Hannah Howell (18 page)

“Ye probably saw it at the same place—your cousin’s wedding.”

“Nay, I didna see the people come and go, didna pay any heed to that at all.”

“So how did ye recognize his horse? Where else would ye have seen it?”

“At Thurkettle’s keep.”

“MacKinnon met with Thurkettle?”

“Well, he might have, but I never saw him. I just saw the horse. And ’twas
that
horse. I am certain of it. Several times I saw it tethered outside of Brenda’s cottage.”

“Brenda
has a cottage? Why would she need one?”

“To tryst with her lovers, of course. Surely ye must have gone there a time or two.” She studied him, wondering why he wore such a cross expression.

“Nay, I never went to her trysting cottage,” he growled, irritated at this further proof of how thoroughly Brenda had fooled him.

“How odd, since she eventually takes all her lovers there.”

“Then it isna odd at all, is it? For I was never the wench’s lover.”

Tess stared at him. He looked both annoyed and insulted. She tried very hard not to laugh, but several things conspired against her. It was a joyful relief to know for sure, at last, that he and Brenda had never been lovers. Revan also looked very much like a sulky child who had discovered that, even though the sweets had been given out freely and often, he had come up empty-handed. She clamped a hand over her mouth, but it failed to completely smother her giggles. When Revan scowled at her, she started to laugh even more.

“Ye find that amusing, do ye?” Revan was not quite sure what Tess found to laugh about and if he should be insulted by it or not.

“Aye. Pardon.” She struggled somewhat vainly to stop laughing. “She had you thoroughly fooled. It fair stings your vanity, doesna it?” Tess started to giggle again. “ ’Tis clear she guessed your game from the start.”

“Aye, ’twould appear that she did.” He eyed her curiously. “Why do ye find this so amusing now? Ye learned it long ago.”

“Well, I did guess that she had fooled you, played a game with you. I just hadna realized how completely she had deceived you. Sweet Mary, Brenda spent more time out of her clothes than in them, yet ye thought her innocent?”

“Not innocent exactly, but”—he frowned—“surely ye saw that before now. Ye kenned we werena lovers.”

“I wasna sure.”

“I
told
ye we werena.”

“Ye didna state it quite so firmly then. Mostly ye just denied drooling over her or pining after her or—”

“Enough. Of course I denied all that. I didna drool, pine, sniff, or whisper poetry.”

“Well, ’tis no wonder ye didna get an invite to her trysting cottage.”

She laughed as he gave a growl of false anger and wrestled her down onto the bed. Once he got her pinned beneath him, he kissed her. Although their passion was there, easily stirred to life, Revan’s kiss was one of affection, not demand. Tess found it painfully sweet. It was the forerunner of the love she sought, of the love she needed. It was the hint of what she was beginning to believe she could never have. She would have to set it aside or watch it wither beneath the chilling effects of his ravished pride. Pushing aside those mournful thoughts, she smiled at him when he ended the kiss.

“Poor Sir Revan,” she teased. “He worked so hard and gained naught.”

“I wouldna say
naught.
’Tis true that my vanity is sorely pinched to think she gave out her favors so freely yet not to me. But, I believe I hold the best the Thurkettle family had to offer a man.” He grinned down at her when she blushed, then grew serious. “I am also very glad I didna share her bed so soon before I was destined to share yours.”

“Destined, were ye?” She smoothed her hands up and down his arms.

“Aye, ’twas fate.” He brushed the few strands of hair from her face with his hand.

“Fate could have given us less trouble to deal with whilst she interfered with our lives.”

“It will soon be over. I am pleased to see that ye have shed your fears over MacKinnon’s hot words.”

“More or less. The threats still haunt me some, but I keep reminding myself that he is now a prisoner. Donnbraigh has some very secure dungeons and no traitors to help him. Soon I will forget about the man completely.”

“Good.” He brushed his lips over hers. “And I believe I have a way to help you do that more quickly.”

Tess smiled as she wrapped her limbs around his lean frame. “Do ye, now. Best get started, then. I believe I feel a twinge of fear coming over me.”

