Not one to be intimidated, she tilted her chin up. “Aye, Laird MacNeill, I was finishing my walk before I retired to bed. Firth MacKnight may have something to say to you though.”
“Interrogate the lad,” he said to Dougald. “I have matters to discuss with Lady MacNeill.”
“Oh, and two of the baron’s knights are being detained so they will not tell him what we have uncovered concerning this plot of theirs.” She headed back to the keep with her ladies.
Malcolm seized her arm and stormed back to the castle with her. “You would try the devil’s patience, Anice.”
She frowned at him, not liking that he wouldn’t permit her to help. “You said you would let me help with the investigation. You said I would be the bait.”
“I did not mean it. You are the lady of the manor, and I dinna want a precious hair on that bonny head of yours harmed.” He glanced back at the men. “And why was one of your men half dressed in front of you?”
She shrugged, amused he would notice. “Getting ready to retire for the night?”
“As you should have been. The man who came to warn me about what you were doing said you stalked into the barracks. Did you do things like this oft before I wed ye?”
She grinned. “Why nay, milaird. I think you have brought the devil out in me, more so than usual.”
He shook his head. “You are never to venture into the barracks. If you wish to see a naked man, you can see me all you like.”
The ladies giggled behind him.
“So what did you learn from the man?” he asked.
“Had the cook told you his name?”
“Nay, she did not know it.” He looked down at her. Anice smiled. He frowned at her. “Do not give me that look. We would have learned it before long.”
“Aye.”
“You are a vixen, lass. So what did you learn from the MacKnight?”
“The baron did hire the men to kill my uncle and the others. Also, he is working for Robert Curthose.”
He stopped her at the entrance to the keep. “My God, Anice. He has sixty men at various places in the castle and the surrounding grounds.”
“You will have to arrest him then. You can do it. After all, you are laird here now.”
“I have to get you somewhere safe. There is bound to be a battle.”
“Arrest him first. Mayhap his men will leave peaceably with nay one to lead him.”
“Take the lady to her chambers,” Malcolm ordered her ladies. “I will send men to guard ye.”
He kissed her cheek, then hurried back to the barracks.
Anice turned toward the stables.
“Where are you going, milady? Laird MacNeill told us to take you to your chambers,” Nola said, her voice raised in disbelief.
Morrigan on the other hand remained with Anice, desiring to do anything she bid.
“Aye, and that he would send someone to protect me. But I can protect myself in the interim. My bow and quivers are still there.” She stepped into the stable where she heard men talking, sending fear skittering across her skin.
She and her ladies quickly slipped into one of the empty stalls.
“The baron says we are to take her tonight, kill the MacNeill and the rest of these people, and slip her away from here. When the king gets word of it, he’ll be told the border clans killed the whole lot of them and the baron came too late, but was only able to save the lady.”
“Aye, and the time?”
“The baron will motion with a light from the third floor window.”
“He is still fuming about her being in the farmhouse with us, sleeping right next to him, and none of us knowing. That MacNeill has the tenacity of a bull.”
“Not after tonight he will not. She was naked, evidenced by her wet gowns hanging to dry. Think you the lady and the MacNeill were already wed? Not I.”
Anice nearly died to hear their words. She couldn’t bear to see the looks on her ladies’ faces. She whispered to them, “There are only two of them.”
“Aye, milady,” Morrigan said.
“There are three of us.”
Morrigan smiled and pulled a dagger from beneath her bliaut. Anice raised a brow. “When the baron’s men arrived, I began to wear it, milady.”
Anice looked at Nola. She shook her head, but motioned to a pitchfork behind them.
“They will not want to kill me, so I will go first. Morrigan, you give the dagger to Nola.”
“But milady—”
“You are as good as I am with a bow. ‘Tis the next stall over. When we rush the men, you get the bow.”
