A Bewitching Bride (37 page)

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Authors: Elizabeth Thornton

BOOK: A Bewitching Bride
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One moment she was running like a deer; the next, she was like an arrow shot from a bow. When she came to the holding pen, she flattened herself against the wall and covered her mouth with her hand to stifle the sound of her breathing. Her legs were cramping; there was a stitch in her side.
“Why don’t we stop this nonsense and come to terms?” came that hateful voice.
She gulped in air, steeling herself for what she knew she had to do next. The tomblike tunnel was right behind her. She could feel the cold air ruffle her skirts.
The touch of that cool air on her ankles gave her fresh hope. It was like an omen. Where there was a way in, there was a way out.
“Did you hear me, Kate?”
“Oh, I heard you. The trouble is, I don’t believe you.”
“Why are you bothering?” he asked pleasantly. “They’re all dead, you know. I saw to that.”
The time for talking was over.
She sank to her knees and entered the tunnel. The thought that all this fiend need do was drag her back by her heels and finish her off with his bare hands was a powerful incentive. The long, narrow passage no longer seemed like a tomb. It was the gateway to her salvation.
Fight him tooth and nail, Kate.
The voice sent a burst of energy to every pulse point in her body. She could feel it burning through her blood, clearing her mind of everything but the one thing that mattered.
She had to kill him.
She shut her mind to the claustrophobic crawl space, dragged up her skirts, and scurried on her knees down the tunnel toward freedom.
As she advanced, the air began to smell sweeter, cooler. When she dragged herself through to the outside, her brain registered the fingers of dawn reaching up toward the night sky, but she did not savor the beauty of it. She was looking for a weapon, but on that heather-clad slope, there were only small stones that wouldn’t put a dent in a pudding.
“So there you are!”
She spun around to see him drag himself out of the tunnel. He was blinking rapidly as his eyes became accustomed to the light. Her night vision was no advantage now.
Fight him, Kate
.
Fight him tooth and nail.
The old Kate would have been running for her life. The new Kate stood her ground. It was just like her dream. She might die in the attempt, but she had to fight.
When he was still on his knees, she lashed out with her foot. The blow sent his gun in a perfect arc, and it slithered into a clump of heather.
“That won’t help you.” He had pulled himself to his feet. “Go on, run for the gun or try to run away. I’ll be on you in seconds and—”
The element of surprise cut him off in mid-sentence. With head lowered, she charged. The force of the impact drove him back against the wall. Enraged, he drove the air from her lungs with a blow from his fist.
She had the good sense to dodge out of his reach. Keeping a wary eye on him, she gulped in air.
He was so sure that he had crushed her that he sauntered toward her with a smile on his face. “I don’t need a gun to finish you off,” he said.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and hung her head as though she had no more fight left. “No, please, no,” she quavered.
“You won’t feel a thing,” he crooned.
Nails like talons, she launched herself at him, taking him off guard. He howled as she dug them into the soft flesh of his cheeks and dragged them to his chin.
“Explain those scratches to the police when they come to question you,” she panted.
When he came for her again, she brought her knee up and connected solidly with his groin. As he went down, he brought her with him. Air whooshed out of her lungs.
“Gavin,” she croaked out. “I knew you would come for me.”
It was a ruse to get him to turn his head. Massey was completely taken in. When he turned to follow the direction of her eyes, she wound her arms tight around him and sank her teeth into the softest part of his ear. He screamed, he squirmed, he bucked. She held on for dear life. Blood filled her mouth and ran in a rivulet down her chin, and she exulted in it.
She was tiring. She couldn’t hold on much longer. But he wouldn’t get away with her murder. She’d left her mark on him for all time.
She heard him before she saw him. Gavin! His face looked drawn and haggard. Breath was rasping in and out of his lungs. His clothes were torn and tattered. But he was
alive
.
She had only moments to register that Gavin was in no condition to help her. When Massey pushed out of her arms, she cried out, “Watch out, Gavin! He’s looking for his gun!”
Gavin came to a stumbling halt and sank to his knees in front of her. “I can’t help you,” he gasped out, “not this time. I can’t even hold a gun. Here, you’ll need this.”
She opened her hand and automatically accepted the gun he had given her, her own pocket revolver. It fit her hand as though it were part of her.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “Where is your gun?”
“I left it at the house. Shh!” He put his finger to her lips to silence her. “Do your stuff, Kate. We’re all depending on you.”
Avery had found his gun. He waved it in a show of victory as he hobbled back to them. Kate rose to her feet. “Who wants to go first?” he cried, his gaze moving from Gavin to Kate.
“I will.” Kate raised her weapon. Both shots were fired at the same moment. Only one shot found its mark.
Twenty-six
“Everyone is staring at us,” Kate whispered in her husband’s ear.
“That’s because,” Gavin responded, “you look as though you’ve been at the wars. It’s most uncommon for the bride to turn up at her wedding with a black eye.”
“Or for her groom to be concealing a mass of bruises beneath his fine clothes.”
“Ah, but no one knows about that except Calley and you. Must keep up appearances, you know. The ladies expect it.”
“
I’m
the only lady you need to impress now, Hepburn.”
“
You’re
the only lady I have ever wanted to impress, Mrs. Hepburn.”
