Taming the Wild Highlander 04 (8 page)

"
You need me. I can listen for my brothers calling to me, but I fear they will weaken the longer they are in captivity. We can find them faster if I go with you."

"'
Tis too perilous for an unmarried lass to make the journey such as that. We canna take you."

"
You are no' returning me home."

"
Aye, we are. Your da wishes it of you, and we will do as he asks." Angus was beginning to think his plan of last eve had been better. Ensure the lass didn't leave the shieling and have her father's men come for her. Instead of him and his companions having a fight on their hands, her father's men could have dealt with her.

Y
et, he wouldn't have given up the memory of warming that sweet body of hers all night long for anything, and as daft as the notion was, he would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

She stood abruptly, then seized her brat an
d wrapped it around her. "'Tis time to go then."

Angus glanced at Niall and Gunnolf. They both gave him wary looks that confirmed they didn
't believe the lass was ready to give in that easily.

"
Good," Angus said, and proceeded to put out the fire. "Let us be on our way."

So why, if he was doing the honorable thing for the lady, did he feel he was not?

***

As they rode to Rondover Castle,
Edana kept worrying the reins in her hands, the horrible prospect of seeing her da filled her with dread. She would do anything for her brothers. She wouldn't be stopped in her quest to help them.

She knew the men didn
't believe her. Not truly. And they didn't trust her not to run away either. She wasn't surprised when Niall led her horse and Gunnolf and Angus stuck close to her flanks.

The d
ay was cool, the fragrance of orchids clustered on the grassy flanks of mountains drifted to her on the light breeze. The mist in the distance was growing thicker, closer.

She took a deep breath. Would Angus and his friends
really search for her brothers as they said they would? Or was it only a ploy to get her to agree so she'd return to her home without causing them any grief?

She feared she wouldn
't be able to slip away from her castle again. And she was certain when she entered the inner bailey, she'd be taken in hand and shuffled off to her chamber where she'd be locked for a fortnight. If only to prove she was wrong and her brothers would return on time without further complications.

She knew Angus would return her home and she couldn
't save her brothers if he did. She fought the tears that welled in her eyes. Her brothers had protected her, humored her, loved her, just as she loved them. She couldn't imagine them being tortured or starved, cold and sick in a dank dungeon.

A couple of tears trickled down her cheeks. She wiped them brusquely away. She didn
't wish these men to think she was some sniveling maid who couldn't keep her emotions under control. But the worry kept plaguing her. By the time her father sent men to look for her brothers, they could be near death or dead.

She
had nothing to bribe Angus and his companions with either, though she'd even considered that. Yet, could they be bribed? She highly suspected they could not. They seemed to be honorable men, coming to her father's aid just because he'd asked them to, based on the clans' friendship over the years.

She glanced at Angus. He
was observing the path ahead of them, appearing to be lost in his thoughts. "Will you truly look for them?" she asked softly.

He turned to her and appear
ed so sincere. "Aye, lass, on my honor."

She believed him.
But she wasn't satisfied. She feared Angus and his men could be too late. "If you inquired at any of the castles, how would they respond? 'Nay, we dinna have the Chattan men chained in our dungeons?' If I were close by, I would know the right of it. If they lied, you would travel onto the next castle, believing them not to be manacled in the last one. How would you ever divine the truth?"

Angus nodded.
"Your reasoning is sound, Edana."

Was it? Only if
Angus truly believed in what she said.

"
But I canna in good conscience take you with us," Angus continued.

She pondered that for a while as their horses
clip-clopped across the glen, the now thick mist making her feel as though ghostly walls had been erected where they could not discern what lay beyond.

Did he worry about her reputation? It didn
't matter whether it was in tatters or not. No one would marry her. She would be living with her father, and then her eldest brother when he became chief, if the wife he took agreed, until the day she died.

That was the trouble with having these cursed abilities of hers. She couldn
't banish them from her thoughts. She had to help whenever she could. Some were afraid of her because of them.

"
You dinna have to worry about my reputation," she finally said.

Niall turned back to look at her. She realized b
oth Gunnolf and Angus were staring at her.

"
No' that I have any, mind you. A reputation." She sighed, afraid she was not getting her point across. At least she didn't think so with the way the men waited for her explanation. "My reputation is no' in tatters, I am meaning. 'Tis just that…" She ran the reins through her fingers. "'Tis just that…well, no one will ask for me and so you need no' concern yourselves that anyone would likely fear that my character is damaged. You have no need to worry that anyone would believe that you had caused my ruin. No' that I am saying 'tis ruined, mind you. Just that no one will believe it could be spoiled."

There, she said it. Shouldn
't that set their minds at ease?

Gunnolf cleared his throat,
grinned, and looked straight ahead. Niall was smiling, shook his head, and watched the forest they were growing nearer.

Angus likewise was wearing a conceited smile
, and she let out her breath in a huff.

This was not going at all as she planned.

"'Tis all your fault you had to take a gamble on the whore, Drummond," Kayne Chattan said, annoyed with the youngest of his four brothers, and the most reckless, "if you hadna given into that wench and made such a muck of it."

"
I didna tup her. I kissed her in the darkened corridor of the tavern, aye. But naught more. And I didna ask you to fight my battles." Drummond closed his blue eyes, his dark curly hair lying on the rotting blanket. "And you know verra well we all thought she was what she professed to be."