Anice stepped out of the stall and walked toward where she’d heard the men speaking, her leather shoes crunching on the straw. The men were quiet now and she worried they’d exited the stable through the rear door.
Then a man stepped out of a stall at the other end of the building. “Who goes there?”
“Lady Anice.” She hoped using her unmarried name would bode better with them. “Who are ye?”
“Two of the baron’s knights. What are you doing out here?”
“I oft feed my horse.” She walked toward the two men with the pitchfork. “He likes it when I speak to him before I retire.”
The knight smiled, then he said to the other, “The timing could not be more perfect. Mayhap we can help ye, milady. If ye will just hand me the fork.”
“Nay, I like to do my own work”
“The baron would not like to see ye doing such menial labor, milady.”
“’Tis Laird MacNeill I would concern myself with pleasing, no’ Baron Fontenot.”
The man smiled. “Well, you see, milady, the baron still wants your hand in marriage.”
“Aye, ‘tis true, I ken, but he cannot have it as I am already wed.” She continued to move toward the men using caution, waiting for Morrigan to reach her bow. It would not do well for Nola to get hurt if Anice moved too quickly and Morrigan wasn’t ready yet.
The telltale sound of an arrow whooshing through the air met her ears, then the weapon hit its mark with a whap. The man grabbed his chest, dropped to his knees, and fell on his face. The other pulled his sword from his scabbard. Anice thrust the pitchfork at him, but he knocked the prongs aside with his sword. Before she could swing it around to strike at him again, Morrigan let loose another arrow and hit him between the eyes. He collapsed, dead like the other without making a sound.
“Come, ladies, we must tell Laird MacNeill their plan,” Anice said as Nola stared at the two dead bodies. She grabbed her wrist. “Come, Nola. They planned to kill everyone in the castle.” Anice dropped her pitchfork. “Where is your bow and quiver, Morrigan?”
“At the end of the barn. Here, you take yours, I’ll get mine.”
More men’s voices haunted them. Theirs? Or the baron’s?
The ladies grabbed one of the dead men and pulled him into the stall, then hurried to get the other.
Footsteps sounded in the stable as someone, no, two people walked one after the other farther into the building. “Stafford? Morrisay?”
More of the baron’s men.
Anice readied her weapon. Morrigan did the same with hers.
“What is wrong?” the other man said.
“They were supposed to be waiting for us here. The baron was to have given them word as to when to begin the siege.”
Anice giggled. “Oh, my you are so big milaird. Oh, oh, aye.”
The men stormed toward her. “Morrisay? Stafford? Damn we have work to—”
Morrigan’s arrow met its mark first. Anice sent her arrow flying next and dispatched the last of the baron’s men. “Come, ladies, let us hide the bodies and return to my chambers. We can fight--”
“Lady Anice?” Gavin MacNair called out.
“Aye, help us.”
He hurried into the stable and his mouth dropped wide when he saw the baron’s men dead. “What have ye done?”
“They are planning to kill everyone in the castle. We must get word to—”
&
nbsp; “Anice, if that is your voice I hear in there...,” Malcolm said, his tone dark.
She let go of the body and straightened her back. “Aye.”
“The ladies have killed four of their men already, milaird,” Gavin said proudly.
“Come, we will get the ladies to my wife’s chamber. You and my brother, Dougald, will see that they stay there.”
“We came to get our bows.” Anice stalked out of the stable. “With no one to protect us, we had to find our own way. The baron intends to raise a light in the third tower window when he wants his men to kill all of our staff.”
Malcolm nodded, his look dark and brooding like a building thunderstorm. “Tell my brother, Gavin MacNair, that he is needed at the lady’s chambers. And tell him about the warning signal. I would have you take the lady to her chambers, but I do not trust she will get there.”
“You did not expect us to go to the chambers unarmed, did ye?”
“I expect you to do as I tell ye.”
Anice smiled. Then he had a lot to learn about his new wife.
