Page 28

CHAPTER 28

“They were tryin’ to find us, David,” Gordon snarled, foaming with anger as he paced back and forth in front of his study window.

Anger with nowhere to go, nothing to soothe the beast or ease the anxiety that prickled in his veins.

His m an-at-a rms looked suitably pale, his hand instinctively wrapping around the hilt of his sword. “Are ye absolutely sure, M’Laird? It might well have been someone wanderin’.”

“They ran,” Gordon hissed.

“Aye, and I’d have run too if someone like ye had hurled a rock at me head, out of nowhere,” David replied evenly, as if trying not to let his own worries win. “Ye have perfect aim. A second throw with a bigger stone would be enough to kill a man. Whoever they were, they likely dinnae want to take the risk.”

Gordon shook his head, his mouth twisting into a sneer. “Ye daenae understand. Ye were nae there.” He stopped, glaring at his m an-at-a rms. “They hid. They ran at first, aye, but then they hid. They were watchin’.”

“How can ye ken that?”

Gordon’s glare hardened. “Ye ken me, David. I might only have one eye left, but it sees as keenly as two men with their eyes intact.” He clenched his jaw. “They were watchin’. They were nae just wanderin’. They were searchin’ for us, tryin’ to creep up on us; they dinnae expect me to attack first. Believe me when I say it was nay mistake, nay accident.”

Expelling a shaky breath, David nodded, his expression resigned as if he, too, had come to the same conclusion.

“I’ll increase the guard on the walls. Anyone comin’ in or headin’ out will be checked.” He hesitated. “Do ye want me to put an additional guard outside Lady Anna’s chambers? An escort to keep an eye on her? She wouldnae have to ken; I’ll put our most discreet lads on the task.”

Gordon shook his head. “I’ll guard her meself. As for ye, I want ye to find information. Anythin’ ye can discover about who is doin’ this. Someone kens somethin’, and I’d start in Morden if I were ye. Someone must have been watchin’ us there, too, else they wouldnae have kenned where we ended up.”

He took a dagger off his desk and slid it into his boot, his broadsword already hanging from his hip. “I’ll get them this time, David. They’ll ken, once and for all, that they should’ve killed me when they had the chance.”

“May the Devil have nay mercy on their souls,” David replied solemnly, bowing his head before he took off out of the room, ready to bolster the guard as if the enemy was already at the gates, and ride off in search of clues.

They’ll take nay one else from me, Gordon vowed fiercely. They’ll nae take me life either.

With that, grabbing another dirk from the top drawer of his desk, he followed his man-at-a rms out into the castle, where he meant to begin his own tireless watch, protecting the woman who held his future in the palm of her hand. The woman who had begun to matter to him more than anything.

“Did ye nae have a nice time?” Sophia asked, stricken.

Anna, seated beside the worried young woman on the low wall that overlooked the glittering sea, offered up a bittersweet smile. “I had the loveliest time. It was perfect, truly.”

Until it wasnae…

“But, if I may, ye daenae seem like ye had a nice time,” Sophia replied, chewing her lower lip in consternation. “It was me suggestion, ye see. Gordon wanted to take ye to the rockpools, but I told him that ye wouldnae want to go lookin’ at crabs and wee beasties, gettin’ yer skirts all wet and salty. I thought the market at Morden would be more to yer likin’.”

“It was, Sophia,” Anna promised, taking the other woman’s hands and holding them tightly. “It was wonderful. Everythin’ was wonderful.”

Sophia frowned. “Forgive me, but I daenae believe ye. When ye came back ye were so… pale, like ye’d seen a ghost. And Gordon went stormin’ off with David.” She shrugged, almost defeated. “Neither of ye looked like ye’d had a nice time. As it was me suggestion, I cannae help feelin’ guilty.”

Squeezing Sophia’s hands, looking at her in earnest, Anna put on her brightest smile. She didn’t want Sophia to feel guilty, but nor did she want to tell Sophia what had happened at the end of such a beautiful, joyful morning. How could she, when she wasn’t entirely certain what had happened? It would only cause unnecessary worry.

