MacWilliam.”
“Walk!” Niall exploded. “We’ll take the first available horses we?can find. The MacWilliam’s stronghold is a good stretch of the legs?from the sea, man. Do you ride?”
“About as good as you sail, laddie.”
“Then God help you, MacGuire! You’ll soon be as uncomfortable?as I am now!”
When they finally reached shore the captain untied his passenger?and helped him from the boat. Niall Burke rubbed his wrists where?the ropes had chafed him. He was anxious to be home so he might?speak with his father. He clambered up the hillside from the beach.
Without even looking to see if MacGuire was with him, Niall?strode quickly away, following a faint path. After about a half-hour?they came in view of a thatched roofed farmhouse. Next to the?farmhouse bloomed a kitchen garden of herbs, carrots, and other?root vegetables, cress, and a few bright flowers. The nearby fields,?well kept, were already colored with barley and rye. And in a pasture?just beyond the garden a dozen sleek horses grazed peacefully. There?was no sign of life, though MacGuire could have sworn he had seen?smoke coming from the chimney. “Ho! The house! ‘Tis Niall Burke,?and a friend.”
After a long moment the farmhouse door swung open, and a big?man stepped out. He called back out into the house, “It’s all right,?Maeve. It’s his lordship.” The man came forward, a grin on his face, and clasped Niall’s hand in his own large bearlike paw. “Wel-?come, my lord! How may we serve you?”
“I need two horses, Brian. This evil-looking fellow is Captain?MacGuire, one of the O’Malley’s men. He’ll return the horses to?you later.”
“At once, my lord. If you’re not in too great a hurry, the wife?is just taking bread from the oven.”
Niall Burke’s silvery eyes crinkled in appreciation. “Ah,” he?breathed. “Maeve’s bread with her own honey! Come on, MacGuire!?I’ve a treat for you, despite the fact that you’ve treated me badly.”?The captain in his wake, he burst through the door and swept up a?sparrow of a woman into his embrace. He held her high above him,? lowering her to smack kisses on both of her flushed cheeks while?she laughed and scolded him to put her down. “I’ve come for your?virtue-and your fine bread, Maeve love!” he teased, returning her?to her feet.
She gave him a friendly whack, and said, “None of your naught-?iness now, Master Niall. Tis long past time you grew up. Come?along with you, and your friend too. Sit down. The bread’s just?from the oven.”
They obeyed her and sat. Niall, turning to MacGuire, explained,?”Maeve was my nurse until I was seven. Then she deserted me to?wed with Brian. As a boy, I used to come here often, for she bakes?the best bread in the district. And for some reason her bees make?the best honey you’ve ever tasted.”
“It’s the salt air,” said Maeve. “It gives the honey a wee bit of?a nip.”
MacGuire shortly found that Lord Burke was no liar, and he said?to Maeve, “If you had a daughter who could bake half as well as?you do, mistress, I’d wed with her in a thrice.”
Maeve flushed with pleasure. “If you return this way, Captain,?stop for a meal with us.”
“Thank you, mistress, and I will!”
“The horses are ready, my lord,” called Brian from the doorway.
Niall Burke stood up, licking a drop of honey from his finger?like a small boy. “Let’s go, MacGuire. I’m anxious to be home!”
The captain was surprised to see two fine, well-bred mounts?waiting. They mounted and, with a wave to Brian, rode off.
“Your peasants must be prosperous to have any horses at all, let?alone such fine ones,” observed MacGuire as they cantered along.
“These are our horses,” answered Burke. “We keep good horses?with several specially chosen families for just such purposes as these.?That way, we’re never stranded.” He then spurred his horse to a?gallop. “Come on, man,” he called to the captain, who was bouncing up and down on his mount, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “I’m?for home!”
