“Few do.”
The fleeting, shy smile she gave him tightened his insides with the desire he was doing such a poor job of banishing. It was a puzzle that he felt any desire at all. Although she looked a lot better than she had when they had entered the cave, she was still all bruised and scratched. Her full lips were dried and cracked by the harsh salty water of the ocean and did not look all that kissable. Her injuries did not dim the beauty of her lithe, shapely form, however, or the glory of her long hair. There was no hiding the beauty of her eyes, either.
“Tell me all ye ken about the ones hunting ye and the lads,” he said in an abrupt attempt to turn his wandering thoughts to something other than all the reasons he wanted her.
Arianna served him some food as she said, “I have told ye most of it. I truly believe that Amiel killed his brother and his true wife or ordered the killing done. He may have kenned the truth about Claud and Marie Anne even though the rest of the family didnae learn of it until shortly after the bodies were found, may have e’en hoped killing them both would keep that secret hidden forever. But Claud left a letter explaining how the boys were nay the bastards everyone thought them but his true heirs.”
She shook her head and helped herself to some food. “I learned shortly after wedding Claud that his branch of the Lucette tree was, weel, verra blood proud. They were nay too certain I was their equal but they badly wished to have my dowry and the tie to my clan for it would ensure that the land they held in Scotland would be weel protected. The news that their eldest son, the heir to all titles and lands, had actually married a common wench, as they called her, appalled them. What little toleration they had shown toward Michel and Adelar faded away in a winking. They immediately set about the expensive and tedious chore of getting Claud’s marriage annulled.”
“But what of you? Did they nay care that they exposed ye to unwarranted shame and embarrassment?”
“Nay. They had already marked me as an utter failure as a wife for I lost the only child I conceived ere we barely kenned I was carrying one and I couldnae keep my husband away from his mistress.” She shrugged. “They didnae ken that I had already learned the truth and was planning a way to get free of the mire I found myself trapped in. All that kept me from leaving the moment I discovered the truth about the boys, about Claud’s lies, was that I wanted to find a way that saved us all, especially the boys, from gossip and the hurt it can bring.”
“The boys all thought were your husband’s bastards.”
“Aye. I was given the care and training of them from the verra beginning. Michel was little more than a bairn. Marie Anne didnae appear to care much for them for she rarely visited them or took them to the bonnie wee cottage Claud bought for her.
“But none of that matters. Amiel is all that concerns me now. He doesnae want to wait until his family gets Claud’s marriage to Marie Anne annulled, or, mayhaps, he doesnae want to lose the money it will cost to see it done. From the moment Claud’s confession was read, Amiel began to plot to kill his own nephews. I truly dinnae think he kenned that Claud had left a confession but it meant he then needed to be rid of the boys, too, before he could grab what he coveted. He e’en joined hands with the DeVeaux to get it.”
The way she nearly spat out that name told Brian all he needed to know. “An old enemy.”
“Verra old and with a lot of Lucette blood on their hands. Matters between the Lucettes and DeVeaux had grown so deadly and dire that the king himself stepped in and forced them into a truce, promising some verra hard, and costly, punishments if the truce was broken.”
“It didnae bring any true peace though, did it?”
“Nay, it just made the DeVeaux grow more secretive in their crimes against the Lucettes and the Lucettes even more subtle in their vengeance. I doubt any of them even recall what started the hatred or who; they just cling to it and make a habit of the old war. Amiel may have convinced people he had the right to kill Claud and Marie Anne because of the shame Claud had brought upon the family name, but not one of his clan will e’er forgive him for dealing with the DeVeaux.”
Brian nodded; fully understanding that, for his family had suffered such a feud until recently. His family had not known peace for long and there had been one clan, the Grays, who had held to the old feud with a deadly tenacity. This tale held all the needed insults and pride that could end with the Murrays and the Lucettes locked in a feud, especially if Arianna’s family discovered the full truth about how the family had treated her.
“What do the DeVeaux want?”