“It was havin’ to come back from such a wondrous mornin’ that made us both a little grumpy,” Anna said, deciding on a half truth. “Gordon had a mountain of correspondence waitin’ for him, and I kenned that Jane would be waitin’ to trouble me about the weddin’: what choice of food and flowers and music I might like, who I might want to invite from home, if I’ve given any thought to what me weddin’ gown might look like, that sort of thing. Endless preparations— ideas for preparations, anyway. And as Jane will be the one makin’ me gown, she’s particularly eager for me to give me opinion on that.”

The anxious edges of Sophia’s face softened, her eyes brightening, her eyebrows shooting up in delighted surprise. She shuffled closer along the wall, practically jittering with excitement.

“Ye’re thinkin’ about the gown already?” she asked eagerly.

Anna laughed. “Jane is. She doesnae trust me since the incident.”

“Incident? What incident?”

Glancing around to make sure no one was around, the gardens suitably empty of people despite the mild afternoon, Anna told Sophia about the daring dress she’d worn on the night that Gordon arrived. A dress she had sneakily brought with her to Castle Lyall.

“It was supposed to chase him off,” she explained, grinning, “but it obviously dinnae work. In truth, I think he rather liked it. I was meant to save it for the ceilidh, when all the Lairds had arrived, but I was too impatient. Even now, I wonder how many would’ve been appalled enough by it to leave with their noses in the air, but I guess I’ll never ken.”

Delight shone in Sophia’s eyes, her laughter caught by the light breeze that swept through the gardens and out to sea.

Heavens, I’ll be accused of bein’ a bad influence if I’m nae careful. Anna chuckled in return, still rather pleased with her ingenuity, even if she hadn’t ended up getting to play her full array of tricks.

“What was written on yer skin?” Sophia asked in a low, conspiratorial voice.

Anna put a finger to her lips. “That’s somethin’ I can never tell.”

“I promise, I willnae tell a soul!” Sophia pleaded.

Anna leaned in a little closer. “Ye swear it, truly?”

Sophia nodded, breathless.

“Very well.” Anna took a dramatic breath. “It was… nonsense.”

“Pardon?”

“Utter nonsense.” Anna smiled. “Random words and phrases. Whatever I could write in the short amount of time I had before I needed to go downstairs for supper. If I remember rightly, I had ‘ye daft hedgehog’ written somewhere on me left ribs and ‘nay for yer eyes, ye letch’ on me waist and, possibly, ‘oi, what did I just say, ye wee bampot’ written on the right, but with so many coils and curls and embellishments in the handwritin’ that nay one could read it, even if it was just on paper.”

Sophia exploded into laughter, the force of it so strong that Anna felt compelled to put a hand on the younger woman’s arm, so her amusement wouldn’t tip her right off the wall and over the cliff. And as Sophia laughed giddily, holding her stomach as merry tears rolled down her face, Anna couldn’t help but join in.

In hindsight, it really had been one of her most satisfying tricks. All the more so because Gordon still had no idea what the words had said.

“Ye swore an oath,” Anna reminded Sophia, as their laughter faded to smiles. “Ye cannae breathe a word of what ye’ve heard to yer cousin.”

Sophia put a hand to her heart. “I promise, I willnae, though I’ll struggle nae to laugh when I next see him.” Her face creased, as if she might burst into laughter again. “Och, I’ll have to hide me face or excuse meself until the novelty of kennin’ wanes.”

“I’d better nae wear the gown to our actual weddin’ then, eh?” Anna teased. “Although, I’d probably write somethin’ nicer now.”

And I certainly wouldnae mind Gordon lookin’… or touchin’, for that matter.

A pleasing idea popped into her head; one that might just coax another laugh out of her betrothed, if she chose correctly. A few little notes on her body for him to find on their wedding night. Then again, if she didn’t choose correctly, she might ruin the mood altogether; it was a delicate line to walk, but she was certain she could strike the right balance if she gave it enough thought.

“So, ye like me cousin then?” Sophia asked shyly, her cheeks flushed with a happy pink.

Anna shrugged. “He dinnae leave me with much of a choice.”

“What do ye mean?”

“I mean that…” Anna trailed off, thinking back to their first encounters, trying to pinpoint what it was about him that had encouraged her to choose him.

“He was the best prospect,” she continued, swinging her leg back and forth, remembering the bog and the loch and the woods, and that first thrill of his kiss. “I’ll never be under any illusion that he wasn’t there for the same reason as the other Lairds—for heirs and someone to produce ‘em—but at least yer cousin…” She lowered her voice, whispering uncertainly. “He listens to me. I… I feel drawn to him, I suppose. I’ve never felt like that before. Sometimes, though, I forget how I ended up here.”

