The Accidental Highland Hero (34 page)

“I do not want them to be angry with each other over me.”

“‘Tis not your concern, my lady. They have their rows from time to time, and they always mend their ways.”

But Eilis didn’t believe James would easily forgive Niall over this.

A light shown through a doorway, and Tavia handed the candle to Eilis then slipped a key into the lock. “Niall gave me the key as soon as he saw Broc arrive.”

Tavia pulled the door open, and it creaked on rusted hinges.

The fading sunlight shown in Eilis’s eyes, blinding her for an instant.

Niall hurried forward, while Eanruig held onto horses’ reigns nearby. James would be furious, to be sure, that his seneschal was in on this also.

Another lad she didn’t recognize stood some distance away, wringing his belt through his fingers.

“Tell His Lairdship you could not find me,” Niall said to the lad, while helping Eilis onto a horse.

Eanruig assisted Fia onto another.

“Lock the door to the tunnel and return things the way they were,” Niall said to Tavia.

“He will know I helped the ladies escape. Can I not come with you, Niall?” Tavia asked.

“Nay. Our clan needs you for your healing skills.” Niall mounted his horse. “Besides, traveling with two women will be difficult enough.”

Tavia reached up and squeezed Eilis’s hand. “Godspeed, my lady. I pray thee find protection wherever you go. And you, Fia, as well.”

“Thank you, Tavia, for everything,” Eilis said, her stomach churning with nervousness as she glanced back at the castle tower looming above them.

Tavia closed the door to the tunnel entrance then the four rode off.

“Where will we go?” Eilis asked, the hope returning that she truly would get away this time, away from her family, leaving James behind who would be glad some day that he was not faced with a battle on two fronts. Yet she couldn’t help wishing she could be his wife, staying with him and his mother, with his kin, the first time she’d ever felt at home and cared for. Loved even, except when her mother and da lived.

“To see Lady Anice and the new laird of the castle. Malcolm is James’s next oldest brother. Broc and his father will not know you have taken refuge there.”

Eilis tightened her hands on her reigns. “You cannot be serious, my laird. We will cause trouble for more of your kin.”

“What would you have us do?” Niall asked, his voice couched in annoyance. “James wishes your hand, and he will be unbearable to live with if you wed Dunbarton.”

Eilis closed her gaping mouth.

Niall raised his brows. “You think not, bonny lass?  Why he says naught, but his feelings are shown in his actions. You are the only one he has ever acted thus toward. You are the one for him, no other.”

“But Catriona…”

“Aye, Catriona. Did you see the way he switched the trestle tables on you?”

She couldn’t fathom what Niall was speaking of.

“The way he kissed Catriona’s hand to make you jealous?  I nearly laughed when I saw his actions. He had been avoiding her all morning after you and he had quarreled last eve. Catriona continued to pester him like a sucker fish.”

Eilis laughed.

“Aye. And so what does he do?  He spoke only with her at the meal, sees you watching him, and he kisses Catriona’s hand. ‘Twas a means to get your attention. I was standing atop the scaffolding, supervising the mending of the south wall when I saw him do it. Nearly fell off I was so shocked. I have never seen him desire any woman before like he wants you. And when he discovers I have spirited you away…”

“He will be furious with you.”

Niall grinned. “Aye. Teach him to show any interest in Catriona when he wishes her not and when he refuses to be more forceful in this issue concerning marrying you.”

“He has good reason,” Eilis said, annoyed.

Chuckling, Niall nudged his horse closer to Eilis. “And you care for him as much as he does for you. But, aye, he did not realize your cousin would be hot on your trail so soon after Eanruig discovered who you were.”

“This is folly. Someone will warn my uncle, and I will be right back where I started.”

Chapter Eighteen

Hurrying into the great hall, Ian joined James and spoke privately before he and Broc quit the meal. “My laird, a bairn rode with Broc’s party. One of his men holds him in the barracks while our men guard them. But one of our men perchance overheard the wee lad mention Eilis with tears in his eyes. He believes the sea took her. Mayhap he is her cousin, but what if he is her brother?”

James glanced at Brock, but one of his kin was keeping the man occupied. Turning to Ian, James said, “Bring the boy to me.”

“But the man guarding him…”

“One man?  Have my men take care of him. I wish to speak to the lad at once.”

“And if the lad is Broc’s brother?  Or mayhap even his son?”

“’Tis no matter. If the lad has a fondness for Eilis, I wish to set his worries asunder.”

“Aye, my laird.” Ian quickly hurried out of the great hall.

James assumed the wee laddy had to be Broc’s brother, or Eilis would have mentioned him. James reconsidered. What if the boy was Eilis’s son?  What if she had been married or had a bastard son?  James watched the entryway in earnest. Could no one act in an expeditious manner?

