Forever Her Champion Read Online Free PDF Page B

and awaits his trial.” With a wave of his hand, he dismissed her. “Be gone with ye now. Ye can visit him on Sunday.”
    Mustering up a few tears, Rianna began to plead with the sheriff, to show her husband mercy. “The poor man,” she said with a pitiful frown and shake of her kerch-covered head. “He has nae been the same, ye ken, nae since the battle of Lochmaben Fair.” Intentionally, she shivered at the name of that fierce battle when rebels loyal to Alexander Steward and James Douglas attempted to overthrow James III. “Captured by the English, my poor husband was. A prisoner for two long years. Tortured he was. He suffered things no man should ever endure. He has nae been the same since. He managed to escape a year ago and return to me and our children, but he was nae the same man as when he’d left.”
    The sheriff stared in astonishment. “He was at Lochmaben Fair?” he asked, his voice a blend of awe and horror.
    “Aye,” she told him with a sniffle. “Ye heard of it?” She asked the question innocently, but she knew his answer before he replied.
    “Who has nae heard of it?” He stood and came around to help her into the chair next to his table. “Who did he fight with?”
    “The Gordons,” she told him. “But bein’ a woman and mother of three, I do nae pay much attention to such things. All I ken is that me husband was captured by the English and—” she broke into sobs then, feigning hurt as well as ignorance.
    “There, there, lass,” the sheriff said, patting her shoulder as if he were a thoughtful father to her. “Do nae cry o’er it. Yer husband be home now, away from the bloody English, aye?” He smiled warmly — momentarily forgetting he was the sheriff and not some doting father trying to console his daughter.
    “Aye, but now he be here, in yer goal, a prisoner once again,” she pointed out between sobs.
    The man stood then, looking for all the world like a man who felt guilty. She decided to play on the guilt. Later, she would ask the Lord’s forgiveness. For now, she had to save a man’s life.
    “I ken he was drunk and fightin’,” she said, looking up at him with watery eyes. “I ken ye were just doin’ yer job, m’laird. And ye cannae worry over a woman heavy with child or her other three children who cry themselves to sleep each night, fer they miss their father. My husband may have escaped the English devils, but I fear he left his mind there, the poor, wretched man.”
    Eying the sheriff carefully, she sniffled again as she removed a kerchief from her sleeve and dabbed at her eyes. “He was a good man, m’laird. A verra good man. We lived a simple life, farmin’ the land and raisin’ our bairns. He could have stayed at home with us when it came time to fight, but he refused. He wanted to support James the Third. He wanted to fight fer his country, ye ken. And fight he did, with honor and bravery, alongside the Gordons.”
    The more she spoke, the more his face fell and his shoulder’s sagged.
    “I fear that bein’ locked up again will be the death of him,” she said. “I ken ye’d treat him better than the English did, but me heart, me heart kens ’twill be the death of him.”
    In truth, she did not take any great enjoyment in manipulating the man. But Aiden’s life did hang in the balance. If she didn’t do something, who knows what would happen to him. Besides, he was her only hope of getting to Allistair Castle.

    * * *
    P laying to the sheriff’s sense of duty to country worked far better than she had anticipated. Her heart nearly leapt from her chest when he called for one of his guards to escort her to Aiden’s cell and to release him.
    “I’ll pay fer the damages done to the tavern,” Rianna lied. “As soon as we get to me father’s home he will be happy to pay. He considers me husband a hero, ye ken.”
    Moments later, a guard appeared next to her. After a quick explanation from the sheriff, he escorted Rianna to her husband.
    The