In spite of herself, Maggie felt a little bit of pride at her accomplishment as she noted the large camp of men laying siege to the walls where women stood along the parapets taunting them. It was truly a miraculous sight. One she hoped to someday share with her grandchildren.

As the three travelers drew near the camp, Maggie saw the men had left their tents and were grouped around a single individual. From the looks of the camp, it appeared Ceana MacDouglas had wasted little time after Maggie's departure putting her husband and his men out. And by the dour looks on the men's faces, she could tell they didn't share Maggie's humor at their predicament.

Braden pulled her to a stop as he caught sight of the MacDouglas.

Barely a score and ten years of age, Robby MacDouglas was almost as handsome as the MacAllisters, and he was a feared laird in the prime fighting years of his life. Wide of shoulder and every bit as tall as Braden, the man could terrify a demon.

His reddish blond hair complimented his bright blue eyes. And by his carriage, it was obvious that he was a man who had been born to command others. He held his spine straight, his jaw stern.

Maggie felt her legs go weak in fear. Her moment at hand, she found herself seriously lacking in courage.

What an arrogant braggart I am, she thought ruefully as she watched the MacDouglas snarl at the men around him.

How on earth would she ever dare confront such a large, terrifying man?

But she must.

Run, her mind railed.Run before it's too late .

Still, she couldn't. She'd never in her life been a coward and this was not the time to become one.

Ha! Her mind argued.This is the perfect time to learn cowardice !

Maggie refused to listen. Taking a deep breath for courage, she stepped forward, then froze as she heard Robby MacDouglas's words to the crowd. "I'll give a king's ransom in gold to the man who brings me Maggie ingen Blar's head on a pike! I swear I'd rather break bread with the king of England than that horse-faced, toad-eating lickspittle!"

Maggie's heart pounded, and for a minute she feared she might run after all.

Sin bent down to whisper in her ear, "What are you waiting for? Go on and tell him how wrong he is not to end this."

Aghast, Maggie gaped at him. At the moment, she didn't find him funny. Not in the least.

Braden grimaced at his brother and pulled her aside. But before he could speak, the entire camp grew quiet as a horse came running from the castle walls and into the circle of tents.

The men broke apart enough that Maggie saw a rider slumped over the back of a white horse.

And he was covered in...

Or rather he was dripping... ?

Frowning, Maggie stepped forward, not quite sure if she could trust her own eyes and what she thought she saw.

The horse stopped and the rider looked at his leader as if he were sick to his stomach.

As the rider stood up in the stirrups, there was a strange sucking noise, and as he threw his leg over and dismounted, an odd, iridescent trail marked his descent. Then he slopped his way toward the MacDouglas as flies and other insects buzzed around his head.

"They honied me," the rider said to the group, shaking his arms and sending trails of honey in all directions. Several men cursed as the honey landed on them.

His face grim, the rider snarled, "Them wenches done honied me from head to toe. Said they'd be throwing cabbages at the next one of us what comes near the gate."

Maggie covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughter.

Robby MacDouglas cursed. "Did you tell her you were there for a truce?"

"Aye, my lord. The lairdess said there would be no truce until she saw you and Lochlan MacAllister side by side at the gate."

The curse Robby MacDouglas let out shamed his former one.

"My lord," Braden said all of a sudden.

Maggie went cold as she gaped at him. What was he thinking?

Her heart pounding even more fiercely than before, she watched in stunned silence as Braden crossed the short distance between them and stopped directly in front of his family's mortal enemy.

How on earth could he appear so calm and unshaken while it was all she could do not to faint?

Robby MacDouglas turned a hostile eye to Braden. "I don't know you."

The silence was deafening.

Braden nodded at Robby MacDouglas-the man who had sworn to see him and his brothers in their graves.

Braden couldn't believe he was doing this. There must be a special corner of h.e.l.l for a fool such as he.

He only prayed it would be a few more years before he learned whether or not that was true.

In the meantime, Braden had to find some way to end this standoff before the three of them were slaughtered by the men or cabbaged by the women.

"Nay," Braden said in a good-natured tone, hoping to allay the laird's fear and mistrust. "You don't. I'm just a traveling bard, but I'm thinking I might be able to help you with this matter."

Braden resisted the urge to snort at himself.

How the h.e.l.l did he keep getting himself into this?

Sweet Mother Mary, Braden thought,can't you keep your mouth closed for a minute? Why must you always get yourself right into the thick of any fight ?

Robby's eyes reflected his own doubts over Braden's ability to handle the situation. "Can you, now, lad? And how do you figure that?"

"I'd like for me and my brothers to try and talk to the women."

The men broke out into laughter and several of them openly jeered.

Turning to face him, the man in honey raked Braden with a disbelieving stare. "Want to look like me, do you?"

Braden shrugged. "There are worse things than being covered in honey, and I've had harder things thrown at me than cabbage. But I think my brothers and I might be able to get the women to listen to reason."

Laughing, Robby MacDouglas put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "If you're of a mind to try, then I'm of a mood to see you harmed. Go ahead, lad, and G.o.d's favor upon you."

Braden nodded, then gathered Maggie and Sin.

