Highland Rake (33 page)

One or the other. He knew he couldn't convince Dougald or his men to agree to his scheme. Not willingly. So he'd done the only thing he could think of to protect his niece. Locked Dougald and his cousin and boyhood companion, Gunnolf, away and continued to provide a safeguard for Alana. Then see who made a move after that.

Turi was pacing across Cameron's solar, wringing his hands, acting like an old hen worried about her chicks.

"Sit, Turi. You are wearing me out, and I am weary enough." Cameron wanted to get this over with quickly. He was tired and wanted to sleep. But he had to learn who was behind what had happened to Alana.

He thought whoever was responsible would make a move, and he hoped he would because he didn't know what he would do in the morning. Alana would be upset her husband never came to see her that night. She might even suspect he'd been with another woman. And Cameron didn't want her to think that. Dougald's men would become restless if they should learn Dougald, Niall, and Gunnolf were not about to greet them when they broke their fast. Hell, his own advisor, Turi, was about ready to have a stroke over locking Dougald away.

"The MacNeill willna be pleased with what you have done. They might even take Lady Alana back to Craigly Castle once they have a chance," Turi warned.

Cameron shook his head. "We have a deal. He married my niece and he will stay with us and earn his place among our people. Mayhap take over someday when I am too feeble to lead our clan."

"The plan was not to place the man in the dungeon. Per your order, I have no' told our men why you have done this, but some are thinking 'tis where the MacNeills belong. 'Tis no' a good way to mend walls between our clans. 'Tis no' a good way to begin your niece's marriage."

"You didna come up with a better plan, Turi. Do you have another idea?"

Turi shook his head.

"All right, then. We wait."

But no one had made a move yet. And Cameron feared no one would as if everyone knew this was just a ruse to catch the culprit or culprits at their game.

***

"How am I going to get past the guards at my chamber door?" Alana asked her brother, motioning at her guarded doorway. "They willna allow me to leave my chamber to go traipsing about the keep."

"I know of another way out."

She arched a brow.

"Through the ladies' chamber."

"A secret passageway? Oh, Connell, dinna tell me you would sneak into Brighid's and the other ladies' chamber to see my maids." Before he could answer, she waved her hand in the direction she'd heard his voice. "Forget it. I dinna want to know." She let out her breath in exasperation. "I canna see. How will you show me the way?"

"Light a candle. I will guide you."

"The maids might wake."

"It canna be helped if you canna see in the dark like I can."

She fumbled to light a candle, muttering to herself about Connell and her maids and his rakish ways. Two of her maids had left shortly before he died. She was told it was because they wished to marry someone in another clan. Had they? Or had there been another reason? One to do with her brother's dallying with them? Had Brighid fallen under her brother's charismatic spell as well? Brighid had assured her she hadn't. But it was hard to tell what the maid was thinking from time to time.

As quietly as she could, Alana opened the door to the ladies' chamber and waited to ensure no one stirred. When she stepped into the room, she noted her brother was looking at the sleeping ladies, and she wanted to poke him and remind him of his business in here. Then he spied Seana sleeping next to another lady and smiled.

The rogue appeared truly smitten!

Alana moved around the pallets, and that got her brother's attention. He quickly stood before a tapestry hanging against one wall and motioned with his hand.

She hurried to the wall, lifted the edge of the tapestry, and saw a small door only about three feet tall. She'd have to crawl through it. In long skirts and holding a candle, not to mention trying to hold the heavy tapestry aside while she attempted everything else, would be a trial. At least she could stand up in the stairwell.

Somehow, she managed to use her back to hold the tapestry away from the door, bunched her skirts on top of her lap, and hoped her brother wasn't watching her. Once she was in the corridor, she was actually able to crouch through in a really strange walk, which she could feel straining her legs right away.

She only took a few more steps before she found herself at the stone stairs leading downward into the blackness, winding around in a circular fashion like all stairs did as if even hidden inside the walls it was used for defense, the person at the top of the stairs being able to yield his sword much more easily at the one coming up the stairs.

"Connell," she whispered, not liking that she didn't know where she was going.

"I am right ahead of you, lass. Keep going."

"Where will we come out?"

"My chamber."

"You had a secret passage straight to my ladies' chamber?" She couldn't help the annoyance in her tone of voice.

"Nay, lass. What do you think of me?"

"That you are a rake, Connell. As you always were."

He snorted. "This leads to a hall that connects with several chambers. But we will come out through my chamber was my meaning."

"Oh." She didn't regret what she had said. How else did he know about the secret passageway that led to the ladies' chamber?

"I was exploring the castle when I was a wee lad," he said, as if he surmised what she was thinking

"Och, Connell. You dinna expect me to believe that, do you?"

"The truth?"

"Aye, if you can manage it." Mayhap she shouldn't have asked.

"Do you remember Lizzy?"

She furrowed her brows. The lass was the first maid who served her when she was ten summers. The girl was about Connell's age, she believed. "Aye."

"She knew about the secret passages."

"Truly?"

"Aye. She was my first, you know."

Alana snapped her gaping mouth shut. She didn't want to know this.

"'Twas no' my idea, but hers. She was a wild one."

"Why did she leave my service?" Alana shouldn't ask, but now she had to know.

"Our uncle was afraid I would have to wed the lass before long. Yet I wasna the first to be with her. Which was another reason our uncle wished her to be gone. He was concerned she might influence you to begin to take lovers as well."

She frowned at her brother.

