Highland Rake (27 page)

He was of a mind to keep the conflict going, however. Alana had just shaken her head at him, catching his eye. He'd only smiled back at her as if he was having the best time so not to worry.

"I dinna know why you are in here while he is out there," Seana grumbled. "My brother, I am meaning. If it were me, I would be with my husband."

Alana suspected Seana was feeling badly that she had never had a husband before she grew ill and died. "He canna come in here with the other maids sleeping nearby. Can you imagine what the other men would think? What they would say?"

"That you were with your new husband where you ought to be."

"And he was with three women at one time," Alana whispered back.

Seana said, "Och, have you no legs to carry you into his arms?"

Alana pondered that. But she didn't want whoever was still awake to see her while she searched for her husband in a sea of sleeping bodies.

As if she read her mind, Seana said, "He is to the left of your tent, and I am certain he is thinking of you and no' sleeping either."

"What if the men give him a difficult time over it?"

Seana smiled. "'Twill be because they are envious and believe me, my brother willna be bothered by it. Instead, he will be proud his wife sought him out in the heather."

Alana sat up.

"If he doesna want you to join him, he is a fool," Seana added.

"What if he doesna want to sleep?"

Seana chuckled. "You think he would only wish to hold you close tonight? Nay. But he will because there are too many men about, and he wouldna want to embarrass you. Or make the others
too
envious."

Alana stood. "I will blame this on you if he doesna like me bothering him."

Seana took Alana's place on the furs and snuggled in them, pulling them up to her chin. "He will be pleased. And you can tell him I sent you to him then. Now go before you change your mind and none of us get any sleep."

Alana studied Seana, wondering why the ghost would need to sleep. She left the tent and glanced around. The chilly fog settling over the area made her shiver. A guard sitting by the campfire watched her. He was one of her uncle's men. He probably wondered if she thought to join her husband or mayhap needed to take care of a more personal matter.

She glanced down at the bodies wrapped in their plaids around the tent—Callum, Tavis, Gunnolf, and Dougald. Niall must be off guarding. She walked over to speak with Dougald, but he suddenly jerked upright, sword in hand.

"Alana," he said, his voice gruff and hushed. "Is there something the matter, lass?"

He was getting ready to stand, but she quickly moved to him, crouched down, and said, "I wish to join you."

He grinned.

"Your sister put me up to it since I couldna sleep," she whispered.

He pulled Alana into his arms and snuggled with her. "It had naught to do with what you wanted, aye?"

"Oh, aye, it did. But she was the one who prodded me into coming out here."

"I am glad you did, lass." He wrapped her in his plaid, kissed the top of her head, and kept her snug against him.

The night was much like the time she was hunting with her da in the woods, the clouds filling the sky, the brush of the chilly breeze against plants making a wooshing sound. Only with a man wrapped around her in a comforting embrace and no moldy leaves to smell but leather and spicy male, she was warmer. With the heat of Dougald's body on the chilly night and the sound of his heartbeat against her ear, she soon fell asleep.

The sounds of swords clanking against swords and her da yelling at her to hide filled Alana with dread.

Then they faded away and she heard the MacNeill say he had found her horse. 'Twas her horse and she wanted her back, but she was drawn to Dougald's voice, to his concern that he had not found her body. She headed for her horse—in Dougald's direction, a fleeting hope that he would rescue her from the others who were seeking her.

But then her da ordered her to go with him. She could not disobey him, as stern as he was and as angry. She glanced back in the direction of her horse where Dougald must be.

"Alana!" her da shouted.

She cringed, worried the others would hear him and come and fight him again. But mayhap the MacNeills would rescue her and her da also.

Her da made her walk until she could walk no more. "Sleep," her da finally said when she'd fallen so far behind.

She was cold and tired and afraid. She heard no more sounds of men. She only heard birds and saw a fleeting glimpse of a red fox.

"Sleep," her da said again.

Though she was cold, she found a place by another fallen tree and used it as a wall of sorts and again buried herself with leaves if only to provide a little bit of warmth.

When she woke, her da told her, "Eat, drink, lass."

She did as she was told, moving through her world as if in a fog, drinking from a stream, eating berries she knew were safe.

"We go now," he said.

She was so tired, her feet hurt something awful, and she didn't think she could move one foot in front of the other. She'd heard the men fighting in the woods most of the night—yet they hadn't been there. Just in her nightmares.

Her da was talking again, like he had the day before. But she couldn't focus on his words. His lips moved and he was speaking, yet she couldn't concentrate on them.

She closed her eyes, wanting desperately to sleep, stumbled, and fell.

"Landon," her da said.

She stared up at her da. He was looking into the woods, and she looked also, thinking that had Landon survived, he must be following them. Then she vaguely remembered her da mentioning his name before. She was certain he was angry that Landon had abandoned her to fight with the men. And then? Had he gotten himself killed? He must have or he would have joined them.

Her da shook his head and looked down at her. He began speaking again, but the words floated past her, and she could not make them out. She didn't wish to. She was tired and hungry and her feet and legs hurt. And she was so cold.

"Alana!" her da said, breaking through her scattered thoughts. He sounded impatient, worried. "Come, lass. We must get you home. We canna let them find you."

Then she was again buried in the leaves, the leather of the boot brushing against her arm. She shuddered, heard the voices whispering.

"Come with me," the man whispered.

