“Alex, what is going on here?” Liam asked.
“I do not know, Liam, the man will not say, he just came in here demanding to see ye.”
“What is it that I can do for ye, Laird Macnaghten?” Liam asked him. The sight of the man filled him with disgust. He could still picture the five men that Macnaghten had sentenced to die in the back of his mind. Had he ordered his son to stake them out on the edge of his lands as well? He was well and truly finished with any dealings with the man.
“Not here,” Macnaghten said, casting a glance around the room at the crowd his entrance had drawn. “I must talk to ye in private and we have no time to waste.”
“Whatever ye need to say to me ye can say it here,” said Liam, not unsure that the man may try an attempt on his life if he was alone in a room with him. He was not sure if Macnaghten had truly given up the belief that Liam was the cause of Alana's death.
“It must be in private MacDonell, it must!” Laird Macnaghten lowered his voice and leaned forward. “It is about Gavin. I fear ye and yer wife are in great danger.”
Liam's heart dropped. “Release him,” he told his brother and the other man. “Come with me.” he told Macnaghten and led him into the great hall. “Everybody out!” Liam's shout rang out across the room, and though the command raised a few eyebrows, the few people that were inside the great hall got up to leave casting curious expressions his way.
“Now Macnaghten, we are alone. Tell me what you have to tell me about Gavin and be quick about it.”
“I went to speak to Gavin, about the dispatching of the reavers. I wanted to make sure that he had delivered them into yer hands for justice. I thought that it would be a good way to make peace between us. If the reavers saw justice at yer hands ye would know that I intended to keep my word about dropping my grudge against ye. But Gavin did not return from the task I sent him. Days went by and he did not return nor send word of why he was delayed. Then I received the letter ye sent me, telling me of the bodies of the reavers ye found at the edge of yer land. I tell ye this now MacDonell, I did not order my son to do that. I never would have ordered him to do such a thing.”
“But ye would order him to burn my villagers’ homes to the ground?”
“I was crazed with grief, MacDonell, and I wanted ye to suffer. But destroying homes is not the same as murder, and ye ken that just as well as I do.”
“Yer men murdered the people that lived in those homes as well.”
“Again I tell ye that that was not at my word. But none of this matters, MacDonell! Not at this moment. What has been done cannot be undone. What matters is what I found later!”
“And what is that?” Liam asked him, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Gavin left me a letter when he set out to bring ye the band of reavers. I somehow missed it as it was buried under some papers I put atop my desk. “
“And what did this letter say?”
“It said that Gavin planned on doing what I obviously did not have the courage to do myself, and that was deal with ye properly. He said that he knew in his heart that ye were the blame of Alana's death and he would see to it that yer life was destroyed for it, if it was the last thing he did.”
“Gavin knew Alana?”
“Yes! They knew each other when they were younger. I sometimes brought him with me when I went to the village to visit Alana's mother and that is how they met.”
“Did they ken that they were half-brother and -sister?”
The blood drained out of Macnaghten's face. “No, and God help me for that, because it could have saved all of us so much pain. I went to search his rooms to see if there was anything there that would help me to discover his plan, and that's where I found these.” Macnaghten held out the piece of paper he was holding. “There were more of them, many, many more.”
“What is it?” Liam asked.
“It is a letter, from Alana to her brother. I do not think you want to read it. It is...” Macnaghten closed his eyes and hung his head in shame. “I had no idea, MacDonell, I promise ye that. I swear it to ye. I had no idea that the two of them were... I did not even know that they kept in contact. But I sent my son on many missions for me. Errands that took him all over the highlands. And God help me, but the letters claim that the two of them were in love.”
Shock rolled through Liam as though he had been struck by a fist directly in the face and nausea rolled though him. “What?” He let out a strangled cry.
“Alana was sneaking off to see a lover. It was her half-brother. They were in love long before she agreed to marry you. And they spoke of… I am so sorry MacDonell, but they spoke of a child that had been lost. Their child.”
Liam felt his knees go weak, he could not believe the words he was hearing. His first wife had been in love with her brother all along. Had gotten pregnant by him? And even after she and Liam were wed, had continued to sneak out to see him? He could hardly credit such a thing.
“You are certain of this?” Liam demanded. “Absolutely certain?”
“I am. It was all there in the letters. But there were also directions to a place not far from here, where they used to meet for their dalliances. I do not know what Gavin could be planning against you, but there is a fair chance he could be hiding there while he comes up with his scheme.”
Fear rocked Liam to the core as his wife came to his mind. “Catriona!”
“What?”
“I have been unable to find Catriona for hours. If this place is not far from here, there is a chance that your son has my wife!”
“God help her,” Macnaghten gasped. “I do not want to imagine what he could do to her in his state of mind.”
“If he has harmed her, I promise ye, I will tear yer son limb from limb with my bare hands.”
Chapter 29
The trees whipped past and Liam pushed his stallion to its limit as he and Laird Macnaghten raced up the lane to the small house where Gavin and Alana used to meet in secret. The small house was only an hour’s ride from Invergarry.
The windows of the small home were all dark, save for a dim orange glow that he could make out in one of the upstairs windows, beckoning them closer. Taunting them in the night.
