Fraser glared at her, and his eyes, even darker with anger, looked like smoldering coals. Abruptly, he turned to Lachie and began to lay into him with his fists and the flat of his hands, slapping him till he screamed for mercy.
“No! No!” Leana cried, and made a futile attempt to pull Fraser off the screaming man. He pushed her aside easily, and when she tried again he shoved her so hard that she landed on her backside on the floor. Bett came to help her up and they both looked on helplessly as the Laird hauled Lachie up by the front of his shirt and began to drag him outside, still screaming with pain.
Once again Leana tried to intervene, and once again she was pushed out of the way, but this time one of the guards caught her. “Why are you not helping him?” she asked contemptuously, but the man did not answer. No doubt they had their orders, which they never disobeyed. When Leana tried to stop the assault again the guard gripped her arms and held them to her sides. She screamed in frustration.
Fraser’s anger was almost out of control. All he could see was the pathetic, curled up, squealing piece of humanity under his fists. The woman whom he had thought was so beautiful at first had become an irritation, and the third time she tried to stop him he stood up and screamed at her. “Leave me alone!” he roared, and his face looked as ferocious as a snarling dog. If he had expected her to back down, he was disappointed.
“Leave him alone!” she screamed. “Can you no’ see he is hurt?”
“Good!” Fraser roared, pushing his face into hers. “My men shot him because he was stealing my horse. And not just any old horse...” He stumbled over Leana’s name, which he had forgotten. “Annie is a horse I raised from a foal. I love her, but perhaps you do not know how that feels?”
Leana did not often wish to be a man, but she did at that moment, just so that she could knock this arrogant devil of a man to the floor and kick and punch him the way he was doing to Lachie.
Fraser hauled Lachie to his feet and he sank onto his knees again, still too weak to stand up. Frustrated, Fraser got one of his guards to lift him onto the horse he himself had been riding while he went to find Annie.
Annie gave him a neigh of recognition and stamped her feet when she saw him, eager to be out and reunited with him again. Fraser was relieved beyond words. He put her bridle and saddle on, then led her out of the stall and hugged her neck, sighing. It had been a dreadful day, but he had his Annie back, and nothing else mattered.
For the first time he really looked at the young woman who had been arguing with him. There was no doubt that she was a beauty, and Fraser felt his body responding as he looked at her, but his mind was still furiously angry.
“If you were a man I would flatten you!” he growled. “But I do not lay a hand on women, so you are safe, mistress. But do not try my patience anymore or youwillbe sorry, I promise you that. This is my land that you are staying on, and I am not going to have criminals squatting on it because your heart bleeds for them. Do you understand?”
“Indeed I dae, M’Laird” she said, irritated. “Is there anything else M’Laird needs?”
He paused for a second.
“What is your name, girl?” he asked. She bristled, but would not give him the satisfaction of seeing it.
“Leana McBeth, M’Laird,” she replied, curtseying politely. “But I told ye that already. Did ye forget? My faither, Joe McBeth, is inside, but he is no’ well.”
“What is wrong with him?” the Laird asked.
“He has a bad chest,” she replied. “He’s had it ever since he came back fae the last battle wi’ the English. He is a loyal servant o’ the King.”
She stood up straight and proud as she said it, and once more his man’s body weakened as he gazed at her. It had been a long time since he had felt like this, not since his wife Ishbel had died, in fact, and that had been a little over ten years ago.
“A brave man.” He gave a little nod of acknowledgement. “I too had the honor of serving our monarch.”
For a moment Leana thought that he had softened, but it was a forlorn hope. He had merely been distracted for a moment, and as he turned his horse to leave, he tossed a remark back over his shoulder.
“You were complicit in this too. I must find a punishment for you as well. No one defies me.”
Then he urged Annie into a canter and rode away. Leana watched him till he was out of sight, seething inwardly, and went back indoors again. She shoved the door open and slammed it behind her, startling her father and Bett, who were sitting by the fire.
“Whit’s the matter, my lovie?” her father asked, concerned. “Did the Laird take that man with him?”
Leana nodded, but her face was clouded with anger. Bett set a goblet of ale down beside her and Leana drank a little before speaking. “What a horrible, horrible man!” she spat. “If I wis a man I wid have blootered him!”
“An’ got us chucked aff oor land, lass!” her father warned. “Onyway, I hear his bark is worse than his bite. They say he is very fierce but never tells ye aff if ye dinnae deserve it.”
“Hmph!” Leana made a noise of deep disgust. “I will take yer word for it, Faither!”
Bett announced that she was finished. Leana gave her a tight hug and smiled at her. “Thank ye so much, Bett. I dinnae knaw what I wid hae done withoot ye the day, I wis that tired.”
“It wis a pleasure tae help ye oot, Leana.” She smiled. “I knaw how hard ye work.” She waved goodbye to Joe and went to meet her brother, and as she disappeared around the bend in the path, Leana reflected on how wonderful her neighbors were.
She looked up at the sky. It was going to rain in a few minutes, and she went to pick some carrots from the kitchen garden. Her father could cope with small jobs like helping her with cooking, but anything more strenuous than that set him off in paroxysms of coughing. What he really needed was a warm dry place to live instead of the damp and chilly cottage, but unless there was a huge change in their fortunes, Leana knew that could never be.
They ate vegetable stew with dumplings and mugs of fresh goats’ milk, and once again Leana felt the need to sleep. She was dropping on her feet and Joe looked at her anxiously as she cleared up the dishes and washed them. He felt so sorry for her; she should be married and thinking about children of her own instead of being stuck in a place like this looking after him.