Then he saw Ian’s head as he towered over a serving maid but could not see a lad. Until Ian skirted the maid, hurrying forth with a small boy whose hand was clinging to Ian’s. His green eyes round, the lad stared straight at Broc still standing behind the head table. Blond curls trailed down his shoulders, yet the laddy looked remarkably like Eilis and not Broc.

She had a son. Her innocence had all been feigned.

Broc suddenly spied the lad and roared, “What right have you in bringing the lad here?”

James faced Broc. “Sit and be still. I will have a word with the lad, alone.”

Broc glowered at James as if he wished to do battle with him this very instant.

“Sit,” James commanded. “You obviously brought the wee lad here for some purpose. I shall speak with him now.”

For what seemed like an eternity, Broc stared James down. The hall remained deathly quiet, no one leaving until their laird did.

Then Broc slowly took his seat, but his hard gaze focused on the lad who had yanked Ian to a stop some distance from the head table, his eyes filled with tears, his lower lip quivering.

James motioned for his mother to come with him. He wouldn’t have done so, but he believed the lad might need a woman’s gentle touch to gain the truth from his lips.

Outside the hall, James crouched in front of the lad while his mother smiled at him with adoration in her gaze. After having raised four boys and a nephew, she looked ready to take on a new charge.

“Your name, laddy?  I am James.”

The boy’s eyes grew huge. He whispered, “Ye are laird?”

“Aye, and you are?”

The lad looked at James’s mother.

“I am Lady Akira. Laird James’s mother.”

“My…my mother is dead.”

Which brought up the question again, did the boy think Eilis had died at sea? “Eilis is verra much alive, well, and—”

The lad let out a sorrowful squeak. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and if James hadn’t caught the boy’s frail body, he would have fallen in a dead faint in the rushes on the floor.

“Oh, my,” James’s mother said outside the great hall as James cradled the unconscious lad in his arms. She motioned to a servant to join James and her. “Fetch Tavia at once.” As the man hurried off, James’s mother said, “Let us take the lad to Eilis’s chamber. Why did she not mention the wee bairn?”

“Her lack of memory?”

Or had she chosen not to remember?  Mayhap that was the reason her uncle had not found her a suitable husband. She had a bastard son.

James carried the lad abovestairs while his mother chattered nonstop. “We must keep them both—Eilis and the boy. You must do whatever you can to bargain for them. The wedding cannot be put off any longer. You have compromised the lady’s good name, and since she is not betrothed—”

James grunted. “And what do you call the bairn?”

His mother gave him a sour look. “A mistake?  Mayhap she is widowed? Matter’s not. You will wed her and return her honor, James.”

In truth, none of it mattered. Taking the lady to wife would be his pleasure.

His mother knocked on the door to Eilis’s chamber, but when no one opened it, James had a very bad feeling about this. Already his muscles were tensing for battle.

His mother pushed the door aside. But then she stood in the entryway and didn’t move out of James’s path, just stared into the chamber. “She and Fia are not here. Well, lay the lad down and I will…will check into the matter.”

James cursed under his breath, stalked into the chamber, and laid the lad on Eilis’s mattress. “You will stay with the boy while
I
look for the women.”

His mother covered the boy with a coverlet and brushed a tangle of hair away from his cheek. “He will make a fine—”

Ian knocked at the chamber entrance, his face flushed, his hands clenched into fists. “I could not find Tavia, and a servant said she thought our healer aided Eilis’s escape. That Niall is with her.”

James stormed toward Ian. “I will…”

James’s mother hurried after him and grabbed his sleeve. “She fears this Broc. And so does the lad. Take a care with your temper. She needs a gentle hand as does the boy.”

“I will wring Niall’s neck, I was about to say, Mother,” James growled as he headed out the door. “As far as the lady is concerned, you have ordered me to marry her, remember?”  He cast a glance over his shoulder, his brows raised, as he and Ian rushed for the stairs.

“Aye.” His mother smiled. “Because ‘tis your heart’s wish.”

His mother’s words could not be truer, and James was ready to thrash Niall for his rashness.

Ian cleared his throat. “What about Broc, my laird?  He stews in the hall still where you commanded him to sit.”

James gave a dark chuckle. “Have a servant take him to my solar and give him mead. I will visit with him shortly. Where are Eilis and Niall?”

“Beyond the castle walls, my laird, on the west side.”

James headed for the outer bailey, saw Catriona walking his way, and gave her a look like now was not the time to speak with him.

“My laird—”

“Not now, Catriona.” He motioned to a stable boy. “Get my horse.”

The boy disappeared into the stable.

“My laird,” Catriona said, hurrying to catch up with James’s long stride. “I wish a word.”

Fergus hurried out of the keep. “My laird, you wish me to come with you?”

“Aye, gather five more men.”

“Aye.” Fergus dashed off.

“My laird,” Catriona said, reaching her hand out to caress James’s arm. “You wished me to give you my answer.” She looked up at him with an adoring look. “I will give it now.”