The Spitfire Read Online Free

myself, my lord! I might have saved her earlier, but I did not. I crouched helplessly in a ditch while my elder sister was murdered before me. I could not help her. It was all I could do to soothe Meg and Mary, and to keep little Geordie from crying out, for he was terribly frightened.
    “I was one. The English were many. The girls and old Una clung to me, begging me not to leave them. What was I to do? I could not sacrifice my younger sisters and brother to the brutality of those devils! I could not! And when they had finished with Eufemia, they threw her naked body into the flames of our home. She was long dead by then, I am certain, for she had made no sound for several minutes before.
    “Then the English took my horses and my cattle, and drove them off across the border. Despite my love for Eufemia—and I did love her for all her wild ways, my lord—none of this would have happened had my sister not been the whore that she was. Now ye know the truth of this matter. The whole truth!” the young laird concluded defiantly, looking up at the earl.
    A deep silence prevailed for a long minute between the older and the younger man. Then Tavis Stewart put a comforting hand upon the laird’s shoulder. “‘Tis done then,” he said quietly. “Yer family and servants will come back wi’ me to Dunmor Castle, and there ye will stay until yer home can be rebuilt.” His voice was devoid of emotion. “Whatever else she was, Eufemia Hamilton was to have been my wife. I’ll nae let her family suffer. The English, in murdering yer sister, have besmirched the honor of the Stewarts of Dunmor, as well as the Hamiltons of Culcairn. As the Earl of Dunmor it is my right to wreak my vengeance upon this little English lordling. We’ll hae our revenge, laddie, that I promise ye!”
    “What will we do, my lord?” Robert Hamilton asked.
    “Och, Rob, we must first find where this English fox has his den, and then we’ll burn it to the ground, even as he burned yer home. We’ll take back yer horses and cattle, and of course we’ll hae his horses and cattle as well in forfeit. That done, I expect the Englishman will think us finished wi’ him, but we will nae be, Rob. We will wait, and we will watch. Sir Jasper bragged to yer sister that King Richard would make him a fine match.”
    “Perhaps ‘twas all it was,” the laird said, “idle boasting and nothing more. Why would the English king be bothered with a petty vassal? I dinna know a great deal about the man other than what Eufemia told me. I dinna even know if he has a house, but my sister never spoke of any important connections that this man might have.”
    “Patience, lad,” the earl counseled. “In time we will learn everything we need to learn about Sir Jasper Keane. If indeed King Richard makes an advantageous match for this man, we will know it, and it may be we will make this unknown heiress a widow before she is a bride. The English will pay a heavy forfeit for this night’s work at Culcairn.”
    “But how will we find Sir Jasper’s home?” the laird persisted.
    “Think, Rob! The man canna keep his cock to himself, and has lasses, ye’ve said, on both sides of the border. God only knows we Scots hae our share of randy borderers, but last night this Englishman murdered a Scotswoman of good family. He did it deliberately, cruelly, and wi’ malice. We will find him, lad, for someone is certain to know the location of his lair, and they will talk. Either from their own outrage over this crime or from their own greed. I intend offering a reward for information that can lead us to the treacherous bastard. Gold is often a more powerful weapon than even the sword.”
    The young laird thought a moment and then nodded his agreement at the earl’s words. An impatient tug upon his sleeve caught his sudden attention, and he looked down into the wizened features of a tiny woman who glowered balefully up at him.”What is it, Una?”
    “What is it?” the old woman