by Paula Quinn
It was Asher. He wasn’t dead, and Davina’s eyes told Rob exactly what she thought of him. He hadn’t only lied to her, he’d left her only friend to die alone in the ashes.
“Let me go,” she demanded coolly.
Rob did as she asked and gained his feet. Davina and the Abbess had already opened the gate by the time he reached them. He watched in silence as Asher leaped from his horse and seemed about to drop to one knee before her. He might have if Davina hadn’t pulled him into her arms.
The captain lived, but how? He’d barely had strength to hold up his sword when Rob had left him. Rob hadn’t looked for survivors when he rode out of the courtyard with Davina. His only thought had been to get her away safely. He’d just assumed…
“Asher, I thought ye perished,” he said, not really knowing what else to say. An apology would not be enough.
The captain looked up from Davina’s tear-stained face. “I almost did, but not even death can keep me from her.” He smiled at Rob before his face disappeared once again in the crook of Davina’s neck. Her hero had been returned to her, and Davina clung to him as if he was all she needed to survive.
Rob did not smile back.
The joy of seeing Edward again was so overwhelming that Davina almost forgot about the man behind her. But she couldn’t forget. Rob had lied to her. Although her wary heart resisted, she had come to like him. God help her, it was more than that. She was attracted to him, beguiled by the bold confidence in his gaze and in his step, drawn to the passion he had for his family. Not to mention the strange flutters he produced when he looked at her. And he looked at her often. Whether she was pulling weeds in the garden or helping the Abbess prepare supper, his eyes were always on her—on her hair, her face, her waist. She’d even caught him bending around his chair at the supper table to watch the sway of her hips while she served. As decadent as it might be, she liked it.
But he’d let her believe Edward was dead. He had not told her that Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyll, was his relative. What else had he been untruthful about? And why? Her mind raced with a thousand uncertainties and she clung to the only certain thing she knew. Edward.
“We should get inside the Abbey,” Rob said, pulling on her sleeve. “He could have been followed.”
“Yes,” Edward agreed, looking over his shoulder. “They are but several days away.”
Davina looked up at him, her heart crashing in her chest. Rob stepped closer. “Who, and how many?”
“Admiral Gilles and roughly forty of his men from the Dutch fleet,” Edward said, turning back to Rob. “He isn’t certain the lady is dead, and until he is—”
Rob hauled them both toward the Abbey and shouted up to Colin and Finn to keep their eyes open. Davina heard him barking orders to Will to get his arse indoors as Edward ushered her and the Abbess inside.
The moment the doors were shut and bolted, Rob took command like a general on the battlefield. The Abbess was to collect her most skilled healers and bring them to the Refectory where Captain Asher would be waiting for refreshment and to have his wounds tended. In her happiness to see him, Davina hadn’t looked at his blood-stained clothes.
“Thank you for saving her,” Edward said, following Davina down the hall.
When Rob didn’t give a response, Davina turned to look at him. He was staring at her, and if he’d saved her with the intention of causing her harm, it was nowhere in his steady gaze.
“I only wish that I could have done so myself.”
“Oh, Edward.” She stopped and clutched his hands in hers. “You’re alive,” she said, bringing his hands to her cheek. “That is more than I could have ever hoped for. However did you manage to escape?”
“Aye,” Rob said, pausing behind them while they embraced yet again. “When I met ye, ye had barely a breath left in yer body.”
Was there a challenge in his voice? An accusation? Ridiculous, Davina thought, glaring at him over Edward’s shoulder. She should be questioning him!
“I was thrown from my horse shortly after you left, MacGregor.” If Edward heard the suspicion in Rob’s grave tone, he took no offense to it. Of course, he wouldn’t. Edward was no fool. Getting a better look at him now, Davina could see clearly that he was in no condition to fight. Especially not with a man who stood at least two heads taller than he, a man who looked fit and ready to face whatever army appeared at the gate with just himself and the skilled, watchful archer at his side.
