by Lynsay Sands
And then she'd woken to calm. The storm was over and she'd opened her eyes to see Aulay's face above her with a bright blue sky overhead. Jetta had thought him the most wondrous thing she had ever seen.
"Oh ballocks!" Cat snapped. "What did you promise him?"
"Who? Aulay?" Jetta asked with bewilderment.
"Nay! Captain Casey," Cat said furiously. "What did you give him? You had no coin. Did you let him bed you in exchange for his freeing you and claiming the mast broke off? Or was there really a storm and he freed you from the mast to allow you to find shelter in the cabin, but you escaped and leapt overboard in exchange for his kindness?"
Jetta stared at her with disbelief. "Nay, of course not. The mast tore away as I said. Did you not see that when he got you back to the ship?"
"Le Cok's mast was intact and fine when he got me to the ship. In fact, the moment we arrived, he strapped me to it exactly as he had you just two days before."
"Oh aye. Ye said he'd repaired it ere traveling to Fitton," Jetta reminded her, but could tell Cat did not believe that. She had decided Jetta had somehow weaseled her way out of the fate Cat had manipulated for her, and was unwilling to believe otherwise.
They were both silent for a moment and then Cat shook her head. "I still cannot believe you outmaneuvered me and managed to escape marrying the marquis."
"Outmaneuvered?" Jetta asked bitterly, and then shook her head wearily. "I was not maneuvering at all, Cat. I was trying to save you right up until the moment I found myself strapped to the mast and learned that while I had been trying to save you, you had been plotting to see me sent in your stead." Shaking her head with hurt bewilderment, she asked, "How could you do that? I tried everything I could to save you. I used every argument I could think to sway Father from going through with the contract. And when none of my arguments worked, I even offered to help you escape and go with you to Mother's family to save you."
"Aye," Cat said with disgust. "That would have been fun. Would it not? The poor relations, depending on the charity of relatives? No betrothed, no prospects, no dower. We would have both ended up little more than unpaid servants, always having to give our thanks for being allowed to scrub their floors for our supper. Nay. I had no interest in that."
Jetta opened her mouth to respond, but then glanced sharply toward the doorway between this room and the next as they heard the door to the master bedchamber open.
"Jetta?" Aulay called.
She didn't get the chance to answer. Movement drew her gaze around just in time to see the hilt of Cat's dagger coming at her. Agony exploded in her forehead, bright and hot, and then just as quickly withdrew, leaving darkness behind.
Chapter 19
Concern beginning to clutch at him, Aulay glanced from the empty bed to the door to the little room off the master bedchamber, and started toward it as he called again, "Jetta?"
He had nearly reached the door when she came hurrying out and crashed into him.
"Oh, husband," she said on a laugh, clutching at his arms and leaning into him. "You startled me."
"Sorry, I was just coming to see if ye were in the baby's room." Sliding his arms around her, he patted her back distractedly.
"The baby's room?" She pulled back to peer at him with confusion.
"Aye. That is what me parents used that little room behind ye for," he explained.
"Oh." Relaxing, she smiled faintly, and lowered her head to watch her hands curl into the cloth of his plaid, as she asked, "Is there a reason you wished to see me?" Glancing up, she flashed her big green eyes at him and suggested, "Mayhap you wished to claim your husbandly rights?"
Aulay smiled faintly at the question, but shook his head. "Nay. In fact, I came to warn ye to stay in yer room."
"Oh?" she asked, her eyebrows rising.
"Aye," he said solemnly. "I believe yer attacker is in the keep and we are about to hunt them up, but I do no' want ye in harm's way. So ye're to stay here. I've told the guards no' to let ye leave the room," he added, fully expecting her to either insist on being allowed to help in the search, or to put up a fuss about being restricted to her room. This, after all, was the woman who had roared at him and even cursed in the stables when he'd tried to get her to go to safety and leave him to handle the horses and fire alone.
However, Jetta smiled sweetly and simply said, "Very well."
Aulay's eyebrows rose slightly, but he said, "Good," and started to release her, but she held on to his plaid and pursed her lips in a moue.
"Will you not kiss me before you go, husband?"
