The Highlander's Forbidden Bride (20 page)

“I am glad this is just a tale, for it is a very sad one,” Carissa said. “But it is one I am sure I can make Cregan believe.”

N
ight fell, and they had to make camp. Ronan sat staring at the campfire flames. He felt helpless, and he didn’t like it. He had felt helpless far too much in the last couple of years. The only thing steadfast in his life had been his love for Carissa.

A smile teased the corners of his mouth.

Carissa, not Hope
.

When had he fully merged the two? He couldn’t say. He only knew that he no longer thought of them as two separate women. While he had once believed there were distinct differences between the two, he had come to learn that there were distinct reasons for those differences. Once he understood them, he was finally able to see the whole woman that Carissa truly was, and he loved her all the more for it.

“She will survive,” Dykar said, joining him by the fire.

Ronan nodded. “I have no doubt of that. From what I have learned, she has survived far worse. But there is a big difference now.”

“A difference?”

“Yes, a very big difference,” Ronan said. “Carissa now has me to love and protect her. And I intend to make Cregan pay for taking what is mine.”

Dykar smiled. “It is good to hear that you will fight for her.”

“I would die for her.”

“Do not do that,” Dykar warned. “While Carissa has survived much, I do not believe she would survive your death. She would want to join you. And I selfishly do not wish to lose my best friend.”

“Worry not,” Ronan advised. “I have waited too long to find the woman I love, and I intend for us to enjoy many, many, many long years together.”

Carissa sat by the fire with Cregan. Addie lay curled up in a blanket sound asleep not far from them. His men patrolled the area, and sentinels were posted for the night. Cregan was diligent about keeping anyone from finding them.

But Carissa knew that Piper and Evan would be tracking them, with Dykar right beside them. And she also knew that Ronan would come for her, she had not a doubt that he would.

Hate and love were close companions. It was hatred that had driven Ronan to find Carissa, and it would be love that drove him to rescue her. The thought filled her with soothing warmth that rippled over her entire body and filled her with a sense of peace.

She loved and was loved in return.

“I’m not Mordrac’s daughter,” Carissa said bluntly.

Cregan simply laughed. “Who are you then?”

Carissa conveyed the tale that Addie had concocted with such belief that, with every word she spoke, the lines between Cregan’s eyes and around his mouth grew deeper, until he was left with a heavy frown.

“When did you learn of this?” he demanded.

“When I was young.”

“Who told you—certainly not your father?” Cregan challenged. “He believed you his.”

“As my mother intended.” She and Addie had considered everything Cregan might question, so she would be prepared to answer, and she did. “It was a slave who told me the truth about my heritage, told to her by my mother.”

“Mordrac would have heard such stirrings of untruth.”

Carissa scoffed and shook her head. “Who would have dared to say such to Mordrac? He would have had him killed for such lies.”

Cregan rubbed his chin, and she could see that he agreed, though didn’t like it.

Suddenly his frown turned to a smile. “It matters not.”

While his abrupt change concerned her, she did not show it. “Why is that?”

“If it is true, and I’m not saying it is,” he emphasized, “then Mordrac did a good job in making you his daughter in every sense.”

Carissa was glad Addie had thought of everything, and she was prepared with a more-than-
adequate response. “That he did, but what of the children I would bear? From what I know, my father was a kindly man; therefore, any of my children could be like him.”

“I would beat the kindness out of him,” Cregan said, shaking a fist at her.

He was just like Mordrac, for that is what her father tried to do to her, and she would not have it done to a child of hers.

“I would not allow it,” she snapped angrily.

“You have no say in it.”

“You’re a fool if you believe that.”

“I will be your husband and you will obey me,” he said, his face growing red with anger.

She laughed, which only made his face burn red all the more. “You will not be my husband, and I will certainly not now or ever obey you. And whether you believe me Mordrac’s daughter or that he raised me to be such, you know I speak the truth.”

“You will learn,” he said, his anger ebbing.

“You truly are a fool.”

“A tongueless wife would suit me just as well,” he threatened.

