Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 98745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
One of the Lowlanders helped the elderly woman off her horse.
“Good Lord, it is a relief to finally arrive here,” the woman said and walked to stand directly in front of Noble. “I am Lady Elizabeth MacMurray, and I am in need of a hot brew and a soft cushion.” She turned to Leora and looked her up and down, her aging eyes finally lingering on Leora’s hair. “And you, dear, are the reason I made this dreadful journey. We must talk.” She took hold of Leora’s arm, leaving her no choice but to help her up the stairs.
Chief let loose with a puppy bark and rushed a few steps ahead of them before plopping down and waiting for them to catch up.
“Be gone with you, you mangy animal,” Lady Elizabeth ordered, shooing at the pup with her hand.
Leora stopped on the next step, forcing the older woman to stop as well. “That handsome animal is Chief, my pup. He goes where I go whether anyone likes it or not.”
Chief barked as if in agreement and Noble hid his smile, hearing the reprimand in his wife’s voice. Lady Elizabeth would learn soon enough that Leora was not one to hold her tongue.
Lady Elizabeth glanced over Leora with an approving smile and said, “As you say, my dear.”
When the two women proceeded to climb the stairs, the Lowland warrior went to follow.
Noble stepped in front of him. “You will wait out here.”
“Simmons goes where I go,” Lady Elizabeth called out.
“Not here, he doesn’t,” Noble ordered firmly.
Lady Elizabeth turned. “You would deprive an elderly woman her request?”
“That was no request, it was a demand, and I am the only one who demands and commands here,” Noble said with authority.
“I know not if I deal with savages,” Lady Elizabeth snapped.
Noble’s voice turned fierce. “Either do I.”
Lady Elizabeth was taken aback and left speechless.
“Come with me, a hot brew awaits, and I will see a cushion brought for you,” Leora said to end the confrontation.
Lady Elizabeth stared at Leora as she said, “Proper manners are inbred in the aristocracy, my dear. I am pleased to see you have them.”
Leora hurried the woman along, knowing her husband’s temper had been more than sparked, it was close to being set ablaze.
Lady Elizabeth was soon settled at the dais, a soft cushion beneath her, a hot brew in hand, and food aplenty on the table, and Chief went to his bed by the hearth and sat, keeping a careful eye on the old woman.
“That man,” Lady Elizabeth said but Leora did not let her finish.
“Chieftain Noble, my husband,” Leora said.
Silence followed for a few moments before Lady Elizabeth asked, “Your marriage vows have been sealed?”
“Many times over, and she is probably already with child,” Noble announced as he approached the dais.
“That doesn’t matter,” Lady Elizabeth said dismissively. “The child can be raised in the Lowlands and given a good life.”
“My wife and child are not going anywhere, and I would kill anyone who attempts to take them from me. Now speak your piece and leave my home!” Noble ordered, furious that the old woman would dare speak such nonsense.
A quiver of fright could be heard in Lady Elizabeth’s voice when she spoke. “You would deprive your wife of her inheritance? A fortune awaits her in the Lowlands and a man who would take her as his wife even though she has been touched by a savage.”
Noble lunged at the table, gripping the edge, and Chief rushed to his side, growling as ferociously as a small pup could at Lady Elizabeth, and she paled and drew back in fear.
“You will feel the wrath of a savage firsthand if you dare mention taking my wife away from me again,” Noble threatened.
The elderly woman regained enough courage to say, “She is my granddaughter, and I will see that she inherits what is rightly hers.”
Leora hurried to speak before the confrontation between the two worsened. “How do you know for sure if I am your granddaughter?”
“My only son, only child, Henry, told me on his deathbed that he had gotten a young, noble woman pregnant and refused to wed her since it was nothing more than a minor indiscretion to him. She feared what would happen to her and the child if her father found out. My son knew of a woman who could help her and so he sent her to the woman. He never heard from her again and assumed she chose not to return home. My son’s death left me without an heir to a sizeable fortune and estate. I want my blood to inherit it and so I decided to see if I could find the child he had out of wedlock. I was able to find out that it was a granddaughter and that she had reddish blonde hair like her mother.”