"Aye, o' course," Aulay murmured, wondering that he hadn't on his own and had needed the coaxing. Of course, he did have a lot on his mind just now what with everyone waiting out in the hall for him to start the search. He excused himself as he bent to kiss her.
Feeling guilty about her having to coax the kiss out of him, it was no light peck in parting. Aulay gave her one of his full-on, deep, hungry, devouring, suck the meat from between your teeth kisses. Apparently, Jetta hadn't been expecting that, for other than sag against his chest and wrap her arms around his neck as if he were the only thing holding her up, she didn't really respond.
However, she clung to him with both arms and lips, and moaned a protest when he broke the kiss and set her away.
Smiling at her dazed expression and heaving chest, Aulay turned her toward the door to the room she'd been busy in when he entered, and gave her a gentle push. "Now off with ye. I'll be back soon as I can. Hopefully, with news I've caught yer attacker."
"Aye," Jetta said breathily.
She'd filled in some, Aulay thought as he watched her bottom as she walked away. Pleased that she was regaining some of the weight she'd lost, and amused by her breathlessness and unsteady gait as she walked toward the door, Aulay teased, "Whether I ha'e or no' though, I'll be claiming those husbandly rights ye mentioned."
"I shall look forward to you pleasuring me," she breathed, and he saw her shoulders rise slightly toward her neck as a shiver slid down her back.
His smile a bit bemused, Aulay turned and left the room trying as he went to think why that had felt all wrong. He was perhaps halfway to the group of people waiting for him by the top of the stairs when it struck him and he froze in his tracks.
"Aulay?"
Blinking at that concerned voice, Aulay peered at the man leading the group toward him and immediately frowned. "Conran. What the devil are ye doing here? I sent ye out to--"
"Alick's horse threw a shoe ere we even got off Buchanan land. So I took him up on me horse and we led the beast back. We came in to tell ye what happened while we waited for the stable master to shoe his mount, and the others told us what was occurring here instead. We thought ye might want us to stay to help with the search fer Jetta's sister?"
"Aye," Aulay said nodding, and then shook his head. "Nay."
"Nay, ye do no' want us to help?" Conran asked with surprise.
"Nay, there's no need fer a search," Aulay corrected grimly. "I'm quite sure I've found me wife's sister. In fact, I believe I just kissed her," he said with a grimace, and wasn't surprised by the uproar that caused.
"Ye kissed her?"
"Ye kissed the attacker?"
"Ye kissed yer own wife's sister?"
"Are ye mad?"
Wincing at the cacophony of questions, Aulay said dryly, "Well, I did no' ken it was her at the time. I thought her Jetta." Glancing back toward the master bedchamber door, he frowned and suggested, "Perhaps we'd best move further along the hall to talk."
"I can no' believe ye could no' tell she was no' Jetta and kissed her," Saidh grumbled as they reached the far end of the hall and paused.
Aulay blew his breath out on a sigh and nodded. "I should ha'e kenned sooner, but in me own defense, she was in the room where I left Jetta with guards to prevent Jetta's leaving and anyone entering, and she was wearing Jetta's gown. The one she was wearing this morning and the one she was wearing when I left her earlier."
"O
h," Saidh said solemnly. "That is no' good."
"Aye," Aulay agreed. He had only realized that as he said it, and now pondered it with concern.
"Are ye sure 'tis Jetta's sister?" Alick asked. "Mayhap 'tis really Jetta this time."
"I am sure," Aulay assured him. "She is mayhap half a stone heavier than Jetta, which is about where Jetta was in weight when we found her."
"Aye, she lost a good stone while sick, and has gained perhaps half o' that back," Rory murmured.
Aulay nodded. "And the lass I just kissed, while wearing the right dress to be Jetta, was no' wearing her caul and had no bald spot."
"Ah." Everyone nodded solemnly. There was no mistaking her for Jetta if she had all her hair.
"Then this sister kens about the passages," Greer said solemnly.
Aulay nodded unhappily as he realized Greer was right. "She must. It is the only way she could ha'e got in the room with the guards at the door."
"Which means Jetta may no' even be in there," Saidh said with a grim expression.