He pulled hard on the reins, bringing his horse to a harsh stop, then jumped down, following close on Macnaghten's heels. Rage burned within him and he flexed his fingers, itching to wrap them around Gavin's neck for daring to lay hands on his wife.
“Hold fast, MacDonell,” Macnaghten whispered as Liam reached for the door to the small house.
“We dinna have time for this, Macnaghten. If ye do not think ye can face yer son, ye dinna need to worry. I will happily deal with him for ye.”
Macnaghten shook his head and grasped Liam's arm firmly. “That is not what I mean. Gavin is not right in the head, and I've no idea what he might do. If ye go bursting in there, there's no telling what he may do to yer wife. We have to be smart about this. Let me go in there first. Maybe I can reason with him.”
“Do ye really think that yer son is someone that can be reasoned with? Nay. I'll not let ye go in there and waste what precious little time we may have. Ye can go in first, but I'll be right behind ye. Maybe we can catch him off guard and get Catriona to safety.”
Macnaghten hesitated for a moment, then jerked his head in a sharp nod. “Aye, that may work. Give me a couple of minutes, then follow behind me.”
Liam released the door handle and took a step back. Every instinct in his body urged him to go crashing through that door, but Macnaghten had a point. Startling a man like Gavin could set him off, and there was no telling what he may do if he felt cornered. He desperately wanted to get to Catriona, but caution was going to have to be the way of things.
Macnaghten took hold of the door handle in his place and held Liam's gaze before giving a silent nod and opening the door as quietly as possible. The door opened into a darkened room and Liam watched Macnaghten step into the silent room when suddenly something moved quickly in the da
rk and the older man cried out as he went crashing to his knees on the floor, holding the back of his head in his hands.
Liam froze for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden attack, quickly recovered as he stared into the shadowed face of a man standing over Macnaghten, a candlestick held high in the attacker’s hand. Gavin.
With a roar, Liam dove through the door and tackled Gavin to the ground, the both of them crashing into a small table on the way down.
“Gavin!” Macnaghten cried out as he struggled to his feet. “Gavin, enough of this!”
Liam and Gavin grappled on the floor of the house, and Liam's fist swung out, connecting with Gavin's face, even as Gavin wrapped his hands around Liam's throat.
Using as much leverage as he could, Liam rolled them over once more so that he had the upper hand, but he could not loosen the grip around his throat. As he stared into the empty black depths of Gavin's eyes, he reached for the sgian dubh that was tucked into the top of his sock. Grasping the small blade, he brought it up and stabbed it into Gavin's side.
“Arg!” Gavin cried out and grabbed onto the hand Liam still had wrapped around the hilt of his blade as he held it fast in Gavin's side.
Taking advantage of Gavin's weakened grip he brought his head down as hard as possible onto Gavin's face, and twisted the knife in his side at the same time. Gavin released him at last as he cried out in pain and Liam reared back and sent his fist crashing down in Gavin's face with all of his strength.
“Where is she?” he yelled and he brought his fist down on Gavin over and over again. “Where is my wife!”
Liam could barely see for his rage and grabbed Gavin by the shirt front and hauled him up off the floor that was rapidly being stained by the blood from the wound in Gavin's side.
“If ye dinna tell me where my wife is, I swear to ye I will let ye bleed out on this floor, and there is not a soul in this world that would mourn ye. Now where is my wife!”
Gavin's eyes flicked to the staircase and Liam released him roughly. He stumbled towards the staircase praying that he would find Catriona safe upstairs. With each step he climbed a pit of fear grew in his stomach until he thought that he would buckle beneath the weight of it. It was a short hallway, and there was a soft glowing light under the crack of the door to his left at the top of the stairs. He pushed open the door and a strangled whimper tore out of him as he found Catriona lying motionless on the floor of the small bedroom.
“Catriona!” He collapsed next to her and gathered her head in his hands. “Catriona! Wake up, lass.” Still she did not respond, and he ran his hand over her body, searching for a heartbeat, trying to quell the rising panic that threatened to consume him. “Don't be dead,” he begged. “Please, lass, dinna be dead.”
Deep red fingermarks marred the ivory skin of her throat, and he had to fight the urge to leave her there in order to return downstairs and finish what he had started with Gavin.
He pressed his fingertips to her as gently as possible, not wanting to do her any more harm. Finally, he was able to feel the faintest of beats in her throat, and he gathered her pale body to him as he shook with relief.
He picked Catriona up and carried her back downstairs as gently as he could. Catriona's light body was the most precious package he had ever had charge of. As he descended the stairs, he saw Macnaghten by Gavin's side, attempting to staunch the flow of blood from the wound Liam had inflicted.
Laird Macnaghten took a look at Catriona's motionless body, and his round face went pale in the dim light that flooded into the room from the open door. “Is she alive?” he asked Liam.
“Just barely.” He looked down at Gavin who was watching him through the thin slit in one of his bloody, swollen eyes, the other too battered to open at all. Liam fought the urge to finish what he had started. But now that he had Catriona back, getting her medical attention was more important than exacting his revenge, no matter how tempting the thought.