She laughed along with Revan, then accepted and returned his kiss. For a while his lovemaking would make her forget her lingering fear of MacKinnon, and she intended to take full advantage of that. However, she knew she would not be completely free of the man and the chill of his threats until he was gone. Although she hated to wish the horrible death meted out to traitors upon any man, she knew it was the only thing that would put an end to her fear.

 

 

“Ye can seek your bed now, Jamie.” The new guard in the dungeons sat down in the chair the old guard had just left.

“I am right pleased about that, Dermott, m’lad.” Jamie scratched his chest as he scowled at MacKinnon. “Silvio badly wants this cur to be sure to meet his fate. We dinna usually have to watch a prisoner so closely.”

“Mayhaps Silvio fears someone would aid him.”

“A traitor in Donnbraigh?” Jamie laughed and shook his head. “Nay, not here,” he said as he started up the narrow stone steps leading out of the dungeons.

“Fool,” Dermott muttered as soon as the man was gone, then leaned forward in his chair to look more intently at MacKinnon. “Ye have gotten yourself into a fine muddle.”

“This is an insult and an outrage. Delgado will pay dearly for it.”

“I would give up that game, my friend. Ye showed your true colors when ye threatened the man’s niece.”

“ ’Twas but a moment of unthinking passion, of rage. It meant nothing and proves less.”

“Ah, ye are clever with words, but I doubt ’tis skill enough to save your neck. I fear that must be left to me. ’Tisna the reason the Douglas set me here, but I ken it will serve. My job is nearly at an end anyways.”

MacKinnon slowly stood up, staring at the guard in surprise. “Ye are a Douglas man?” he asked as he walked to the bars.

“Aye, though I begin to question the wisdom of my choice. But I made it and I will stay with it. That means setting you free. Once I do, I have ended my usefulness here. They will ken who let ye go, so I must go with you.” He stood up and took the keys from the nail on the wall. “We will hie for the Douglas’s keep. By the time they realize ye are gone, we should be a safe distance away.”

“I willna leave here without that cursed wench.” MacKinnon stepped back from the bars.

“Are ye mad? I canna get her now. She doesna sleep alone, for one thing. That Sir Revan is tucked up with her.”

“Then we will wait until we
can
get her and take her with us.”

“Ye dinna have much time left, my friend. Old Silvio plans to ride and join the king in a fortnight’s time. If ye are still here, ye ride with him, straight to death at the king’s hand. Aye, and it willna be a gentle death ye face.”

“I ken it. I dinna mean to stay here until I am dragged off like a sheep to slaughter. But I would like to take that wench with me. Ye said we have a fortnight. There is some time left to us. Mayhaps I can yet have both my freedom and my vengeance on that wench for betraying me. There has to be some time when she is alone.”

“Aye, a time or two, but we could wait until Michaelmas before it coincides with my guarding you.”

“Then ye will have to take care of the guard who is here.”

“Ye are a bit too eager to put my life in danger. Your neck might be on the chopping block already, but I dinna mean to have mine there, too, just to satisfy your need for revenge.”

“Then maybe ye will be more willing to take a risk to collect the reward offered for the wench.”

“There was talk of a reward, a bounty price,” Dermott murmured. “I thought it but rumor.”

“Nay, not rumor. How long have ye been here? Ye werena sent here to try to stop her and Halyard?”

Dermott shook his head. “I eased my way in here months ago because old Silvio and most of his kinsmen are close to the king and his court. They hear a lot, ken a lot. The Douglas wanted that information.”

“He wants the girl and Halyard, too.”

“There is no way to get our hands on Halyard, not secretly, not without rousing Donnbraigh. He is never alone.” He rubbed his chin with his hand. “But we could take a few days to see if we could get the lass.”

“A week.”

“A week, then, but then we leave. We will take the girl to Thurkettle.”

“The Douglas is closer.”

“Not by many miles. I want Thurkettle to have her. He will be far less swift and tidy in the killing of her. And he will pay a richer bounty, for he gains more by her death. Thurkettle gains her silence
and
her fortune.”

