The Border Lord's Bride Read Free

to know.
    "We hae time, my lad," Gavin MacArthur replied. "Now look about ye and see what ye‘ll inherit one day. Lochearn is a fair land to look upon."
    "Why can we not simply slay the old man and take it then?" Balgair said. "I am a MacArthur born. Are MacArthurs not entitled to MacArthur lands?"
    "Ye need the lass to make yer claim a legitimate one. If yer clansmen rebel ye hae no power, lad.
    With Ellen MacArthur for a wife yer claim on Lochearn is a valid one."
    "Then I‘ll wait for her to return, Da," Balgair said.

    "When can we return home to Lochearn?" Anice asked for what surely was the hundredth time, Ellen thought.
    "When Grandsire sends for us, and not before," she said.
    "What if he doesn‘t send for us? What if he dies, and no one knows where we hae gone?" Anice whined. "I dinna like it here in the south. I dinna like that high and mighty Lady Margaret either.
    She treats me like a servant."
    "You are a servant," Ellen said. "A very spoiled one, it would seem."
    "They say yer da fathered me before he wed yer mam. They say the old laird knew it. They say when I was found he recognized me, and that is why he took me in."
    "They seem to say a great deal," Ellen responded. "But it means little."
    "This chamber is a wee one. There is scarce room for the bed and my trundle," Anice remarked meanly.
    "Dinna you realize how fortunate we are to hae this wee chamber?" Ellen asked her serving woman. "We might hae been put in wi‘ the other women of the princess‘s household. She was most gracious to us. Now stop complaining and unpack what ye can. I am going to join the lady Margaret in her little hall." Ellen hurried from the room. Anice had done nothing but fuss and wail since they had departed Lochearn. Ellen almost wished they had left her behind and brought Peigi instead. She made her way to the private hall where Lady Margaret spent her afternoons.
    Seeing her enter, the princess waved the girl to her.
    Ellen came forward and curtsied politely.
    "You are settling yourself, lassie?" Margaret Stewart asked.
    "I am, ma‘am. Yer kindness is appreciated. I dinna nae what to expect here at the king‘s court. I hae ne‘er seen such a grand place as this Sterling."
    The girls sitting about the princess giggled at Ellen‘s Highland accent, and the girl flushed, knowing the reason for their hilarity.
    The princess, however, addressed them all sharply. "Ellen is from the western Highlands, and of course she speaks differently than we do. What do you think the English would think of your accents, my lasses? They would consider you barbaric."
    "Surely not, madam!" one girl, Katherine Gordon, cried.
    "Indeed they would," Margaret Stewart said. "Now apologize to Ellen MacArthur, and offer her your friendship. She will, I expect, be with us for some time."
    "We‘re sorry!" the girls surrounding the princess chorused.
    Ellen smiled brightly at them. "Thank you," she said. "And ye must correct me when I speak so that my speech is as fine as yers."
    "You, not ye," one girl answered. "And yours, not yers."
    Ellen nodded. "I‘ll remember," she told them.
    Margaret Stewart smiled to herself. The girl would fit in nicely with the other lasses in her charge. And she was certainly a pretty creature with her bright hair and pale skin. She was just the sort of lass the king would favor. Petite. Soft-spoken. Round. I shall have to keep her very close, the princess thought to herself. The laird of Lochearn would not be pleased to have his granddaughter returned to him carrying a bastard in her arms. Even a royal bastard. Damn! I should rather be back in my own house reading than overseeing all these women. Why do they bother to come to court?
    The princess was surprised to find that Ellen MacArthur was not the ill-educated bumpkin she had thought she would be. The girl spoke French and English, as well as her Highland language.
    She had a small knowledge of mathematics and history. She had been taught, she said, by an old scholar who