‘Did you upset her in some way that might have made her ride off in high dudgeon, son,’ said Jasper.
‘Not that I am aware of.’
‘Oh, so you don’t know anything about Maren, nor do you know her mind or her feelings. Well, this is a pretty picture isn’t it?’
Callum looked from one to the other in bewilderment. ‘From what your father says, she might have gone of her own accord, my friend,’ he said. Callum rubbed his eyes, having been summoned to look for Maren and spending the night frantically searching, to no avail. He spoke sense, but Bryce was too beside himself to hear reason.
‘That is ridiculous, Callum. We are newlywed, and she had no reason to leave me.’ Inside, he burned at the thought that Maren might have deceived him all along. She had only agreed to pretend - not to wed, to care, not to share his bed and join her body to his in heated passion. And now she was gone.
‘Son, as I have said a thousand times, Maren went off of her own accord,’ said Jasper. ‘The lady who runs Mistress Gibbons’ shop said that she saw Maren mount her horse and ride away at a gallop.’
Callum turned to Jasper. ‘Is she sure? Could it have been someone else taking Maren’s horse?’
‘I don’t believe she was mistaken. No, the lady was most adamant. Said she was struck by Maren’s brusque manner and disinterestedness, and she did own that the lass was striking enough to stand out in a crowded Inverness. According to the lady, Maren scarcely spent half an hour in her establishment. Where she went during my meeting with Mr Stuart, God knows, but wherever it was, it seemed she had some kind of emergency which made her take to her heels. Now, where could she have gone? Have you any clue, son?’
‘No,’ lied Bryce. There was one possible destination – Balloch, and that dark, bearded man aboard the Jezebel.
‘Well, if she has put herself on the road alone, she could fall prey to any manner of cutpurses and such,’ continued Jasper.
Bryce glared at his father, and Callum intervened before blows were exchanged. ‘I am sure Maren is safe and well, and we will soon get to the bottom of this. That lass does not seem the delicate, helpless type to me. All will be well, Bryce.’
A servant rushed in and bobbed a curtsey. ‘Visitors, Laird. In the yard.’
All three of them rushed outside to find Clara McMullan being helped off her horse by Fergal. They had several clansmen with them and the lovely pale mare Bryce had once gone to haggle over. He was riven with disappointment that it was not Maren, which made him ungracious.
‘What the hell are they doing here?’ he hissed at Jasper.
Jasper smiled at his visitors and replied through gritted teeth, ‘A social visit, no doubt, over and above bringing the mare I have bought. And Bryce, you would do well to hide your wife’s absence.’
‘Why?’
‘Folk gossip,’ said Callum. ‘A lady’s reputation is everything, and people will judge her ill.’
‘What do I care for their opinion of Maren or yours, for that matter?’ he snapped at Callum before turning on his father. ‘And do not dare wave Clara in front of me as a replacement because my wife will be back as soon as may be.’
Before more bitterness could spew forth, Clara and her father mounted the steps with broad smiles, her all smooth grace and sweetness, him all bluster and corpulence. Bryce was struck by the uncharitable notion that perhaps Clara’s mother had strayed in her youth, for they were so different.
‘Forgive the intrusion,’ bellowed Fergal. ‘We have come to deliver the mare, Jasper.’
‘I wonder at your going abroad in such troubled times,’ said Bryce, narrowing his eyes at Fergal. To think that his father had wanted to join him to that ridiculous booby by marriage.
‘I am not afraid of some cutthroat, and we have ample protection,’ he stuttered, waving at his henchmen. ‘But it is pertinent that we discuss this latest shocking murder. A most foul deed, to be sure, though I would keep the worst of it from Clara’s ears, for she is of a delicate constitution.’
‘Of course, she is,’ seethed Bryce.
The usual formalities were exchanged. His father nodded a greeting at Clara and was charming and courteous as usual, whereas Callum was taciturn, as he tended to be with everyone except his wife.
Clara turned searching blue eyes to Bryce’s. ‘Is your wife at home presently?’ she asked, holding his gaze. ‘I would so love to get better acquainted.’
Did she know? He felt sure Maren’s loss must show on his face. ‘No. My wife is out riding at present, a pastime she relishes and excels at,’ he added, remembering their conversation about how hesitant a rider Clara was. He hoped that would shut her up.
She put a hand on her chest. ‘I am shocked you would let her go out unaccompanied, given the recent grisly find in the woods.’
‘Have no fear for her. My Maren can look out for herself. Now I must take my leave. Urgent business with the stable master that cannot wait, and I need to get my father’s new horse settled.’ He took Clara’s dainty hand in his and kissed it. ‘A pleasure, as always.’
‘Bryce,’ his father called after him. ‘The mare is not for me. It is a wedding present for Maren.’
***