Kayne grunted.
"And that is supposed to make it right? We had the fortitude no' to give into the whore's solicitation. You should have left well enough alone."

Halwn
tied his dark brown hair back in a tail, the next youngest brother, and he nearly always agreed with Drummond. "He is right, Kayne. He only kissed the woman, though why, I still canna fathom. How were we to know she is a chief's mistress?
She
should be in chains, no' us."

"
Drummond didna have to lay a hand on the wench!" Kayne retorted.

"
Before long, McEwan will send out men searching for us when we dinna show there," Gildas—the second to eldest brother—said, his blue eyes sharp. "What is done is done. So take heart."

"
And if his men reach this clan's keep, whichever that may be, and he preserves the secret about us being down here?" Kayne shook his head. "Have all of you been attempting to reach our sister?"

Drummond gave a soft snort of derision.

Kayne fought the urge to hit him, although Drummond already sported one black eye. Mayhap he needed another to knock some sense into his thick skull. "Edana may give us hope when we may have no other."

Drummon
d opened his eyes and glowered at Kayne. "'Tis no' that I dinna believe in her strange fae abilities, but God's wounds, we dinna want her traipsing about the land, searching for us. If she speaks of it to Da—and you know she will—he willna believe her. We have gotten ourselves into this; we will have to get ourselves out of it."

"
We?
You
got us into this horrendous mess," Kayne said. Age-wise he may be the middle brother, but felt he was as much the voice of reason as his two older brothers.

"
Need I remind you once again, you didna need to fight on my behalf. Had you no', you could have told our da what happened to me." Drummond closed his eyes.

"
Mayhap Drummond is right," Egan said and Kayne had to agree with his eldest brother, despite not wanting to concur with anything Drummond said. "'Twould be a mistake to call Edana, if 'tis even possible. Da wouldna believe her. And you know what she would do if he doesna act on her revelations."

"
Run away," Kayne said, rubbing his bristly chin. Hell, he had been trying to reach her ever since he'd gained consciousness. "What say you, Gildas?"

Their second eldest
brother seemed deep in thought. "I only wish we knew where we are."

Kayne knew what he meant. Gildas had been trying to
reach Edana also, and if he could tell her where they were being kept hostage, she could have their father send men to find them. After the day the lass had drowned in the river, all of his brothers had become believers. Because of her peculiar abilities, poor Edana would never find a husband. But that didn't mean she would be safe from men who could wish ill of her.

They didn
't know exactly how her abilities worked. She had admitted being uncertain herself. But she'd alluded to hearing people's emotions and their thoughts when they found themselves in peril. Not one of the brothers was in immediate peril. But with the chilly conditions, no garments, and lack of food or drink, they could all grow ill at any time and die.

"
She willna give up on us," Gildas said reverently, his fingers interlocked on his chest as he rested on his blanket.

"
Edana? Then you think she is looking for us this very moment?" Drummond said. "If any harm comes to her…"

"
She loves us," Hawln said, with a scoffing sound. "Unconditionally. Even when we didna treat her well because our clansmen hadna."

"
Speak for yourself," Kayne said. He and Gildas had always been her champions.

"
I stuck up for her," Hawln said. "Nearly drowned a lad for making fun of her once."

Drummond ran his hands through his hair, but didn
't say anything.

Halwn shook his head.
"You can pretend you didna champion her cause but I witnessed it on a number of occasions, Drummond. Even if no mon ever wants the lass for a wife, she has stolen all our hearts."

"
Aye," Kayne and Gildas said.

Everyone waited for Drummond to say something. Then he said very gravely,
"Which is why we shouldna attempt to reach her as we could verra well put her in harm's way."

***

Riding through the thick mist on her way home, Edana felt defeated as Angus and Gunnolf continued to flank her, Niall still leading the way. Then she heard someone speaking. A faint voice. Trying desperately to hear what he was saying, she closed her eyes. Gildas. What was he saying? "
Stay home."

Stay at home? Nay! They worried for her. Nay! Sh
e wouldna give up. His voice sounded so far away, she knew she was moving away from him.

"
My brother Gildas just spoke to me," Edana said in a rush to Angus and his companions.

Everyone
reined in their horses and stopped.

"
I canna…I canna speak with them. I wish I could ask them the questions we need answered. I only know they canna tell me which keep they are being held in. But we are riding away from their location."

She couldn
't believe Angus and his friends had actually stopped to hear her out. Did they trust in her? But what if her brothers no longer tried to reach her? What if they realized they could put her in danger by doing so?

She closed her eyes, willing Gilda
s to say something more.
Please,
she pleaded.
We have help. The MacNeills.

Nothing.
She knew it didn't work that way, although every time she'd had one of these one-sided conversations, she'd attempt to draw them out—to have her own say, to learn more so she could help the person in trouble.

Niall did not pull her mare along. And Angus did not tell the others to
keep moving. He was waiting for her to do something.

Oppida
, Kayne said, the woman's name brushed across Edana's mind. "Oppida!" Edana said. "My brother Kayne just gave the name to me." Though she couldn't be sure if he was so angry with the woman that his emotions had helped send the name to Edana or not, or if he actually had tried to give her the name. "Does the name mean anything to any of you?"