"What?" Aulay turned to his sister with alarm.
"Well, you obviously did no' see her in the room," she said, and when he nodded that she was right, continued, "and the sister is wearing Jetta's gown. The only reason I can think that she would do that is so that she might move freely through the castle, which she could do if we thought her Jetta," she pointed out. "So, this twin may ha'e made Jetta take off her dress, donned it herself, and then forced her into the passages and out through the tunnel, and--" Mouth tightening, she avoided Aulay's eyes and instead of finishing, asked, "Why would the sister return? Why would she want to move freely through the castle once she . . . had Jetta?"
Aulay had no idea, and nothing was coming to mind . . . mostly because he was sifting through Saidh's words. Cat hadn't been trying to kidnap Jetta before now. She'd been trying to kill her, and he suspected that was what Saidh had not said. That Jetta had been made to strip, forced out of the castle through the passages and tunnel, and then killed.
Aulay turned abruptly, intending to head back to the master bedchamber. He was desperate to see if Jetta was in the baby's room. She couldn't be dead.
"Aulay, wait," Cam said firmly, catching his arm. "Ye can no' just go marching back in there. Ye might be jeopardizing Jetta. Ye said the sister came out o' the baby's room. Jetta may be in there. But she may not, and if she is no', then we might do better to pretend we believe the sister is Jetta and follow her to find where Jetta is."
"Cam is right," Greer said solemnly. "We need to see if Jetta is in there ere ye do anything. Is there a passage entrance in the little room as well?"
"Aye," Dougall said as Aulay tugged free of Cam's hold and started moving again, this time heading for the door just a few steps away. It was the door to Niels and Edith's room, and he didn't bother knocking, but thrust the door open and strode in.
"What the devil!" Niels barked, freezing in the middle of pulling on a fresh shirt. Yanking it down into place, he grabbed up a plaid to cover himself up and scowled at the lot of them. "Ha'e ye never heard o' knocking?"
"What has happened?" Edith asked anxiously, turning from the window to peer at them with concern. "Please tell me ye've caught the attacker, else Niels is determined to help ye find them."
"Nay, but I'm about to," Aulay growled as he continued to the passage entrance and quickly opened it.
"Yer eyes are back to normal," Greer commented behind him, presumably to Niels. "How are ye feeling?"
"Much better," Niels said quietly. "What's happening?"
"We're about to catch Jetta's sister," Alick said, directly behind Aulay, and the words made him freeze with one foot in the passage and one in the room. Turning back, he scowled.
"We're no' doing anything," he said firmly. "I'm going to sneak into the baby's room and see if Jetta is there. The rest o' ye will wait here."
"What if they are both in the baby's room?" Cam asked at once. "Ye can no' just go barging in. The sister could slit Jetta's throat ere ye got to them."
"Aulay's no' an idiot. He's no' going to just barge in," Saidh said with exasperation. "He'll check the know-holes first to be sure 'tis safe to enter."
"The what?" Aulay asked with bewilderment. He had been intending on just barging in.
"The know-holes," she repeated, her brow knitting as she took in his expression. "The spy holes? Ma called them know-holes when she showed them to me, because they let ye know what's happenin' in the rooms."
"We ha'e spy holes?" he asked with disbelief.
"Aye." Her eyebrows rose. "Surely ye kenned that?"
"Nay," he snapped and then glanced to his brothers. "Did any o' you?"
"Nay," they all said together, shaking their heads and looking rather put out themselves.
"Well, hell," he growled, turning back to his sister. "Why were we no' told about them? I should ha'e been told at least. I am the laird o' this keep."
Saidh shrugged unapologetically. "Ma told me. I just assumed she or Da had told the rest o' ye."
"I think I know why," Jo said thoughtfully, drawing all eyes her way.
Aulay's eyebrows rose. "How would you ken why our parents did no' tell us about the spy holes and only told Saidh?" he asked, more curious than anything.
"Because I have a son," Jo said wryly, and then asked, "I presume you were lads when you were told about the passages?"
They all nodded.
"How old?" she asked at once.
"Five or six," Aulay answered at once.