“She will be taken to Thurkettle, then. One week,” Dermott said as he put the keys back on their hook. “ ’Tis all I will allow, all I can allow. Then ye must leave Donnbraigh—or die.” He sat down and smiled faintly. “The Douglas doesna want ye speaking to the king any more than he wants Halyard or the Delgado wench to talk. When the week is up, I will leave it to you to decide which ye find the sweeter—life or revenge.”

“I intend to have both.”

“Sir Revan thought ye might enjoy a ride,” Dermott said.

Tess frowned. “Aye, I would, but why didna he come for me himself?”

“He needed to finish his hunting, mistress, but he will meet us at a spot he himself has chosen.”

She stood up and brushed herself off, looking down at the small herb garden she had been weeding. It was just one of the many chores she had busied herself with in the last week. Although she felt a little guilty, she knew she would not mind leaving the tedious work to spend some time with Revan. It puzzled her that she was still somewhat hesitant.

A small frown curved her lips as she covertly glanced at Dermott. She did not know the man. He was new at Donnbraigh. For reasons she could not name, he made her uneasy. The fact that everyone else at Donnbraigh appeared to accept the man did not help cure her of her wariness.

The sudden invitation from Revan also bothered her. He had insisted, as strongly as Silvio had, that she remain safely within the high walls of Donnbraigh. Then she recalled something Revan had said only the night before. He had claimed that all of the Douglas’s and Thurkettle’s men had been slain or chased off of Donnbraigh lands. She had thought it just something to soothe her lingering fears. This invitation indicated that it had been the truth. Tess felt relieved and a little lighthearted. She smiled at Dermott.

“Just give me a moment or two to wash this dirt off.” She started toward the keep but paused to look back at Dermott. “ ’Tis just ye and I who shall ride out to meet Revan?”

“Nay. The curs sniffing around Donnbraigh may have been run to ground, but ’tis still not safe for ye to go beyond these walls so lightly guarded. Another man waits with the horses.”

She nodded and hurried toward the keep. A small part of her still pressed for caution, but she forced it aside. To spend some time with Revan was a temptation too strong to resist, and she was sure he would not have sent for her unless he felt it was safe.

 

 

“Where is she?” MacKinnon hissed when Dermott walked over to where he stood with three saddled horses.

“She needed to tidy herself. She will be along in a few moments.” Dermott glanced around to be sure that no one was near enough to overhear anything he and MacKinnon said.

“A few moments? Curse ye for a witless fool. She is a woman. They canna
tidy
themselves in but a moment or two. We shall be standing here for hours.”

“Nay, for if she doesna appear soon, I shall go and fetch her. I can tell her that her man will worry if she isna there soon or some such thing as that. She willna be long. She isna one to spend long hours on her gown or her hair. Dinna be so fretful. ’Twill draw attention to us, and this isna the cleverest ploy ever devised.”

“Did someone doubt it?”

“Nay, for they are all feeling secure now. This would be a very costly place to attack, and most of our compatriots are now gone—dead or returned to the Douglas or Thurkettle.”

“I hadna considered that. We will have no allies in our flight.”

“Our greatest ally will be time. We will be hours ahead of them if all goes well. Then there is the lass herself. They will tread warily in their pursuit, for they will fear for her. I hope your friend Thurkettle can harbor us as safely as I ken the Douglas would. There is where I foresee the greatest risk.”

“There is little, but if ye worry on it, ye can take your reward and leave. No one will stop you.”

“Except, mayhaps, the ones who will be after the lass,” Dermott murmured. “Here she comes. Mount and say nothing.”

Tess frowned as she walked up to Dermott, and he immediately helped her mount her mare. Try as she would, she could not fully conquer her sense of uneasiness. The other man, his helmet hiding his features, said nothing nor did he glance at her. That seemed a little odd to her, but she shrugged and turned to Dermott, who had just finished mounting.

“Must we ride very far?” she asked him as they started out of Donnbraigh.

“Nay, ye willna be riding far.”

A tingle of wariness slipped down Tess’s spine, but she fought to ignore it. She began to think that she was becoming a foolish woman frightened of empty shadows. Such unsubstantiated fear was not something she wanted to suffer from. She forced herself to concentrate only on the beautiful late spring day and how nice it was going to be to share it with Revan.