“I'll leave ye to see that justice is done,” Liam said to Macnaghten.
“Better to finish me off, MacDonell,” Gavin choked out in raspy laugh. “Because if I dinna die here, I promise ye. I will find a way to make ye and yer whore wife pay. This is not the end.”
Sorrow clouded Laird Macnaghten's face as he stared down at the monster that his son had become.
Liam placed Catriona gently on the table and pressed his lips lightly to her forehead. Taking his knife in hand again, he turned and knelt down next to Gavin across from Laird Macnaghten, not taking his eyes off of Gavin’s father. Macnaghten gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head and looked away as Liam leaned over his son, unable to meet Liam’s gaze.
Liam pressed the edge of his blade to Gavin's throat as he stared down into his battered face. He would do whatever it took to protect Catriona from Gavin’s madness. His wife may never forgive him for the pain he had caused her, but he would make damn sure that she would never have to worry about Gavin again.
“If ye see Alana in the afterlife, tell her I hope she finally found peace.” He slit Gavin's throat without hesitation.
Gavin lifted his hands weakly to his throat, and Liam watched numbly as the blood seeped out from between his fingers.
Turning, he gathered up Catriona without a word to Macnaghten, who continued to sit in silence on the floor next to the lifeless body of his broken son, left alone with the ghosts of his children to haunt him.
* * *
Liam sat at Catriona's bedside as she lay unmoving in her bed. She had been placed back in her old bedchamber at Invergarry Castle so that she could recover in peace.
He held one of her delicate hands in both of his, marveling at how small and frail it looked. Her skin was cool to the touch and unnaturally pale, but for the dark circles beneath her eyes, and the bruising that had darkened on her cheek and temple from where Gavin had struck her.
Three days had passed since he had found her. Three long days where she lay there, unmoving, unresponsive to his pleas, promises, and prayers. He would give anything for her to come back to him. He would even make a deal with the devil himself if that's what it took to make Catriona open her eyes once more.
“She still has not moved?”
Liam looked up into the worried face of his brother Alex and shook his head. “No, not yet.”
“Ye should get some rest. Real rest. In your own bed. I can watch over her for ye if ye like, while ye're sleeping.”
Liam shook his head and turned away from his brother, back to where Catriona lay. “Nay, I'll not leave her side. What if she were to awaken, and I was not here?”
“If she wakes up, I will send someone to fetch ye straight away, but ye cannot stay here forever. Ye need to get some rest. Have ye slept at all?”
“A little, here and there. It matters not. Ye'll not convince me to go. When she awakens, I want my face to be the first face she sees. I want her to know that I never left her. That I never left her side. And then maybe, just maybe she'll believe me when I tell her how sorry I am. That I know what happened to her was all my fault.” His hands curled into fists, his fingernails digging into the palms of his hands, and he gazed down into her pale face. Somehow, even broken and bruised she was gorgeous beyond belief, and he knew that every scratch, bruise, and mark on her fair skin was because of him.
It did not matter what it took. He would spend every day of the rest of his life making it up to her.
Alex laid a hand on his brother's shoulder and squeezed gently. “What happened to her was not your fault.”
Liam brushed Alex's hand away, not wanting to be comforted. Not wanting to be relieved of the guilt that gnawed away at his innards. “Aye, Alex, it is. If it weren't for me she never would have run off. She never would have been taken.”
“The only one to blame for what happened to her is that bastard Gavin, and ye made sure that he would never be able to hurt her again.”
“Aye, but the damage was already done. And now, just look at her. What if she does not wake up? What
if she is not strong enough? Another wife, dead. But this time I truly would be to blame.”
Deep lines formed on Alex's brow as he stared down at his eldest brother. “I should have been more kind to her,” he said at last.
“What?” Liam looked back up again, confused.
“I should have been more kind to her. I did not trust her. I did not believe she loved ye, and I did not think she belonged here. I was rude to her. I did not make her feel welcome, and I did nothing to hide my dislike of her. Maybe if I had welcomed her into our home instead of treating her so poorly she would not have felt so alone. Maybe she would not have run off as she did.”
“That's absurd,” Liam said, dismissing the idea.
“Why would I be any less to blame than you? The only one of us that truly welcomed her into this family was Iain. He was the only one of us not to let her down. At least you saved her. You brought her back here. But what have I done?”
“Bringing her back was not your responsibility.”
“Maybe not. But ye love her. And I promise ye that when she wakes up, and I tell ye Liam, that she will wake up. I will treat her as I would my own beloved sister. I swear it to ye. She will never doubt that this is where her home is. That this is where she belongs.”
Liam squeezed his eyes shut and held his wife's small hand tightly, breathing deeply to hold back the tears that now burned at his eyes.
“She will wake up. She has to.”
“She will, Liam. Dinna lose faith.”
Chapter 30
She was drowning. Terror enveloped her as Gavin's cruel face formed in her mind. His large hands reached out to her, cutting through inky darkness where she floated. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but no sound escaped as his hands wrapped themselves around her, his fingers searing her skin as they made contact. He held her tightly, determined to drag her back down into the bottomless inky pit.
Highland Promise: The Daughters of Clan Drummond Page 19