Bound to a Warrior Read online

  “Like to climb,” Rand said and yawned.

  They walked a bit in silence and when Rand’s head finally hit Mercy’s shoulder in sleep, she said, “You knew we were in the tree when you spoke with the soldier.”

  Bailey nodded.

  “The noise I heard. You purposely made it to warn us.”

  Bailey nodded again.

  “I don’t understand.” Mercy shook her head. “You helped Duncan and me once and you warn me now. Why then do you help the soldiers?”

  “They have my wife.”

  Mercy gasped.

  “We left shortly after you and Duncan stopped at our cottage. Though we were cautious they found us and claimed us enemies of the king. Of course they had no proof of anything, but still they took us prisoners along with others they had taken captive for various reasons. All I could think about was the safety of my wife and unborn child.”

  “Where is Kate?”

  “I’m not sure where they took her. When I was told I could save her and my child, it didn’t matter to me what I had to do. I knew I would agree to anything and so did they. I was told that if I found you and brought you to them, Kate and I could go free.” He shook his head. “I had no choice.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” she said.

  “I picked up your tracks fast enough, but lost you when you entered Pict territory, since I would not dare go there. Your earlier tracks gave me a good indication of your destination, and I knew if I kept going that way, it would eventually lead me to the stronghold. And I had no doubt Duncan would get you safely home. So I came here and waited. Everyone was so good and generous to me, and then you arrived and I saw how you and Duncan looked at each other.” He shook his head again. “You two love each other as much as Kate and I love each other. And I knew the only way I could save my wife was to ask you.”

  “Ask me?”

  “To return with me so that they will set my wife and unborn child free. You could do this. You’re daughter to the king.”

  Mercy stopped walking and stared at him.

  “I don’t know what else to do,” he pleaded.

  “We could talk with Duncan. A rescue could be planned.”

  “They are too busy planning for the king’s return,” he said.

  She looked at him oddly.

  “You don’t know where you are?” Bailey asked.

  “Duncan’s land.”

  He shook his head. “You’re in the stronghold of the true king of Scotland.”

  She took a step back startled by his remark. “Duncan fights for the true king?”

  “He and his brothers were raised to protect the true king and to succeed in seeing that he claims the throne.”

  “How do you know this?” he asked.

  “There are men who cross the land recruiting others to join the fight. I heard one such man speak, and after hearing him tell of the brothers, who from the time they were young, trained to help seat the rightful king of Scotland, knew I wanted to be part of that fight.”

  “How did Kate feel about your decision?”

  “She agreed, wanting a better and freer life for our child. And after you and Duncan showed up, and I realized he was one of the brothers, I knew I could dally no more. Kate and I had to journey to the stronghold, and besides, I knew my wife and child would be safer there.”

  “How did you know where it was?”

  “That was simple. I only needed to track you and Duncan.”

  “You followed us?” she asked.

  “I’m a good tracker and can track from a distance, but enough of this. Will you help me?”

  Mercy didn’t know what to say. She certainly couldn’t be responsible for a mother and unborn child’s death, and yet she knew Duncan would never agree to her returning to her father. It was a quandary and the solution not an easy one.

  “I will not let your wife die because of me, but I know not how to approach this matter. I must think on it.”

  “You won’t tell Duncan, will you?” he asked anxiously.

  “It will be difficult for me not to do.”

  “He will never permit you to leave.”

  “He cannot keep me against my will,” she said.

  “No, but his love can keep you here, just as my love brought me here.”

  He was right about that, which made the situation all the more difficult. She had no idea what she would do.

  “Let me think on it,” she said again.

  “Please don’t take long. I have but three days,” Bailey pleaded. “And I fear for my wife’s life.”

  When they reached the edge of the woods, Bailey insisted that it was better if no one saw them talking and pleaded that she meet him at the groove tomorrow at dawn.

  She shook her head. “No. I do not know if I will have an answer by then and I do not trust that you will not turn me over to the soldiers.”

  Upset, Bailey said, “I wouldn’t do that.”

  “You told me you would do anything to save your wife and unborn child, and I believe you. I will be in touch when I decide.” With that Mercy left him and walked out of the woods.

  Upset herself, Mercy didn’t know what she was going to do, though if she intended for Kate not to suffer because of her, her actions were clear. She would need to return to her father. That would mean losing Duncan, but then if he fought for the true king of Scotland and she was the daughter, bastard or not, of the reigning king, how safe was she with the true king?

  The chain wasn’t even off a day and she felt more trapped than ever.

  When she rounded Cora’s cottage she could see men and horses loitering in front of the keep’s steps. As her steps took her closer she could see that it was Duncan and his two brothers, their horses prancing in agitation as Mara spoke to her sons.

  It wasn’t long before Mara pointed in her direction, and Duncan didn’t waste a moment; he rode straight for her.

  When he reached her, she didn’t let him speak first. “I found Rand.”

  “So I see,” he said curtly. “But you should not have left the keep.”