“Fortunately,” Edward continued, resuming the short trek to the Refectory with Davina leading him by the hand, “I fell into a dead sleep and did not awaken until sometime after Admiral Gilles arrived with his men.” He told them what had happened after that, everything he’d heard, how he’d lain in the ashes as if dead until they were gone. “I knew when they hadn’t found her body that you had to have saved her.”
“How did ye find us?” Davina heard Rob ask over her shoulder as they entered the dining hall. “I was careful aboot leavin’ tracks.”
“No tracks,” Edward sighed as he fell into a chair and closed his eyes. “I suspected you would head north and Courlochcraig was on the way.” He opened his eyes and moved to stop her when Davina dropped to her knees to remove his boots. She quieted him with a glance in Rob’s direction. “I needed to stop for some food and rest and I knew the Abbess would not turn me away.” With his gaze still fastened lovingly on Davina, he lifted his fingers toward a tendril of hair that had escaped her veil. “God led me here. He wanted me to find you, my lady.”
“Tell me aboot Gilles.” The sharp edge in Rob’s voice vanquished the tender smile Davina was about to bestow on her dearest friend, and halted the hand reaching for her.
“He is the Duke of Monmouth’s Admiral.” They all turned toward the Abbess, who had entered the Refectory carrying a cup in one hand and a small tray of food in the other. “A most unpleasant man.”
“So, ’tis Monmouth who sent him and no’ Argyll,” Rob said.
“Mayhap, mayhap not.” The Abbess shrugged her shoulders. “Both men have spent the last number of years in Holland. Only God knows who holds Gilles’s allegiance.”
“Is deception no’ frowned upon by yer Husband, Reverend Mother?” Rob’s gaze cooled on her. “What more d’ye know aboot this that ye refuse to tell me?”
“Well,” the Abbess said evenly while she handed Edward his cup. “Since entering this room, I know that Admiral Gilles is the one guilty of the slaughter of my sisters. But if you mean to question me more than you already have about why the Abbey was attacked, my answer will be the same.”
There was nothing amiable in Rob’s slow smile before he turned his attention back to Edward and waited.
“I met the Admiral only once,” Edward told him, “and then prayed I never would again. He is merciless… and determined.”
“Why do these men want her dead?”
Edward shook his head and averted his gaze when Rob moved around the table toward him. “I don’t know.”
“Ye think me a fool to believe that, Asher?”
“No,” Edward sighed deeply in his seat and set his sorrowful gaze on Davina. “But I risk her life by telling you, and I will not do that. I will tell you this though: we cannot remain here. He will find her.”
“Edward,” Davina told him softly, covering his hand with hers as if he were the one who needed comfort from the truth. “There is nowhere else to go.”
The Refectory grew silent, save for the soft footfalls of four young sisters who had come to tend to the captain. Davina thought she heard Rob swear a muttered oath that was surely going to earn him penance under the Reverend Mother’s watchful eye later. She turned to him, still on her knees, and found him scowling worse than when he first saw her in her veil.
That is, until he looked at her and his taut, dark features went a bit soft. “Aye, there is.”
She knew instantly where he meant to take her, and part of her wanted to go. The Isle of Skye. Mayhap, if its name counted for anything, it
existed in the heavens—a place this terrible Admiral Gilles would never dare go. But could Robert MacGregor be trusted with her life? He’d let her believe Edward was dead. Then again, Edward had told them he was down and Davina couldn’t really blame Rob for not checking before they raced away from St. Christopher’s. No, he was not in league with her enemies, and thinking on all he had done for her so far made her feel foolish for considering it.
“I will not put your home in danger,” she said calmly, though refusing the aid of such a man as he was among the most difficult things she had ever had to do. Wishing he could remain with her at Courlochcraig while knowing in her heart that there could never be anything between them was one thing; living with him on his own land, in his care for as long as she needed to be was another. “I refuse to…”
“Will.” He turned to his cousin as if she hadn’t spoken. “Fetch the lads; we’re goin’ home.”
“Tonight?” Davina sprang to her feet, casting Edward a nervous glance. “Even if I agree to this, Captain Asher cannot travel again so soon.”