Niall Burke was to regret his haste. No sooner had he entered?into the MacWilliam’s presence than the O’Malley’s letter was?handed over to the great lord. MacGuire was sent off to be served?refreshment, and Niall stood impatiently while the MacWilliam, his?strong features darkening, skimmed over the parchment. Finally the? MacWilliam snorted and, looking angrily at his son, roared, “Well,?you arrogant puppy, I hope you have a helluva good explanation for?your conduct! Dubhdara O’Malley’s ships are vital to the defense?of this area, as is the goodwill of the Ballyhennessey O’Flahertys!”
Niall, of course, had not read the letter. Caught off guard, he?blurted like a schoolboy. “I love her, Father! I love Skye O’Malley!?I tried to speak with O’Malley, and get him to call off the wedding.?But his wife went into labor before I could talk to him. She had a?hard birth. He was unavailable all that time, and they wed the girl?ahead of schedule, practically in secret.”
“O’Malley wouldn’t have called off the match, you young fool!?It was made years ago. He was bound to it! And a damn good match?it was for his youngest lass. How dared you interfere?”
“I love her, and she loves me. She detests the O’Flaherty bastard?they’ve wed her to! She always hated him, even before we met.”
“And you felt that gave you the right to claim the
“I love her!” shouted Niall. “I want her marriage annulled so I?may wed her. There must be a bishop in this family.”
“Over my dead body!” roared the MacWilliam. “O’Malley’s ships?are valuable to me. His wench is not. I’ll have no pirate wench?mothering my grandchildren! I’ve arranged for you to wed with?Darragh O’Neill, the younger sister to your late betrothed. She is?thirteen, and ripe for marriage. You’ll be joined in three weeks’?time.”
“No!”
“Yes! Listen, you young idiot, take O’Malley’s girl as a mistress?if you wish, but you cannot wed her. She already has a husband.?And from what I hear of him, once he takes her to bed, you’ll?become just a pretty memory to her.”
“Go to Hell!” Niall Burke stormed out of his father’s study and?got gloriously drunk. The following day, his head feeling twice its?normal size, he was summoned back to his father.
“This,” said the MacWilliam, “was brought for you this morning.
I have taken the liberty of reading it, and can only say that O’Malley’s?daughter is wiser than you are. She obviously has more sense than?you do. Here.”
Niall snatched the parchment and read it with shock.
My lord Burke:
I have retired with my sister to her convent of St. Bride’s?on Innishturk Island, where I shall pray to Our Lady that the?shameful night we spent together bears no unhallowed fruit.?What we did was wrong, and I can only hope and pray that?my husband will forgive me. I beg that you forget me, and?for the good of your soul enter into Christian marriage with?a good woman at the earliest possible moment. May God go?with you always.
Skye, Lady O’Flaherty
He wanted desperately to deny what he read. And, after all, he?had never seen her writing. Was it a forgery? The hand, however,?was sweetly rounded and feminine, and he recognized the imprint?on the wax seal as the one she wore on a ring. Perhaps they had?forced her to write this message. But he knew how stubborn Skye?was. They could have burned her feet with hot irons and she’d not?have written it, had she not wished to do so. Damn her! Damn her!?Was that all he meant to her? A shameful night? Damn her for the?fickle bitch she was! Anguished beyond anything he had ever known,?Niall blinked back his tears and said hoarsely, “I’ll marry Darragh?O’Neill.” Then he dropped the letter and strode from the room?without a backward glance.
The MacWilliam waited a moment to be sure his son had gone,?then said, “You can come out now, Captain MacGuire. Go back and?tell the O’Malley that his strategy worked. My son will be wed in?three weeks’ time, and will give him no further trouble.”
MacGuire bowed, nodded wordlessly, and departed.
Alone, the MacWilliam felt a twinge of conscience. He loved his?son deeply, and hated denying him anything. Still, when given the?choice between an O’Neill and an O’Malley for his daughter-in-law,?there was only one choice the MacWilliam could make. Yes, Niall?would settle down quite nicely with Darragh O’Neill. By this time?next year he would have a grandson.