"No," she moaned. He couldn't have found her. He couldn't have seen her.

Arms tightened around her and she gasped.

"Shh, Alana," Dougald said rubbing her arm, kissing the top of her head. "What do you see?" he whispered. "I am here. What is it that you see in your nightmares?"

She remembered them like she hadn't before, not until she was immersed in them again, only to forget them once she had fully awakened.

"He…he was standing next to me, his boot brushing up against my arm. I…I knew he saw me. Or…I thought he had. But then…but then I heard you talking to your brothers," she whispered. "You were close by."

She felt Dougald grow very still. "You were close to where we were?" he said, his voice hushed, upset.

"Aye, buried in the leaves. You found my horse. I didna want you to have her. She was mine."

She looked up at him and in the soft glow of the firelight, she saw him smiling down at her.

"What else, lass? What else do you remember?"

"My da was angry that Landon had left me alone."

"Landon?"

"Aye, a friend of Connell's. They were the same age at five and ten. When my brother was with me on a hunt, he was given the duty of watching over me if I got behind. But he had to stay at the castle that day, my da's punishment because Connell had stolen a loaf of bread from the kitchen that morn before we broke our fast. He was going to give it to a family in need. Landon had to stay with me instead. He was not happy about it. He wished to ride after the stag with the men. Connell never minded when he stayed with me. He said lasses were ever more important than chasing down stags."

"He had the right of it," Dougald said, kissing her again. "Landon left you to help the Cameron fight?"

"Aye. And then he never returned. My da rode back to me and told me to hide."

"Was he alive?"

"I thought he was. I dinna think so any longer. He was yelling at me, afraid for me, but wanting to get back to the fight. If he wasna alive, he must have still thought he was."

"He knew you could see and hear him if he was naught more than a spirit?"

"Aye. He didna wish to believe I could, but he knew it. When he took me home, my da talked to me for long periods of time, but I didna hear what he was saying."

"Why? If you can hear a ghost speaking, why did you no' hear his words?"

"I didna want to. He was talking about marriages and…" She shook her head. "I didna want to hear."

"Alana, he may have told you who murdered him and the rest of your kin."

Tears filled her eyes. She had blocked her da's words out, so cold, so tired, hurting so badly, she didn't think she would ever find her way home.

She hadn't needed to hear her da's words. He would tell her uncle and the rest of their clan what had happened. She had just needed to reach the castle before she was too tired to care.

"Do you recall anything else?" Dougald asked. "If you wanted your horse, why didna you come for her?"

"My da wouldna let me. He shouted at me to come with him."

"I wish you had come for the horse, lass. My brothers and I would have taken care of you."

She wished it, too.

She shuddered from the cold and Dougald's arms tightened around her, and she settled into his warm embrace.

He might have spoken to her again, but she was tired, and drifted off to sleep until she heard her brother say, "I have been thinking."

She wanted to groan out loud, but she thought Dougald was sleeping, and she didn't want to disturb him.

She opened her eyes, and turned to see Connell wrapped up in his plaid next to her. She was glad Dougald couldn't see or hear her brother.

"After all that was said about my untimely demise, I was thinking back on the events that led up to my death." Connell rolled onto his back, arms folded beneath his head, and he stared up at the ghostly night. "She was verra insistent that I be with her that night. No' other."

"It was planned then?" she whispered.

Dougald stirred at Alana's back.

"Aye, I believe so. At first, I thought it was just that she was seeing me at such a time because her husband would be away."

"But he wasna."

"Nay. She was verra adamant that he would be gone though. Our uncle had sent him on an errand that would take two days."

"I didna know this. You didna tell me."

"I didna think it important because I wasna thinking my murder might have been planned."

"Aye. So I will verify with our uncle that he sent the man on an errand. What else?"

"She insisted on the time of night also. I was surprised because we were always more spontaneous in the time we would meet. Careful, aye, but we didna make plans to meet at such a specific hour, particularly when her husband was going to be gone for so long."

"That the situation was so different between the two of you makes it sound as though something was wrong. Did she behave differently toward you?" She couldn't believe she was about to ask this, but she thought it important to do so. "Was she as ardent?"

Her brother raised his brows at her as if saying she shouldn't be discussing such a thing since she was a lady and he was her brother.

"Or was she upset that you might be killed? Or shocked when her husband caught you two together?" Alana continued.

Connell frowned. "I never really thought of it in those terms. Now that I think back, she usually had her clothes off before I had removed mine. This time she made me take mine off first."

Alana was sure she was blushing furiously as hot as her cheeks suddenly became. She hadn't expected this much information. Yet she had to know what was different this time between him and the woman if it meant learning that his murder was planned.

"Made you?"

"She helped me. She was always too busy removing her own clothes in the past—worried we would get caught. This time I just thought her slowness was due to her husband being away for so long, and she hadn't felt as rushed."

"But she didna want her husband to see her naked with you, in reality," Alana guessed.

"Mayhap."

"Did he know you had been with her before?"

"We were careful. We didna believe so."

"He must have found out. Mayhap had her set up the meeting. But had he another reason to kill you? And 'twas like taking care of two situations at once. Kill you because you were seeing his wife, but also eliminate you for someone else's benefit."

She chewed on her bottom lip, deep in thought. "Connell, after you died, what happened? How did she react? Distressed? Shocked that he would kill you? Happy?"