"All right," Braden whispered to Maggie as they walked slowly toward the castle gate. "This is your one chance. You have to make the Lady MacDouglas listen to you."

"And if she doesn't?"

He exchanged a determined look with Sin. "Then I hope you'll forgive me for what I'm going to have to do to end this."

The stricken look on her face tore at his heart. He didn't want to add strife to her worries, but they had come too far to go back. She had to succeed.

As they drew near the gate to the castle walls, a cabbage came whirling straight at Braden's head. He barely had time to dodge it.

The old woman who had hurled it shouted down from her place on the wall, "We done told you men we'd-"

"Hold!"

Maggie recognized the voice of Ceana MacDouglas.

The lairdess peered down at them for what seemed like an eternity. After a long minute, the lairdess left the wall and Maggie could hear the clip-clopping of her shoes as she descended the wooden steps on the other side.

A few seconds later, a lock rattled and rasped, then the small door to the side of the main gate opened to show the head of a beautiful woman only a year or two older than Maggie. The MacDouglas lairdess looked like an angel, with her golden hair braided and wrapped about her head. The black and blue plaid she wore brought out the creaminess of her pale skin and made her blue eyes glow.

"Maggie, is that you?" Ceana MacDouglas asked.

"Aye," Maggie said. "May we come in?"

"Aye," Ceana said, then she stepped back into the safety of the bailey.

A woman of about two score, holding her broom like a sword, opened the door only enough to admit Maggie and her escorts, and as soon as they were through it, she slammed it shut and locked it.

Ceana stepped forward and took Maggie's hand in her own. Her cheeks were bright and her eyes shone with happiness. "Is it over?" she asked.

Maggie shook her head. "Nay, it has gotten worse. The men of my clan are ready to kill our laird if he doesn't settle this, and he refuses to settle unless your husband ceases to demand the life of his brother."

The lairdess dropped Maggie's hand and all the happiness fled from her face. "Oh, Sweet Mother Mary," Ceana breathed. "What are we to do, then?"

"I don't know," Maggie whispered. "I'm sick of the bloodshed, but I'm afraid the men have us this time."

"My lady?" Braden asked, drawing their attention to him. "Do you know of anything that can make your husband give up this feud?"

Ceana's face turned cold and angry. "Nay. He loved that she-devil to the exclusion of everything else."

"Then why did he marry you?" Maggie asked, then quickly regretted the bluntness of her question.

However, Ceana didn't seem the least bit taken aback by it. And when she answered, her voice was completely devoid of emotions. "For my money, and because his own mother insisted he take a wife."

"His mother?" Braden asked. "Is she here?"

"I'm standing right behind you, you whelp, with a broom to break across your hide if you make one move on any of us." She raked a look over him. "And don't you be thinking I'm so old that I don't remember what a young buck like you has on his mind."

Braden turned slowly to see the woman who had let them inside.

Agnes MacDouglas looked young for her age. Her strawberry blond hair held only the faintest traces of gray in it, and her blue eyes were searing in their intensity and filled with the vitality of a woman half her age.

She placed the broom handle on the ground and held it like a soldier would a spear as she placed her left hand on her hip and narrowed a probing stare at him. "I told my Robby-boy that woman was a snake when I first saw her and that wandering eye she had. I knew she was no good. But he wouldn't listen to me. He just had to have her, regardless of my warnings."

Maggie stepped forward. "Is there anything that could make him-"

Agnes shook her head before she finished. "She poisoned my babe with those practiced pouts."

Ceana's face turned to stone. "And now I carry his bairn and I will not give birth to this child until my husband stops pining for that she-devil!"

Sin snorted. "Should I point out, milady, that I doubt you'll have a choice as to when you birth your child?"

Ceana cast him a withering glare.

Sin just smiled in response.

"Wait!" Maggie said, interrupting them. "I think I have a plan."

Braden shivered at her words. G.o.d help them now, for he knew only too well about Maggie and her plans.

If he had any sense at all, he'd head back to England with Sin in tow.

He glanced around at the women surrounding them. All eyes were trained on Maggie, and his gut drew even tighter. They were actually going to listen to her.

Of course they are. They don't know what they're in for.

But he did.

"My brother Anghus used to have a saying," Maggie told them. "You don't know what you've got till it's gone."

The hair on the back of Braden's neck rose, and some inner premonition warned him to grab her and run back home as fast as his legs could carry him.

But d.a.m.n fool he, he didn't move.

"Well," Maggie continued, "I think I know a way to show Robby MacDouglas exactly what he has, and to see if it means anything to him."

Chapter 17.

Once the plans had been made for the following day, Agnes and Ceana led Maggie, Braden and Sin into the castle to feed them and to finalize their preparations. Maggie stayed only long enough to make sure everything would be ready, and then her nerves got the better of her. "Unlike the men, she didn't feel like eating. Not' when her stomach was tied into so many knots, and so many doubts plagued her.

She needed a breath of fresh air and some time alone to think. Time alone where no one could see the numerous uncertainties that shredded her confidence and left her vulnerable and scared.

Heading out of the donjon, Maggie paused at the top of the stairs to glance about the bailey. Rushlights had been lit, and the women along the parapets had ceased their taunting of the men in order to eat their suppers and gossip with each other.