by Willa Blair
Aye, they made a fine whisky, but the MacDuffs weren’t known for that. Well, they would be, once he took Ellie MacKyrie and made her clan his. It was the only thing keeping these MacKyries alive. If he had the secret of the whisky, he’d have killed them all and moved his men in here to take over long before now.
Aye, he’d waited long enough for Ellie to come around to him. He’d tried persuasion and persistence. They hadn’t worked. He still had passion and plenty of that. He’d mount her like one of these horses, and if she thought to buck him off, he’d take a crop to her and ride until she screamed his name. Aye, she’d be his to use as he used his other women. When he tired of her, she’d die tragically, as they had. Such a sad coincidence, that he’d outlived so many fragile wives.
Ah, but he could savor all that in the future. First he had to secure her for himself. This discontented sod before him would help him or pay the price.
“Ye ken the Lathans willna be here for long,” he told the man, careful to keep his tone reasonable, though his irritation with the man’s laird simmered just below the surface. “When they go, ye’ll all join with me or suffer the consequences. Yer clan will starve and die out within a year or two under yer lassie laird. If another clan doesna come in the middle of the night and slit all yer throats for ye.”
His companion blanched and swallowed.
“I can save ye all. My men will protect ye. Ye ken that joining with me is yer best hope.”
If the man’s nod was meant to be an answer, then he had it.
Aye, he’d cooperate. He thought he’d be doing his laird a favor, saving her people from their fate. And aligning himself with a strong leader who’d protect them, and him.
He’d soon see the folly of his ways. But in the meantime, he’d be the eyes and ears MacDuff wanted inside the MacKyrie keep. “Keep yer wits about ye, then. Make sure I’m the first to ken it when these Lathans leave. Go on with ye. And send in the stable lad. I want to ride.”
The man bobbled a bow and left in a hurry. That suited MacDuff, who wanted him busy skulking around the keep like the vermin he was. As long as he provided the required information, his head could remain on his shoulders a while longer.
****
Ellie’s sense of danger stayed with her after she gave Micheil the news that he was to organize the hunt. She decided the best thing to do would be to warn Jamie and Donal to keep alert for trouble, just in case. She found them in the bailey, readying their mounts. She waited until she saw the MacDuff and his men riding through the outer gate before she approached the Lathans. It interested her that the MacDuff seemed eager to get out of her keep ahead of the others. To lay a trap for those who followed him?
“A word with both of ye, if ye please,” she said, beckoning them close. As Jamie and Donal joined her, she took a deep breath. “I had a dream last night. It may have been a Seeing, or just a dream. I canna be sure. It only came back to me as Cook suggested sending all ye men out to hunt.”
“What dream?” Donal managed to look skeptical and unimpressed at the same time, glancing aside at Jamie with a quirk of his lips.
Ellie’s temper spiked. She was trying to warn them, yet he doubted her before she uttered a word.
“What do ye recall?” Jamie frowned at his companion, then turned back to her.
Jamie seemed simply to want to know, so Ellie plunged ahead. She’d deal with Donal’s doubts later. “I saw an arrow bury itself in a tree. I think it barely missed someone. I canna recall more than that. I dinna ken whether it was the first of many arrows, or the only one.”
“An accident?”
“Or an attack,” Donal added.
“Either way, I needed to warn ye to be careful. It may have been nothing. Merely a dream. But if not...”
“We’ll be careful,” Jamie assured her as Donal studied her. What did he hope to see? The rest of her dream? Whether she was telling the truth? Not for the first time, she wished she knew what was going on behind those icy green eyes.
“Please do. I dinna want any of ye hurt. Or worse, coming back face down over yer horse.”
Donal’s eyebrows lifted. “Surely, ye dinna think such a thing is possible?”
Ellie huffed out a heavy sigh. “I wish I could be sure. Truly, I do. But I canna.”
“Likely a dream,” he muttered and turned back to his mount.
Jamie grimaced, his gaze following Donal for a moment as he moved away, then returning to Ellie. “Dinna fash over him,” Jamie told her. “He had a bad experience in the past with a woman of unusual talent...who is now our laird’s wife. He’s a natural skeptic. He put Aileana through a lot of heartache before he finally accepted her and stopped advising Toran against her. Coming to believe that her talent is real was difficult for him.”
