The Hunter

by Monica McCarty

  Every day for the next two weeks, Janet accompanied the nuns to the hospital. Surprisingly, she took to the work of nursing. When some of the other Sisters shied from the lazar house, the separate cottages housing the lepers, Janet took over the task of bringing them their daily loaf and, three times a week, their salt meat.

  Finally, on St. Andrew’s Day, which also happened to be the first Sunday of Advent, Janet’s efforts were rewarded. The informant had been surprised but greatly relieved to see her. In the one moment they’d had to exchange a private word, her source told her that something important was brewing, and they hoped to have more information by St. Drostan’s Day, about a fortnight hence.

  The following morning there was still an excited spring in Janet’s step as she took the lepers their bread. As she left the last cottage to walk back to the hospital on that chilly first of December morning, she was feeling so pleased, she didn’t notice the shadow that moved behind her until it was too late.

  Fear leapt to her throat, cutting off the scream that might have sounded before his hand covered her mouth as he dragged her behind one of the cottages. A green sleeve. Her abductor wore the cloak of a leper!

  He captured her hard against him, pinning her arms so that when she tried to lash out to free herself, she couldn’t move. His hold was like a steel vise, cold and unyielding. Yet while his body was solid as a rock wall, it was warm—achingly warm—and smelled of pine and leather. By the time he’d lowered his mouth to whisper in her ear, her heart was racing not with fear but with something else.

  Her captor was no leper. It was Ewen. He’d come back!

  “You seemed to have forgotten your promise to stay out of trouble, Lady Janet.”

  She was so happy to realize it was he that it took her a moment to realize what he’d said—in Gaelic, no less. Her heart started to pound all over again, this time with trepidation. He knew her name. Her real name.

  And he hadn’t called her Sister.

  Tending lepers? Christ! The lass couldn’t seem to avoid danger; she only jumped from one fire to another. Speaking of fire, his body was getting too damned hot just from having her pressed against him.

  Ewen released her as soon as they were safely out of eyesight behind the farthest cottage, spinning her around to look at her.

  The bottom dropped out of his stomach. He’d forgotten how pretty she was. Glimpses from afar hadn’t prepared him for seeing her face-to-face again. With her bright eyes and cheeks rosy from the cold, Lady Janet of Mar was the picture of country vivacity and health. His mouth hardened. Far healthier than someone who’d caused him so much damned … trouble (not fear, damn it!) had a right to look.

  This mission had been plagued from the start. No sooner had he and his three Highland Guard brethren left the ship at the coast in Ayr than they’d run into an English patrol in Douglasdale. Normally a single patrol of a dozen men wouldn’t be of much concern for four members of the Highland Guard, but after months of fighting Edward’s army, they were all a little battered and bruised. Ewen was no exception. He’d suffered an arrow wound in the leg while on a mission to track down some of Bruce’s men who’d been taken in a skirmish near Rutherford Castle, and even with Angel’s help, it had yet to fully heal.

  Arrow wounds, cuts from swords, broken bones from war hammers and maces, and stabs from pikes were nothing they weren’t used to, but the various injuries had hampered them in their efforts against the patrol. There was no other explanation for how one of the Englishmen had been able to escape and find safety behind the walls of Douglas Castle before Ewen, MacLean, Sutherland, and MacKay could catch up to him.

  The unfortunate result was that reports of Bruce’s phantoms in the area had spread, and their presence was no longer a secret. With God-knew-how-many soldiers looking for them, they would have to be very careful.

  Then, as if the English hunting them weren’t enough, they’d arrived at Roxburgh to retrace Lady Janet’s last steps and heard from one of their loyal clergymen about the confrontation at the market with the priest. Worse, no one had seen her since. The lass had seemed to disappear without a trace at about the same time as the dead friar.

  Ewen would not soon forget the gut-wrenching fear he’d experienced when the trail seemed to have come to a dead end. For days they’d scoured every road leading out of Roxburgh, hoping to find something—anything—except for the one thing he would not consider: a body.

  Damn it, why hadn’t she listened to him? She had no business being out here doing this. Bruce should have brought her back earlier. Ewen should have done more to convince him. But he hadn’t wanted to stir up trouble.

  He knew what could happen to women who were thought to be helping Bruce. Not a day went by that he didn’t see the faces of the slaughtered villagers near Lochmaben Castle in his mind. All those women and children. His stomach turned. He probably should have done more then, too. But it had been just after Bruce had returned to Scotland, and Ewen had still been reeling from the disaster that had befallen them at Loch Ryan.

  They hadn’t realized the danger they were putting the villagers in when they’d sought their help. But weeks later, when some member of the Highland Guard had returned, they’d learned the horrible truth. The entire village had been decimated by the English for helping them. The only survivor had been a young girl who’d been tossed in the pit prison and forgotten. Arrow’s wee ward, they called her, after MacGregor had taken pity on the poor orphaned lass—who obviously worshiped him (which wasn’t unusual for lasses with MacGregor)—and taken her back to his home.

