As Mairead looked around the room, she began to see more looks of doubt cast her way.
“There ye have it,” said Lachlan triumphantly. “We’re done here.”
Mairead shook her head and stepped away from Tadhg. “Not quite. Darcy tells a scandalous tale, but he has muddled the details a bit.”
“Get your wife under control, Matheson, before she draws ye into more trouble than ye can handle,” Lachlan warned.
“Lachlan, I have listened patiently to Darcy’s story. Now I want to hear Mairead’s. Sweetling, do ye have anything to say to this?”
“Aye, I do. Let me make sure I haven’t misunderstood him first. Darcy, as I understand it, ye want everyone to believe I wanted ye to molest me seven years ago and it was such a pleasant experience I sought ye out again today?”
Mairead glanced at her mother and was shocked. Her mother wasn’t staring at her with disapproval or shame as Mairead had always imagined. No, she glared at Darcy, and if looks could kill, Darcy would be lying dead at her feet.
“Molest ye? Nay, pet, that isn’t what happened. Ye gave yourself to me like a wanton the first time seven years ago and every year since then.”
“Did I?”
“Aye, ye did.”
“Now, that would have been difficult, Darcy. Da, would ye care to tell him why?”
“Aye, lass. Ye see, Darcy, while the MacKenzies always go the Michaelmas Fair, Mairead hasn’t gone with us in seven years.”
Clearly caught in one lie, Darcy tried to bluster. “Well, that may have been an exaggeration, but don’t try to deny it happened the first time, because there are four Fraser warriors who will attest to it.”
Mairead laughed mirthlessly. “Ye are a bigger fool than I thought ye were. To start with, how many people in this hall do ye think believe any lass of four and ten would willingly give herself to five lads or even to one lad in front of four others?”
“I don’t care if they believe it or not. Facts are facts and I have witnesses.”
“And clearly ye think I don’t.”
“There was a bit of a crowd there, lass, but nay, it was just the five of us with the MacKenzie whore, wasn’t it, Guthrie?”
“Aye, Darcy, that’s the way I remember it.”
“Ye must be thinking of some other time ye had a romp with a few braw lads.”
“Da, ye may want to rethink marrying one of us to this clan. If Guthrie and Darcy are any mark of them, they seem to have a bit of trouble remembering things. Frankly, it surprises me, Darcy. I would think every time ye see your reflection ye would remember the other person who was there. After all, he is the one who pulled ye off me and spoiled your pretty face by breaking your nose.”
Darcy’s expression darkened as some of his smugness slipped away. “Oh, are ye beginning to remember now?”
“Do ye expect people to believe that? Have ye found some kinsman who will lie and say he saved ye from me? What wee favor did ye grant him for that falsehood? Besides, what is one man’s word against five?” He regained a little of his bravado. Clearly Darcy thought she couldn’t possibly find the priest in question.
“I’m not worried about people believing this one man. Ye know full well ‘twas no kinsman who saved me that day. I suppose your strongest memory of him might be the sight of his fist slamming into your nose, but it really would have been hard to miss his priest’s robes.”
Surprised gasps rippled through the hall. “Ye remember now too, don’t ye, Guthrie? I believe it was ye who said, ‘Sorry, Father, it was a misunderstanding, no harm done.’ Ye see ye really are an eejit, Darcy, because if ye had paid the slightest attention to anything around ye save your own desires, ye might have noticed Father Colm there is the priest who broke your nose that day.”
Darcy’s eyes narrowed and he looked much less confident.
“Is that true, Father? Were ye there?” asked Laird Fraser.
All eyes turned to the priest. “My lady, do ye give me permission to discuss this?”
“Aye, Father. I was a scared child and should never have bound ye by confession. As ye said when it happened, my sin that day was disobeying my father by going to the fair without an escort, nothing more.” The shock of awareness crossed her father’s countenance.
“Since Lady Matheson has released me from the sacramental seal, aye, Laird Fraser, I was there. I heard her screams from the road. Your fine strapping son needed four kinsmen to hold the frightened wee lass down. I pulled him off and broke his nose, just as Lady Matheson said. Thankfully, I stopped him before he could do worse than terrorize her, but that was harm enough.”