Read Highland Angel for Free Online

we can deal with the bastard.”
    Payton nodded and started toward his chair. After serving the children, Kirstie was just helping herself to some food as he sat down next to her. Callum watched him closely, even as he continued to eat, but the other children greeted him shyly before turning all their attention to their food. It was becoming increasingly clear to Payton that the younger children had been saved before they were too badly abused. They were wary and easily frightened, but held none of Callum’s intense distrust or rage.
    “Did ye pass a good night, m’lady?” Payton asked as he helped himself to some bread and fruit.
    “Oh, aye,” replied Kirstie. “It has been too long since I enjoyed such a warm, soft bed. And to have had a hot bath and a meal ere I sought my bed as weel? Ah, there is heaven.”
    “But, ye were wedded to a laird,” Wee Alice muttered as she served Payton a large bowl of honey-sweetened oatmeal and moved to serve the children more of the same.
    “And she was always irritating him,” Callum said as Wee Alice sat down nextto Moira.
    “I wasnae,” Kirstie began to protest.
    “Oh, aye. Ye were. ’Tis what the mon said the last time he shut ye in the cage for near to a sennight. He said that ye irritated him like a bad rash.”
    “The cage?” Payton asked.
    “My husband feels wives need stern chastisement,” Kirstie replied. One glance told her Sir Payton would press for a more precise answer and she sighed. “He had a metal cage hung from one of the walls at Thanescarr, his keep about a half-day’s ride south of here. Occasionally, he put me in it so I could ponder the error of my ways. A week was the longest I e’er had to rest there. Ye cannae be so verra surprised that my husband can be cruel.”
    “Nay, yet one can still be shocked by what form that cruelty can take. Ye ne’er told your kinsmen?”
    “Nay. I am my husband’s chattel, am I not? They could do little. And, they would be so angered they would strike out at him, so burdening them with the truth would only cost them dearly. I would gain little respite from my woes, but my family, my clan, would suffer most grievously. As I told ye, they could too easily be utterly destroyed.”
    “Yet, ye seek my help. Do ye nay think I might suffer for it?”
    “Ye have the favor of those who rule. Ye have kinsmen and allies far greater than my family could e’er hope for. Ye also have a reputation for fighting on the side of the helpless. There are many reasons I could give for choosing ye, but all lead to the same conclusion. Ye will take up this cause and fight weel, with the power and allies needed to ensure it doesnae cost ye your life. My kinsmen dinnae. There is also the fact that no one kens that we have e’er met.”
    Payton sat back in his chair and studied her for a moment. “Ye have been planning all of this for a while?”
    “Months,” she replied. “I might have waited e’en longer to seek ye out if I could have gotten these children away and if my husband hadnae decided I was too great a threat to him to live.” She nudged her empty plate to the side, clasped her hands upon the table, and looked at him. “So, do ye have a plan?”
    “For now, ye and the children hide here. Ye shall remain dead or run off. ’Tis best if your husband feels he succeeded in ridding himself of ye. I shall go to the court. If there are already whispers about Sir Roderick, ones ye planted or others, I shall add to them. If there are none, I shall spread my own.”
    “That is all?” she asked, even though she knew he could not simply declare Sir Roderick evil and cut him down, that one had to move cautiously.
    “For now. As I told young Callum, this could take weeks, months, e’en years. Sir Roderick must be brought low first and that could take time. We must hope he has few close friends and allies, and those he may have will step aside once the rumors and whispers begin to spread. My plan can change at any time,