Page 44 of Glasgow Rogue

At the sound of horses approaching, Niall crouched behind a thick pile of dried bracken.

The forest had thinned out considerably, giving him fewer places to hide as he tracked Annie’s abductors.

It had also given way to a narrow, dirt road which probably explained why those men had not been that concerned about the trail they’d left earlier.

Numerous hoofprints were jumbled together, making it harder to find the distinctive one with the missing nail in the horseshoe.

The sound grew louder as the horses came into sight past a small copse of trees.

Two riders, wearing MacDougall tartans. Niall wondered what they were doing so far into Campbell lands.

Being a MacDonald—and still not fond of Campbells—Niall had decided travelling would be safer for Annie if he wore conventional clothes.

The riders had just passed him when one pulled a dark cloak from his saddlebag and flung it over his shoulders.

It looked vaguely familiar. When the other rider did the same thing, Niall realized why.

The men who’d accosted him had worn the same type of cloak.

Niall stared after them, staying hunched until they’d ridden a good distance and then he slowly stood.

MacDougalls had taken Annie? Niall couldn’t fathom why, but that was something that he could ponder on later.

They had come from the south and Annie hadn’t been with them, so the other three abductors must be holding her farther along.

Niall just hoped there were only three of them and not half a clan waiting.

He checked the hoofprints of the horses that had just passed.

Neither of them was missing a nail in the shoe, so he hoped he could continue to track that print.

Niall proceeded slowly up the road, his ears alert for other riders.

It was still early in the day for travelers to be about, but he didn’t want to be spotted.

He’d gone not quite another mile when he noticed grass that had been trampled off to one side.

He couldn’t find the track of the missing horseshoe nail, but it looked as though a number of horses had left the road.

Niall looked up. The terrain was steeper here, the trees somewhat sparse, replaced with boulders and shale overhangs that would provide cover. A rocky, rutted trail led upwards.

Niall began to follow it. There wasn’t enough space between the rocks and scraggly bushes that grew out of crags to hide horses, but the deep crevices could certainly hide a man acting as a guard.

He hated feeling so exposed, especially since he was unarmed.

At least, the damp moss that covered the ground masked the sound of his boots, but he still needed to keep a sharp lookout.

Even so, he almost missed the slight noise off to his left. It sounded like boots shuffling. A soft thud followed. Niall dropped to his stomach and began to crawl, staying close to the side of large boulder. He peered around it cautiously.

The trail had ended abruptly at a flat, open area and Niall realized he must have climbed to the top of a ridge.

A guard stood only feet away, leaning against a tree and looking across the clearing toward another man who was tending the horses.

Niall recognized his gelding and Annie’s mare.

So he had found their hideout, but where was Annie?

Niall scanned the clearing again. There was no sign of her anywhere.

Had they taken her someplace else? He frowned.

But her mare was here and he hadn’t passed any houses this last mile.

He spotted another man standing in front of a darkened crevice.

The ledge overhang looked like it could provide a small cave. Was Annie being held there?

Niall snaked his way backwards, praying he wouldn’t dislodge some small rock and give himself away. If Annie was here, he’d soon free her. If not, three MacDougalls were about to tell him where she was.

He wedged himself behind the boulder and then slipped around to its other side.

The tree the guard leaned against was directly in front of him now.

Niall kept an eye on the man tending the horses and the one by the cave.

Neither seemed to be looking in his direction.

Niall loosened his belt, wrapping the ends around each of his hands and crept forward.

Gavin was better at this maneuver than he was, but if all went well, the guard would go down without a sound.

Things didn’t go well. Niall flipped the garrote over the guard’s head, drawing back and twisting the leather tightly, but not before the man managed to croak out a yelp.

The man near the horses turned, as did the cave’s guard, and both started running toward him.

Niall dropped the unconscious man and slid the man’s knife from its sheath.

The blade didn’t balance like his own, but it would have to do. He assumed a battle position.

The two men were almost on him when he saw a blur in his peripheral vision.

Annie burst out of the cave, screeching like a banshee and brandishing the knife he’d given her.