  “I needed to,” she insisted. “Rand was missing and with soldiers lurking about, his safety was of concern to me.”

  “So you defy my orders and leave?”

  “I did what I felt was right,” she said.

  Rand woke then, lifting his little head in a stretch. As soon as he saw Duncan his eyes flew open and he smiled. “Mercy climb tree. Save me.”

  He glared at her. “You climbed a tree?”

  “I did,” she admitted proudly and spotting Cora and Alida running toward her, began walking in their direction.

  Duncan followed and said nothing until after Cora and her children had taken their leave, though not before they had thanked Mercy profusely.

  The agitation in his dark eyes told her that a fight was brewing, though she wished it was a grouchy look she had seen for then the solution would be easy. She wondered if perhaps it would work anyway.

  “I think we should settle this in your bedchamber,” she suggested.

  That brought him off his horse to stand in front of her. “You think coupling will settle this so easily?”

  “No, but it might ease your agitation, which will allow us to discuss this more reasonably.”

  “You think me unreasonable?”

  “No. You’re agitated. I want us to discuss it reasonably,” she clarified.

  “So we couple and all of a sudden we’re reasonable?”

  She placed her hand on his chest, though did not slip it beneath his shirt. She simply let it rest there. “Perhaps not, but I doubt you’ll be agitated anymore.”

  Her tender touch had the desired affect she had hoped for. He smiled.

  “I suppose you could be right,” he said.

  “We won’t know if we don’t try.”

  “That is a good point,” he agreed.

  “And afterwards we’ll talk, which we have been trying to do all day,” she reminded him. “Perhaps it would be best if
we had food brought to your bedchamber so that we won’t be disturbed. After all, we have much to discuss and I have yet to eat.”

  “That might be wise.”

  Finally, she ran her hand beneath his shirt, her fingers crawling along his muscled chest. “So then we’ll give it a try and see how it works?”

  “Aye, we’ll give it a try.”

  They approached the keep steps, his brothers, father and mother stood waiting, obviously wondering what had gone on between her and Duncan, and if he would do anything about her defiance of his order.

  He threw the reins of his stallion to Reeve and said, “See to him.” Then he turned and scooped Mercy up, flinging her over his shoulder and giving her bottom a slap. “I have to see to Mercy’s punishment.”

  He was demonstrating his authority over her and it annoyed the heck out of her. She’d been the one who handled the matter and rather wisely, proposing a settlement that worked for them both and now he goes and makes it seem like he’s handling the matter his way.

  What to do about it?

  The solution came quick and it was simple. As he walked up the steps to the keep, she raised her head and sent everyone a victorious grin.

  Chapter 28

  Duncan lay spent, Mercy spread naked over him.

  “It certainly worked,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not agitated anymore, but I am famished.”

  Mercy raised her head off his chest and grinned at him. “So am I.”

  He slapped her naked bottom gently. “Then let’s eat.”

  They scampered out of bed, Mercy reaching for her blouse. He snatched it out of her hands.

  “I like you just the way you are.”

  “The room holds a chill,” she protested rubbing her arms.

  He grabbed his plaid and wrapped it around her shoulders, though left her breasts partially exposed. “Better?”

  “Much,” she said and hurried to the table.

  They took seats opposite each other and Mercy began munching on a variety of foods. Duncan poured them wine, then rested back in the chair. He had much he wished to discuss with her, but for the moment he simply wanted to enjoy the sight of her.

  Her dark hair was tousled from their vigorous lovemaking and her neck and breasts were dotted with love bites that already were beginning to fade. God, but he loved this woman.

  “Eat,” she urged with a sweet laugh, shoving a thick piece of cheese at him. “You claimed you were hungry.”

  “I am,” he said snatching it from her, though he didn’t tell her that it was she he hungered for all the time.

  “What did the soldiers want?” she asked.

  He was glad she asked for they needed to talk. “You.”

  “But you already told them I wouldn’t be returning to my father.”

  “For some insane reason they thought I might have changed my mind.”

  “I wonder what my father wants from me,” she said.

  “I was thinking the same. Perhaps you have something that belongs to him.”

  “No,” Mercy said, shaking her head. “I left with only the clothes I wore. And Mother had no intentions of bringing anything more than a satchel. Mother always planned everything. So I knew when she frantically began throwing things in a satchel and demanding I leave and wait at the river’s edge, a favorite place of mine, that her decision had been made in haste and out of necessity.”

  “You didn’t ask her why?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I never dared question her authority. Repercussions could be swift and painful.”

  “Do you know if she angered your father and worried over the consequences?”

  “I know they had recently argued over me, and while I wasn’t privy to the heated discussion, my mother’s mumblings gave me a good indication as to why she was upset.”

  “Why?” he asked, eager to know.

  “I believe my father had made arrangements for me to become mistress to a nobleman of not very high status or wealth.”

  “He intended to give you away to a man?” Duncan asked, slowly moving forward in his seat.

  “I imagine it was a lucrative agreement for my father.”

  “He intended to just give you to a man without thought or consideration?” he said, anger building with every word he spoke.

