Highland Devil (Murray Family #22)(37)

"For the best. Things are nay right here as yet. Now what?" he grumbled  as a boy walked into the hall and headed straight for Sigimor. "Who are  ye, lad?"

"I am Aiden, the cook's nephew. I have a letter for ye." He thrust it toward Sigimor.

"What does it say?"

"I dinnae ken. Cannae read, can I. Ye can. Ye are a laird."

"Who sent it?"

"A lady. Our laird has put her in the dungeons."

Sigimor just grunted as he watched Jolene hesitate briefly in the  doorway before she walked toward him. "A lady in the dungeon? Hurry and  read it, Sigimor." She smiled when the boy bowed to her, then she sat  down next to Sigimor and whispered to him, "Why is there a scullion boy  in here?"         

     



 

"Brought the letter," he whispered back, and kissed her ear. "After I  present ye to these two fools so they can sit down again. Jolene, meet  Niall and David Ogilvy, Mora's brothers who couldnae seem to find their  way out of France."

"Oh! Mora will be so delighted!"

She pretended not to notice the little boy had slid onto the bench next  to her and was filling his plate with food but handed him the right  utensil as he studied all that was standing around the plate. Jolene  knew she should be outraged and order him to leave, but he looked like  he could use a good meal, so she said nothing, just made certain her  skirts were well away from his clothing.

Then she studied Mora's brothers. Both were tall, lean, and handsome  enough to draw many ladies to their side. The one called Niall had brown  hair, but it was liberally sprinkled with red and some gold. David had  dark red hair. She could actually see a small similarity to Mora in  them, especially in the blue of their eyes.

"Uh, Sigimor, she is English," said Niall as he sat down, and earned a slap on the back of his head from David.

"I ken it but I decided I would forgive that flaw," he said, and leaned  out of reach when Jolene tried to hit him. "Let me read this letter,  woman!"

David watched as Sigimor read the letter and his expression grew darker  and darker. He suddenly understood why the man's name could be enough to  unsettle people. That was the face of a man who would ride into a  gathering of the enemy and cut them to pieces, then go home, wash the  blood off, and bed his wife with no lingering remorse about what he had  done.

"Sigimor, what is wrong?" Jolene asked, and lightly rubbed his arm.

"I believe ye will see your sister soon," said Sigimor, and handed David  the letter before turning to his wife. "We will need to ride within the  hour."

Jolene nodded slowly, realizing he meant they might have to fight. She  was about to ask some important questions, such as who, why, and where,  when there was a sound in the hallway that drew her attention. Several  men walked in and she wondered why so many people were coming to see  Sigimor so early in the morning. It could not be good.

Her eyes widened as Gybbon, Harcourt, a young boy, and a few MacFingals  walked into the room. The MacFingals were the ones who seemed to have  made Sigimor's home theirs, yet they stood with the two Murray men  looking as deadly stern as the Murrays did. She did wonder who the young  boy was until he squealed and raced toward the two Ogilvy brothers. The  Murrays also looked as if they had ridden hard to get to Sigimor.  Jolene was getting a very bad feeling about all of this.

"Sorry to disturb ye so early," said Gybbon.

"Ye didnae rouse us out of bed, so no bother," said Sigimor. "Lost your lass, have ye?"

"How did ye ken that?"

"She wrote to me. Though it isnae addressed to me, so she may have just  been writing to anyone who would be taken the letter. Seems her uncle  didnae feel inclined to hear bad things said about his wee boy. He ne'er  has listened to any bad said about that son. Sit. Have some food. We  will leave, as I have said, within the hour."

Gybbon sat, setting Mora's bag down next to him and opening it so Freya could slip out. "Are ye sure we should wait?"

"Aye. Old men do nothing fast. Mon probably hasnae e'en got out of bed.  Robert willnae do anything because he obviously would prefer his father  to take any blame that might come. Aye, we have time to finish breaking  our fast." He glanced at the MacFingals, who were already devouring full  plates of food. "And ye need to let those lads eat or they might be too  weak and frail from hunger to fight. And mayhap the boy should go to  bed, aye?"

