Steafan sent one last angry scowl her direction before his mount disappeared into the gaping dark hole of the gate behind Caden.
Fine. Steafan could glare at her all he wanted, she didn’t care. It wasn’t like she was out here flirting with Caden. She had good reason to be speaking to him.
This whole thing felt wrong. She had every right to be here trying to talk Caden out of going on this ridiculously dangerous mission of his.
Even if he was going to marry Steafan’s sister.
And where the heck was Miss Perfect anyway? Shouldn’t she be the one out here trying to talk Caden out of going? Or at the very least seeing her intended off? But no. Alycie was nowhere to be seen.
Ellie fumed, staring at the empty gate, ignoring the voices vying for attention in her head until Baby’s sharp bark drew her notice.
Baby can track Big One. Easy.
“Yeah, but Caden said he couldn’t watch out for you.” She reached out and scratched between the ears on the huge head of the animal staring into her eyes.
A sound, suspiciously like a snort, rolled through her mind. Baby watch out for Big One. Baby want to. For you.
The big dog looked at her expectantly, his ears perked, his tail wagging hard enough to create a small breeze.
“Could you keep up with those horses?”
Hu-mans. Missy’s voice now, heavy with disgust. Swift Death a hunter. Brings down deer. Can follow horse. Easy.
“Swift Death?”
Baby like new name better.
“Yeah, well, I should hope so.”
The whole name thing rattled Ellie a bit, though it certainly reinforced the animal’s survival skills. The dog knew his limits. If he thought he could do this, who was she to argue? “Okay. Take off, Baby.”
The dog swiped his big tongue along her chin and gave her a look she could have sworn was a grin before he raced out through the gates following after Caden and Steafan.
Wiping the doggie kiss from her face, Ellie caught Missy’s gaze. “Do you have another name?”
“People may call me many things, but few are brave enough to do so to my face.”
Sallie’s voice so close caught Ellie off guard. “No, I was talking to…never mind.” The woman wouldn’t believe her anyway.
She was going to have to be more careful. She’d gotten so comfortable communicating with the animals, she sometimes forgot no one else could hear them. From Sallie’s concerned expression, she suspected a quick change of subject would be wise.
“What are you doing out here?”
“Enjoying the fresh air.” Sallie stretched, her hand bracing her lower back. “I found when I carried the lads, near my time it seemed to help if I moved about. Come walk with me.” The woman looped her arm through Ellie’s and pulled her forward.
Ellie paced her steps to accommodate the waddle of her companion as the women crossed the bailey and headed up a slight incline toward an overgrown rock wall enclosure with an archway leading inside.
When they reached it, Sallie released her hold and sat on one of the walls, pushing curls back from her pink face. “That wee hill was perhaps more than I’d bargained for. Do you mind if we rest here for a spell?”
“Not at all.” Ellie joined her on the rock wall, peering over into the weeds. It looked as if this had been a whole building at one time or maybe even one that had never been finished. “What is this place?”
“We call it Mairi’s Garden.” Sallie propped her shoulder against the archway as she scooted her body more securely onto the low rock wall. “It’s been sadly neglected, I’m afraid.”
“That it has. It was meant to be a chapel.”
Beside Ellie, Sallie’s jaw tightened before she turned to acknowledge with the barest nod of her head the woman who had joined them.
“Alycie.”
“I’m sorry to see it’s no been finished in all these years. Does that mean yer family still holds to their pagan ways?”
The rebuke in Alycie’s question was undeniable, though her voice was as gentle and soft as ever.
“We’ve never had a need for a chapel at Dun Ard, no with the village so close we can easily ride there.” Sallie pushed herself up to her feet. “Besides, leaving it unfinished seems a fitting way to remember our poor cousin, does it no? Surely you’ve no forgotten Mairi? No forgotten that she disappeared.”
Alycie clasped her hands tightly at her waist and looked away, her eyes blinking rapidly. “I’ve no forgotten,” she whispered.
“Good.” Sallie reached out for Ellie’s hand. “I believe I’ve had enough fresh air for now. Will you help me back to the keep?”
Ellie felt like she’d stepped into a theater in the middle of a movie. And though right now sure didn’t appear to be the proper time to ask questions, it was clear there was a history between these two women. No doubt about it.
“We made good time today, did we no?” Steafan stretched out his leg, nudging the stones at the edge of the fire pit with the toe of his boot.
“Aye, we did,” Caden agreed absently as he walked to the edge of their campsite and stared out into the black of the night.
Ellie and her damn dog might think him too stupid to realize the great beast had followed him all day, but they’d be wrong. The dog, her Baby, was out there somewhere in the inky blackness watching him even now.
It would serve them both right to let the creature fend for itself.
With a shake of his head, he tossed the remainder of the meat he’d had for dinner out beyond the light before returning to the roll of blanket that would be his bed under the stars this night.
Thinking of the deerhound, and the woman who had sent him, Caden smiled in spite of himself as he watched the clouds skitter across the night sky leaving a trail of bright stars in their wake.
There was yet one more detail he should address before he slept.