“Aside from simply getting some pleasure out of causing trouble for the Lucettes, I have no idea. I have e’en wondered if Amiel owed them something, some debt. Claud once told me that he held a wee bit of land the DeVeaux badly wanted, something he found greatly amusing. Amiel might have promised them that land in exchange for their aid.” She laughed, a short, harsh sound holding little humor. “He may have e’en promised them me.”
“Why would the DeVeaux want you?”
“My kinsmen tangled with the DeVeaux twice in the past and won each time, even gaining some land and coin from the family. All unforgivable sins in the eyes of the DeVeaux. From the moment I stepped upon French soil they kenned who I was and I ken weel that they watched me. The few times I traveled anywhere outside the Lucette lands I was verra careful, and made sure I was weel guarded.” She quickly covered her mouth with her hand as a powerful need to yawn overtook her. “Pardon.”
“Wheesht, we stopped because we needed to rest; ye far more than I. Yet here I am making ye answer question after question. Stay,” he ordered as he stood up to fetch some blankets.
Arianna gave in to the urge to watch him this time. He moved with an easy grace, one that hinted at the strength and agility held in his tall, lean body. He was, she decided, a pure pleasure to watch. She wryly thought that he probably had to beat the lasses away with a stick. And, from what she was beginning to recall about the MacFingals, she doubted he bothered. The old laird, Sir Brian’s father, had bred himself a small army of bastards and rumor implied that the sons, legitimate and illegitimate alike, were just as profligate. This was not a man she should be sighing after, she told herself firmly. If she ever dared to soften toward any man ever again, she would be certain he understood that she demanded constancy. It was often said that the MacFingal men were incapable of it.
Brian gently pushed her aside when she reached for the blankets he had brought her. “Ye need to rest, m’lady,” he said as he made them each a very rough bed with the blankets. “It is important that ye regain your strength as quickly as possible.” He frowned when he saw that she had put away the remains of their meal while he had spread out the blankets and he pointed at the crude bed he had made for her. “Sleep.”
She rolled her eyes and moved to the blanket spread over the hard floor. The two meager beds he had made were set very close to each other but she decided she would say nothing. Instinct told her that this was not a man who would force himself upon her. She did not ignore the possibility that he might attempt a seduction since she was a widow and close at hand, but Arianna was not worried about succumbing. If she was foolish enough to do so, however, she was no maid who could be forced into marriage to save the family honor. She was a widow of three and twenty.
The hard floor was not softened much by the blanket he had spread out for her. Arianna struggled to hide a wince as she settled herself down and pulled the second blanket he had left for her over herself. Despite the weariness that pulled at her mind and body, she stared wide-eyed at the flickering light of the fire dancing over the ceiling of their little cave. This was the first night in years that she could recall not bidding good sleep to her boys. Her arms ached to pull them close for that last kiss of the day.
Arianna knew that the Lucettes had thought her acceptance of the boys very odd, even considered it proof that she was not good enough for their son and heir. It had not really troubled her. From the moment the boys had been given into her care, she had loved them. The fact that she had suffered no jealousy over Marie Anne being their mother, over the fact that her new husband had a somewhat sordid past, should have told her a lot about her feelings concerning her husband and marriage, but she had ignored the whispers of caution that had slipped through her mind every so often.
What she had never been able to accept, or forgive, was how thoroughly the boys’ parents had ignored their sons. Claud’s family barely stopped themselves from spitting on the children in their disgust that their precious heir would sully himself with some common wench. But this did not seem as great a crime as the way Claud paid no heed at all to his own children. Her boys had been set aside or scorned by every person who should have cared for them. Arianna could not bear it if the boys thought she, too, had deserted them.
“Michel and Adelar will be safe, will they nay?” she asked softly as she listened to Brian settle down between his own blankets.
Brian could hear the fear she held for those children in her voice. He had to clench his hands into tight fists to resist the need to reach out for her, to comfort her. Her love for her false husband’s bastards was something he could only admire.
“My kin will protect them with their own lives,” he said. “As will my whole clan.”
The words carried the force of a blood vow. Arianna knew her ability to trust had been badly damaged by Claud’s deceit. Yet, she trusted in the words Brian uttered, the promise to keep her boys safe weighting every word.