“I didna ken.”
“He’ll come around, eventually. Once he learns more about ye.”
“Is that the reason he’s reluctant to remain here?” If it was, Ellie realized she’d have even more of a battle on her hands than she’d expected. Not only did he doubt his suitability to become involved with her as laird, he distrusted highland talents. Yet he’d come to accept the Lathan laird’s wife’s. Perhaps he could be persuaded after all.
“Aye. One of many, I imagine.”
“Then I have my work cut out for me, in truth.”
Jamie gave her a conspiratorial wink and grinned. “I believe ye’re up to it, lass.”
Reassured, she returned his grin and looked over at Donal. He was on his mount, waiting for Jamie.
“I think ye’d best be going.”
Jamie followed her gaze with his. His grin widened. “Aye. Dinna fash, Ellie. We’ll keep our eyes open.”
She watched them ride out with the other Lathans and two of her lads as guides. Be safe. I need ye. All of ye.
Chapter 8
The wind on Donal’s face felt good, even if it had a chill bite to it. He glanced over at Jamie, riding beside him. Aye, he enjoyed it, too. Thin clouds hid the sun, but allowed enough light through to make the coppery glints in Jamie’s dark hair glow like a banked fire. Added to the grin on his face, Jamie looked as cheerful as Donal had seen him in days, despite the MacKyrie’s warning. Come to that, Donal’s mood had improved, too. This he understood. Not all the back and forth of Jamie’s negotiations with the MacKyrie laird, nor Donal’s attraction to her—nor what to do about it. If anything. Nay, a simple hunt was exactly what they all needed. When Micheil had come to them in the great hall to invite them, they’d jumped at the chance. The rest of the Lathans had wanted to go to, but Donal left Bram, Innis, and Alpin behind. The MacDuff joined the hunt, but had left two of his men in the keep. Donal had no choice but to do the same. He’d not leave the MacKyries unprotected from MacDuffs, even if it were only two of them. Even two could cause plenty of trouble.
The MacDuff and his men had gone east across the glen with Micheil and another MacKyrie lad, something Donal didn’t mind at all. Donal chose to lead the Lathans uphill, above the keep. Several of the MacKyrie lads rode with them as guides. They knew the landscape like the back of their hands. Donal expected them to keep the Lathans from riding off a cliff if they had to chase down a buck.
After several hours, they had killed a brace of rabbits, but their real quarry, a large red deer had eluded them. They started back down out of the hills.
“Keep sharp, lads,” Donal told them as they spotted tracks leading downward. “Our luck may be about to change.”
“Aye,” Forbes answered softly. “I’ll be sore embarrassed if we fail to bring down a buck and the MacDuff rides in with one.”
“Or more,” one of the MacKyrie lads added.
Donal grimaced but Jamie looked confident. “We’ll find one. These woods are full of them, aye?”
The MacKyrie lad answered by pointing.
Ahead of them, off to the right, stood a magnificent buck. It’s antlers were wide and multi-branched. Donal suppressed the urge to whistle. Instead, he eased the bow fr
om his shoulder and nocked an arrow. Jamie and the lads did the same. Donal pulled and let fly. The arrow found it’s mark in the big animal’s neck. As it started to bolt, Jamie scored another hit. The buck, badly wounded, staggered. The lads’ arrows brought it down near a large tree where it collapsed. Donal dismounted and quickly cut its throat, ending its misery.
“All right, lads,” he said, “get the rope. We’ll tie it up to bleed out. When that’s done, I think we can head back to the keep with our heads held high.”
Chuckles greeted his pronouncement as the lads dismounted and tied the buck’s hind legs together. Jamie tossed the rope over a branch, then he and Forbes pulled the buck up off the ground. As they held the rope, Donal circled around the tree and tied it off securely. Dressing the buck would take a while, but with luck, they’d deliver their prize to Cook well before dinner time.
Forbes backed off a few steps to study their kill. Jamie bent to tug the arrows from the carcass. As he did, an arrow whistled out of the woods and buried itself in a branch by his head.
“What the hell?” Jamie flattened to the ground, then rolled behind the tree.
