Page 89 of Claimed Highland Brides

He sat down on his bed with a sigh as the sound of a scream drifted up to him from the courtyard below. It was high-pitched and filled with laughter and it reminded him so much of Maegan. His sister was relying on him to bring her home and here he was agonizing about the fact that the means to do that had fallen in his lap!

He stood up and began pacing again, his mind running a mile a minute as he tried to reconcile his morals with the imperative to save his sister. The truth was that he was rather charmed by the girl. Sharing a bed with her and having all the time in the world seemed like a dream. He could easily get used to that! After all, he had to marry sometime. Never before had he met a girl he could imagine himself getting old with! She was witty, spontaneous, vigorous. He was calculated, calm and thoughtful. They completed each other!

I can marry her and pay the dowry and still be a good husband, can’t I?

He stopped pacing for a moment, wondering if he’d hit on the answer.

But what will I tell her about her missing dowry?

I can win her trust while being married and then tell her the truth. Delwyn resumed pacing back and forth, his mind spinning. His deadline loomed like a shadow in his mind. He knew a wedding announcement might buy him some time, but not much. If he did not give those men what they wanted heaven only knew what they would do to his sister. Delwyn did not think he could live with himself if he had not done everything in his power to save her.

He stopped pacing again, throwing off his tunic and divesting himself of his breeches before he crossed to the basin and used the cold water therein to clean himself up. He was glad of the cold, for it cleared his mind and made everything stand out clearly.

Once he was married to Jamesina, everything she had, including the dowry, would belong to him. She would have no right to question how he used it. As her husband, it was his right to spend it any way he chose. He would be doing nothing wrong in using a portion of it to save his sister. Once that was done, he would devote himself to being a good husband. She would have no reason to regret her choice.

With a heavy heart, he set aside any dreams he’d ever had of going to sea and seeking adventure. Clearly it was not meant for him. He changed into his nightclothes and burrowed under the blanket, trying to make a plan for tomorrow. Yet it did not surprise him at all when he heard a knock on the door.

With a sigh, he got up again and went to answer it. He stepped back, resigned, as Laird Daividh Campbell stormed into the room. He stomped up to the window and looked out, taking in the courtyard below before turning to face Delwyn.

“What d’ye want wi’ Miss Jamesina?”

Bereft of words and with no defense for his actions, Delwyn kept quiet. The laird took a step closer. “So ye dinnae intend tae speak at all?” he demanded.

He shrugged, spreading his hands out helplessly. “What can I say that will excuse my actions, sir? I acted in a rash and reckless manner and I am quite willing to take the consequences.”

“Especially when the consequences come wi’ a decent pile o’ gold eh?” Campbell eyed him cynically.

Delwyn took a deep breath. “I suppose it does make things easier to accept,” he murmured.

He’d barely gotten the sentence out when the laird leaped for him, wrapping his large hand around Delwyn’s neck. He squeezed, cutting off Delwyn’s air. “Ye think this is a jest? Ye think ye can just bandy my sister aboot like a wee bawbee? I shall end ye!” His voice was low, hissing, and absolutely threatening. Delwyn tried to swallow but the laird’s hands around his neck were squeezing too tight.

“I spoke... out of turn. Forgive me.” He managed to utter. He looked at Daividh’s eyes with no fear and then moved his head to the side. Daividh loosened his grip a bit so that Delwyn could talk. “What I meant to say,” he rasped, “was that while the thought of not having to provide a roof for my bride is somewhat of a relief given my reduced circumstances, I am not marrying her solely for that.”

“Solely?” The laird squeezed tighter. “So ye have other reasons? Like wha’?”

Delwyn closed his eyes, trying to construct a sentence that would not give him away. “Your sister is very becoming. I was taken with her from my first sight of her at the inn.” He realized as he said it, that it was the truth. He had been struck by her ruddy hair, a blaze of color that stood out in the midst of the dark, stony, dreary surroundings of the inn’s corridor. Her doe eyes, so huge and innocent, making him want to defile her in the filthiest ways. He was not surprised that he could not acknowledge those feelings before.

“So you elected to wha’? Follow her and see wha’ would happen?”

Delwyn could see that the laird was determined to take anything he said out of turn. He relaxed in the man’s grip, meeting his dark blue-eyed gaze with his own.

“I did not plan it, but…this outcome is not unpleasing to me. If you’re worried that I shall mistreat your sister in any way, I do assure you that I am a gentleman and will act accordingly.”

“Ye dinnae ‘act accordingly’ this night.”

Delwyn nodded, determined to remain unflappable. “That is true and for whatever disrepute I have brought to Miss Douglass, I am sorry.”

The laird exhaled loudly and with great annoyance. “Yer betroth will be announced taemorrow at breakfast. Dinnae be late.”

Delwyn’s eyes opened wide. He nodded his understanding and the laird strode out.