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‘Aye, I did. What does the old bastard want?’ Conall felt the anger take him at the very mention of the man’s name and glowered at his father, who continued.
‘Well, he knows who you are, he knows you took her, and he wants her back. The Menzies has written, demanding his rights under a contract of marriage.’
‘Which Kenna did not agree to, which her father was going to force her into.’
‘Nevertheless, he demands that we, and I quote, ‘return his betrothed to him, unsullied and with haste, so that they may finalise their happy union,’ oh, and he demands compensation for having deprived him of his rights to her under the law. He also demands that you return his beloved to him in her virgin state.’
‘Beloved! He is a repulsive old lecher, and Kenna hates him.’
‘And her virginity, Conall?’
‘Don’t you talk about her like this, I won’t have it.’
His father narrowed his eyes. ‘Menzies also writes that he has the full support of her family in making this demand, that she was stolen against her will and that Gregor Moncur demands her return.’
‘I didn’t steal her, and he can’t have her. Moncur is a monster, and have you forgotten that he kidnapped and imprisoned me? He would have killed me had I not escaped. You cannot do it. You cannot send her back.’
Rory spoke, and his words were heavy with doom. ‘Under the law, a man owns his daughter, Conall. She is his property and soon to be her husband’s property, if what this man Menzies says is true. If the two of them take the matter to the courts, then the law can be a strange beast, and it may enforce his rights as a husband or her father’s rights to claim his daughter. They could argue that you abducted her, not the other way around.’
‘They will kill her, or they will sell her to that awful old man. You can’t do it. I won’t let you do it.’
‘The Moncurs aren’t the only problem.’ His father’s voice was cold, and Conall knew well enough that there was anger underneath the icy control. ‘That fight you had with Darroch, it was over Kenna, wasn’t it?’
‘Aye, he insulted her. He got what he deserved.’
‘Insulted her, how?’
Conall took a deep breath. ‘He called her my whore.’
‘And is she?’ piped up Father Boyle, no doubt enjoying the scandal.
‘She is not,’ he snarled, giving the priest a withering look. ‘And you can keep your hands off her too.’
‘What are you implying, young man? There has been no impropriety, Laird. I have tried to help the girl, educate her and keep her away from the bad influence of your son. Why he is…’
'I know full well what my son is, Father, and I know full well that the girl is probably blameless in all this. There are lewd rumours circulating around Dunslair about you and Kenna, and unfortunately, there’s even more to this sorry tale that you have not seen fit to tell us, son.’
‘I received a complaint from a man whose farm sits at the edge of our land, up near Mallach Moor,’ said Rory. ‘Seems he was caught out in that terrible storm we had some weeks back and had to take shelter until it blew over. So imagine his surprise and dismay when he returned to his cottage the next morning to find two people had trespassed there.’
‘Aye, Conall,’ said his father. ‘Apparently the girl was very comely and blonde and the young man… how did he describe him, Rory?’
‘A dark, murderous blackguard with the look of the devil, young and wild-eyed, a scrapper, covered in cuts and bruises. He said he found the two of them naked as two baby birds in a nest and coiled around each before his hearth,’ said Rory
‘Time to stop your lying, son.’
Conall felt his heart sink, not for himself, for Kenna. He didn’t care what they thought of him. He didn’t care what punishment his father meted out for his transgressions, but to have her name dragged through the mud was unbearable. But Rory wasn’t done it seemed.
‘They also stole a horse.’
Conall snapped. ‘I gave him plenty of bloody silver for his horse and an old nag of a thing it was too.’
‘And you beat him, he said.’
‘I knocked him on his arse because he had a pitchfork at my throat, but that was all.’
Murray brought a knuckle up to his mouth to stifle laughter, but Duncan saw him.
‘This isn’t amusing, Murray.’ He turned back to his son with a thunderous look on his face. ‘So Conall, the plot thickens. Got anything to say in your defence?’