“Down, lads,” Donal ordered as he crouched by Jamie. Everyone dropped. Donal scanned the woods. Only the tap of the blood dripping from the buck’s throat broke the silence as it hit the forest loam beneath it. “Are ye well, Jamie?”
“Aye, or I will be when my heart starts beating again. That was too much like before.”
Donal shook his head. “That was close. Too close.” And he’d left his bow on his horse, out of reach. He’d have to risk a dash across some open space to retrieve it. “Bloody hell. The MacDuffs should be nowhere near here. And all our lads are still with us. Has someone else from the keep come hunting, too?”
Jamie shook his head. “Not by themselves, I wouldna expect. Ellie was right to warn us. She had a Seeing, not a dream.” He peered carefully around the tree.
Donal grabbed his sleeve. “Get back, ye daftie. They may still be out there.”
“Accident? Or warning?” Jamie asked, echoing Donal’s thoughts.
“Let’s find out,” Donal said, standing, but gripping Jamie’s shoulder to keep him from rising, too.
“Who’s there?” Donal shouted.
There was no answer. No arrow. Nothing but the steady drip, drip, drip from the carcass. Jamie stood, slowly. Still nothing. Donal continued scanning the trees, looking for the slightest movement. Nothing stirred.
“A warning, then?” Jamie finally said.
“Aye, perhaps.”
Donal motioned the others to their feet and made the dash to his horse. No reaction. No more arrows. Good enough then. Whoever shot at Jamie had gone. But he posted a perimeter watch, to be sure. Eyes in all directions, aye. Ellie hadn’t been sure whether the attack would end with one arrow. Not that he was accepting what she’d said as fact. Accidents like this could happen on any hunt. Nonetheless, he wished he had eyes in the back of his head, too, as he and Forbes gutted the carcass. But nothing else happened to delay them as they butchered the buck.
They made their way carefully back to the keep with their prizes, alert for the slightest threat. They saw no one, heard nothing, to threaten them.
Cook was happy to see what they’d brought. She rewarded the lads with warm bread fresh from the hearth, slathered with butter and jam. “Ye men,” she said when the meat had been brought in, “need a bath. Ye’re bloody from head to foot. Get cleaned up. I’ll see ye fed when ye dinna reek of it, aye?”
Donal, Jamie, and Forbes grinned at each other, suddenly aware of their ghastly appearance. They looked as though they’d fought a battle, not butchered a deer. “’Tis messy work,” Jamie told her, unnecessarily. Cook hooked a thumb over her shoulder, her message clear. Out. They went.
An hour later, they sat by the hearth in the great hall, finishing their repast. One of the lads who’d ridden with them ran from the kitchen. “The MacDuffs are back. It seems they had little luck hunting, but they set Micheil and the other lad to fishing, so we’ve trout to go with whatever else Cook prepares.”
“If the lads fished,” Jamie asked, “what did the MacDuffs do?”
“Ergan says they rode off for a while to see the countryside. Micheil asked them to stay close, but Ergan thinks they didna.”
Jamie and Donal exchanged a look. Indeed?
“Do ye think...”
“Now, lad,” Jamie stopped him in midword. “Keep such thoughts to yerself. We lack proof of anything.”
“Aye, sir.”
“That’s a good lad. Go on wi’ye, then.”
As the lad ran off, Donal leaned forward. “No proof, aye. But I think we’ll keep a closer eye on the MacDuff from here on out.”
“I think we must. I dinna like being made a target. Nearly dying of an arrow wound once was enough.”
****
Ellie wiped sweat from her brow then winced as she realized she’d left a bloody streak. Blood soaked her sleeves to the elbows from helping Cook butcher the sides of venison the Lathans had brought in while Cook’s helpers cleaned the smaller kills. Cook looked no better, nor did her helpers. The kitchen reeked of blood and the scraps collected in a bucket to go out to be tilled into the garden.
“A good haul our men made,” Cook said.
Ellie grimaced. “Some of them, anyway. This should keep us going for a few days. Then I’ll send them out again.”
“Did ye hear what happened after we shot the buck?” one of the lads asked.
“Nay, I didna. Do ye have a tale to tell, then?”
