Chapter Thirty-Five

Dorie tried to steer her horse around them, but the man in front had already grabbed the bridle and was holding her mount as her brother reached up with one hand and yanked her down.

She fell hard to the ground and curled into a ball so he’d not step on her. She anticipated a growl and savage barking, but then she remembered Rascal wasn’t with her. He’d not be able to save her this time.

She expected the men would take her horse and go, but a bit of cursing caused her to turn and see that her brother wasn’t able to mount.

From the ground she took in the state of the other two men. One was unable to stand as he held a hand over a large gash across his stomach. Dorie swallowed back bile at the twisted bulge she saw him clutching. The man clearly wasn’t long for this world with a wound like that.

The man holding her horse hobbled on a leg drenched in blood. When he shifted, she was able to see the makeshift bandage tied around the wound that was also dripping with blood.

Her brother stumbled as he tried again to lift himself to the saddle. He reached to rub his back where she noticed the perfect mark of a horseshoe.

No doubt, if he could get up, he planned to leave them all behind and save himself. If he was able to take her horse, she would be left behind with no food and no way to get back to Dunardry or to go on to Baehaven.

Feeling the dirk still sheathed at her side, she devised a plan. It would take quick work on her part, but her need to see Bryce drove her up to her feet.

In a flash she kicked out, hitting the man holding her horse in the leg, causing him to crumble in pain. Grabbing the reins from her brother in one hand, she came up with her dirk in the other and slammed the blade into his chest.

He gasped and stepped back, a look of shock on his face. She’d spent the last years at Baehaven being as quiet as a mouse. But now she had something worth fighting for. A new, happy life. She’d not let the McCurdys take another minute of it.

“I want to thank ye, brother.” She said the last word with a sneer. “Ye married me off to the best man possible. I’m now part of a family. I’m loved. And you and your ill-begotten sire will soon be dead and forgotten.”

He slumped to the ground and she lifted her leg to mount. He grabbed her ankle, hissing a curse and tugging at her. But he was weakened from his injuries, and she was able to kick at him to gain her release.

Once mounted, she hissed at the pain in her arm. She hadn’t even noticed her brother had cut her while she was fighting him. Blood flowed freely from a cut on the inside of her arm and dripped from her fingertips.

She wanted to leave immediately, but she needed to see it done. She waited the few moments it took to see Wallace’s chest stop moving with breath.

Then leading her horse away, she hurried toward Baehaven.

…

“Bryce, come in here,” Lach called from the upper corridor in Baehaven.

When he entered the dim, shabby room he found Dorien weeping. The man brushed by Bryce’s shoulder as he fled. Lach wrenched the boards from the window, letting light into the space. Seeing it fully didn’t help. Quite the opposite. A broken bed had been pushed in the corner. A small pile of well-worn books sat next to it. The only other object in the room was a wash basin on a stand in the opposite corner.

Cam squinted at the wall. “What the bloody hell…?”

Bryce gasped when he turned to see what Cam had noticed. Thousands of small lines covered the wall beside the door.

Lachlan came to stand next to him. “This room had been barred from the outside. I think this is probably where Dorie was kept prisoner.”

“For this long.” Bryce stepped closer, noticing the clusters of lines where his wife had kept track of the days, months, and years of her empty existence as a captive in this castle. She’d told him it had been nine years, but knowing that and seeing it broken out by days like this put it all in a different perspective.

He noticed how the lines started a vibrant black but later turned to a russet brown. “Christ,” he whispered. “She ran out of ink and started marking the days with her own blood.”

Bryce thought he’d be ill. If the McCurdy weren’t already dead, he’d take his time punishing him for this. Even if the old laird hadn’t known, he should have. And he should have saved her.

Bryce swore he would track down Wallace and end him.

“She’s safe now,” Lach reassured him. “She’s free to live a happy life with you. She’ll never have to live like this ever again. Thanks to you.”

Guilt over the way he’d treated her at first made his stomach twist even more, but he promised himself he would make sure the rest of her days were spent happy and loved. He knew well enough how memories faded, even when one tried desperately to hold on to them. He would give her better memories so the ones of this place would fade quickly into nothing.

Bryce found his father-in-law outside. The tears were gone but the viscount still looked distraught.

“Are you well?” Bryce asked.

Dorien offered him a strained smile. “My life wasn’t the way it should have been. I should have brought her with me. We could have raised Dorie together. My daughter never would have been punished for having my blood and held prisoner in that wretched room.”

Bryce sighed. “My life isna the way it should have been, either. If Maggie and Isabel had lived, my daughter would be almost fourteen years. We would have gone on rides, talking of her dreams.” He smiled and let that life drift off in the breeze. “But this life is going to be great as well. I have Dorie. She makes me happy. Mayhap we’ll be blessed with children. I’ll never forget the ones I loved before, but I’ve been given a second chance for happiness. I’ll not let it get away.”

“I married Harriet while my heart was still here in Scotland. It was impossible not to notice all the ways she wasn’t like the woman I’d loved. It wasn’t fair to her. She’s an amazing woman who’s borne me four wonderful children. I do love her. I see that now. I wish she were here now to ease my sorrow over Dorie. Harriet deserves better. I vow to do better by her.”

“There’s still time,” Bryce said. “Not many people find happiness at all. We should be grateful for finding it twice.”