Her mind grew foggy, frustration slithering through her as she strove to recall what had pushed her to ride away with Gordon, what had prompted her to make such a hasty decision.

He said he wanted a wife to stand at his side—nae a trophy or a broodmare, but as close to an equal as possible.

The memory cut through the fog, dissipating her frustration. Of course that was why. And since she had been at Castle Lyall, Gordon had given her even more reasons to stay, and even more reasons to believe that her “ hasty” choice had been the best one, after all.

“Do ye think ye will marry him, then?” Sophia prodded.

Anna let her gaze wander to the horizon, imagining the same view from the sanctuary of the cove. “Aye, I reckon so.” She paused. “We could even arrange the weddin’ sooner. Honestly, I daenae see any reason why I’d leave now.”

Nae when I feel like I’ve finally found a place where I might belong, among people who would make the loveliest family. Castle MacTorrach had started to feel different after Moira went off to marry her husband, but it had never been the same after Elinor was snatched. The night she was grabbed was the same night it ceased to feel like home. After all, “ home” was a place where a person was supposed to feel safe, and Anna never had again, after that night.

“Och, Anna!” Sophia threw her arms around Anna, hugging her tightly, almost knocking both of them off their perch. “Ye’ve nay idea how happy that makes me! How happy Gordon will be, to have ye as his wife! Och, I kenned it the moment I saw ye, that ye were about to change everythin’ for the better!”

Anna hugged Sophia back, smiling over her shoulder. “Nothin’ is set in stone, Sophia. Dinnae get too excited; yer cousin hasnae even asked me yet.”

“That’s just a formality,” Sophia insisted, holding Anna tighter. “It’ll happen; I ken it. And ye’ll be the most beautiful bride there’s ever been, and the finest Lady this castle has had since… well, the one before. And ye’ll have a herd of bairns, and I’ll be the best auntie to each and every one—I ken I’ll nae be an auntie by blood, but by heart, I’ll adore the bones of ‘em all!”

In that moment, Anna was grateful that she was looking over Sophia’s shoulder, so the younger woman couldn’t see the trepidation that crossed Anna’s face.

With the five weeks of the betrothal laid out and agreed upon, it had been easy to forget that this was real, and had a very real, very matrimonial ending if she chose to stay with Gordon, with an expectation of duty and children and everything that came with being someone’s wife.

Am I truly ready for that?

Reality had just hit, and it struck hard.

Gordon hadn’t intended to eavesdrop on the private conversation between his betrothed and his cousin, but the moment Anna had mentioned the “ trick dress” and the writing on her skin, he hadn’t been able to ignore it.

He had needed to know what she had etched on that smooth, pale skin, just as he needed to feel that soft skin again, to see every part of her, to map the exquisite terrain of her body and call it his. Something conquered, something won, without any violence at all; it would be the greatest victory of his life.

But once he’d heard, and smiled at the revelation, he hadn’t walked away from his “ guard post” to give the women privacy. He’d stayed behind the curve of an old, ruined grain store, remaining concealed, too entranced by the sound of Anna’s voice to consider leaving. Yet, there were parts he hadn’t been able to catch, her voice quietening here and there beyond the reach of his hearing.

“He dinnae leave me with much of a choice… He was the best prospect. I’ll never be under any illusion that he wasn’t there for the same reason as the other Lairds—for heirs and someone to produce ‘em…”

He’d heard those parts well enough, just as he’d heard her say she saw no reason she would leave, and perhaps the wedding could take place sooner. It should have delighted him, putting an end to the uncertainty of his clan’s future.

Instead, it left him cold. Even now, after spending more time together, getting to know one another intimately—in more ways than one—she still thought he was the same as all those other lairds. What was worse, he wasn’t sure she was wrong.

How could he be any better than those other lairds, when he hadn’t even told Anna the reason she was there? The reason he had decided to marry, all of a sudden?

I’ll tell her, he vowed silently, slinking away from his hiding place. After we’re wed, once she’s me true responsibility by law, once she’s truly mine, I’ll tell her everythin’.

And as she’d just said, perhaps the wedding should be sooner than planned. There was no further reason to delay.