Highlander of My Heart (Mcardle Sisters of Courage 1)

Surely, Ruddock knew of this, but why hadn’t he questioned it?

“I thought you might come to see me,” Wilda said, jolting Sorrell out of her musings.

Blodwen stepped between the two women. “Lady Sorrell enjoys a walk.”

It wasn’t lost on Sorrell that Blodwen didn’t hesitate to shield her and that alone proved to her that she had no cause to believe Blodwen would harm her.

“I’ll have a word with Wilda, Blodwen,” Sorrell said, the young servant bobbed her head and moved aside.

Wilda turned and walked toward her cottage door and Sorrell followed.

A short walk and Wilda turned up the path to her door, where she stopped and turned to face Sorrell. “Lies and secrets. They are everywhere.”

It sounded like a warning and Sorrell agreed with the old woman. Lies and secrets were everywhere. They had hurt her family and had led to the death of her mum and da.

“A question is on your lips,” Wilda said.

Sorrell let it spill, anxious for an answer. “You made mention to look at who suffered the most from all that has happened. Many have suffered, in different ways, but have suffered nonetheless.”

Wilda leaned close and whispered as if revealing a secret meant for Sorrell alone. “But only one is different from the others and that one holds the missing piece.”

Ruddock wanted to smash his fist into something. His father hadn’t been at all cooperative. He argued endlessly about Wilda, and how Ruddock had no right making any decision for him. He wouldn’t listen to anything Ruddock had to say. He had dismissed Ruddock’s claim that revenge was the cause of all the lies as absurd. His father insisted that anyone who sought revenge against him would do so on a battlefield like any respected Highland warrior would do.

If he hadn’t taken his leave when he did, Ruddock feared he would have punched his father, though he had to agree that his father was right about one thing. Any Highland warrior would seek revenge on the battlefield. Still, his father was far too stubborn for his own good. He wondered how his mum had tolerated him for all those years.

She loved him.

Something he couldn’t get out of his head no matter how hard he tried. He remembered one time how he had laughed, teasing her about how often she had told his father she loved him. She had smiled at him and told him that one never knew what the day would bring, and she didn’t want to miss out on a chance to let her husband know that she loved him in case she never got another chance.

It reminded him that he hadn’t told Sorrell he loved her when they had last parted, and his stomach clenched. With all that was going on, he wanted that first and foremost in her mind.

His father forgotten, he went to find his wife to tell her that he loved her. With night having fallen along with a light snow, it would be a perfect evening for them to spend alone in their bedchamber.

Ruddock began to worry when after searching his wife’s bedchamber, their bedchamber, her solar, his solar, he had yet to find her.

“Erskine,” Ruddock said, entering the Great Hall. “Is Blodwen with my wife?”

“I couldn’t say, my lord, I haven’t seen either of them.”

“I have, my lord.”

Ruddock felt a sense of relief, turning to the servant off to his right. He recognized her. The short, round woman had been a favorite of his mum’s. “Fern, you saw my wife with Blodwen?”

Fern nodded. “Aye, my lord. Lady Sorrell and Blodwen left the keep some time ago. I believe a walk was mentioned.”

The relief Ruddock felt vanished in an instant. He should have made Sorrell give him her word that she would remain in the keep for the remainder of the day.

“Has Blodwen done something wrong, my lord?” Erskine was quick to inquire.

“No, Nothing. You may return to your duties.”

Erskine nodded and left the Great Hall.

What had made his wife leave the keep? The question he intended to ask her when he found her, after he gave her a good tongue-lashing.

Ruddock stepped into the entrance space between the Great Hall and the outside door just as Hugh stepped through the front door. One look at him and Ruddock knew something was wrong. Fear gripped his heart and he said a silent prayer that it wasn’t his wife.

“What is it?” Ruddock asked.

“Lander has been found and Coyle is dead. Both have been murdered.”

Chapter 30

Hollis and Bruce appeared from out of nowhere and hurried Sorrell and Blodwen toward the keep. They would answer none of her questions that she asked with rapid speed. Her stomach roiled thinking of what could be wrong and she prayed it had nothing to do with Ruddock.

When she saw him on the keep steps, she rushed past the two warriors and up the steps to her husband.