Page 65 of Claimed Highland Brides

“We are not paying a ransom for her. She made her bed, and now she’ll lie in it.”

Delwyn stepped closer, eyeing his father in disbelief, looming over the Duke as he sat at his desk in the study. “You cannot possibly be serious, Father! She’s your daughter. Your only daughter.”

The Duke waved a hand dismissively. “Pah! She’s always been stubborn. Serves her right. Always thought she knew better than everyone.”

Delwyn blinked at him, unable to fathom how his father could say such things. “We cannot just leave her with a group of brigands, undefended.”

“It’s too late now. Whatever they mean to do with her, it’s already done.”

Delwyn just gaped at his father. He had always known that the Duke was cold and distant. He barely spoke to any of his children except Aaren, who was his heir and therefore warranted rambling talks about their history and heritage. Sometimes, when Delwyn returned from hunting with particularly large game, his father might grunt and nod in approval but that was it.

However, whenever he went off to the capitol, he always returned with some trinket for his youngest child—a new gown or a comb for her hair. Something that showed he had been thinking of her while he was away. Delwyn had always thought that Maegan was the only child that the Duke loved. Now he was throwing her away like she was nothing.

“She will suffer.”

“She went WITH A MAN. She left us!” his father shouted.

“Did you NOT SEE the letter?” Delwyn shouted back at him on top of his lungs.

“Listen to me boy. You have no idea how any of this works. You just turned twenty. You know nothing.”

Delwyn paused for a second.

His father continued. “This,” he said pointing at the letter. “is just a trick.She was seeing that man. And he has no gold mine - trust me. If he had he would marry another girl, a cousin of the King perhaps. And if he loved your sister and had so much wealth he would ask her hand properly. But he has nothing, I am sure of that. He is a bastard! The letter you are holding is an attempt to drain us. To take every last piece of wealth we have.”

This was not completely illogical but still his sister was probably in danger. He had to do something. “What if it is not as you are saying. What if she is in danger.”

“We can not know that for sure. And I will not risk our wealth and the wellbeing of our tenants just in case she is in danger. She put herself in that situation. She made her choice.”

Delwyn could not believe his ears.

“Do not look at me like that boy! You do not understand these matters. That is why you will never be the Duke.”

Delwyn took a deep breath. “If you won’t get her back, then I will,” Delwyn declared.

His father sneered. “And how will you do that? Do you have a source of income I know nothing about?”

Delwyn narrowed his eyes. “If I cannot pay them the money, then I will have to rescue her some other way.”

“How?” The derision in his father’s voice was obvious.

Delwyn hesitated, not having an answer. “I will find a way,” he said at last.

“Mmmph.” His father turned and walked out of his study as Delwyn watched with disbelief. Aaren stood leaning against the wall while his mother sat hunched over in a chair. Delwyn looked from one to the other. “What will we do about this?”

Aaren shook his head. “What can we do? There is nothing. If he won’t give us the ransom, or the men to rescue her with, I do not see that we have any other options.”

Bronwen raised her head from her lap. “There is one thing you can do. It will take more time but...we might be able to get her back. Eventually.”

Delwyn took a deep breath. He would have preferred something fast and decisive but Aaren was right. Without their father’s resources, they had next to nothing to bargain or bully with. “What is it, Mother?”

“I heard tell of a mine in Scotland. A goldmine, rich in ore. That is the mine in question. The man probably works there, or has some connections to it. The mine is operated by a family named Douglass. Before the father died, he arranged it so that the ownership was transferred to the daughters to be given, if they so wished, to their husbands as dowry. Only one of the daughters is married. That is all I could learn.”

Delwyn froze with alarm. “What are you saying, Mother? You wish me to travel to Scotland and broker a marriage in order to pay the ransom?”

Bronwen dropped her head into her hands again, shaking with grief. “I wish you to rescue your sister. I would hope that unlike your father, you are willing to do whatever it takes.”

Delwyn noisily expelled a breath, turning away from his family to stare outside the window. “This thing you’re asking of me…”

“Oh please dear, hear me!” Bronwen cried. “I do not ask you to do anything. I simply present you with a possibility. I cannot ask you to make this sacrifice. Only you can decide to do it.”

Aaren stirred and Delwyn turned to face him. “If I could, I would do it myself but you know that Father has already contracted a marriage union for me.”

Delwyn nodded. He did indeed know. His father had touted the contract as the greatest coup he had ever achieved. The lady was the daughter of a duke, albeit disgraced, and came with a slew of connections that no amount of money could buy.

Delwyn suspected that part of his father’s reluctance to chase after Maegan lay in his fear that all his hard work would be undone should the duke’s family find out about this.