A Fierce Archer (Clan Ross Book 6) by Hildie McQueen (great novels TXT) 📕

When Ewan reached for her, she whirled away. “I do not wish to be yer wife.” This time, her voice was low, sullen. “Please go.”

“I have told ye many times that I love ye, Una. I will do whatever it takes to ensure ye are happy.”

“Then leave now. Go to wherever it was ye went for so many weeks.”

“If I go, I will never return.”

Her eyes narrowed in challenge. “If only that were true.”

He stormed to the front of the great room to stand in front of his father. The man looked up at him with a frown. Despite how much he tried, as of late, it was as if his father resented each breath Ewan took.

“I demand my marriage be dissolved.” Ewan stalked across the room. “As soon as possible.”

“Dissolve the marriage?” His father glowered. “I will not allow it. There are many marriages between two people who do not care for one another. Find a mistress. Distract yerself with other pursuits.”

Ewan leaned forward, not wishing to air his problems before those present in the great hall. “I do not wish to continue to be tied to a woman who detests me. What would make ye happy, that she try to kill me?”

“Again?” Darach, his older half-brother, added with a hard stare to their father. “I am not convinced it was not she who made my brother so ill in the spring. It was poisoning, the healer attested.”

“It must be done, Father,” Duncan, his brother, insisted.

Ewan looked directly at his father, his jaw tight. “I wish her gone from here.”

By the lowering of his shoulders, it was apparent his father was about to relent. “Very well. I will allow the dissolution of the marriage, but Una must remain here. We cannot insult her clan by returning the lass.”

He and his brothers exchanged confused looks but remained silent.

It was strange that his father, a man who should take his and his brothers’ side over someone of another clan, would not in this case. However, Ewan cared little about it. If anyone would know about a marriage of convenience, it was his parents.

They rarely shared more than a meal together and, even then, did not speak to one another. Of course, there was a strong reason for it. His mother hated his father.

He went to his mother’s sitting room, finding her sitting with her companion. The women shared some secret because they laughed and then quieted upon seeing him. He couldn’t help but smile, loving that his mother was in so much better spirits. For a long time, she’d been sullen and withdrawn. Slowly, she’d emerged from the shadows and was almost the woman he remembered from boyhood.

“Come sit, darling.” Lady Ross patted the seat next to her. “What brings ye to visit me so late?”

Her companion stood and went to sit on the opposite side of the room. It mattered not if she overheard as Ewan suspected whatever anyone said to his mother would always be repeated to the woman, as Lady Ross shared everything with her.

“I asked Father to dissolve my marriage to Una. He finally agreed.”

Lady Ross frowned. “I am glad. Ye should have never married her. But there are consequences...will she be sent back to her clan? It will be an insult.”

“Father said she must remain.”

His mother looked to her companion. “In what capacity?” his mother asked, searching his face. “I suppose she can remarry. However, it will be most strange that she continues to live here.”

Ewan nodded. “I agree and do not wish for her to remain. However, I am willing to accept anything as long as she is no longer my wife.”

“I am sorry to interfere,” his mother’s companion said. “Dear, yer wife is with child. Did she not tell ye?” She looked to his mother. “I am sorry, but he must be told.”

His mother nodded and sighed. “I planned to wait and see if she would inform ye first.”

“Who is the father?”

“That, I cannot tell ye,” Lady Ross replied. By her expression, it was obvious she had suspicions.

 

“Ewan, do sit.” Malcolm pressed a glass of whisky into his hand. “I am sorry.”

“For?” He looked about the room as his cousins exchanged looks of confusion. “Ah, yes, my father,” he finished. “I am sorry as well.”

“Ye will go to Uist, will ye not?” someone, perhaps Tristan, asked.

His mother, would she be glad? Ewan could not picture her to be sad. His father was not a good husband to her. He had turned out to be worse than anyone could have imagined.

For a long moment, he considered not telling his cousins the truth. Then he decided it wouldn’t matter one way or the other.

“I am not sure if I will go or not. There really isn’t much need. Being that I am the fourth born of five brothers, I am sure they will have matters well in hand.”

He looked around the room and realized how different it had been for Malcolm, Tristan and Kieran when they’d lost their father. All three of them had mourned the late laird and been heartbroken over his death. The only one in the room that perhaps understood him was Ruari. He’d never truly known his father.

“My father was not the great man like yer late father,” Ewan began. “I wish it was different, but it was often left for the council to handle all of the clan affairs. My father was a cruel man who cared little for the people. He devoted his time to things I would rather not speak of.

Malcolm looked to his brothers. “What of yer mother? Does she not require ye there? It would be an insult to the clan if ye do not attend yer father’s funeral.”

It was true.

“Ye are right. I am thinking