They stepped out into the sunlight. A beautiful day for new beginnings.

At first Bryce thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. It would explain the reason he saw Dorie riding toward them on a horse, her gown covered in blood. When Dorien gasped next to him, Bryce realized the viscount saw her, too.

“Is she really here?” Bryce asked.

“Dear God, let her be all right,” Dorien said, then took off running with Bryce right behind him. Bryce passed Dorien and got to her faster. Just in time for her to topple from her horse into his arms.

“Dorie? Dorie!” He pressed a hand to her pale cheek, his fingers finding the pulse under her chin. It was weak and thready. Bryce carried her into the castle and checked her over, calling for a healer.

A reluctant woman came forward and Bryce begged her, “Please help my wife. I canna lose her. Please.”

The woman took a deep breath and nodded. Bryce and Dorien kept close watch over the woman to be sure she didn’t treat Dorie as an enemy. But the woman stitched up the gash on Dorie’s arm and dressed it with clean linen.

“It’s good to see her free,” she said, and gently brushed Dorie’s hair back from her face.

“You know her?”

“Aye. It’s been many years since I’ve seen her, but I remember her as a little girl. She’s been trapped for so long. In a way, we all have.”

“You’re all free now,” Bryce assured her.

“Are we? Or are we just giving our freedom to another?”

In truth, Bryce didn’t have an answer to her question. The castle belonged to Dorien now, per his arrangement with Lach.

“I can assure you, your next laird will be more than fair,” Dorien cut in with a smile.

Did the man plan to stay on as laird? What did he want with a castle in Scotland? At the moment, Bryce didn’t care. For just then Dorie opened her eyes and looked up at him.

…

“You’re alive?” she whispered, her voice rough.

“Aye, and so are you.” He smiled and kissed her forehead. “Why on earth did you come all this way?”

She looked away nervously. Would he be angry to know she’d risked her life for nothing more than worry? She sat up, wincing at the tightness in her arm. “We’d had no word,” she explained. “And I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to make sure you were alive and well.”

He looked at her for a full minute, his expression unreadable. It seemed he didn’t know what to say. Eventually he shook his head. “I want to scold you and tell you how foolish you were to put yourself in danger just to check on me, but I can’t. Not when you’re here with me, alive and smiling. All I want to do is kiss you.” He held her cheeks in his hands and pressed his lips to hers in a fierce kiss.

They were interrupted when her father cleared his throat. Lachlan and Cam had entered the hall and were standing next to Dorien with smiles on their faces. Even Rory was off to the side with a grin in place. Liam stepped around Cam. Thank God. They’d all survived. She relaxed, knowing the women waiting back at Dunardry would be happy.

“What’s going on?” Bryce asked curiously. He must have noticed something was afoot as well. They were all up to something, it was clear enough.

She looked toward Lach, but it was her father who spoke. “As you know, I requested ownership of Baehaven when it fell, and it has indeed fallen.”

A cheer went up around them. Even some of the McCurdys seemed pleased with the outcome.

“As I understand it, you married my daughter without a dowry. In fact, your laird had to pay the McCurdy, and then you didn’t even get what you were promised.”

Bryce smiled down at her and winked. “I’m not complaining. I got more than I’d hoped for from the bargain.”

“And it’s for that reason that I am giving Baehaven to you.”

The smile on Bryce’s face turned to confusion as her father came closer to kiss the top of her head.

“You’ve proven yourself to be a fine husband for my daughter, and I’m making you laird of the remaining clan and any who care to join you. With the understanding that the MacKinlays may dock their ships in your port.”

Dorie reached up to push Bryce’s jaw shut when his mouth fell open in shock. “But I’m the war chief—”

Lachlan held up his hand. “Liam will make a fine war chief. And I’ll leave Rory here for you.” He came closer to clasp arms with Bryce. “We both know we’ll be better off with each of us ruling our own lands. You’re not very good at following orders.”

Bryce laughed and hugged his cousin. “Maybe if your orders weren’t shite.” It was clear Lachlan took no offense to the jest.

Dorie hugged her father tightly. “Oh, Father. Thank you.”

“I hope you will be happy here. I know this place holds a lot of bad memories.” He frowned.

“We will make new memories. Happy ones. It will be a true home, and you and the rest of the family will always be welcome.”

“We’ll visit often,” he promised with a smile.

“A laird!” Bryce laughed again as if still in disbelief. Then the smile turned to worry. “Bloody hell. I don’t know how to be a laird.”

Lachlan laughed. “You’re a fair man. You’ll make a fine laird. Besides, ye don’t have to do much to be better than what these people had before.”

Rory nodded in agreement, and Dorie squeezed Bryce’s hand. He pulled her into his arms, whispering in her ear. “Can I do this?”

“You’ll do it so well,” she assured him.

“Can you be happy here?” he asked, sharing the same concern her father had voiced. When she was imprisoned in her room here, she had dreamed every night of escaping this place and being free.

But as she looked around at the sunken faces of the women and children who had also been trapped in this place, she wanted to make it better for them as well. She’d seen what could become of a place where love ruled. The people thrived.

“Let’s make this a home for ourselves and for everyone here.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hair. When he finally backed away, he was smiling. “Welcome home, wife.”

“Welcome home, laird.”