Smiling, arm in arm, they moved among their guests, dispensing little packages of a fruitcake that would still be edible for years to come. Gavin couldn’t shudder because it hurt, but he wanted to. Evidently, in the Highlands, that was how the natives preferred their wedding cake. He’d already made up his mind that if there was any cake left over, he would feed it to Macduff for services rendered. Poor Macduff wasn’t fit to mix with company. His hair had fallen out, and two legs were in splints, but he was on the mend. He thought he might erect a cairn to his dog. If it were not for Macduff, they would all be dead.
Three days had passed since Kate’s bullet had pierced a hole right between her cousin’s eyes, three days of hiding out with the tinkers until their names were cleared. After a terse telegram from the Home Office had arrived at Ballater, the police immediately turned their attention on Massey’s pseudo parents who were now singing like canaries. They had no idea what their employer was up to, they swore. They needed the money. May God strike them down dead if they told a lie.
That little drama had still to play out. Meantime, Kate’s mother and Magda had worked tirelessly to make sure that the reception went off without a hitch, not in Braemar as they originally planned, but in the closest hotel to where most of the guests had assembled, the hotel where Kate’s adventure with Gavin had begun.
“You’re not superstitious?” he whispered in her ear.
“Why should I be? I’m a witch.”
“You’re sure of that?”
She stopped dispensing her packages of wedding cake. “Gavin,” she said, “the first time in my life I ever fired a gun, I hit my target exactly where I aimed it. Of course I’m sure.”
Her eyes wandered over the groups of people, and a little frown hovered on her brow.
“What is it?” Gavin asked.
“Everything is the same as it was at Juliet’s reception, yet everything is different.”
“Yes, everyone likes a wedding, especially a love match.”
Kate’s eyes were trained on her sister. She said slowly, “Magda looks like a woman in love. Look, Gavin, she’s smiling.”
“I’ve heard that love brings out the best in us.”
Magda moved her head, giving Kate a clear view of the gentleman who held her attention. “Dalziel?” Kate said and laughed. “How very appropriate! She
has
changed!”
“And so have we. Love changes us.” He made a face. “Did I just use a four letter word?”
“I’m not letting you take it back!”
“Did I ask you to? Enough philosophizing. It’s time to fetch a glass of wine for my beautiful wife.”
She caught his wrist before he could move away. “And what do you see when you look at me, Gavin? Mmm?”
“Pots of money,” he answered at once. “I’ve snagged myself a rich wife and am the envy of every man here.”
She tossed her head. “If you are referring to the money that comes to me from my grandfather, you can forget about that. It’s evil money, and I refuse to accept a penny of it.”
“Money isn’t evil, Kate, it’s the
love
of money that is evil. Don’t you know your Bible? What if we were to give it away to a worthy cause?”
“What worthy cause?” she asked suspiciously.
“Will’s clinics. With enough money to fund them, they could attract young doctors to the area. As it is, the Braemar clinic is on its last legs. The one in Aberdeen can’t be far behind. Will’s determination to keep them running made all the difference.”
She warmed to the idea. “And I’d like to do something special for the Nazarene nuns as well. They were very kind to my mother.”
“They weren’t the only ones who were kind to your mother.” To the question in her eyes, he answered, “Have you forgotten the lady in the carriage who was waiting at the gates of the convent?”
“No. I shall never forget her. I wish there was some way I could thank her.”
“Perhaps you can. She’s here.”
“She’s here?” Kate was astonished.
“She has always been close by, keeping an eye on you.”
“Who is she?”
“That’s for you to find out.”
The aggravating man was gone before she had time to ask her next question. Her gaze came to rest on her parents. After a moment’s reflection, she dismissed her mother as the lady in the carriage. Mama couldn’t keep secrets, and surely there would have been a hint or two over the years to rouse her suspicions.
The next subject she studied was Mrs. Cardno, but only because Juliet’s mother sat down beside her. “Well,” said Kate, “you said you wanted an adventure. You should be satisfied.”
The habitual twinkle in the old lady’s eyes brightened considerably. “I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. You were safe only as long as I kept my silence. Now that the danger is over, I can freely admit that I’ve been watching over you. How clever of you to work it out.”
“But . . . I haven’t worked anything out.”
“You haven’t? You don’t know that I was the lady in the carriage outside the convent?”
Kate’s mouth formed a round O.
Mrs. Cardno reached out and patted Kate’s hand. “There’s much to tell you about your mother and me. We were like sisters, but this isn’t the time or place.”
“You told my husband, but you couldn’t tell me?” Kate couldn’t hide the hurt in her tone.
“No. He worked it out without any help from me.”
A barrage of questions hovered on Kate’s tongue, but her good friend Sally Anderson plopped herself down on the vacant chair on the other side of her, and she was forced to swallow her words.
Mrs. Cardno got up. “We’ll talk later,” she said, eyeing Sally’s mulish expression. “I think you two young things have a lot to say to each other.” In a flurry of skirts, she disappeared into the crush.
“What is it, Sally?” Kate asked. “What has put that look on your face?”
Sally ground her teeth. “Cedric,” she said, “has broken off our engagement. Seems I’m not good enough for him.”
Kate looked over at the group of people who were hanging on her father’s words. She was never in any doubt what the topic of conversation would be: the Knights Templar of Deeside. Cedric looked enthralled, animated. He no longer had the look of a bored socialite.
“I thought,” she said, “that you and Cedric had it all worked out? He had the title, and you had the money, and after the ceremony you would go your separate ways?”
“Cedric is no longer interested in money,” Sally replied acidly. “He has fallen in love.”
“What?!”
“And you’ll never guess who the lucky girl is.”
Kate shook her head.
“Your sister Magda.” Glittering green eyes bored into Kate’s. “Well, she can’t have him. Cedric is mine, and I mean to fight for him.”

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