Carissa’s smile turned carnal. “How then would I please you?”

She didn’t get the response she expected; he laughed.

“You will be a worthy wife and a worthy opponent.”

“I will be neither.”

“Do you not wish to grant your father his last
wish, that you and I form a strong alliance and breed a family of true warriors?”

“My father is dead, and I finally have my freedom. Why would I want to relinquish that?

“To honor your father’s name,” Cregan said.

“There is no honor to my father’s name,” she said with a shake of her head. “He was a cruel, horrible man who deserved to die.”

“Mind your tongue, woman or—”

“You’ll cut it out,” she scoffed. “I’ve been threatened with far worse, and I doubt any man would want a tongueless wife.”

“At least a man would not have to put up with a woman’s harping.”

“But he would lose far more when it came to pleasure,” she reminded. “So which do you choose?”

“You bait me.”

“Most men are easy to bait since they put their concerns above those of others, especially women. It takes a fearless warrior to love a woman, faults and all,” she said.

Cregan laughed. “Any man who doesn’t fear a woman is a fool. They are cunning creatures who can never be trusted.”

“And a man can be trusted?”

“We have our honor.”

“Which few of you live up to,” she said.

“Your barbs leave scars that do not always heal.”

“I do not care if my words offend you,” she said. “I speak my mind, and I tell you clearly that I will not wed you.”

“It is what your father wanted.”

“Mordrac was not my father, and I will no longer follow his dictates,” she said firmly.

“You have no choice.”

She grinned. “You truly believe that?”

Her confidence unsettled him, and he shifted where he sat. “I’ve had enough. I could take you here and now and settle this matter once and for all.”

“Then you will never know if I carry your child or another’s.”

Cregan shrugged. “Then I will wait and see if you are with child.” He grinned. “What do you think your father would have done in this situation?”

Her stomach turned, for she knew full well what her father would have done. He would have waited for the child to be born and killed him. She silently chastised herself for her own stupidity, though it gave her more of an impetus to escape. If she did carry Ronan’s babe, she would not see anything happen to him.

She found the courage to respond. “The same cruel thing you would do. The only difference is that I’m not a weak sniveling woman who would sit by and allow that to happen. I would see you dead first.”

Cregan laughed and rubbed his hands together in front of the flames. “We will make a good pair, you and I.”

“We need to slow them down,” Carissa whispered to Addie the next morning, as they rode at a good pace.

“How?” Addie murmured.

“An attempted escape.”

“We’ve tried that once already. I don’t think it will work again.”

“Not with the both of us,” Carissa said. “While the one leads them on a chase, the other can make a mad dash into the woods and hide there. Cregan will not linger long to look for her. He will want to put as much distance between him and his enemies as quickly as possible.”

“You’re talking about me,” Addie murmured.

“He will search forever for me. You are no longer useful, other than leverage when your sons arrive. He will not waste time on retrieving you. And you can alert Ronan and the others to what they face.”

“What do they face?’

“I imagine Cregan has a large contingent of troops waiting for him somewhere up ahead, which explains why he’s rushing us forward. The more warriors he has, the better chance of outrunning or outfighting your sons should that become necessary. He will probably leave with me, and perhaps a handful of his men, while leaving the others to delay our rescuers.”

“But he leaves them to face a certain death or surrender,” Addie argued.

“He does, but he does not care. He copies what my father often did.”

“But why would his men obey knowing they would meet death or worse?”

“The ‘or worse’ was facing my father’s wrath,”
Carissa said. “And believe me when I tell you that death was preferable, though perhaps a slim chance at freedom made them obey.”

“I don’t like leaving you,” Addie said.

“It is the only choice we have if we both hope to survive.”

“You are wise for one so young,” Addie said.

“Wisdom knows no particular age, but it does know suffering and, with that, comes many lessons. I have grown wise by no choice of my own, but since I am, I choose to use that knowledge to my benefit and others’ when possible.”

“I am proud to have you as my daughter,” Addie said, choked by tears.

“And I am so grateful finally to have a mother,” Carissa said. Although she knew this was a time for joyful tears, she could not cry.

