Free Terri Brisbin by Taming the Highland Rogue Page B

his protection, Connor saw
little need to consult any but the father of the young man or woman involved.
That was simply the way things were done. But having been bought as a bride for
the MacLerie, she understood the difficulties of the situation for the woman so
matched. Then, when she had raised objections to some of the matches he did make
and he ignored what she considered clear, logical reasons for not approving the
marriages under discussion, Jocelyn understood that speaking directly to him and
making her arguments would never work.
    Hence her matchmaking scheme.
    But without access to the contracts and documents Connor stored
in his strongboxes, she would not be prepared for the wedding on the morrow. She
had not had the opportunity to examine the marriage agreement that would join
Connor’s niece to the young heir to the neighboring clan. Or to see if other
arrangements for other marriages had been included.
    To learn if her husband had already pledged their daughter’s
hand to someone. Jocelyn shivered and caught Margriet’s worried gaze.
    Though Margriet’s daughters would not inherit titles or
properties, they would be marriage prizes because of their father’s connection
to the Earl of Orkney and the wealth bestowed on them from his family. As a
mother and another bartered woman who had luckily found love with her husband,
Margriet shared Jocelyn’s concerns about their daughters’ future. So, she had
agreed to help Jocelyn in this endeavor.
    As had Duncan’s wife, Marian, who had a daughter of
marriageable age. And with her own Lilidh approaching her fifteenth year, the
concerns were even more grave—it would be time to betroth her soon and Jocelyn
worried over her eldest daughter’s fate.
    The steward sent for her, asking for help with some of the
preparations for the wedding feast and so Jocelyn found the day speeding by her
with no chance to think on how she could get into the clan’s records. But, as
the day passed and the evening approached, the sick feeling in her stomach
increased.
    She had never, in their nearly two decades of marriage, lied or
misled Connor, and her actions now, though for the good of others, did not sit
well in her heart. Should she tell him? Would he hear her out or simply blame
her actions on her too-soft heart? Worse, would he believe that she did not
trust in his decisions?
    By the time she saw to everything and climbed the stairs to
their chamber, she wondered if she was truly doing the best thing.

Chapter Two
    The noise woke him.
    The scraping of something along the stone floor dragged him
awake and Connor reached for the sword always by the bedside. Reaching out to
draw Jocelyn closer, protecting her if necessary, he felt an empty bed. Pushing
out of the bed, he gripped the sword before him and moved silently toward the
sound. He heard her breathing before he saw her walking toward him from the
shadow of the alcove.
    “Jocelyn? What are you doing?” he asked, sliding the sword back
in its scabbard. He took a candle over and lit it from the embers of the hearth,
holding it up to brighten the chamber.
    “I could not sleep,” she said, gathering a bed robe closer
around her. “I thought to walk but there are too many visitors within the keep.”
She looked back toward the darkened corner. “Then I decided to sit over there
where I would not disturb your sleep.”
    Something was not right.
    He walked closer and saw the chair she’d dragged across the
floor, waking him…and the strongbox not three feet from there. An unlit candle
sat next to the box.
    “Is aught wrong, Jocelyn?” he asked, watching her face in the
flickering shadows thrown by the candle. He stepped closer and took her hand.
“Is there something that is worrying you?”
    Jocelyn looked as though she would answer, but then she shook
her head, denying what he suspected.
    “Is it the bairns?” he asked, waiting for some sign in her eyes
of the matter at issue. Though she liked to believe she could