Part 4 (1/2)
”Aye,” the women around her concurred.
Agnes stepped forward from the crowd to confront Braden and Lochlan. ”My bruises healed in only four days,” she said, brus.h.i.+ng her hand down her smooth cheek. ”But my heart still aches for my youngest boy who died three years back under a MacDouglas sword. There will always be a hole there, aching for him.”
Lochlan eyed them all. ”You're not changing anything,” he said firmly.
”Aren't we?” Maggie asked. ”You men can't be killing and raiding the MacDouglas while you're coming here to negotiate with us. Nor can you wage war on empty stomachs.”
Again the women agreed with her.
Braden opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Maggie heard another loud shout, only this one was a cry of joy.
”Braden, my wee bairn! You're home.”
The group parted as Braden's mother, Aisleen, rushed toward them.
Maggie noticed the look of hatred on the Englishman's face as he saw the tiny brunette for the first time.
Never in her life had she seen so much malice directed at a single person. Frowning, she watched as the Englishman drifted back into the crowd to where Aisleen couldn't see him.
Braden drew his mother into a tight hug. ”Ah, Mother, but it's good to see you.”
”And you,” she breathed, cupping his face in her hands and squeezing it tight an instant before she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. ”You've no idea how much I've worried over you. I was just this minute in the chapel saying prayers for your well-being.”
”I'm sure he needs all the prayers he can get,” Maggie muttered uncharitably beneath her breath.
”Now, don't be that way, Maggie,” Aisleen chastised her. ”This be my boy you're talking about and a fine, bonny man he is.”
Bonny, Maggie couldn't argue, but fine...
Well, she couldn't really argue that either. He could, of course, be a little more steadfast and a lot less of a womanizer. Anyone would agree with that.
”Well,” Maggie relented, ”it was nice of him to help poor Bridget. But as you can see, he's no longer needed, so-”
”Mother,” Braden said, interrupting her, ”I was thinking that what you women need is a guardian.”
Maggie's jaw dropped. Surely he wasn't suggesting what she thought he was.
”A guardian?” his mother asked in wide-eyed innocence.
”Aye,” he said, glancing meaningfully to Maggie. ”Lochlan told me that Bridget makes the sixth woman who has been attacked. I was thinking that perhaps I should stay here and help ensure no other woman is harmed until a settlement is reached.”
Oh, he did, did he? Maggie couldn't believe what a fool he took her for!
”I just bet you do,” Maggie snapped. ”Tell me, am I the only one present who thinks this sounds a little too much like hiring a wolf to guard the flock?”
”Nay,” Aisleen disagreed. ”It sounds like a fine idea. We be needing a man on our side, and if Ewan will also agree to help... well, how can Lochlan argue with that?”
They all turned to look at Lochlan.
”I could definitely argue with it,” he said, ”but by the looks of all of you I'd be wasting my breath. If Braden wants to be a traitor, so be it. At least I won't have to listen to him whine over my cooking and the lack of feminine company.”
”Nay,” Maggie spoke up. ”We can't allow them to stay here. What would Father Bede say?”
”I think it's a n.o.ble idea,” the priest said as he joined them. ”I can't protect any of you, but with Braden here, perhaps the others will think twice before harming anyone else. I think the Lord has sent Braden to us.”
'Twas more like the devil sent him to make mischief, but Maggie didn't dare contradict the priest.
”See?” Braden said to her. ”I have divine sanction.”
”I seriously doubt that,” Maggie said before she could stop herself. ”But since I seem to be the only one here who can see through you, I have no choice save to yield.”
Maggie took a step toward him and lowered her voice. ”Know this, Braden MacAllister, I recognize you for what you are, and if you do anything to break the oath we swore to each other about not serving a man's needs until peace reigns, I swear I'll-”
”You'll what?” Braden taunted with those gleaming dimples. ”Boil me in oil?”
Oh, but he was truly a demon, to be sure. A bright-eyed handsome one who had been sent to make her life miserable. ”I'm not as helpless as you think.”
”That I am quite sure of.”
Maggie rolled her eyes in exasperation. She looked past Braden to where his mother stood. ”For all our sakes, Aisleen, watch your son while I tend Bridget. And remember, he gets no food prepared by our hands. Let him scrounge like the others as best he can.”
”As you say, Maggie, but is it truly fair to make him suffer when he's only here to help us?”
Maggie didn't miss the sheepish look on Braden's face. That removed any doubt she had as to his motivations. His mother might be blind to the man, but she was not.
”Fair or not, he's to get no food from us.” Maggie looked about at the women who were still ogling Braden. ”Nor anything else,” she said pointedly.
The women beat a hasty retreat.
Braden arched his brow as Maggie walked away. She was truly something else. What she was, he couldn't say in polite company, but never before had he met a woman quite like her.
She wasn't the raving beauty men spent their lives fawning over. Her looks were more earthly fey. Her deep russet hair had defied her efforts to secure it into a braid and little wisps of it curled becomingly all around her face. A thousand freckles covered her pale skin like nutmeg sprinkled over cream, and her eyes...
The deep amber color burned with her fiery spirit. Indeed, he could still see her launching her tiny frame at the lumbering Fergus. Little did she know that a blow from him could have d.a.m.n near broken her fragile neck.
And for some reason that didn't bear thinking on, Braden didn't like the thought of her being hurt.
”I'll go get you some food,” his mother whispered to him, before she vanished with the other women.
Once the women had all gone, Lochlan mouthed the words ”Two days,” before leaving as well.
Sin rejoined him, then leaned over and whispered in his ear. ”Your quarter hour is up and instead of the women coming out, you seem to be staying in.”
Braden grinned. ”She was a little more challenging than I thought.”
”A little?” Sin snorted. ”Face it, Braden, that little piece of baggage has you pegged.”
Braden laughed at the truth of it. Aye, she did. She had known when he was playing her and she had called him on it. Never before had a woman done that. Even when they knew he was playing with them, they played back.
But not Maggie.