Alex looked to Petro. “Always full of surprises.”
Petro grinned. “Tis why she is the perfect Lady MacKay.”
“What changed yer mind about me writing to yer father?” Alex asked Helen.
She moved deeper into the large chamber. “Time to think about everything,” she said. “I’ve let people make decisions for me all my life, Laird Alex. For once, I would like the earl to respect me, even if he thinks I’m wrong.”
Alex folded his hands on top of his table and leaned forward. “Yer father will most assuredly believe ye wrong. Are ye prepared if he sends yer brothers and an army to recover ye? For if ye start the conversation with him, Lady Helen, ye must face the consequences when he shows up to get a direct explanation for yer actions.”
Helen tried to ease the tension between her shoulders as she considered Alex’s warning. Every time she thought about her sire, her neck muscles tightened up and she felt like she was carrying the weight of the world on her back. At least she had gotten past the part where her throat went dry and she couldna find the right words to say. But in truth, the idea of facing the earl made her want to hide in her bedchamber.
“It seems I have nay choice.”
“All right,” Alex said. “Petro?”
“Milord?”
“Are ye willing to help Lady Helen with her missive to the Earl of Sutherland?”
Petro nodded at Alex, then faced Helen. “I would be honored to assist you, Lady Helen.”
“Then it is decided.” Alex stood and stretched. “I will leave the two of ye alone. As for my wife…” He joined Keely and hooked an arm around her slim waist. “I believe we should take some fresh air together.”
“Alex,” Keely said. “Send for Miran first. Lady Helen shouldna be left alone with a man in yer solar.”
“Aye.” He walked to the solar door and opened it. A guard bowed. “Fetch Miran.”
*
“I had noreason to tell ye,” the earl said, watching as the behemoth, Laird Munroe, paced his great hall.
“No reason?” his guest snarled. “Is she my betrothed or not?”
“The lass has never disobeyed me. In order to protect her reputation, I have dealt with this quietly. My men are searching for her as we speak. If she is in the Highlands, Helen will be found and brought home. That I promise.”
Baran Munroe wasna an easy man to keep company with. He dinna care much for formalities and treated the earl as if they were equals. “This French wine,” he complained, “is meant for women to drink. Give me something with teeth, something that will cool my temper.”
The earl rolled his eyes. That wine cost more silver than all the ale in the isles. However, the laird’s barbaric manners provided some secret entertainment for the earl, for he could easily see the man wearing animal skins and roaming the vast hills barefoot and half-starved in the days of the Picts.
“Remember what a treasure ye gain with my only daughter.”
The laird reached inside his tunic and produced a small painting of Lady Helen. “Is this a true likeness?” he asked.
“It does her no justice,” the earl said as he waved one of the maids over. “Bring ale for Laird Munroe.”
The maid curtsied and left the great hall.
“She is a rare beauty, like her mother before her.”
The answer seemed to mollify Baran long enough for him to sink down in the chair beside the earl. “John…”
The earl could bear much, but not this. “I dinna give ye permission to use my name,” he said, his voice hard. “Helen will be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly if she has dishonored our family. However, if she has fled in fear, as many maidens do before they marry, I will show her kindness, for she has been a tolerable lass all these years.”
Baran grunted as he swallowed down the last bit of his wine. “Ye have the benefit of three sons. I am cursed with six daughters, only two worth their salt.”
The earl knew the laird to be the lowest sort of man, and had high hopes that after he married Helen, he’d die soon,accidentlyof course. With him out of the way, as the marriage contract designated, half of his assets would become Sutherland property and Helen would be free to marry again, this time to a man she preferred.
Though unfair to sweet Helen, he would reward her for her pain and suffering. Laird Munroe had promised (and provided it in writing) that he wouldna mistreat, physically harm, or starve Helen: a necessary measure to protect his daughter.
