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"And his answer?" Rory asked with curiosity.
Edith grimaced. "He said they were perfectly fine with it."
"Do ye believe it?" Rory asked with interest.
"Nay," Edith admitted on a sigh. "And neither did me father. He sent a messenger to a friend at court, who immediately wrote him back with the true story as he knew it."
"Which is?" Niels prompted gently when she hesitated.
Grimacing, Edith explained, "Victoria was contracted to marry another when she met Brodie. My brother wooed her with tales o' his being heir to the laird at Drummond." All three Buchanan men stiffened at this news and she rushed on, "Her parents found out and her father took him aside and told him he knew he was the third son and would never be laird, his daughter was contracted to another, and to leave his daughter alone or else. But I do no' think they troubled to tell Victoria that Brodie had lied, because according to my father's friend, the next thing anyone knew Victoria and Brodie were gone." She grimaced. "It seems the pair fled court fer Drummond and stopped in a pub along the way to exchange consent in front o' witnesses."
"So they're no' really married?" Alick asked with a frown.
"Oh, aye, they are," Niels said heavily.
It was Rory who explained, "According to canon law all each party need do is give consent to be married. Ye need no' even have witnesses, although it helps if anyone refutes it."
"Then why is there always the priest prattling on and on? And what o' banns and--?"
"Not strictly necessary," Rory assured him. "Just preferred by most."
"Well . . ." Alick frowned, but seemed at a loss as to why anyone would want such bother.
There was silence for a minute, and then Niels said, "So he claimed he was to be laird."
"And now he is," Rory added darkly.
Edith sighed. She'd just known that was what they would focus on. "Look, I ken it sounds bad, and frankly, me brother is a selfish, unreliable and spoiled lad . . . but Father is the last person Brodie would hurt. He is the one who spoiled him so badly and let him go his own way so much growing up."
"And ye think he respected him fer that?" Niels asked curiously.
Edith stared at him blankly. "What?"
"Do ye think yer brother respected yer father fer spoiling him and letting him get away with so much as ye put it?" Niels asked, "Or do ye think he just felt like mayhap his father did no' care enough to be bothered to discipline him and teach him to survive in this world as a man?"
Edith frowned. She'd often seen her father's indulgence of Brodie as hurtful to her brother, knowing it was doing him no favors, but she'd never considered that Brodie might see it that way too.
"Yer brother got lucky with Victoria," Niels added quietly. "If he'd tried the like with our sister and we'd caught up to him ere they exchanged consent, we would ha'e beat him near to death."
"Aye, and probably cut off his ballocks and fiddle to boot," Rory said coldly.
Edith's eyes widened incredulously at the threat to Brodie's family jewels. "Nay."
"Aye," Alick assured her with a grin. "We planned to do all that and more to MacDonnell after he sent a message saying he'd ruined our Saidh and planned to marry her." Pursing his lips with displeasure, he added, "I'm still no' sure why we did no' do it."
"Because MacDonnell's a laird, and he ne'er lied to Saidh," Rory explained dryly.
"Besides, Saidh was no' contracted to another," Niels added. "She had no better prospects. In fact, MacDonnell was a fine choice to husband."
"And she loved him," Edith pointed out.
"Nay," Niels said at once, and when she frowned, assured her, "'Tis true. She lusted after him and liked him at first, but did no' yet love him. She said as much herself right in front o' us."
"Really?" Edith asked, her voice almost a squeak of surprise.
"Aye," Rory assured her with amusement. "Though, in truth, I think she probably was half in love with him when they married. She definitely loves him now."
"No' that it matters," Niels added quietly. "Had MacDonnell been a spoiled, lying third son unable to support her and any bairns they might produce, we would ha'e beat him to death rather than let him marry her . . . whether she loved him or no'."
"What?" Edith gasped, shrinking away from him with surprise.
Niels frowned at her reaction, but then asked, "Ye said ye do no' think Victoria's parents told her that Brodie had lied. Was it only because she ran off with him?"
"Nay," she admitted reluctantly.
"Then why?"
Edith blew her breath out unhappily, but then admitted, "Because she seemed shocked when they got here and Brodie introduced her to our older brothers."
"How shocked?" Niels asked.
Edith stared at him silently, suddenly suspecting he already knew the answer. If he'd talked to anyone here since their arrival he probably did, she realized, and wondered just how long the men had been here and what all they knew.
"She fainted," Edith admitted quietly, recalling the way Victoria had paled and then collapsed. Brodie had tried to brush it away as exhaustion from the trip as he'd scooped her up and carried her above stairs to his chamb
er, but they all heard the shouting coming from the room some ten minutes later when Victoria had apparently woken up.
Aware that no one had commented and the three men were watching her solemnly, Edith sighed and asked, "How long ha'e ye been here?"
"Nearly a week," Rory answered.
"A week?" she gasped with amazement.
"Only six days," Niels corrected.
"But . . ." She glanced from man to man. "What ha'e ye been doing all that time?"
"Mostly taking turns guarding ye, hunting up game, making broth and dribbling it down yer throat while ye were unconscious in hopes ye'd recover enough to wake up," Rory answered gently.
Edith stared at them, her mind spinning slowly. While Brodie had fled the keep with its threat of illness, these three men, who did not even know her, had been here nearly a week. During that time, not only had they taken care of her, but they'd hunted and cooked her food, dribbling the broth down her throat in the hopes of getting enough nourishment into her to help her recover.
"Why?"
The word slipped out without her conscious intent, and for a minute it just hung there helplessly in the air. Then Niels shifted her slightly so that she was looking at him and said simply, "Because ye needed our help, lass."
Perhaps she was still exhausted and drained from her illness, or perhaps it was the deaths of her father and brothers that she had not yet had a chance to grieve, but Edith's eyes suddenly glazed over with the sheen of tears. Just as she felt herself beginning to crumble in Niels's arms, the bedroom door suddenly burst open. Edith turned to see another man enter the room, this one as big and brawny as Niels and holding up two dead birds by their feet.
"I got a nice pair o' pheasants this time, Rory. If ye only use one fer broth, we can maybe get Cook to roast up the other and--" The man stopped and blinked as he noted Edith half-upright in the curve of Niels's arm. "Oh, say, ye're awake! Well, is that no' fine?"
Chapter 3
Edith blinked her eyes open and peered to the window, a smile claiming her lips when she saw the sunlight peeking through the cracks in the shutters. It was morning, finally, and today she could get up and go below. Rory and Niels had promised her as much.