“Ye have nae say in it,” Rob said brusquely, meeting her gaze for just a moment—and a moment was all it took to convince her that arguing would be fruitless. “I’ve nae intention on makin’ Captain Asher travel tonight. When he is able, he can return to England and—”
“Return to England alone?” she cut him off, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“Aye.” Rob nodded, already seeking out the Abbess’s attention. “We’ll need provisions,” he began with a pitch in his voice that demanded obedience. “Anything ye can spare will be appreciated. Also, do any of yer sisters have an extra kirtle the lass could wear fer the journey? Gilles is lookin’ fer a novice and she’ll stand oot less to anyone we encounter on the road withoot her robes.” He cut his gaze to Davina next. “That will have to stay here too.” He pointed to her veil.
Still reeling at the idea that he intended for Edward to remain behind, Davina missed the satisfaction in the slight curl of his lips when he spoke of her veil.
“I’m not leaving without Captain Asher.” She squared her shoulders and tilted her jaw to appear less intimidated when Rob stared at her. She liked that he could make quick decisions and take command over all, even the Abbess, with the authority of a born leader. Somehow, it made being around him feel safer. But she wasn’t about to cower to him, big, brooding Highlander or not. “You cannot expect him to travel all the way to England alone. Look at him! He will be attacked on the road before he reaches the border!”
“Who’s going to England alone?”
Davina turned to see Finn entering the hall with Colin at his side, the latter already eyeing Edward caustically. Will hung back, peeling the skin from an apple he’d pilfered somewhere along the way back down to the Refectory.
“No one is, Finn,” she replied, returning her unwavering gaze to Rob. “He is my friend.”
Rob met the challenge in her eyes with a determined stare of his own. “He’s an English soldier, Davina. He willna’ be welcome at my home.”
“My brother is an English soldier, Rob,” Finn pointed out, then grew silent when Rob turned to pin him with an incredulous glare.
“That’s different,” Colin said, making his way across the room to Edward. “Connor is kin.” When he reached the captain, he looked him over the way a cat might size up a mouse before pouncing on it. “Why is he still in possession of his sword?”
“Ease off, cousin,” Will called out, leaning his hip against the table and biting into his apple. “He’s no’ a Covenanter.” He paused in his chewing and cut his gray gaze to Asher. “Are ye?”
“No, I am not,” Edward told him, looking slightly uneasy around the four north men all staring at him now.
Will was the first to smile at him, or maybe, Davina corrected herself, it was Sister Elaine standing just behind Edward who was the recipient of his favor, for she blushed a full two shades darker.
“Dinna’ mind young Colin, Captain,” the rascal Will sang. “He’s a wee bit bloodthirsty when it comes to his enemies. Much like his faither—who ye’ll be meetin’ soon enough if ye come wi’ us.”
“He’s stayin’,” Rob ground out and turned to leave. “And we’re wastin’ time.”
Davina looked around at the others for aid, but no one had the boldness to stop him. Not even the Reverend Mother. It blistered Davina’s nerves. Who did he think he was, ordering a captain of the king’s Royal Army about as if he was nothing but a peasant? Dismissing everything she said as if she wasn’t even there! Well, she was tired of being invisible. This meant too much to her. She’d lost everything, everyone who mattered in her life. But God brought Edward back to her, and she wasn’t about to lose him again.
“I was wrong about you, MacGregor,” she called out, following him out of the Refectory. “I thought you could keep me safe, but I was wrong.” When he pivoted around slowly, she gathered her courage and strode right up to him.
“What do you think will happen if Edward is captured by Admiral Gilles? Hmmm? How long can any man hold out if he is tortured? How long do you think it will take Gilles to find out where the MacGregors make their home? His men burned nuns alive. Do you think he will not kill every MacGregor he finds until he finds you?”
She had his ear now and for a moment he looked as though he might give in. She plunged ahead. “And even if Edward makes it to England, do you expect him to lie to his king about what happened to me? It will only be a matter of time before the king’s army enters Skye.”
“Why? Why will he come fer ye?”
“I cannot tell you. I will not.”
“Then Asher stays.”