He hurried her to the keep, his sword drawn while she held her bow and a notched arrow at the ready. The four found no one, save a servant who quickly joined them. “What is the trouble, milaird?” he whispered.
“The baron and his men plan to lay siege to the place. Have everyone armed that can be. Have the women and children take refuge in the ladies’ chambers.”
“Aye, milaird, at once.”
Malcolm rushed Anice up the stairs and to her chamber. Inside, she found Venetia and Mary wringing their hands. “Oh, milady, what has happened?”
“Keep the door bolted,” Malcolm said, then kissed Anice’s lips. “I love ye, lass. I cannot lose you at any cost.”
“Oh, Malcolm, what about Angus? He is with the baron.”
Venetia hurried out of the chambers.
“Venetia!” Anice cried out.
“Beg your pardon, milady, but I will speak to Angus in private and warn him about what has occurred.” Venetia ran up the stairs.
“Let me go with her,” Anice begged Malcolm.
“Nay, lass, if she goes alone, she should be fine. If you go, the baron may take you hostage. You stay put. I will be outside this chamber until Dougald relieves me.”
She laid her bow and quivers down and wrapped her arms around Malcolm. “’Tis no’ the way I wished to spend the night with ye, my husband.”
“Aye, lass. We will find the time soon.” He kissed her lips, leaned his forehead against hers as if not wanting to leave her alone, then pulled away. “Bolt the door.”
But he barely made it out of the room before he swung his sword at an armed knight.
Morrigan and Anice swept out of the room with their weapons readied.
Two more of the baron’s men dashed up the stairs, and Anice let her arrow fly, then Morrigan.
Had Venetia made it up the stairs to the room where the baron and Angus had played the board game?
“You stay here and protect the ladies,” Anice said, then ran up the stairs.
Malcolm clanged his sword against the knight’s and shouted, “Anice!”
She should have stayed put and let Morrigan go, but she couldn’t. Not with worrying what had become of Venetia and Angus.
She slowed her step when she heard Venetia speaking softly to Angus in the hall.
Angus had no sword to protect him from the baron’s men. It would have looked too obvious if he’d worn one to play a game with the baron.
But when a knight ran up behind her, she whipped around and readied her arrow. She stopped to see MacTavish.
“Milady,” he whispered. “You need to--”
“See to Angus.”
“If you return to your chambers.”
She nodded and took two steps down the stairs.
MacTavish ran up to the top and Anice waited. She would return when Venetia came back down. Instead, she heard the sound of swords striking metal and against the stone walls. She dashed up the steps. Venetia stood watching, horrified, as Angus fought a swordsman with the sword MacTavish had armed him with.
Anice couldn’t strike any with her weapon, so instead, she grabbed Venetia’s wrist. The lady cried out in fright. “Come, let the men fight. We will return to my chamber.”
They headed down the stairs, encountering three more of the baron’s men running up it.
“’Tis the Lady Anice,” the one said.
“We will not harm you or your lady,” another said. “Just lay down your weapon.”
“Forgive me if I do not believe ye.”
They tried to shorten the distance so they could strike at her bow. She shot the first man and sent him tumbling backward into the other two. Again, she readied her weapon, only winging the second man. But the third man she killed outright. The second one tried to get to his feet, but Malcolm suddenly appeared, blood dripping from his shoulder. “Malcolm!”
He slew the last man and motioned for her to return to her chambers.
“I was trying to once I retrieved my lady-in-waiting.” She hurried past him with Venetia, while he followed behind.
“Neither Dougald nor the lad have come to relieve me.”
“So Morrigan and I will aid ye.”
“Aye, she has killed a goodly number already. If you help me, I shall feel well protected,” Malcolm said sarcastically.
Anice smiled, but then quickly frowned. “While we wait for the next batch, I will take care of your wound.”
“’Tis only a scratch.”
Nola rushed out of the room. “I will take care of our laird while you ladies defend us.”