"'Tis no' always me who is pushing to go to bed with a lass. Some of the lasses are more than insistent."

She gave a quiet laugh of disbelief. "As if you had ever needed any encouragement."

"Ask Dougald. He knows the way of it. Half his conquests were no doubt
no'
his own, but some lass's as she forced herself upon him."

She couldn't help it. She laughed under her breath. "Oh, aye, I can just imagine."

"'Tis true. Here is the door to my chamber."

"Is anyone in there?" she whispered.

"The two lads who are with the MacNeill clan. They were sleeping when last I checked."

She pushed open the door, thankful that it didn't make any noise.

Tavis and Callum were sound asleep on pallets, and she quickly moved past them to reach the door.

"My lady?" Tavis whispered, nearly giving her a heart attack. She turned slowly to see the lad wiping the sleep from his eyes. "What are you doing in here?"

"I…I worried about my husband. He hasna come to bed."

Tavis frowned and looked at Callum sleeping on the other pallet. "And you thought he was here? He was still with your uncle last I know."

"My uncle went to bed long ago."

"Let me see if anyone is in the hall." Her brother walked through the door.

"You canna be wandering around the castle all by yourself, my lady. I will go with you," Tavis said.

Callum stirred, sat up, and rubbed his eyes. His eyes widened as he saw Alana in the chamber. "My lady," he whispered, frowning.

She held her finger to her lips to silence any further discussion.

Connell walked back through the door. "Something is the matter. My chamber is being guarded. Only one mon, but that is enough. You canna pass this way."

Now what? She didn't want the lads to know she'd slipped into the chamber through a secret passage, but she had to find a way to see if Dougald was truly in the dungeon. She couldn't believe it. Unless he had been caught dallying with a maid and her uncle threw him down there. Then afraid the lads or Dougald's men would attempt to free him if they learned of it, her uncle had placed the lads under guard, without their knowledge, and sent Dougald's men to the barracks to sleep, without them knowing what had happened to him.

If Dougald had been with a maid, she'd give him a piece of her mind and leave him down there. Then she'd have a few choice words with the maid. She'd be sure to let any woman know that if they had any notion of securing her husband's affection, they'd find themselves without a job and home. As for Dougald? He could stay down in the dungeon until he begged her to have him freed and promised to mend his ways.

"I am looking for Dougald. My…" Och, she couldn't tell the lads that her brother had told her that Dougald was missing. "I heard rumors he might be in the dungeon." Then how could she tell the lads she knew a guard was at the door? Her brother was a big help, yet trying to explain how she knew things when she should not…

The lads' eyes grew round, and they looked at each other. Tavis said, "I will dress and come with you. You will need protection and help with the guards to free him."

"I am coming also," Callum whispered.

Connell folded his arms and grinned. "You would make a great leader of men, Alana. The lads are falling all over themselves to aid you."

She wanted to say that he'd better be correct about Dougald. It was one thing to go looking for her husband on her own without anyone to witness it and then discover Connell wasn't right in his assumption. Quite another if she had an audience. Although she wished her husband was not down there, either.

"A guard is posted beyond the door. I will step inside the secret passage and wait for you." She pulled the tapestry aside.

The lads' mouths hung agape.

Tavis managed to say, "I wondered how you got in here if you were able to get by a guard. I guessed mayhap he was away from his post for a moment." He frowned. "But then why did we have a guard in the first place? And how would you know he had returned to his post?"

Both of the lads watched her, waiting for an answer.

She sighed. She did not like making untruths, although telling the truth could be troublesome. "My brother told me a guard is posted at your door. Why, I dinna know. Be quick," she said, then pushed the small door open, and hid in the secret passageway.

She didn't bother closing the door again hidden by the tapestry and heard Callum whisper to Tavis, "She is of the fae. I told you so. She will bring us good luck."

The rustling of the wool and straw on the pallets and the pulling on of tunics and their plaids followed. "Aye," Tavis said, sounding wise for his years. "But I was the one who first saw her. Think you we can convince Dougald to allow us to guard her always? Between the two of them, we shall always have an adventure on our hands."

"Aye," Callum said. "If we do good with breaking him out of a cell, I think he would agree, dinna you?"

"Aye."

She shook her head. She would prefer sleeping soundly in her husband's arms at night and not having "adventures" such as these to break him out of a cell in the dungeon.

Boots tromped toward the hidden doorway, and Tavis lifted the tapestry and peeked into the passageway where Alana was standing a little ways away holding the candle. "This way," she said.

As she followed Connell, she wondered which chamber he would try next. He said to her, "Stay. I will be right back."

She couldn't tell from the passageway which rooms would be connected. The lads were right behind her, taller than her, breathing down her neck, the heat of their bodies warming her in the chilly passageway.

"What are we waiting for?" Tavis whispered to her.

"To see if anyone is in the chamber first."

"Oh."

She forgot how odd it must be for others to wait for a figure they could not see who was helping them on a quest. Connell returned and shook his head. "Our uncle has moved MacDonald and his two sons in there."

"One of the maids told me they were staying in the barracks," she said.

"They were moved there initially, but told later they could retire in the castle. I wonder what our uncle is up to." Connell rubbed his chin that was still shaved, and she supposed it would always be that way until he found his way to his new home.

"You dinna think our uncle wishes to turn me over to the MacDonalds, do you?" she asked her brother.

Tavis said behind her in a hushed voice, "He canna. You belong to us!"