Highland Courage(90)
Tadhg couldn’t believe his ears. “No hard feeling? Your son attacked my wife!”
“I said I would deal with him. Shall I have him horsewhipped here, where ye can watch?” Lachlan demanded. “Ye think your wee wife would like seeing that?”
No matter how much Darcy had hurt Mairead, Tadhg firmly believed she would not want to witness his punishment. “Nay, she wouldn’t.”
“I thought as much. So, MacIan, we will go.”
Niall agreed, but Eara Fraser spoke up. “I don’t think we should leave, Da.”
“Haven’t ye caused enough trouble?” her father asked.
“Da, I can’t find Darcy or Rafer anywhere. No one has seen them since yesterday evening. I suspect while ye were all on a wild goose chase after the Matheson wench, the highly affronted Laird Matheson did something to them.”
“If Darcy and Rafer are missing, I had nothing to do with it, more’s the pity. I was on the ‘wild goose chase,’ as ye call it.”
“Don’t believe him, Da. Ye don’t think he’d let an attack on his wife go unanswered, do ye?”
“Matheson, where is my son?” Lachlan demanded.
“I am at the absolute edge of my patience, Fraser. I agreed to let ye handle Darcy as much as I hated doing so. I also made a vow to Laird MacIan that I would not harm any guest here. Are ye questioning my honor now? Your honor seems to be on somewhat shaky ground, if ye ask me.”
Lachlan rose to his feet, bristling. “Both of ye stand down,” Niall ordered. “By all that’s holy, lass, are ye trying to start a feud?”
“MacIan, that’s my daughter ye are talking to.”
“Aye, Lachlan, and ye said yourself she has been responsible for her share of the trouble we find ourselves in. I will send my men to search for your son, but ye need to calm down. Nothing will be gained by jumping to conclusions.”
Lachlan backed down, but the tension in the great hall remained high. After several hours of searching, Darcy and Rafer had not been found. However, they had been seen saddling horses and riding eastward. Arguments broke out about the best course of action. Lachlan wanted to send men to search for them. Tadhg wholeheartedly agreed.
“Ye think I would agree to let ye and yer men search for my son? Ye are as likely to kill him when ye find him as anything else.”
“Lachlan, I have taken a vow not to harm him.”
“Then ye will have no trouble keeping it sitting here in MacIan’s hall.”
“Ye’d like that, I’m sure. That way ye can let him escape any justice.”
“I have promised ye I will see him punished. I’m not proud of what he did, but he is my son, dammit!”
“And Rowan and Mairead are my children!” roared Cathal. “Lachlan, ye should be more worried about me than Matheson. Mairead is gentle and may stay his hand, but not mine. When this is over, I will seek vengeance.”
“Stop this. All of ye.” Sine’s voice was quiet but firm. “Da, ye wanted to be allied with the MacKenzies. Ye needed their strength. Laird MacKenzie, ye wanted it, too. It seems to me, if anything, we all need this tie now more than ever. Da, what Darcy did was vile. Ye can’t defend that.”
Eara started to object but Sine silenced her. “Nay, Eara, for once keep still. Ye have brought this disgrace on yourself, too. Rowan is a fine man and would have made ye an excellent husband, but ye couldn’t be content with that. Ye are willful and wanton. Why Da is listening to ye now is beyond me.”
“Sine, my little dove, ye don’t understand—”
“Aye, I do. The betrothal between Eara and Rowan was intended to strengthen us and ensure peace. But if Darcy killed that peace, Eara drove the nail in the coffin. Ye have no cause to be angry with the MacKenzies or the Mathesons and yet they have more than one reason to start a feud with us. Da, ye can’t afford to let that happen.”
“Darcy is missing, Sine.”
“Aye, but even if Laird Matheson strangled him with his bare hands, which I doubt, do ye deny he had the right? By all the saints, Da, what would ye have done if someone attacked me as Darcy did Lady Matheson? If ye don’t stop this feud before it starts, it could be disastrous for the Frasers and their other allies.” She glanced around the silent hall at Laird Munro and Laird Urquhart. No one disagreed. The fire crackling in the hearth sounded unnaturally loud in the stillness.
“It’s too late, Sine,” Cathal said bitterly.
“Nay, Laird MacKenzie, don’t say that. It isn’t too late.”
Her father tried to reason with her. “My little dove, ye can’t expect Rowan to marry Eara now, after what she has done.”