Oh, she fumed, staring at him, blackmail was quite unattractive. “Very well, I will tell you! King Charles promised me to a man who—Where are you going?” she demanded when he began to turn away from her. “I was not finished. When he died, he commanded his brother James to—”
“I dinna’ believe ye, Davina.”
“What do you mean you don’t believe me?” She chased after him as he took up his steps. Damnation, why did she ever bother to lie when she was so poor at it? “Rob”—she reached for his sleeve and tugged it—“it doesn’t matter what you believe. Edward cannot go back. He is part of this now.”
He stopped, and when he shook his head, she balled her fists at her sides. He simply couldn’t be this stubborn!
“I’ll no’ bring an English soldier to Camlochlin. ’Tis bad enough I’m bringin’ ye.”
“Well, I’ll remedy that for you right now!” she promised through clenched teeth. No man had ever made her this angry and she needed to get away from him before she would have to spend a fortnight in confession. “You have my thanks for bringing me this far,” she said, turning on her heel, “but I’m staying with Ed—”
His fingers closing around her wrist and yanking her back to him put a quick end to her tirade. Pressed against his hard chest and looking up into his even harder gaze, she found it difficult to breathe, let alone speak when he plucked her veil from her head and let it drop to the floor.
“Ye’re stayin’ with me, lass.” His mouth descended on hers like a brand, hot and possessive, filling her senses with the taste, the feel, and the scent of him. He molded her to his unyielding muscles, kissing her until she went soft in his arms.
Davina had never been kissed before, and never in her life could she have imagined it to be like this. Her body felt like it was going up in flames, melting away all her defenses, sapping her will to defy him and tempting her to lift her fingers to his face and clutch him to her forever. For a part of her craved the safety of being held in his arms. Protected, not because of who she was, but for another reason entirely. But Robert MacGregor simply wanted her to comply with his decision, and he hoped that kissing her senseless would achieve his goal. As much as she would like to keep kissing him, she wasn’t about to give up on Edward. So, with the last trace of strength she could muster, she gripped him by the shoulders and rammed h
er knee into his groin—just as Edward had taught her.
Stepping back, she watched Rob sink to his knees. “I would ask your forgiveness,” she said, staring down at his bent head, her breath falling hard, “but you would likely refuse that as well.”
Leaving him alone with his pain, she returned to the Refectory. Instead of going to Edward though, she sank into the nearest chair and prayed forgiveness for putting any part of her trust in a man, and for the strength to face the days ahead without Robert MacGregor at her side.
* * *
Rob wasn’t aware that Davina had left him, and when he heard the soft chuckle above his head he thought her not only spirited as all hell, but heartless, as well.
“Dinna’ get up, I beg ye.” Thankfully—or, mayhap not—’twas Will. “This may be the only time in m’ life that I get to see ye on yer knees. Let me take pleasure in it a moment longer.”
Rob glanced up at him as he straightened, grimacing at his throbbing shoulder and his aching groin. “May be?”
“If ye stick around her, aye,” Will laughed, offering no aid to his injured cousin. “I’m guessin’ ye, bein’ the stubborn bastard that ye are, didna’ give in to her request to take her captain wi’ us.”
Rob didn’t like the way his faults were being tossed about before him today, but he didn’t like how Will called Asher “her captain” even more. But it was true, wasn’t it? Hadn’t she just chosen her captain over him? “Yer guessin’ correct,” he said stiffly, rubbing his lower abdomen one last time.
“So we’re leavin’ him then?” Will asked as Rob turned and headed for the Abbey doors.
“Aye, and she’s stayin’ with him.”
Davina stood alone in the bell tower watching Rob and the others leave Courlochcraig. She did not weep, for tears did not bring people back, or keep them away. Why should Robert MacGregor return to her anyway? He had done so much for her already. She hadn’t expected to stay with him. She had even wanted him to go before anyone else came for her. But then he kissed her. She’d nearly shattered to pieces in his arms, and it had nothing to do with force—although the raw strength of his embrace turned her bones to liquid. She didn’t want him to leave her, and watching him ride across the bridge carved a lonely, dreadful hole in the pit of her stomach—worse than ever before.