"Aye," Dougall agreed. "What has that to do with anything?"
Rather than answer, Jo asked, "If, as a lad, there had been a visitor to the keep, say a beautiful buxom blonde, or a curvy redhead you thought attractive. And if her maid sent for a bath within your hearing," she added. "Would you or would you not have slipped into the passages to peek through the spy holes at her?"
Affronted, Aulay opened his mouth to answer, but Jo held up her hand to forestall him.
"I am asking all of you Buchanan boys, and I do not mean now would you look, but when you were a young lad, of twelve or so, would you have tried to get a peek then?"
Aulay hesitated, and then exchanged glances with his brothers, before admitting on a sigh, "Aye," even as his brothers did. But he added, "'Tis the kind o' thing lads do."
Jo nodded as if that was exactly what she'd expected. "And that is why you were not told as children." Turning to Cam then, she added, "And that is also why we will not tell our sons about the spy holes in the passages at Sinclair until they are adults and can be trusted not to look unless necessary."
"There are spy holes in the passages at Sinclair?" Cam asked with amazement.
"Aye. Your mother showed them to me after we married," she announced.
"What?" he asked with disbelief. "Why did she or Father never tell me about them?"
When Jo shrugged her shoulders helplessly, Dougall suggested, "Mayhap they're waiting until yer an adult and can be trusted no' to look."
Cam stiffened, but then nodded solemnly. "Aye. And no doubt that is why yer parents ne'er told ye ere they died, and why ye're uncle still hasn't."
Aulay almost cracked a smile at the exchange of taunts, but in the end he didn't. No one did. They were all too aware that Jetta was in jeopardy . . . or possibly dead.
"Where are the spy holes?" he asked Saidh sharply, impatient to see if Jetta was all right.
"They are those small stones sticking out o' the wall," Saidh explained. "There are dozens o' them along the walls at all different heights. The stones pluck out easy as ye please, revealing a pinhole ye can see through into the room."
Nodding, Aulay turned to finish stepping into the passage, but paused again as someone bumped against him and he realized everyone had crowded forward, intending to follow him. Even Edith and Niels were moving toward the passage, he saw, and it was Alick who'd bumped into him.
"I am going alone," he growled. "The rest o' ye stay here."
"Ye might need help," D
ougall argued at once.
"I'll be fine, and the bunch o' ye will make too much noise," he argued.
"We'll be quiet as mice," Alick assured him.
"Aulay," Saidh said quietly. "If she dies because ye refused help, ye'll never forgive yerself . . . and I may no' forgive ye either. I really like Jetta."
Aulay closed his eyes briefly, but then gave in with a sigh. "Fine. But ye can no' make a sound."
When every one of them nodded solemnly, Aulay turned and led the way into the passage.
It was the splash of cold water that roused Jetta. Blinking her eyes open with alarm, she peered anxiously about, and then froze as she spotted Cateline and recalled her situation.
"Finally," Cat said, tossing aside the empty pitcher she held. "I thought you would never wake up."
Jetta eyed her with dislike. "I suppose it was too much to hope that your presence at Buchanan was just a nightmare."
"Oh my!" Cat's eyes widened in surprise and delight. "The kitty has developed claws. When did you find courage, sister? You never would have spoken to me like that at Fitton."
Jetta just shook her head and closed her eyes. She had no intention of getting into a battle with her sister. She had refused to do it when they were children growing up, and then as an adult, not because of a lack of courage, but because it upset their mother. She wouldn't do it now because she needed to think on how to escape. Getting her sister talking so that she could do that was more likely to aid her than wasting her thoughts on trading insults.
Determined to keep her talking, she asked, "Are you not going to finish telling me what happened after you and Father left me on the ship?"
There was a pause and Jetta began to worry her sister would not continue talking, but would move on to whatever she planned to do next, and then Cat said, "Aye. Where was I?"
"You were on Le Cok," Jetta said at once, and when Cat did not immediately begin speaking again, asked abruptly, "did you trade your body to the captain to escape marrying the marquis? Is that how you came to be here?"
"Nay. He was more interested in his first mate than me," she said with disgust.