They rode in silence, which she did not really mind but did find a little strange, for the men of Donnbraigh tended to be a garrulous lot. Donnbraigh faded from sight soon after they entered the forest. Tess began to wonder just where Revan had chosen for them to meet. She turned to ask Dermott where they were headed and gasped as he suddenly rode up close beside her and yanked the reins from her hands. He brought them all to an abrupt halt.

Tess cursed herself for a fool. She should never have ignored her own inner alarms. Before she could act to save herself, however, the other man had a tight hold on her wrists and was looping a rope securely around them. There were traitors within Donnbraigh. Tess found that almost impossible to believe despite being a captive.

“Why are ye doing this?” she demanded.

“For revenge,” said the guard, who had remained silent until now.

When the man took off his helmet, Tess felt momentarily light-headed. The familiarity of that cold voice had warned her, but she was still stunned to see MacKinnon at her side. Fear caused a bitter taste in her mouth. This man wanted her dead, and she could foresee no immediate hope of rescue. It would be hours before the people of Donnbraigh realized the danger she was in. She opened her mouth to scream in the weak hope that someone was near enough to hear her, thus come to her aid, but Dermott was quick to gag her. She glared at both men in a fury born of her helplessness and fear.

“We intend to take you to Thurkettle,” MacKinnon continued. “Dermott will gather the bounty offered for you, and I shall have the pleasure of watching you die. The Douglas is closer, though not by very much, but I believe Thurkettle will more satisfactorily appease my hunger for revenge. He is a man inspired to cruelty and excess when he is angered.”

A cold shiver rippled through Tess. The man was correct in his judgment of her uncle Fergus. Thurkettle was well known and rightfully feared for his vicious furies. She had thwarted the man too often to believe that he would feel any kindness toward her or exhibit any mercy. Kinship meant little to him. By managing to stay alive and keep her fortune out of his hands, she had earned Thurkettle’s enmity, and that could well mean a very painful death.

“MacKinnon,” snapped Dermott. “Enough of this talk. Ye can play your foolish games with the lass another time. We had best be on our way.”

“There is time. Hours yet.”

“Hours we will need to outdistance Delgado and the lass’s lover. And ye canna be sure that we will have hours. The guard could be found or Delgado and Halyard could return to Donnbraigh earlier than expected. Come on.”

Tess was roughly jerked in the saddle when Dermott, still holding her reins, spurred his gelding onward. She grabbed the saddle horn to keep from falling. Only briefly did she consider tumbling from her saddle. It was no means of escape. She would probably injure herself and her captors would simply halt and put her back in the saddle, securing her more firmly and, undoubtedly, more painfully. She would have to wait and pray for some other, better, opportunity.

As they rode, she glanced, once, back at Donnbraigh. If the guard Dermott had subdued had only just taken up his post, then it could be hours before MacKinnon’s escape was discovered. It would be at least as long before her uncle Silvio and Revan rode back into Donnbraigh. Her captors could easily put enough distance between her and Donnbraigh to make rescue extremely difficult if not impossible. She could not simply wait to be saved.

The problem of rescuing herself was not going to be an easy one to solve. She was bound and gagged, there were two men who would be keeping a very close watch on her, she had no weapons, and she had an appallingly poor sense of direction. As they made their swift, precarious way through the thickening forest, Tess tried not to give into hopelessness.

 

 

Revan frowned, his good humor fading as he entered the bailey of Donnbraigh with the Comyns. Tess was always right there to meet him, yet today she was nowhere to be seen. Then he noticed the agitation of the people who were waiting in the bailey. He felt the pinch of alarm as he nudged his mount closer to Silvio’s, hoping to overhear what his men hurried over to report.

“MacKinnon has fled,” reported Silvio’s sergeant-at-arms, Calum. “Dermott helped him. He must be a Douglas man. The traitorous cur has been slinking about here for months. I dare not consider all he might have learned.”

“How could MacKinnon have escaped?” Silvio demanded as, with Tomas’s help, he dismounted.

“Dermott let him out. He killed poor Seumus, who was on guard. We didna discover it until ’twas time to change the guard. Young Norman went down. He didna see Seumus but thought that MacKinnon was still secure, for there was a body on the cot. It took Norman a few moments to grow suspicious and go into the cell. ’Twas poor Seumus on the cot, his throat slit and the blanket pulled about him to hide his features.”