"Can I take the cat?" he asked when Jolene walked over to him.

"Of course ye can. I will see to a box for the animal," Jolene said as she led the boy away.

When the MacFingals merely looked up from their food and smiled, Gybbon  felt a smile tugging at his lips as well. Sigimor did have a skill of  making one feel less frantic. He noticed a dark, furious look on the  face of one of the young men who had been there when they arrived.  Curious as to who they were, although Andrew's reaction made him  strongly suspect they were the long-lost brothers, he looked at Sigimor.

"Ah, forgot to introduce ye. Lads," Sigimor said to the two young men,  "meet Harcourt Murray, Laird of Gormfeurach, and his brother, Gybbon.  Harcourt, Gybbon, these two fellows Andrew latched onto are Mora's  long-lost brothers."

"Why did they ne'er hear from ye?" asked Gybbon, as Jolene returned, having left Andrew in the capable hands of her maids.         

     



 

"Because someone tried to kill us, almost from the moment we got there.  Nearly succeeded once with me. And we wrote. The letters were clearly  caught and tossed away before they reached my parents. We ne'er got word  from them."

"Ye didnae question that?"

"Oh, aye, we did. Constantly, but we couldnae find any way they were doing it. When I healed from the third  … "

"Fourth," muttered Niall.

" …  attempt to kill me," continued David, "we decided to start to make  our way home. The attempts to end us continued and I pray it cost Robert  a lot of his money. We did get a few men hanged for what they did, but  it didnae stop the attempts."

"Even tried once to get us locked up and hanged," said Niall.  "Fortunately, David was charming the daughter of the mon who would have  come after us and she gave us enough warning to get away. Along with  some weeping and wailing." He flinched when David elbowed him in the  side.

"Robert has been a verra busy boy," muttered Sigimor. "Mon is more clever than I thought."

"And now," David said in a hard voice, "he plays much the same game with our sister."

"Which would leave Andrew with no one," said Niall.

"And there he finally makes his mistake," said Harcourt.

"What do ye mean?" asked David.

"The lad is nay alone. He has the Murrays."

"And the Camerons," said Sigimor. "Nay, the boy willnae be alone. He  will also have his sister back soon." Sigimor looked at the MacFingals,  who made a noise that indicated insult over not being included. "And I  guess he has these fools, too. Sweet Mary help him."

"An impressive guard for a small lad," murmured Niall, obviously moved  by the show of support. Then he grinned and looked at the MacFingals. "I  think he would really like the MacFingals."

"Not if he has a horse he favors," drawled Harcourt.

Ned tossed a piece of bread at him, but he caught it. Then Jolene  started to lecture them on table matters. Gybbon watched Mora's two  brothers calm and held his hand out to them.

"May I see the letter?"

"Why?" asked David even as he held it out.

"To see what trouble she has gotten into, her view of it all."

"How can that help?"

"She is inside. We are not. She has spoken to the old mon. We have not."

When David frowned and nodded, Gybbon took the letter and looked at it.  She had a very neat hand, he thought as he began to read:



Greetings! I am in the dungeon in my uncle's keep.

The bed is hard and the blanket is thin. Uncle is

better in body, but I worry about his mind. He is

very angry and he refuses to believe any wrong about

Robert. I pointed out that several questions should be

asked, that the answers would prove Robert was

lying, even asked them myself, and answered them,

questions that show Robert's tale is nonsense, but he

bellowed at me that I lied just as my mother had.

That made me angry, but I could see then that he

will just not listen. And so, I am locked up and

Manus has the keys. Robert came by to gloat and

sneer and tell me I am to be hanged and said that he

will be in the fore of the crowd watching it. Hilda

believes this letter will help, but I cannot see how.

Who can she give it to? I hope Freya did not cause

Annys too much trouble and that someone can take

care of her. Tell Gybbon I am sorry I did not heed him

about this. Please watch over Andrew. Ink is done.