Page 48 of Kidnapped by a Rogue
Finn kept a vigilant watch, scanning the hills as they rode. They spoke little and did not stop until late in the afternoon, when they reached the sea.
“Where are we?” Margaret asked, trying to get her bearings.
“This is where the North Sea meets Moray Firth, the large inlet that reaches inland to Inverness,” Finn replied.
“We’ll pass through Inverness?” Margaret asked.
“Nay, ’tis faster and safer to sail across the firth,” Finn said. “To reach Dunrobin by land, we’d have to travel all the way west to Inverness and then ride along the far shore of the firth for another forty miles or so, much of it through the lands of unfriendly clans.”
This information might be useful later. Castle Leod, the MacKenzie stronghold on the easternmost part of their clan lands, was somewhere near Inverness. In several weeks, Margaret’s sister Sybil and her family expected to return there. While forty or fifty miles was no small distance, particularly on these rough Highland trails and traveling alone with a small child, it was notimpossible.
“How will we find a boat this time?” she asked.
“I left mine hidden here when I sailed over,” Alex said.
Alex’s boat was just large enough to hold the two horses and them. After Finn and Alex raised the sail, Alex took the rudder, and Finn sat beside Margaret with Ella on his lap. Despite the uncertainties ahead, she enjoyed the sail. It was June and the days were long, so they still had a few hours of sunlight. Ella seemed livelier, even squealing with delight when she saw seals in the water. Watching her daughter smile and laugh made Margaret’s heart feel lighter. She wrapped her arms around her daughter from behind and pressed her cheek to Ella’s while Ella pointed at another seal.
Margaret turned and caught Finn watching her with an unexpected tenderness that made her heart flip in her chest. His eyes quickly darkened with desire, making her wonder if she had imagined that look of tenderness. As their gazes held, the memory of their heated kisses was like a tantalizing buzz under her skin.
“Ye truly believe Alex is in danger?” she asked, forcing her thoughts in another direction. “’Tis hard to imagine who would want to harm such a sweet lad.”
“The Gordons of Sutherland have enemies, some with good reason,” Finn said. “Ye could say our grandparents—Alex’s and mine—swindled Dunrobin Castle and the Earldom of Sutherland from the Sutherland clan.”
“Really?” she asked, leaning forward.
“Our grandmother was a Sutherland herself, daughter of the earl,” Finn said. “After she married our Gordon grandfather, the two of them told the king her father had gone mad. They persuaded the king to declare her father incompetent, and he gave them control of all of the Sutherland lands until her younger brother came of age.”
“Was her father mad?”
“He’d ruled his clan for many years before then, but who’s to say?” Finn said.
“Ye shouldn’t be so suspicious of your grandparents,” she said with a smile.
“A few years later when our grandmother’s brother came of age”—Finn paused and waggled his eyebrows—“they had him declared incompetent as well.”
“Madness sometimes does run in families,” Margaret said.
“And sometimes people are greedy and ruthless,” Finn said with a laugh. “Despite hisincompetence, her brother somehow managed to name my grandmother as his heir.”
“I suppose that does look suspicious, but ye ought not assume they were ill intentioned.”
“Her brother died rather mysteriously a month later,” Finn said with an amused smile. “And that’s how our grandmother became the Countess of Sutherland and the earldom passed to the Gordons.”
“Your grandmother had no other brothers to inherit before her?” she asked.
“She did have a half-brother, Robin, who was twenty-odd years younger and still a boy when all this came about.” Finn gave her a sideways glance and lifted one black eyebrow. “Robin was placed in the guardianship of one of their close allies, whopersuadedthe lad to renounce his claim. Once he came of age, however, Robin claimed he’d been coerced and that he was the true heir to the Earldom of Sutherland.”
“As a son, surely he had the better claim?” Margaret said.
“Aye, but the Gordons had all the power,” Finn said. “Our grandfather’s brother was the Earl of Huntly, the so-called Cock of the North who was the king’s sheriff. Huntly was not ever going to rule for this young Robin Sutherland over his brother and sister-in-law.”
“Was that the end of the dispute?” she asked.
“Nay, this young Robin Sutherland captured Dunrobin Castlenot once, but twice,” Finn said, with a grin. “According to the tales about him, hewas a clever and charismatic leader, and he had the support of most of his Sutherland clansmen, who were not pleased to have a Gordon for their laird.”
“What happened to him?”
“’Twas a sad ending for both him and the Sutherlands,” he said. “Robin was eventually caught, and his head put on a spike above the gates of Dunrobin.”