“Where is Mary?” Anice asked peeking into her chamber.
“She has fainted.”
“Och,” Anice said, shaking her head, thinking Venetia would have been the one to faint instead. “’Tis good we havena such weak stomachs.”
Malcolm kissed her cheek. “Have I told you how much I love ye, lass?”
“You will have to prove it, milaird. With Gavin MacNair telling folks I’m with bairn, you will have to make sure he tells no lie.”
“Are you challenging me, Anice?”
She wrapped a cloth around his arm. “Aye, milaird. I know how you like a good challenge. But now if you are unable to do anything about it because of your wound...”
He chuckled. “You know how I am when you challenge me, lass. I’ll take you up on it.”
Tying the cloth securely around the wound, she asked, “Aye, why think you I challenged ye?”
“Malcolm!” Dougald shouted from the third floor. “Fontenot’s got Angus!”
Chapter Sixteen
Malcolm’s head pounded as he tried to think of a way to save his youngest brother. Mayhap if he offered himself as a hostage instead, he could get the better of the baron.
When he reached the solar, the baron had a dagger at Angus’s throat, sending a shard of ice hurtling down Malcolm’s spine. MacTavish had his sword readied, but couldn’t get any closer for fear of the baron slitting Angus’s throat.
“I want your word you will give me and the rest of my men safe passage from here,” the baron said.
“And in return?”
“I will let your brother live.”
“Aye, you are free to go.”
The baron released Angus. “I know you are a man of your word.”
“Aye, you have my word.” As much as Malcolm did not wish to give it to a murderer like Fontenot. But the king would seek the man’s head for having killed Anice’s uncle and for siding with Robert Curthose. And that would be the end of it.
“How many are left of the baron’s men?” Malcolm asked Dougald.
“Five, maybe six.” Dougald rounded the men up and corralled them into the courtyard.
“Our horses,” the baron said as they moved them toward the outer bailey.
“You have lost the battle. Just as in the joust, you have given them up to the winners.” The baron and his men should have all died, and if it h
adn’t been for Angus, every last one of the baron’s men would have. “How many of our men were killed or wounded?” Malcolm asked.
“Five killed,” MacTavish said, “ten wounded. None seriously. The women are taking care of them.”
Angus walked with them, his head hung low. “I’m sorry, Malcolm.”
“Nay, Angus. I left you the most dangerous of jobs. You were unarmed with three of his knights and the devil himself. You did well.”
“If you like, milaird, you can return to Lady MacNeill while we clean up around here,” MacTavish said.
He smiled. “There is naught more that I would like to do.”
Angus said, “You are no’ hurt verra much, are ye?”
“Nay, just a scratch. It will no’ stop me from finding pleasure with the lady tonight.”
“Aye, good Scots’ blood,” Dougald said. “Go, tend to that sweet lass of yours. We have been through enough of these skirmishes to know how to deal with it.”
The gate guard and his men closed the portcullis once the baron and his men had passed beyond the gate. “They will no’ be coming back inside here any time soon.”
“Make sure none of them are left skulking about the place,” Malcolm said. Though his body was weary from all of the fighting, his step was instantly invigorated by the notion he would join Anice and bed her again.
When he reached the top step, servants were dragging the bodies of the baron’s men down them. “Milaird,” the men said in greeting.
“Good work, men.”
“Aye, and ye, milaird. Had the baron and his men won, none of us would have been left alive.”
“Aye.”
Malcolm hurried down the hall and found the door to Anice’s chamber shut. He listened, but not hearing any voices, he knocked. “Anice?”
“Come in, Lord MacNeill,” she said.
He hesitated to hear her call him lord in the English way. She wouldn’t have addressed him so formally either. Was she warning him that something was amiss? “Anice, I will be right back.”
He motioned to one of the servants and whispered, “Get three of my men at once.”
“Aye, milaird.” The servant ran down the hallway and scooted down the stairs.