“Steafan? You were correct to suggest we bring none of the men with us. Thank you.”
“Good. I’m glad you see the right of it at last.”
Not that the extra men would help if Wodeford planned some nefarious action anyway. Blane had traveled with additional men and it certainly hadn’t helped him. In fact, the safety of those men was just one more item on a long list of worries that plagued Caden tonight.
At last his eyes drifted shut. They’d ridden long and hard this day and would again for many more before they arrived at Wode Castle. He reached for the oblivion of sleep that danced just beyond his reach. So close.
“When we return to Dun Ard, will you have the banns read right away?”
The question jolted Caden fully awake, but he didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to face his friend.
His mother had said Ellie was to wed one of his brothers. After all these years, he felt as close to Steafan as if he actually were a brother. And yet, if Steafan thought to wed Ellie…He couldn’t follow that line of reasoning to its conclusion. He should be happy for the friend who had been like another family member since childhood.
But for some strange reason he wasn’t.
“Banns?” The word stuck in his mouth. “Whose banns?”
“Yers and Alycie’s, of course. If yer to stop her from returning to Iona, you’ll need to act quickly.”
Caden rolled to his side, propping his head on his hand to stare at Steafan.
“What are you asking? Have we no had this discussion many a time before? And always to the same end. Her coming back to Dun Ard makes no difference. You have to give up on that idea. I’m no going to marry yer sister now or ever. I released her from her pledge long ago. She disna want me.”
Steafan stood to pace back and forth on his side of the fire, squatting down at last on one knee, the reflection of the flames casting a crazed glow in his eyes. “She’ll change her mind, Cade. You can make her do that. I know you can. We can make her change it together.”
“I’ve no reason to do that.”
“You damn well have!” Steafan yelled, rising again
to his feet to pace. “You’ve no seen that hell hole of a nunnery you sent her to live in. I have. She works from sunrise to sunset with no rest but on her knees for prayer. Her hands are raw to cracking from scrubbing their floors. We have to get her out of there.”
Caden rolled to his back and closed his eyes against the memories of what Alycie Maxwell had done to his family. What she had done to him. What she thought of them all.
She had led his sister and his cousin Mairi into a trap, handing them over to that evil Fae, Duke Servans, and his men. Mairi had escaped, but in the battle that followed Sallie was taken prisoner and Drew had nearly died.
All because Alycie so despised the idea of marrying into a family descended from the Fae. She’d done it for nothing more than the Duke’s promise to take her to the convent on Iona.
The woman had gotten what she asked for.
“It’s no more than what she wanted. Her choice, Steafan. All by her choice. No mine.”
“That’s it exactly. Now that she’s come home, we can make her see how she chose wrongly. You can have what you want at last. You love her. You can make her love you.”
Caden opened his eyes, staring up at the jeweled night sky. For the first time in nine years, he thought about the words. Heard them.
You love her. You can make her love you.
“No,” he said slowly, his words and the realization coming together. “You canna make anyone love you.”
Either love was there or it wasn’t.
His Faerie ancestors had to be laughing hysterically on the other side of the curtain between the worlds that he was so dense it had taken him until now to figure out this simple fact.
“In truth, I never loved yer sister. I took for granted the fact that we would wed, but I dinna love her. I respected her. Until she betrayed my family. The day she led Sallie into that trap, risking my sister’s life by delivering her over to be kidnapped and brutalized by the Duke—on that day I lost what respect I had.”
“Alycie was but a frightened lass. You canna hold that against her.”
“I can. If no for her actions, Sallie would no have suffered as she did. If no for her actions, Drew would still be whole. I canna forget those things, Steafan. I dinna want to.”
“By all that’s holy, man, Alycie has suffered for the last nine years for her mistake. She never intended to bring harm to yer family. She’s meant to be a laird’s wife and lady, no a servant to a passel of nuns.”
Drew’s accusations rang in his memory. “Is it your sister’s place as wife of the laird you fash yerself over, or is it yer own future as the laird’s overseer you seek to secure?”
The two men stared at one another across the fire for long minutes before Caden rolled over, turning his back to his friend. “Rest easy, Steafan. Yer future disna depend on yer sister wedding me. It never has. As for any thought of me taking Alycie to wife, it’s no going to happen. That’s the end of it. We’ll no be having this discussion again. Ever.”
“Verra well, Caden MacAlister. You’ve made yer own choice and now we’ll all have to live with it.”
So we will, Caden thought, tightly shutting his eyes against the memories that would rob him of this night’s sleep.
Nineteen
Caden pulled his mount to a halt, cocking his head to listen. No unusual sounds. No sounds at all other than the river burbling beside him. That in itself was unusual.
Something just didn’t feel right.
“Why do you stop?” Steafan circled back, bringing his horse next to Caden’s. “We’ve no time to waste.”
Caden started forward, picking up speed, matching his friend’s pace as they rode.
Of course Steafan was right.
Already they traveled more slowly than Caden would like. The high peaks would be too dangerous to summit this time of year, so they’d been forced to add extra days in going around.