  “I am his bastard daughter. He can do as he pleases with me. Ignore me if he wished. I’m sure he felt he was doing best for me.”

  “You defend him?”

  “No. Not at all. I didn’t want to be mistress to a man I never met. I never wanted to be a mistress at all. I saw what it had done to my mother and I did not want the same for myself. But truly what choice did I have? I had no money.”

  “What of your mother? She sounded like a wise woman. Surely she had managed to tuck away extra coins.”

  Mercy nodded. “She did, but spent most of it on her own plan for me.”

  “And what plan was that?”

  “She would not detail it for me, but I surmised that she searched for the true king with intentions of seeing that I became his mistress.”

  “Did she find him?” Duncan asked anxiously, believing that the pieces of the puzzle were about to fall into place.

  “From her excitement and fear I believe she discovered something, but what I don’t know.”

  “Who did she fear?”

  “Since she rushed me away from the house, I’d say she feared that she had learned that my father had discovered her betrayal and that soldiers were on the way.”

  “How would she have known?”

  “My mother had many spies in various places,” Mercy said. “There wasn’t much she couldn’t find out.”

  “And she gave you no indication of what she may have discovered?”

  Mercy thought a moment. “Come to think of it, just as I was leaving the cottage, she grabbed my arm and said something odd to me.”

  Duncan felt every muscle grow taut, worried that somehow her mother had uncovered secret information concerning the true king.

  “She said, ‘You will see it in his eyes and know.’”

  Duncan rubbed his chin, trying to make sense of it, but unable to. “Know what?”

  Mercy shrugged. “I have no idea what she was referring to. She traced a symbol in the palm of my hand and muttered something.”

  “Show me,” Duncan said and held his hand out to her.

  She cupped it in hers and faintly drew a cross in the palm of his hand, then pressed her thumb in the center. “I remember,” she said softly. “When two are one, it will be done.”

  Duncan eased his hand out of hers and refilled his tankard. He didn’t trust himself to speak. How Mercy’s mother had discovered the secret symbol and words known only to the true king, and those few known to him since he was young, astounded him.

  She could have only learned them from one in the inner circle. But who? Who would betray the true king? And why to this woman?

  “I had forgotten that, but then everything had been done in such haste and confusion. I was sitting looking over a piece of hide with drawings on it I had found in mother’s sewing basket when I went looking for thread and needle in her sitting room. That’s where mother found me when she had rushed into the cottage and told me that we were leaving right there and then. We had not a moment to waste.”

  “A piece of hide with drawings on it?” Duncan asked.

  “Yes. It was strange and old. Mother grabbed it from me and threw it into the hearth. The flames consumed it with haste.”

  “Do you remember the drawings?”

  “No,” she said and reached for an apple.

  Duncan turned silent. He was sure the old piece of hide was where it had always been, safely tucked away in a chest in the solar. But she had called the hide strange and old and that was always how he and his brothers referred to it.

  “You have asked me many questions and I have answered them. Now it’s my turn,” Mercy said.

  “Ask,” he said and fought the urge to go see if th
e piece of hide was where it had always been.

  “Why do the soldiers not attack?”

  “We outnumber them and they know it. Besides the king to the north holds no favor for your father and would send his sizable forces to help us.”

  “But he had accepted my father as ruling king.”

  “He had no choice. Your father claimed the ruling throne and there was nothing he could do unless he declared war and shed his clansmen’s blood. He did what many chose to do. Wait for the true king to appear and claim his rightful title.”

  “You fight for the true king?”

  “Aye, I do.”

  “This land,” she said. “Who does it belong to?”

  “I am told the true king of Scotland. It is here the warriors are trained and made ready for battle.”

  Mercy stared at him, her eyes turning wide. “And you brought the daughter of the present king to the true king’s stronghold?”

  “No. I brought the woman I love there.”

  He hadn’t expected complete silence from her. She seemed to freeze, and he had to admit he hadn’t planned to blurt it out like that, or admit it just yet. But for some insane reason, it had simply spilled from his lips.

  It seemed that the more they had talked, the more he felt her slipping away from him and he wouldn’t have it. He wouldn’t lose her, he couldn’t. He loved her, loved her beyond any reasonable breath of sanity.

  “Say something,” he demanded.

  “I know you love,” she said softly. “And I love you. I never doubted that we loved each other even though we never spoke the words. It took me a moment to realize that you actually spoke them aloud. I usually hear you say them in my thoughts and dreams, and so hearing you say it aloud shocked me.”

  He smiled. “I shocked myself.”

  “Why did you choose to tell me now?” she asked reaching her hand across the table to him.

  He quickly took hold of it. It fitted so comfortably, so right as it always did, as if the heavens had crafted them that way.

  “With all that has happened between us and all that is yet to come, I didn’t want to waste a moment. I wanted you to know how I felt. How I would always feel about you.” He grinned. “You stole my heart.”

  She laughed softly. “No. You gave it to me as I gave you mine.”