“Aye. We’d hauled the buck up into the tree to let it bleed out,” he said, “when an arrow flew out of the woods and lodged in the tree, barely missing Jamie’s head.”
“What!” Both she and Cook had exclaimed in unison, nearly blowing the lad back a pace in their shock.
Ellie wiped the blood from her hands. Ach, nay. The scene she’d remembered had been a Seeing, then, and not a dream.
“Someone attacked the Lathans and nearly killed Jamie? Why did they no’ report this to me? And after I warned them!” Ellie rounded on the lad, her expression, she knew, fierce enough to frighten him, but he’d just frightened the life out of her. Her heart pounded fit to burst through her breast. The Lathan ambassador nearly killed? How much more trouble must she face?
Jamie’s death would have been a disaster of epic proportions. Donal and the others would declare war, or leave, or leave then return with an army of Lathans to exact their revenge. Oh, God. She sank into a bench before her knees gave out, leaned on the bloody table and dropped her head into her hands. “Who?” She looked up at the lad. “Who did it?”
“We dinna ken who, Laird.”
“Where were the MacDuffs?”
“East, toward the burn.”
“Of course. Out of sight, I’m sure.”
Ellie looked at Cook, then back at the lad. “Do we know if anyone else left the keep to go hunting? On their own? Perhaps it was just an accident.” She could hope for that. She could.
“No one else has brought in a kill,” Cook told her.
Ellie closed her eyes. “I must speak to Jamie. Apologize to him. I never meant to put any of them in danger.”
“They ken that, lass,” Cook said. “‘Likely a MacDuff up to more mischief and they’ll think that, too.”
She shook her head. “That’s worse. I dinna need them fighting. They’ve kept their distance from each other up till now. I canna have Jamie challenging the MacDuff. I canna.”
“Then wash up and go speak to him.”
“Aye.” Ellie pushed up from the bench. “I’ll do that.”
In minutes, she found Jamie and Donal by the hearth in the great hall. She took a seat with them and plunged right in.
“The lads tell me ye were attacked today. Why didna ye report it?”
Donal’s lips thinned into a tense line. Jamie shook his head. “We dinna ken who shot at us, Laird MacKyrie. It couldha been an accident. We’ve no w
ish to accuse anyone without proof.”
“The MacDuff, ye mean.”
“Perhaps. Or a lad out hunting on his own, seeing movement through the trees and loosing an arrow without confirming his target. Once he heard us shout, likely he slunk away, praying his mistake wouldna be discovered.”
Ellie sighed and leaned back. Good, they were not bent on causing more trouble for her clan. Though Jamie looked calm enough, Donal had a cold stillness about him that made her palms sweat. She told herself that Jamie would not allow Donal to do anything rash. She could be sure of that. And Donal, when it came right down to it, would not do anything rash, either. He was too smart, too honorable, and he’d already received one lecture from Jamie and another from her for the fight between Bram and Micheil two days ago. Gods, only two days? It already seemed a lifetime since the Lathans had arrived.
“I’m glad to hear ye say ye willna act without proof. Even if one of Lachlan’s men...”
“If that’s who shot the arrow,” Jamie said, interrupting her, “we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Perhaps,” she argued. “But I’ll no’ have another battle in my hall—or in my keep. I intend to ask Lachlan to leave as soon as the pass is clear. That should put an end to this, one way or the other.”
Donal shook his head. “Ye ken that’s no the case. MacDuff will keep coming back.”
“As long as he perceives us to be a threat to his ambitions, we’re at risk,” Jamie added. “As are ye.”
“But,” Donal continued, reaching out to cover her hand where it rested on the chair arm, wrapping it in his big, strong fingers, “we’re also smart, canny, and experienced fighters. We’ll no’ be the cause, but we will finish any fight he starts.”
Ellie stood, pulling her hand from his as she gained her feet. As much as she craved his touch, she did not want it right now. It confused her. Made her forget the reason she had found them. The danger she’d put them in. Donal’s threat of more violence. “Let’s hope he has better sense, then.” She pursed her lips. “My apologies again, Jamie. It was never my intention to send ye into danger today. I tried to warn ye. If any ‘proof’ makes its way to ye, I trust ye’ll bring it to my attention before ye act.”