Since early morning they’d followed the banks of the River Dochart toward Killin, where they could finally cut south and make directly for Wode Castle.
The river grew more turbulent the farther they rode, and the land more sloped. Ahead, Caden could see a narrowing of the path they followed as it turned once again from the river and this time forced them back into a densely wooded area.
Mirroring the waters he rode beside, his emotions grew more turbulent, an unease settling over him. Obviously his worries over his brother, his cousin and the fate of his people were playing tricks on his mind.
He had to let all that go. Ellie and Drew would treat the sheep. He would trust her bluestone concoction to save them. And he was on his way to pay the ransom demanded for Blane and Colin just as Wodeford had instructed. For now he needed to focus his energies on his task, to concentrate on the hazards of the trail.
Glancing back, he caught the flash of gray fur and smiled in spite of himself. The damned beast followed still, darting in and out of the trees. The deerhound was every bit as persistent as his mistress.
Ahead of him, Steafan pushed through the dense foliage where the trail cut into the forest and disappeared.
The thought of Ellie calmed him. The memory of her concern the morning he’d left warmed him. Imagine her trying to warn him something didn’t feel right about his going, as if he would actually change his plans. As if he hadn’t considered all of it carefully.
What she didn’t understand was that he had no choice. The responsibility of too many lives lay in his hands. Too much depended on his actions.
Once again, he drew up on his reins, bringing his mount to a halt.
Was that where this sense of disquiet had originated? Or did her warning simply dovetail with his own feelings?
His decision now to act on those feelings surprised him. If there was no problem ahead of him, he’d feel foolish later and share a good laugh with Steafan at his own expense when he had to admit to what he was about to do.
And if trouble did lie on the other side of the dense canopy, he’d be grateful for his actions.
Caden directed his horse close to the river, turning the animal so its body served as a screen between the forest ahead and his actions.
He dismounted and pulled a small bag from his things tied to the saddle. Then he squatted down and lifted the animal’s front left foot as if to inspect it for injury. As he did so, he tossed the bag into the shallow edge of the water.
The weight of the silver inside should lodge it there, holding it securely until his return.
Standing up, he patted his horse’s neck and then re-mounted. He should feel utterly foolish for what he’d just done.
A look over his shoulder revealed Baby, standing in the middle of the trail, nose lifted, scenting, hackles raised.
No, foolish wasn’t at all what he felt at the moment.
“Here now, milady! That’s no safe at all!” The large guard pulled Ellie back from the edge of the wall walk, frowning down at her as he did so. “Just what do you think to be doing up here? It’s no a place for a lady.”
Ellie bit back the first caustic response that came to mind. As her grandmama had always said, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Unfortunately her honey supply was running low.
She’d grown increasingly irritable with the men at Dun Ard telling her what was and wasn’t proper for her to be doing over the last few days. From the two young men building the sheep troughs right up to this guard who looked like someone’s grandpa, they all seemed to feel they had the right to direct the activities of all women—and her in particular—as if they had some secret, God-given knowledge and authority women didn’t have.
It shouldn’t have surprised her, of course. Their behavior wasn’t all that different from that of the farm-hands back home.
Ellie clenched her hands together in front of her, consciously mimicking the meek gesture Alycie always sported, and forced a timid smile to her lips.
“I was hoping for some news of Andrew’s return.” Or better yet, Caden’s.
Granted, she hadn’t s
een any other women climb the narrow stairs to the wall walk, but it obviously was the best place to look out over the countryside. And while logic told her scanning the horizon wouldn’t get either of them back any faster, logic wasn’t her strongest ally right now.
Instead fear prodded at her. A vague unknown fear, like a premonition that something very bad was going to happen and she couldn’t do anything to stop it.
Which was just stupid. After all, she might hear animals talking in her head, but she couldn’t foresee the future.
It had to be the knowledge of what had already happened to the last person who went after Caden’s brother that made her nervous. That must be it.
“I’m just being unreasonable,” she muttered, half under her breath.
The big guard continued to frown at her, his hands at the ready as if he expected her to throw herself over the wall.
“I agree, milady. And that’s why you should take yerself back down to the keep. Perhaps you need to rest for a bit.”
“I’d prefer to remain right here, if it’s all the same to you. I’ll make sure to stay out of your way.”
“I fear I’ll have to insist you go. It’s no a good idea—”
A deep voice from behind Ellie interrupted the guard.
“Gregor, you old bear, leave the lady to her own devices. It’s no like it’s an extra burden on you.”
The guard’s frown morphed into a wide grin just before Ellie whipped around to discover who was taking her side in this discussion.
“Dair Maxwell, you young whelp! Still trying to tell me how to do my job?”
“What? You’ll no use my title? You’d no address me as Sir Alasdair?” Ellie’s defender lounged in the doorway, his shoulder propped against the wall, a lazy smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes.
“Ach,” the old guard grunted, shaking his head. “Sir Whelp, mayhaps. The nobles may have named you a knight, but I remember no so long ago you and young Colin both snotty-nosed bairns chasing around at the laird’s feet.”
A Highlander of Her Own Page 14