  Had the same thing happened to Janet? He’d about given up hope of tracking her—the trail was just too cold—when he had an idea. Thank God for her love of those damned nuts. It had taken a while to locate the merchant, and then to track down every nun who’d purchased from him in the past few weeks, but eventually their hunt led them to the priory at Rutherford.

  He would never forget the relief he felt yesterday when he’d seen her stroll out of the convent with a devil-may-care smile on her face. It was only later, while he waited for the right opportunity to intercept her, that anger settled in. How dare she look so happy and carefree when her disappearance had caused such turmoil!

  He caught the flash of alarm in her eyes as she realized what he’d said, but it didn’t take her long to collect herself.

  She gave him a long once-over, taking in the green cloak and hood. “You are missing your alms cup and bell so that I might hear you coming.”

  His mouth thinned. “There wasn’t time.”

  “To steal them?”

  “To borrow them,” he corrected, returning the scrutiny. As long as they were talking disguises, the nun’s costume had been more believable. “Aren’t you a little old to be a novice?”

  She gasped, her eyes flashing with outrage. “I’m not old! And I’m a widow.”

  He lifted his brow at that. “Who is the unfortunate groom?”

  Her eyes narrowed as if she were trying to figure out whether he’d meant it as “unfortunate dead” or “unfortunate married to her.”

  He hadn’t decided.

  “An Englishman. He was a soldier who died in the war. And hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s rude to comment on a woman’s age? I’m seven and twenty—younger than you.” She bit her lip uncertainly, and he nearly swore at the swell of heat it provoked in his groin. “How old are you?”

  He frowned. “One and thirty.” He’d just celebrated his Saint’s Day last week.

  She nodded, pleased to have made her point. “What do you want? Do you have a message for me?”

  Ewen fought to keep his temper in check, but after nearly a week of looking under every rock between Roxburgh and Berwick for the lass, he was having a difficult time.

  “Bloody right I have a message! Where the hell have you been? No one has had sight or sound of you in over a month.”

  He didn’t know what he’d expected, but damn it, perhaps to find her in a little more peril? An
d a little more gratitude on her part to see him, rather than this feeling that he was somehow interrupting her.

  Ignoring the voice that warned him not to touch her, he took her by the arm again and hauled her up against him. The wall he’d erected in his mind was proving a little thin. Instead of thinking that she belonged to Walter Stewart, he couldn’t help thinking how good she felt against him.

  Janet of Mar, damn it.

  “Did it occur to you that people might be concerned?” He may have growled the last.

  Her eyes widened. “Of course, it didn’t. I’m not missing.”

  His jaw locked. “So I see. But it might have been nice for you to tell the rest of us.”

  “Did no one receive my message? I sent word of my change in plans to our friend in Berwick.”

  Ewen grimaced, guessing how she’d sent her message. “With a local friar?”

  She nodded, and he swore, letting her go. Some of his anger dissipated. It wasn’t all her fault. Messages failing to reach their destination was a common occurrence in war.

  Part of him hoped she wouldn’t ask, but she was too smart not to have figured it out. “What happened? Did something happen to the friar?”

  He didn’t make an attempt to soften the blow. Perhaps this would make her understand the risks she took. “He was killed. Tortured, by the look of it, and his body was dumped on the road to Berwick about a month ago.”

  She recoiled from the shock. “No!” Her eyes filled with tears, and he had to steel himself from reaching out to give her … what? Comfort? Bloody hell! He was furious with her; what in Hades was wrong with him?

  He nodded, giving her a moment to come to terms with what he’d told her. “No one knew what had happened to you.”

  She gazed up at him, tears dampening her lashes. Her eyes shimmered like a sunlit sea. His chest squeezed so tightly he had to look away.

  There was long stretch of silence, but finally she said, “Thank you for coming to find me. I’m sorry to have caused so much trouble, but as you can see, I’m perfectly safe.”

  Safe? The lass wouldn’t be safe until she was locked up high in some bloody tower in … Bute. The only tower she’d be going to would belong to Walter Stewart.

  Not your problem. But the knowledge didn’t seem to calm him down any. He held his temper in check—barely. “I think you and I have a very different definition of ‘safe.’ I heard you were nearly discovered in Roxburgh by one of Edward’s priests.”

  “I wasn’t nearly discovered at all. He asked me a few questions, that’s all.” While he clenched his fists so he wouldn’t grab her again, she frowned. “How did you find me, anyway? We were very careful.”

  He sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her how difficult it had been. “There was one thing you told me that wasn’t a lie.”

  She paled and eyed him warily, as if this were the moment she’d been expecting and was bracing herself for it. And God’s blood, he wanted to give it to her. He wanted to show her exactly how angry he was.

  But he wasn’t going to. It was better to pretend it had never happened and never mattered. It was better to pretend he didn’t care. Because something told him that if he touched her again, if he vented the dangerous maelstrom of emotions twisting inside him, she would end up in his arms once more with that too soft, too sensual, too tempting pink mouth melting under his.

  He shouldn’t be thinking of how good she’d tasted. He shouldn’t remember it at all after this long, blast it. She wasn’t going to affect him; he wouldn’t let her.

  “The nuts,” he said, taking a step back to clear his head. “They are your favorite.”

