“Braies,” Conall muttered, looking vexed, but then they all turned toward the keep when the doors opened and Mavis came bustling out.
Waving a bundle of dark cloth overhead, she hurried down the stairs, calling, “Ye’ll need these, lass. I saw ye’d forgot them as I was straightening yer room,” the maid added as she came to a breathless halt before her. She paused then, however, to take in the situation, and then urged Conall back a couple of steps, and took up position before Claray with the horses on either side of her. “Pull ’em on quick, lass. Ye can no’ be riding without ’em.”
Claray’s mouth opened, and then closed, and then she glanced around. Conall blocked anyone seeing her from behind, and she couldn’t even see the MacKays from where she stood between the horses, but her father, Edmund and her cousins were just on the other side of Mavis. When the foursome turned toward each other and away from her, she gave her head a shake and donned the braies, stepping into them and yanking them up under her gown.
“There we are,” Mavis said with satisfaction, brushing down her skirts as Claray let them fall back into place over the pants. “Ye’re all set.” She fussed over her for another moment, and then raised sad eyes to her face, and murmured, “I’ll miss ye, child. Come visit as often as ye can.”
Much to Claray’s horror, the woman then dashed away a tear and turned to hurry back the way she’d come. Whirling on Conall, she asked with growing dread, “What’s happening? Where are we going?”
“Home,” he said simply.
“What?” she squawked with amazement. “Now?”
For some reason that made his eyebrows quirk and amusement tug at his lips, but he merely nodded and then lifted her into her saddle.
“But—” Claray shook her head with dismay, and protested, “I was goin’ to speak to Father Cameron, and I have no’ packed, and what about Lovey and me other animals? I can no’ just leave them. And I ha’e no’ even spoken to me brother and sisters since returnin’. I ha’e to say goodbye.”
Claray regretted bringing up Father Cameron the moment the words were out of her mouth and she realized the comment might make him ask why she needed to speak to the prelate. Fortunately, he didn’t, but focused on some of her other complaints instead.
“Yer father’s havin’ yer clothes packed as we speak,” Conall said patiently, mounting his horse with her reins still in his hand. “He’s sendin’ them and yer other things after us in wagons that should arrive at MacDonald a week or so after we do. He’ll send yer animals too,” he added, sounding a bit testy now. “We’ll make do until then.”
“What about—?”
“Yer brother and sisters will understand. Yer da will explain,” he said before she could ask that question again.
Claray stared at him, consternation, fear and anxiety gripping her. This was all going much too quickly for her. She’d just got home little more than a handful of hours ago. In that time she’d got married, been consummated and now was being taken away from the only home she’d ever known? It was too much, too fast. She was on the verge of giving in to panic when her father touched her knee.
Lowering her head, Claray stared at him blankly, her emotions whirling and probably on her face for him to see. Instead of giving her sympathy and soft words, her father did the thing mostly likely to stiffen her spine.
“MacNaughton,” he said quietly. “’Tis safer fer all if yer away so he can no’ poison the meat or try some other trick to kill all but you, then force ye to marry him to gain MacFarlane.”
Claray closed her eyes briefly at those words, knowing they were true. MacNaughton wouldn’t attack outright with Buchanan, MacKay, MacDonald and MacFarlane soldiers filling the castle and surrounding area. But he could try poison or some other trick to get what he wanted. With her away, there was no profit to trying to kill anyone at MacFarlane. If everyone here died, the land would go to her, but be under Conall’s care and control.
“Chin up,” her father said firmly. “We’ll deal with the bastard and make him pay fer his plotting. Meanwhile, Bryson’s a good, braw lad. I trust him to keep ye safe. And,” he added, his voice dropping to almost a whisper, “I ken ye’ll keep him safe too.”
Claray opened her eyes and met his gaze, then took a deep breath and raised her shoulders determinedly. “Aye, Da. I’ll keep him safe.”
Gannon MacFarlane nodded and then squeezed her knee one more time before stepping back with a gruff, “Safe travels, daughter.”
Claray nodded, but didn’t respond. She couldn’t for fear she’d start weeping like a baby. She was already struggling to keep the tears pooling in her eyes from spilling over onto her cheeks. Forcing herself to take deep breaths, she merely listened as her father wished Conall safe travels too, and requested he send a messenger once they’d reached MacDonald.
Her husband assured him he would, and then turned his horse, pulling hers along with him as he headed across the bailey.
Her mount resisted for half a second, but Claray had expected that and leaned down to press along his neck and run a soothing hand down his shoulder. The moment she did, he calmed and let Conall lead him.
They rode across the drawbridge and past the Buchanan camp to where Roderick, Payton and Hamish waited astride their mounts with two older men she didn’t recognize. A good three hundred horses fanned away on either side of the small group, each holding a MacKay or MacDonald warrior.
Claray’s eyes went wide as she took in the size of their escort in the dawning light, and decided her father’s wishing them safe travels had been completely unnecessary. MacNaughton would be a fool to try anything with an escort this large, she thought as Conall’s uncle moved up to ride beside him. The older man spoke briefly and then her husband dropped back to ride beside her as he handed over her reins.
“Stay close to me if there is trouble,” he instructed solemnly, and waited for her to nod before urging his mount back up beside his uncle. A moment later, Roderick and Hamish dropped back to take up position on either side of her, while the two older MacKay men dropped back behind them. It left Payton and Ross MacKay to ride on either side of Conall as they trotted past the mounted warriors.
Once they’d moved beyond the last of the waiting soldiers, Conall urged his horse to a canter. As she urged her own mount to follow suit, Claray glanced over her shoulder. Lady MacKay and her daughter were directly behind her with the two older soldiers on either side of them. The rest of the warriors, both MacKay and MacDonald, were falling in behind their small group in a very long three-man formation. It was a most impressive sight, she decided.
Chapter 14
“You seem troubled, Claray. Is all well?”
Claray tore herself from her thoughts and glanced around to see that Lady MacKay had moved alongside her, with Kenna on her other side. She grimaced at the concern on their faces as she acknowledged to herself that she’d probably sat slumped in the saddle since leaving MacFarlane more than an hour ago. Certainly, her thoughts had been depressing ones. Aside from silently mourning the fact that she’d just left her home and family behind without even being able to say goodbye, she was fretting over the life she was traveling toward. And the more she fretted on it, the more problems she envisioned ahead.