Love's Ransom Read Online Free PDF Page B

and she was sure there was panic in his blue eyes. She felt like comforting him with a hug as she did her sisters. His reluctance to take her as his bride was not very flattering but she was sure he would not be brutal or unkind to her as Neb Truddle would have been. He looked more nervous than she felt herself. Then, with a yearning she didn’t understand, she glanced towards his cousin. Zander was watching her intently. Was there a wistful look in his eyes, or had she imagined it? After all he did not know her and he was handsome enough to take his pick of all the girls. She raised her head proudly.
    ‘Jamie, it will be better for me to marry Henry than end my life, or yours, hanging from a tree,’ she said firmly. ‘I shall be safe from Neb Truddle here. We shall have thwarted him completely. He will not be expecting you to return to continue as Master of Braidlands and chief of the Ellwood Clan. Neither can he molest me every time I walk alone.’
    ‘That’s true,’ Jamie said slowly, ‘but I don’t want to leave you here, Belle. We shall all miss you dreadfully, dearest sister.’
    ‘As I shall miss all of you,’ Isabella said, her voice trembling at the thought of never seeing her mother and sisters again.
    ***
    There was a great deal to do in a very short a time. Isabella found her head in a whirl as she was whisked away. Anna Douglas was as kind as Isabella had guessed she would be. She was also very generous and brought out her own finest gown of cream silk. Isabella was puzzled by her remarks regarding Henry and her earnest plea that she would be kind to him and try to understand and forgive his problems and fears.
    ‘This dress is beautiful,’ Isabella said, stroking the fine material. ‘My mother has one like it. My father brought back the silk after one of his journeys to buy salt. One of the French ships sailed up the Solway Firth bringing brandy and silks and satins.’ She sighed wistfully. ‘I can’t take your dress, Anna. It seemed a waste to wear my own best dress of fine wool to hang from a tree.’
    ‘You really did mean to take your brother’s place?’ Anna asked.
    ‘Of course. My mother and sisters need Jamie more than me. But I would rather be alive.’
    ‘I knew Jamie was not a thief. Zander believes he was wounded by one of your own men. The men here enjoy the sight of a hanging but Zander has always believed in justice.’
    ‘Then I am grateful to him for keeping Jamie safe. Why do you call him Zander?’
    ‘He is twenty two, three years older than I am,’ Anna chuckled. ‘I could not say Alexander at first so he became Zander to everyone here.’
    ‘Has he always lived at Moyenstane Castle with you?’
    ‘As long as I can remember. Our mothers were twin sisters but Zander’s mother died when he was born. My mother became the only mother he knew, and Lizzie, our old nurse. When my father was a young man he enjoyed the thrill of reiving over the English Border. He got caught and taken prisoner. He would have been hung if his men had not broken him free. He had to flee for his life so he travelled across the sea to a country called Holland. My aunt, Zander’s mother, married Edward Latimer. He was a very sick man and only lived a few weeks after their marriage. A month later Zander was born and my aunt died. Henry and I never knew her of course but Lizzie loved her and our mother and still tells us about them. When father returned he married my mother. Zander was two years old so he has always been here. Lizzie and Maggie were distant cousins of my mother so they came here with her and Lizzie looked after Zander. Maggie is a seamstress. They are both here still. This is their home. Lizzie regards herself as a servant but she has been like a mother to Henry and me, as well as Zander, though she says he was born proud and independent. Zander would do anything to protect Henry. He would help me too if I needed him but I am to marry Walter, Zander’s best friend. He will look