he urged. “Then you'll understand why I'm so sickened by her mother's behavior.”

“Does Bridgid know her mother wants her to leave her home?”

“I don't know,” he answered. “Leah sent her to her sister
to stay for a spell, using the excuse that Bridgid's aunt needed help with the new baby.”

“Then maybe she can return to the aunt's house.”

“It was only a temporary solution,” Ramsey explained. “The aunt has five children and lives in a small cottage. There simply isn't room for Bridgid.”