The Love Slave by Bertrice Small Read Free Book Online Page A

who would hae a MacDuff chief for Ben MacDui, nae a Ferguson.”
    “Then they are fools too, Jamie MacDuff,” Regan responded. “I ne’er knew my sire, for he was killed in the feuding before our birth. For all these years we hae had peace. The Fergusons outnumber us, which is why they triumphed in the first place. To what purpose would ye start the warring all over again? That ouryoung men be killed for the glory of Ben MacDui? I would nae hae such a thing on my soul.”
    “Yer mam would nae hae fled a fight,” he said.
    “Our mam is dead,” she told him harshly. “Now if ye canna be content wi’ the way things are, Jamie MacDuff, then get ye gone from Ben MacDui! I will nae let ye spoil my sister’s happiness.”
    “Happiness? Wi’ Ian Ferguson?” he said incredulously.
    “She told me just this morning that Ian is a fine lover,” Regan said, and then added cruelly, “the best she hae ever known.”
    With a look of pained disbelief he flung himself away from her. It was the last time she would see him. She learned to her great relief several days later that Jamie MacDuff had gone soldiering to a place called Byzantium. To Regan’s amazement, Gruoch was equally glad to be free of her former lover. Her bridegroom’s style of lovemaking seemed to appeal to her, and she was very content with him.
    Regan remained at Ben MacDui, but to her surprise, she found that without her mother, her home now seemed a foreign place. Gruoch was fast becoming jealous of any attention Ian gave her sister, and seemed openly eager for her departure. She greeted with great relief the news that Regan’s flow had come upon her.
    “Ye’ll be going, then,” she said almost too bluntly.
    “Aye,” Regan replied. “Ye’ll gie me time to recover, will ye nae, sister? Ye know how motion affects me during this time.”
    “Aye,” Gruoch grudgingly allowed. “Ye will nae hae an easy journey as it is. I would nae make it harder for ye.”
    “We will ne’er see each other ever again once I am gone,” Regan said, “yet I will always love ye, Gruoch.”
    “And I, ye,” Gruoch said, her manner softening. “I truly wish ye dinna hae to go, but the old man is firm. He says yer but a temptation to the MacDuff clansmen, Regan mine.”
    “He is correct,” her twin told her. “Jamie MacDuff suggcstedwe wed and defy the Fergusons, before I sent him away. I told him ye said Ian was a better lover.”
    “He is.” Gruoch giggled. “Ye were right when ye said he was a stallion, Regan mine. I am almost sorry to be wi’ bairn now, for I shall nae be able to satisfy him when my belly gets too big. He’ll run off to one of his mistresses then, I fear.”
    “Hae ye told him yet, Gruoch?”
    “Nae, but I will soon,” Gruoch said with a smile. “He’ll boast like a peacock, and the old man will be pleased too,” she concluded.
    She is content, Regan thought. The revenge our mam planned will soon be complete, but Gruoch does not really care about that now, I think. She is simply happy to be Ian Ferguson’s wife, although why, I cannot understand. He’s a pleasant enough fellow, but a lout at heart. He’ll grow more like his da with every passing year. I wonder what their children will be like, but I’ll ne’er know that. Soon I’ll be gone from Ben MacDui. Once I thought I would care, but now I dinna think I will. Gruoch has her place in the world, but I dinna seem to hae mine.
    Regan MacDuff left the only home she had ever known on an early summer’s morning. The trip, which would take at least two weeks, would see her travel from the hills of eastern Alba to a place called Strathclyde in the southwest corner of the land. She would be escorted on her journey by a mixed troupe of both Ferguson and MacDuff men. The old MacFhearghuis showed her a small but weighty bag, which he then gave to the captain of her escort.
    “ ’Tis yer dowry, lass,” he said. “Andrew will gie it to Mother Una.” Then somehow understanding her