“That tells me how MacKinnon got out of his cell, but how did the bastard escape from Donnbraigh itself?”

“By a very clever ruse. Dermott told us that Sir Halyard had sent him to fetch the lass, that Sir Halyard wished a wee tryst with her. Since the Douglas men in the area are now all dead or gone, we didna question it.”

“Ye let them leave with Tessa?” Revan cried as he dismounted and grabbed Calum by the arm.

“We had no reason not to,” protested Calum. “Dermott has been here, one of us, for months. There were a few doubters, but ’twas mostly ye yourself whom they wondered on.” Calum gave Revan an apologetic look. “They thought your request a wee bit strange and suspicious. We dinna ken who ye are. We
thought
we kenned Dermott and could trust him.”

“When was all this discovered?” Silvio asked.

“But a few moments ago,” Calum replied. “We were just about to send someone out to find you and another to try and pick up their trail, if he could. I fear they have been gone for four hours, mayhaps a wee bit longer.”

“Sweet Mary, there are miles ahead of us already.” Revan stared at the open gates, fear for Tess making it difficult for him to think of any plan. “Even if we rode at full gallop, we could never hope to catch them before they reached the Douglas.” He suddenly recalled the threats MacKinnon had made as he had been dragged from the great hall of Donnbraigh. “If she isna killed before then. MacKinnon wants her dead.”

“Aye,” agreed Silvio. “He can have that done without bloodying his own hands if he has taken her to the Douglas. He can also collect the bounty offered for her. I believe he will keep her alive and hand her over to that traitor.”

“And once she is in that man’s hands, we have no hope of getting her back.”

“Probably not, but I am a stubborn man. I dinna mean to give up. Calum, we need fresh mounts and some supplies,” he ordered, then turned to another man. “Martin, ye get out there and find us their trail.”

Revan, calmed a little by the action being taken, looked up at the dusk-clouded sky. “We have but an hour, mayhaps a wee bit longer, ere nightfall hinders us.”

“All we need to ken is
where
they are going. Once we are sure of that, darkness will slow us down, but it need not stop us. Also, there will be a nearly full moon tonight. ’Twill help.”

“ ’Twill help them as well,” murmured Revan.

“I ken it, but mayhaps luck will be with us and ’twill slow them more than it does us or, better, stop them.”

It was on the tip of Revan’s tongue to say that luck had not followed him and Tess too closely since they had fled from Thurkettle, but he bit back the words. He was sure that Silvio knew that and that the man knew how heavily the odds were weighted against them. The man would not appreciate being reminded of that fact. Revan wished he could borrow some of Silvio’s stubborn optimism. He was chilled by fear and concerned that it would hold him back or steal his wits just when he needed them the most.

Only a few moments passed before they had fresh horses, some supplies, and weapons and were riding out of Donnbraigh. Revan wondered how well he would hold himself in check if such a small passage of time could feel like an eternity. He needed to regain his stern discipline, the alert calm he had always valued as a knight. The thought of what was happening to Tess or what might happen to her was making that control difficult to grasp. He struggled to set his mind on one thing and one thing only—the job of finding Tess.

“Is this fellow—Martin—good at finding a trail?” he asked Silvio as he edged his horse up next to the man’s.

“Aye. Very good. We sometimes jest that we should be rid of our hounds and just keep Martin. He doesna eat as much, and we dinna have to clean up after him as often.” Silvio’s smile was a little weak.

“Do ye think they would have even left a trail?”

“The chance of it is good. Aye, better than good. Their greatest concern will have been to put as many miles between us and them as is possible. They wouldna use that precious time to be careful or to pause to try and hide their trail. They would also ken that we would guess where they were hieing to anyway.”

“Then why do we waste time even hunting for a trail? Why not just set out after them?”

Silvio shrugged. “There are a few different ways they could go. The Douglas has several keeps. I fear I am not very sure which one he might be in. Also, there is ever the slim chance that they arena headed where we think they are. I just feel that ’tis to our benefit to learn as much as we can ere we charge off across the countryside.”