“What do you want me to do?” Addie asked.

“I will tell Cregan we need to stop and have a moment of privacy,” Carissa said. “Once in the woods, I will run. There will be chaos, and Cregan will direct his men to follow after me. No doubt there will be a moment when no one watches over you. It is then you must run and not look back. Find a place to hide, even if it is not far from here. Cregan will not bother to spare his men to search for you.”

“And you?”

“I will be caught eventually.”

“Are you so sure?’ Addie asked.

“Cregan would never stop searching. He believes
that I am signed and sealed by the agreement he made with my father. He intends to have me. My only chance is you.”

“I will not fail you, my dear daughter,” Addie said.

“I believe you won’t, and I will wait impatiently for your return.”

The escape went more smoothly than Carissa had expected. The two men sent with her and Addie into the woods immediately took off after her, and that provided Addie with ample time to escape.

Carissa was out of breath and her legs bone weary, but she kept running. The longer it took for them to find and catch her, the longer the delay and the better chance for Ronan and her men to catch up with them.

She ducked under a heavy brush when she heard Cregan call out.

“I will find you, Carissa, and you will suffer for this.”

He did not frighten her though she would suffer no punishment willingly, which would provide more of a delay. The escape was going better than she had imagined.

Addie was no fool. She had watched the direction they had traveled and as soon as she could, she retreated in that direction, though she did so carefully. She had no intentions of getting caught by Cregan’s men. Her new daughter had surrendered
herself to provide both women with a means of escape, and she would not fail Carissa.

She traveled between the brush and trees, careful not to make noise, the cover of soft snow helping her. She didn’t know how long she had traveled when she thought she heard a noise, and she quickly ducked under a snow-covered bush.

She kept as still as she could and thought herself safe when she didn’t hear another sound, then booted feet appeared by the brush, and she feared she was caught.

“It’s Piper, you’re safe.”

Ronan thought he was furious seeing the dark bruise on his mother’s jaw. It was nothing to the fury he saw on Hagen’s face. Still, the large man remained calm in front of Addie and held her shivering body tightly to his, ordering a fire built for her.

While men scurried to do his bidding, Ronan spoke with her and Hagen continued to hold her tight, seeming to believe that if he didn’t, someone would once again snatch her away.

“You are sure you are all right, Mother?” Ronan asked again for what seemed like the hundredth time.

“I truly am,” she said. “It is Carissa that concerns me.”

She went on to explain everything to Ronan, from when they were first captured, to the tale Carissa told Cregan. Then she spoke of Carissa’s courage and strength, qualities that Addie insisted she
had never known any woman to display to such a degree.

“Carissa is a remarkable woman,” Addie finished.

“She truly is,” Ronan agreed. “But tell me, did Cregan believe this tale you concocted?”

Addie looked to Hagen.

“Tell him,” Hagen urged. “He needs to know.”

Ronan looked from one to the other, and asked anxiously, “Tell me what?”

“I had hoped to tell you and Carissa together,” Addie said.

“It is better that Ronan knows now,” Hagen encouraged. “It will help him to help Carissa.”

Ronan was growing upset with the exchange between his mother and Hagen. They obviously knew something about Carissa that would startle or upset her, or could it be much worse?

“Tell me,” Ronan urged.

His mother reluctantly left Hagen’s arms and walked over to Ronan and took his hand.

Her comforting touch didn’t help; it made him feel worse. What was she about to confide in him?

“You know how I have been wondering why Carissa looks so familiar to me.”

He nodded.

“I realized why,” Addie said. “She reminded me of a woman in a village a bit east from here. Your father and I would stop there after visiting neighboring clans. A woman spun the most beautiful wool yarn, and I would purchase some from her.
It was that woman Carissa reminded me of, and so I went to speak with her.”

Ronan continued to listen.

“Her name was Kate, and I told her of a young woman I had recently met who bore a striking resemblance to her. She began to cry and she told me a tale about her sister Shona.” Addie took a breath. “That tale was the one Carissa thought I concocted.”