  She blinked at him, obviously surprised that was all he had to say. Did she expect him to rail at her for lying to him about her identity and letting him believe that he’d committed a grievous sin? Did she expect him to be angry that she hadn’t kept her promise to stay out of danger? She bloody well should.

  She had a puzzled look on her face, as if she was trying to figure him out. “You found me through the merchant?”

  He’d found her; now he just wanted to be rid of her. The sooner the better, if the heat pounding in his body was any indication. He shrugged with an indifference he didn’t feel. “We should go.”

  “Go where?”

  “I’m taking you back to the Highlands.”

  She shook her head as if she had a say in the matter. “I’m not done yet. There is something important—”

  “I didn’t ask, my lady.” She stiffened again, and that wary look returned. He supposed he did get some satisfaction in that. Keeping her on her toes, waiting for the axe to fall, gave him an advantage.

  “You can’t order me—”

  “I’m not the one doing the ordering, it’s the king.”

  “Why is he calling me back?”

  “I’m just following orders. You’ll have to ask him.” He sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved in that battle.

  She bit her lip.

  Bloody hell, stop that!

  Only when she frowned did he realize he’d spoken aloud. “Stop what?”

  A few minutes in her presence and he was already losing his mind—and other parts of him were having a little trouble, too, with her nearness. “We need to leave.”

  She shook her head. “Tell Robert that I’ll return as soon as I can, but there is something important I have to do first.”

  “You can tell him yourself.”

  “You don’t understand, this is very important. I have to be here when—” She stopped, as if uncertain how much to say. She lifted her chin defiantly. “Robert will understand.”

  He could have guessed she was going to be difficult about this. “If you are so certain of that, tell him yourself. I thought you were good at explaining things.”

  He knew she wouldn’t be able to resist that.

  Her eyes narrowed, and he suspected she’d guessed his intent. “I am. But it will take too long. I told you there is something I must do.” She put her hand on his arm, and he froze. She stood so close he could practically feel the press of her body against his. Heat washed through him in a hot, pulsing wave. “I don’t see why a week or two will make a difference. Please, can’t you just tell him I’ll be back as soon as I am able?”

  Staring down into her eyes, Ewen felt something inside him tug. The soft imploring look pounded against the wall he’d erected in his mind like a battering ram. He leaned down for a minute, inhaling her sweetness, wanting to give in—

  He came back to reality with a jerk. “No.” He didn’t know whether he was talking to her or to himself. “We leave now.”

  He could see her try to control her temper. Her lips were pursed tight. “I know you are only trying to do your duty, but I’m sure if you come back—”

  “Don’t bother with one of your roundabout attempts to change my mind. It won’t work.”

  “Why do you have to be so unreasonable!”

  She looked so infuriated, he nearly laughed. Fearing a full-fledged rebellion and wanting to avoid having to drag her back, he said, “We have a ship at the coast in Ayr. If the king agrees to let you return, you can be back in ten days or so.”

  She looked uncertain. “Ten days? You are sure? I have to be back by St. Drostan’s Day.”

  He shrugged. It was feasible. Not that he thought she’d be in the position to find out, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her that. If she wanted to think she’d be permitted to return to Roxburgh, that was fine by him. As soon as he returned her to Dunstaffnage, she was Bruce’s problem. And Stewart’s, he reminded himself, his teeth gnashing together so hard his jaw hurt.

  It’s up to you. Keep your head down, do your job, don’t do anything to anger the king. That was all he had to do. Simple. He couldn’t let her make it complicated.

  Her eyes narrowed. “What are you not telling me?”

  He gritted his teeth. “Look, my lady, my job is to bring you back. A job I have eve
ry intention of fulfilling. But how I do that is up to you. We can make this as difficult or as easy as you want. The king has given you a direct order to leave the Borders and appear before him at Dunstaffnage. Refuse and you aren’t defying me, you’re defying the king.”

  “Eleanor!”

  Her head turned toward the sound of the cry, and then back to him. “They’re looking for me.”

  She would have moved toward the voice, but he clasped her arm. “So what’s it to be, Eleanor?”

  Her mouth pursed with annoyance. “What choice have you left me? I will go, but I can’t just disappear without word. Give me an hour and then come for me at the priory. I will say you are my brother come to fetch me home for an emergency.”

  He nodded. They wouldn’t be able to leave until it was dark anyway.

  “I’m here, Sister!” she yelled back, starting around the building.

  “Janet.”

  She turned, her big sea-green eyes looking up at him expectantly. “Don’t make me come after you.” He’d meant it as a warning, but his voice sounded oddly gruff.

  Their eyes held for a long moment, almost as if she were waiting for him to say more. But he couldn’t.

  Finally, she gave him a short nod, and then she was gone.

  Ten

  Janet was furious. Leaving now was a mistake. What if it took too long? What if her informant came to her with something important, and she wasn’t here?

  If Ewen would just listen to her. But the man was utterly impervious to reason! She might as well have been trying to bend iron or dent stone. He had to be the most infuriating man she’d ever met.

  All these months. All the time she’d wasted wondering about him. Thinking about him. She must have been daft.