Free Highland Avenger by Hannah Howell Page B

have taken would do the fools a sore injury if they did to them as Claud did to ye. Aye, and the family would have been sent running to the hills if they tried to make either of those lasses take all the blame for their son’s betrayal of them.”
    She grinned. “Aye, that is how most of my kinswomen would behave.” She suddenly frowned. “’Tis verra odd that none of my family came for me as I did write to them of what I was suffering. What Claud did should have enraged my kin.” It was hard to understand that, to find a reason that would ease the pain she felt at their apparent desertion of her.
    “Oh? And tell me, did ye hand that missive to one of your husband’s people to have it sent on to your family?” He nodded when her eyes grew wide and she paled. “I suspicion those letters ye wrote were read ere they were sent on and any that spoke of the wrongs done to you were probably tossed straight into the fire.” Brian clenched his hands into fists as he fought the urge to take her into his arms to soothe the grief and pain he could read on her face. “Ye had a large dowry, did ye?”
    “’Twas rich enough and they were in sore need of it for they lived too weel.”
    It should not have been such a painful shock, she thought, as tears stung her eyes. She had certainly not been welcomed into the family. The man she had married had obviously never cared for her. Arianna now knew that, if she had had a child, that child would not have been completely accepted, either. She could not believe she had been so naive as to trust any of them. People who treated a person as they had treated her were not ones that should be trusted. Worse, she had accepted the possibility that no one in her family cared how she was treated, and for stirring that mistrust of her own kin in her heart, she would never forgive Claud’s family.
    “Weel, this shall anger my family,” she murmured. “Ach, what am I saying? They will all be furious o’er how I was deceived, over how they were deceived as weel. Kenning that I was treated poorly by that whole cursed family and robbed of my dower, too, will send them into a killing rage.”
    “Do ye think they will want to fight the Lucettes?”
    “They will wish to, but I think in the end they will only fight with words and demands for restitution. There is a connection through blood and marriage with the family, ye see. An old one. I was to be a renewal of that connection. There are some verra good people within the Lucette family. I wrote to them, as weel.” She sighed. “I suspicion those letters also went into the fire and that is why I ne’er saw the ones I have met before, ones more closely tied to my clan.”
    Brian was just about to give her his opinion on the way the Lucettes had treated her when he heard the sound of approaching horses. “We must leave now,” he said even as he grabbed her by the arm and tugged her to her feet.
    “Do ye think it is them?” she asked, hurrying to mount her horse.
    “Aye, I suspect it is. Move into the trees where the shadows will hide us. I wish to see to be certain. E’en if it isnae them, I think it best if we keep out of sight. We dinnae want them to be able to gain any information on where we have been.”
    “But if they pass so close to us, will they nay see us?”
    “They are on the other side of the burn.”
    Once within the shadows, her gaze fixed upon the other side of the burn, Arianna leaned forward to lightly stroke her mount’s neck. She closed her eyes to listen carefully and finally heard what Brian had. There were definitely horsemen approaching on the other side of the burn. She was astonished at the keenness of his hearing. She would have sat there in full view, probably not hearing the approach of anyone until they were right there staring at her.
    Opening her eyes, she stared at the opposite bank and tensed as the riders came into view. She easily recognized Amiel. The man sat a horse with all the stiff arrogance he