Page 56 of Surrendering to her Highland Captor
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A PRICE ON HER HEAD
All plans of breakfast with his parents were long forgotten. Instead, James found himself squarely in the middle of the Great Hall, standing shoulder to shoulder with everyone else who was awaiting to hear the news. Chatters of excitement and hope filled the air. He knew that bringing Taryn home meant the chance at resuming normal life for the rest of the clan. He had never imagined that the cost would be so high, nor that it would weigh on him so heavily.
He scanned the room, searching the familiar faces. Warriors who had fought tirelessly to defend the McGregor land from raiders, mothers who had lost everything and were still trying to give their children a home, young people who had spent the last three years questioning if they would ever have a future. Yet, for all their heartbreak and pain, he couldn’t see how sacrificing someone else was the solution.
“The Baron has to honor the terms of the initial agreement. He must accept Taryn back and stop these attacks.”
“Aye, ’tis what any sensible man would do.”
“When has the Baron ever been sensible?”
“Precisely. Taryn returning changes nothing. It is too late for that.”
“The English will always be a threat to us. One lass will nae change that.”
“Laird McGregor will see to it that Baron Dudley upholds his end of the treaty. They will have nay choice.”
Round and round the conversation went, following the dizzying pattern that James’ own thoughts had been going since the morning Taryn had woken up. He had been so convinced that bringing Taryn back would solve everything that he hadn’t stopped to consider the nature of the man they were dealing with. Both men.
Baron Dudley had lashed out at the McGregors far beyond what seemed appropriate. In fact, James had never known a man to retaliate against an entire clan for a broken betrothal. They had been tormented for years with no end in sight. He was beginning to wonder if the Baron had ever behaved as a reasonable man.
And then there was Laird McGregor to consider. A puppet in the hands of Taryn’s parents, he simply did as everyone else told him to do. The man was too old and too tired from a difficult life to truly care about his people anymore. The last three years were a clear picture of that. Laird McGregor had given into every demand that Baron Dudley had made.
The longer James stood in the Great Hall waiting for Laird McGregor to emerge, the more uneasy he became. Everyone else continued to debate whether the message contained the Baron’s agreement to continue the initial treaty, or if it would be full of more demands. James held his tongue, unable to decide which was worse. Both turned his stomach.
A door off to the side of the hall opened, revealing Laird McGregor along with Jonah trailing closely behind. They both wore grim expressions, though James couldn’t guess at what would cause them. In truth, neither man looked too altered afterhaving read the letter. He took it as a sign that Baron Dudley’s response had been mild for once.
Silence blanketed the arguments of those in the room, snuffing them out entirely before the Laird had made it to his seat at the front of the hall. He remained standing, twisting the refolded letter in his hands over and over before finally clasping his hands behind his back, taking the letter with them.
“As ye are all well aware, yesterday I sent word to Baron Dudley that Taryn had returned and was ready to do her duty to him. I asked that he would consider upholding our original treaty, that we may put all of this feuding between us in the past.”
James huffed out a laugh, the Laird’s carefully chosen words making it seem as though they had ever tried to fight against the English. No one in the room was fooled. They all knew very well that the entire McGregor Clan had merely rolled over and let the English do whatever they wanted.
“I was hopeful that he would be amenable to this arrangement as that is all he has claimed to want these past three years. But,” Laird McGregor said with a sigh, “it seems he has changed his mind.”
The room started to stir again, people murmuring amongst themselves about what this could possibly mean. Their livelihoods were at stake, the safety of their families. James was torn so completely between his need to rescue his sister and this newfound desire to protect Taryn that he wasn’t sure what he was hoping for any longer. If the Baron didn’t want to marry Taryn now, he was bound to make some other demand of the clan. Just as the thought passed through James’ mind, the Laird spoke again, giving more clarity.
“He claims that after three years of living as a vagrant, there is nay way that Taryn could still be worthy of a marriage to him.”
“Ye mean to say the Baron thinks her ruined?”
James could have sent a fist through the mouth of the man who had posed the question so bluntly, had they not been on opposite sides of the room.
“Aye. And he will nae forgive her for the embarrassment she has caused.”
“She has ruined us all!” a woman accused.
“We are done for,” another added, distraught and near tears already.
Desperate to know there was at least one other person in the room who supported Taryn, James sought her father’s face. He was expecting to find a man at least half as conflicted as James was, one who wanted to defend his daughter. All he found was a cold expression, pinched and twisted with disdain and disapproval.
“That is nae all the Baron said,” Laird McGregor called, quieting the room once more, though the tension still hung in the air, unwavering. “He has offered to draft a new peace treaty with us. They will follow nearly all the same conditions as the marriage agreement, with one… significant change.”
While it was no secret that the Laird often allowed his brother to make most of the decisions for the clan, he rarely was so open about it as he was now. Twisting over his shoulder, Laird McGregor looked back at Jonah, who still wore the unflinching expression, and waited for the man to nod. Only then did he continue telling the room of the Baron’s demands.
“He claims that the only thing that would appease him, that would convince him to stop these raids and form a peace with us is…”
