Page 7 of It Began With A Kiss
“I am not responsible for his death, my lady.”
“I am no lady, nor am I yers,” she answered with a bitter laugh at life’s irony. With the taking of the keep, she was no longer Dunborough’s mistress and had been reduced to nothing more than a village lass once more.
His face seemingly portrayed remorse but how could she ever trust him? He continued as if she hadn’t interrupted him. “I repeat, I told you I had nothing to do with your husband’s death, in case you have forgotten.”
“I forget nothing! How do ye think I can erase the image of seeing ye hovering over my dead husband’s body?” she snapped.
He gave a heavy sigh. “Sometimes all that you see is not necessarily as it appears. Just because I was near his body does not mean I killed the man. I came here determined to avoid bloodshed.”
“Ye should not be here at all! Go back tae England where ye belong,” she bellowed.
“This is my home now. You best resign yourself to the fact that I now shall rule this land in the name of King Henry II.”
“An English King’s man on Scottish soil? Ye shall be lucky if ye live tae see the se’nnight out.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Ha! I do not need tae threaten ye, my laird. Those who shall take up arms in the name of King William shall dispose of ye and yer men who defile this land with yer presence.”
The man before her ran his fingers through his hair. “We are off to a bad start. Let us begin again. I am Aiden of Clan MacLaren, originally of Berwyck to the south, and you are…” his voice trailed away as Iona continued to stare in disbelief at his words. Did he honestly think she would accept him as a friend?
Her lips snapped shut before she could finally form any sort of words to answer him. “What, in all that is holy, makes ye believe that I would give a damn on who ye are, let alone from whence ye hail?”
“I am trying to make amends for the rift between us. Surely you can understand that I will need all my people to help maintain the land surrounding the castle,” Aiden replied as he continued to stare upon her.
“We arenotyer people.”
“Aye, you are and as such I offer you and everyone in the village my protection.”
Iona could not hold back her mirth. “Yer protection? Surely ye must jest! Ye offer such a service after ye have killed how many knights in yer greed to steal land that does not belong tae ye?”
Iona began pacing back and forth, wondering what Aiden of Berwyck could possibly want from her but she saw the way his eyes watched her and supposed ’twas not that hard to figure out, the cad. “Begone with ye,” she threatened, “and leave us in peace tae mourn our dead. We need not some English lord bragging tae all who shall listen how he is now the conquering hero.”
She left him standing there as she went to catch up with the rest of the villagers who were already listening to the priest bless the next grave. Before long the lonely sounds of a bagpipe sounded out to help the dead pass on to the afterlife and also to give whatever solace they could find to those who were left behind to mourn.
CHAPTER7
Aiden watched the woman leave still not even knowing her name. The grave she had mourned over offered no clues to who this woman was. She said she was no lady and yet she had been found in a chamber inside the castle walls. Who was she? Her identity continued to plague his mind, but he would let the matter rest for now. He was here to show support to those who had lost their loved ones. Every loss mattered to Aiden. He honestly did not want even one person to die in his quest to win the castle without unnecessary violence.
“’Twas inevitable that there would be bloodshed,” Finlay reminded him, as though the man had read his mind.
“Aye, I know, but still… how am I to win these people over and gain their respect if I am seen as their enemy?” Aiden asked, as he and his men moved on to the next grave.
“Perchance with enough time…” Finlay answered as he looked ahead toward the other graves.
Giving a silent prayer, Aiden looked over at the rest of his men who had followed him into this mess with no questions asked. Finlay had been with his sister’s personal guard. The oldest of the group, he had no issue when Aiden asked if he would join him on his quest for fame and fortune. Colin and Duncan swore their allegiance to him and would not be left behind at Berwyck. Since they, too, were unwed, they had their own selfish reasons for leaving the MacLaren clan behind. This left Logan who had joined him after a tournament in France. All Scotsman at heart and only wanting to be back in the land of their birth.
Land of their birth… Aiden heaved a sigh, thinking his own heritage was a jumbled mess. Raised by a Scottish Laird who had married an Englishwoman, his own memories warred within him that his actions last eve were doing one of his parents wrong. Did they even now look down upon him from the heavens and worry over his choices to do all he could for an English king? He had fond memories of his mother, what he could remember of her since she died giving birth to the youngest MacLaren, Patrick. She had taken extra care with her children’s upbringing, unusual for the lady of a keep. ’Twas only natural that his accent, along with those of his siblings, would sound more English than Scottish, the latter only becoming pronounced when they became angry or agitated.
He knew the task ahead of him would be daunting, but he was never one to back down from a challenge. The taking of the keep in the name of King Henry was only one step toward having the status that had been his at the time of his birth.
There had been a brief time of bitterness knowing he had lost Berwyck Castle to the champion knight of the very English king Aiden now claimed to serve. Irony… ’twas going to eat him alive if he dwelled on the matter. But his sister was happy with her husband and at least she was now lady of their home and of Clan MacLaren.
“God’s Blood, but that is a fine bonny lass,” Colin proclaimed as he stared at a woman in the distance.
“Aye… I have seen several who I would like tae see might favor my suit,” Logan chimed in, rubbing the back of his neck. “If only ’twere that simple.”
Duncan laughed, causing several people nearby to frown. “They shall never see us in any other light than the conquering foe so ye best look elsewhere for yer wives!”
