By the time the sun hit the highest point in the sky, her life here in Lairig Dubh was done.
And two days later, Catriona MacKenzie was no more.
Chapter Twenty
Connor was in Gair’s chamber when Aidan crashed in. He saw everything he expected to see in his son’s eyes—fury, loss, frustration, mistrust, confusion. It was only a matter of time before he discovered his leman was gone. And then, only a matter of minutes before he came to see the man he knew would be responsible for such a thing.
He’d kept Aidan busy preparing for the visitors who would arrive at their gates this day and only when he disobeyed and went to see her did he find the empty house, the deed to it and the coins returned in the sack.
‘What did you do to her?’ Aidan said in a deadly calm voice. ‘Where have you sent her?’
‘She is gone from Lairig Dubh, that is all you need to know,’ Connor admitted as he closed the door. He did not want Jocelyn in the middle of this. ‘And since you have others things to put your mind on, I think it is good timing.’
Aidan resembled Jocelyn when she became irate and their son was certainly that. His hands balled into fists. Would he take that step and strike out at him? It was a time coming quickly and Connor knew, if not now, very, very soon. And that thought did not displease him. Every man must reach the time when he challenged his father. Connor was just disappointed that it was over this woman.
‘She should not be punished for my mistakes, Father,’ Aidan said.
‘What makes you think this is some kind of punishment? Your leman’s very existence was causing problems right now. The brawl in the village was only the latest. Now she is gone and you can move on and choose an appropriate wife without her as a distraction.’
‘So, you are punishing me by removing her?’ Aidan walked up closer to him. ‘I would not have thought you, even at your most ruthless, would do something like that.’
‘Aidan, it is time for you to marry.’
‘Why not...?’ Connor put his hand up in front of Aidan’s angry, red face to stop him.
‘My son will not take a whore to wife. Not while I am living and in charge of the people and lands of the MacLerie clan.’
‘She is not a whore!’ Aidan yelled.
Connor knew the moment Aidan’s control snapped and prepared as his fists came at him. He let his son take a few, good, close swings, before knocking him down. When Aidan regained his feet, wiping his face, Connor pushed him into the chair in the corner.
He’d discovered how Catriona MacKenzie had married Gowan and, though he did not condemn her for any of it, that knowledge became useful to him. He also understood how a man in love felt and saw the world. But, as Earl of Douran, laird and chieftain of his clan, he could not let his son’s first true love influence the decisions made—all must be done for the good of the clan.
‘I have spoken to most of the men who served with Gowan when he married Catriona those years ago. He was travelling through the edges of MacKenzie lands and came upon a man whoring out his daughter. Gowan bought her from him and brought her to our lands, kept her until he knew she did not carry another man’s bairn and then married her.’
Connor could see that Aidan was surprised to learn this about the woman he loved. He turned away and gave his son some time to think about it before continuing.
‘She had, at some point, given birth to some man’s bastard and resisted going back into her trade. Her father did not countenance her refusal and forced her to take customers whether she said aye or nay. Gowan took her from that life.’
‘I do not believe you.’
‘’Tis the way of things, Aidan. But you needed to know the truth of it. And the reason why she cannot ever be wife to you, my heir. Not when we can choose from the most virtuous, wealthiest women in the surrounding kingdoms. From women tied to every clan and family in power in Scotland, England and most of the Continent and the north. I will not accept a common whore as your wife.’
The strangest thing happened then, something Connor did not expect. Aidan matured before his eyes, his temper quelled, his face and expression grew calm and he nodded as though he understood. Connor knew he did not accept what had been done or said or decisions made, but he gathered his opposition under control. His son stood and nodded at him.
‘I have only one other question for you, Father,’ Aidan said as he walked to the chamber’s door. ‘Is she well?’
‘Aye. She is well.’ Connor could tell him that.
Aidan walked away then and Connor let out the breath he did not realise he was holding. Sinking into the chair where Aidan had just sat, he considered what his son would do next.
If it were him, he would begin sending out men to the MacLerie holdings and looking from village to village for a woman who’d just moved there. He suspected that was what Aidan would do now. It would do him no good, for Catriona was not on MacLerie lands—he’d sent her to Robert Matheson and asked for a place among his people for a widow who’d lost her husband in the service of his laird.
Although he allowed Aidan, and would allow anyone else who knew of his involvement, to believe he forced the matter, he did not tell his son that it had been Catriona’s choice to leave.
She’d arranged to speak to him at Ciara’s house and asked for his help in return for leaving and staying out of Aidan’s life. He paid her the fair value of the house and made arrangements for a woman called Coira MacCallum to travel to Matheson lands and live there. She said she did not want Aidan to find her and now he would not.
The strange thing was that she did not reveal her condition to him, when she could have used it to gain support for the bairn and for herself. Ciara had told him quietly before Catriona arrived at her house and bade him to let her tell him. She did not.