His mind registered that she truly did look like Queen Boudicca at the same time he registered she’d just put herself in harm’s way.

The man who’d been guarding the cave turned and jumped toward her.

Niall raised his arm, his purloined blade flipping over twice as it soared through the air and lodged in the man’s back.

He fell forward with a grunt and Niall turned to fend off the other attacker as Annie ran toward them.

“Get back!” he shouted. “Take your horse and ride.”

“Nae without ye!”

“Doona be daft!” It only took that momentary distraction for the man’s fist to find his jaw. Niall’s head snapped back and he went down. Rolling, he managed to miss the other man’s weight crashing down on him. “Slide me your knife, lass!”

For once she didn’t argue. Annie slid her knife toward him and Niall regained his feet at the same time the attacker did. Armed now, Niall waited for his opponent to make his move. And then Annie screamed again.

“Behind ye, Niall! Behind ye!”

He whirled as a fourth man came running up the path into the clearing.

Where the hell had he come from? There were only supposed to be three…

Niall hurled the blade he held, this time catching the newcomer in the gut.

He clutched his stomach and fell. Niall turned to finish what he had started and nearly tripped himself.

Annie had jumped on the guard’s back. One hand was pulling hard on the man’s hair while with the other, she was pummeling him with a rock she held.

The guard was spinning in circles in an attempt to dislodge her, but she just clung tighter, a few choice words, ones Niall didn’t think he’d ever heard a woman say, coming from her mouth.

Her hair had come loose and swirled around her head like a halo of fire.

Niall would have liked to admire the whole image, but the man was nearing a tree, obviously intent on knocking her against it. Niall leapt.

And found himself clutching thin air as the man fell. One of Annie’s whacks with the rock had found its mark. Annie went down with him. Niall caught her, barely managing to pull her off before she hit the ground.

She stood there shaking. “If ye had nae come—”

“’Tis nae the time to talk,” Niall replied, half-carrying her to their horses and lifting her onto the mare. Quickly, he grabbed the others’ saddlebags before turning their horses loose. “Those men are nae dead. I suggest we ride.”

For the second time in minutes, Annie didn’t argue.

****

They were several miles down the road before Niall finally slowed the horses and gestured. “There is a village up ahead.”

It really didn’t look like much more than a few cottages and a building that might be a coach exchange. “Do ye think it safe to stop?” Annie asked.

“Nae. We will go around. The MacDougalls will be following us as soon as they patch up their wounds and catch their mounts. If nae one spots us, they may think we went in a different direction.”

“’Tis a good plan.” Annie looked around. “But there is nae other road.”

Niall grinned. “We follow the sheep, then.”

“Sheep?” Annie gave him a worried look, wondering if the fighting had done something to his brain. “There are nae sheep in sight.”

“True.” He pointed to the ground. “But their droppings leave a trail.”

So they did. Annie wasn’t sure exactly how following a sheep trail would help, but Niall had already turned off the road and her mare decided she didn’t want to be left behind.

It didn’t take long before they reached a small glade where the animals grazed near a tumbling burn.

Niall stopped beside it and dismounted. “We can rest the horses here for a few minutes.”

As Annie started to dismount, her leg buckled. Niall was beside her in an instant, his hands around her waist, steadying her. “Easy there.”

Annie put her hands on his arms, feeling the rock-hard definition of his biceps.

The touch was comforting. She hadn’t realized she was so shaky.

Suddenly, the enormity of what had happened in the past twenty-four hours—the real danger she had been in—swept over her like one of those rogue waves on Loch Linnhe.

She clutched Niall tighter and looked up at him. “If ye had nae come—”

“’Tis over, lass. Try nae to think about it.”

“I thought….they said…that ye were dead.”

Niall smiled. “’Tis a good thing they thought that or they might have finished me off with a bullet.”

“Doona jest!” Annie gripped him harder. “I could nae bear the thought that they had…killed…ye.”

Niall’s eyes darkened as he looked at her. Holding her gaze, he encircled her waist and drew her closer until her breasts pressed against his chest, and then he bent his head.