Highlander of My Heart (Mcardle Sisters of Courage 1)

Hollis passed him on the way out of the keep. “Lord Finn awaits you in his solar, my lord.”

Ruddock nodded. “You did well today, Hollis. All the warriors did well against the savages.”

“Because of you and your bravery, my lord. All the warriors there today now know your lordship protects the clan with his life and every one of us are proud to stand with you.”

“I’m honored to have such courageous men by my side,” Ruddock said and after giving a respectful nod, Hollis held his chin high with pride and took his leave.

Ruddock went to his father when he would have preferred to go to his wife. He was worried about her. He sometimes wondered if battle was easier to endure than what followed it. The memories forever haunted, never leaving your thoughts. The faces of the dead and dying invaded dreams, producing endless nightmares. A battle never ended, it lived in the mind forever, and that was something he never expected nor wanted for his wife.

Then there was the attack itself. His wife once again was targeted as in the abbey. Only this time, all were meant to die. Someone wanted him and his wife dead.

If it hadn’t been for Asger signaling, warning him, and being there to help him, the attacking barbarians would have succeeded. But what had Asger been doing here? Ruddock’s message to him couldn’t have reached him yet, so what had brought him here? And what had really brought him to the abbey? Also what had the attacking barbarians been doing there in the woods? And had they come upon him, Sorrell, and the troop by sheer coincidence or had they been waiting for such a moment?

Ruddock entered the solar, his solar. “Leave us Erland.”

Erland looked to Finn.

“It is my command you’ll obey, not his,” Ruddock warned.

“I’ll wait outside the door,” Erland said.

As long as Erland obeyed his command, Ruddock didn’t care if he felt the need to let the old man know he’d remain nearby. Ruddock recalled his father telling him to always trust Erland. He would do what was right for the clan.

Ruddock got the feeling that Erland didn’t believe he was right for the clan.

He went to the sideboard and filled a tankard with ale and drank it down, then went to where his father sat in front of the fire. A tankard sat beside him on the table and it wasn’t the foul-smelling drink that filled it. It appeared he had needed a drink as much as his son had.

Ruddock stood in front of the fireplace and glared at his father. “Did you order mine and my wife’s death?”

Finn looked genuinely shocked. “What are you saying? Someone is trying to kill the both of you?”

“It seems that way. This is the second attempt on my wife’s life,” Ruddock said and detailed the one at the abbey.

Finn shook his head. “I know nothing about that and I certainly wouldn’t pay, nor would I trust, a barbarian to carry out any deed for me. I trade with them, nothing more. You can see that for yourself in the impeccable accounting Erland keeps for the castle.”

“I’ve gone over some of it with Erland. He does his job well.”

“He is invaluable to the clan and serves me well as he will you. If you are honest with him.”

His father’s innuendo that he was less than an honest person prompted a question. “Tell me, Father, did I ever give you reason to think I lied as I matured?”

“Never,” Finn answered without hesitation and to his own surprise.

“Then why would you think I lie now?”

“Shame. Regret,” Finn said, looking for a reason.

“I believe your hatred for me far outweighs any love you may have ever had for me.”

Finn leaned forward in the chair, an angry grumble to his voice. “Blame that on your mum.”

“You hate her as well as me?”

“She destroyed the most precious gifts Fate gave me, her love and a son.”

“You told Sorrell that you fell in love with my mum as soon as you laid eyes on her. It seems your hate for her came just as quickly.”

“Prove otherwise as you said you would and I will claim you my heir and seat you as the rightful heir to Clan Northwick. And do it before I die or I will bestow the title on someone else.”

“It doesn’t matter who you chose to inherit over me. I would unseat him moments after you spoke his name. I will let no one take what is rightfully mine. So you would do well to hold your tongue about that.”

Ruddock remembered that spark of pride he would see in his father’s eyes when he did something to make him proud. It was something that Ruddock had strived to earn again and again. He thought he saw that spark now. Or had he wanted to see it and had only imagined it? And why would he want to see it after what his father had accused his mum of and what he had done to him?