Page 59 of The Wild Rose of Kilgannon (Kilgannon #2)

I spent that day and the next at the window in a frenzy of emotions, thinking to see someone, or be seen by someone.

But there were no visitors, no drawings.

Each time the woman brought us something I searched her face for a message, but she would not meet my glances.

The man at the door prevented any conversation, and the trays she brought held nothing but food and crockery.

I hung the plaid out the window, which caused conversation among the guards, but no one came to tell me to remove it.

The baby was fretful, as though he’d caught my mood, and Henrietta sang to him as she walked him.

I watched her and thought about what a comfort she’d been for me, a sweet and agreeable girl who never complained.

I must keep her safe. And the baby. But how?

I looked out the window at the drop again.

Impossible. I sighed and watched the guards as they roamed the gravel drive.

Four of them there. Two who were always at our door.

And six more I’d seen when I’d been taken downstairs.

At least twelve, then, without counting the woman.

As I watched, four more men came from the house and joined the ones on the drive.

Twelve? Or sixteen altogether? I paced the room and went over our situation again.

Alex was alive. Since receiving the sketch I was sure of it.

Or almost. But what did Webster plan? I could not be held here forever.

Surely that would not be in the judge’s best interests.

If Alex were found, dead or alive, my usefulness would be over.

And if he was not found in a reasonable amount of time, there would be no reason to keep me alive to tell the tale of this adventure.

Or Henrietta and the baby. But then there was the drawing.

Who had sent it and what did it mean? Was I to do something obvious that I had not thought of? I started to think again.

It rained that night and most of the next day.

In the late afternoon the sky cleared and weak sunlight filtered through the clouds.

I stood at the window and watched the guards below.

Just as I was about to turn away, something flickered in the trees at the far side of the drive.

Something red. “Henrietta,” I whispered, “come here. Tell me if you see anything.” I pointed out the clump of trees.

As she watched, I saw the movement again and she gasped.

“Yes, Lady Mary! I saw it. There is someone there.” She gripped my arm and we watched with growing excitement, but no one came out of the trees and none of the guards noticed the movement.

Instead, a lone rider came to the door, encased in a long cloak.

As he approached the house he threw back the hood and looked up at us, his blond hair bright against the wool.

I caught my breath. I needn’t have. It was Malcolm.

I stepped back from the window, my disappointment hard to bear.

It must have been one of Malcolm’s men that we’d seen.

No wonder the guards had not reacted. He had been expected.

A few moments later I was summoned and went down the stairs with a heavy heart.

Malcolm, standing by the hearth, smiled as I entered the room.

“Mary.” His voice was warm as he moved to me, extending his hands. “We were both so wrong the other day. Let us try again.”

I ignored his hands as I sat down. “Why are you here?”

“We must unite the family.”

“Why?”

“Because we are all we have left. Alex is gone and the boys and ye are all I have of my family. Mary,” he said, his tone coaxing, “come to yer senses. I am in favor with the Whigs and allied with the Frasers. I am yer only hope of survival. Let bygones be bygones.” I looked at my wedding ring.

“Dinna be obstinate. Webster is coming to question ye about DeBroun again. He has allowed me to come here first and try to persuade ye to be cooperative. Tell me what ye ken and perhaps he will be generous.”

Generous , I thought. Edgar DeBroun had also promised to be generous. “What do you want, Malcolm?” I asked.

“I only want what is best for all of us. Come home, Mary, and raise yer children in Scotland. If not at Kilgannon, then Clonmor.”

“I cannot.”

“Ye mean ye will not.”

“I mean I cannot,” I said crisply. “I mean I am being held captive, Malcolm. I can go nowhere.”

“I will speak to the judge. I’m sure that once ye tell him what ye ken about DeBroun, he will release ye.”

“I don’t know where DeBroun is.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It is the truth, Malcolm, but then you always did have difficulty with the truth,” I said and watched his eyes harden.

“What happened between ye and Angus, Mary?”

“We did not agree on the best way to help Alex.” That much was true and I met his eyes without a flinch.

“Where are my mother’s jewels?”

The question, so unexpected, caught me off guard. “What?”

His eyes were icy. “My mother’s jewels. They’re not at Kilgannon. Where are they?”

“Why?” I asked, stalling for time.

“They are all I have left of her.”

I laughed unkindly. “They’re gone, Malcolm. I sold everything to try to free Alex. Everything’s gone,” I lied. It was true that everything else salable was gone from Kilgannon, but Margaret’s jewels were in the bottom of a trunk at Mountgarden.

“We could sell them, Mary. We could get Kilgannon back.”

“They are gone, Malcolm. Perhaps I should speak more slowly?”

He considered me for a moment, then shook his head. “Mary, ye have disliked me from the first. Why?”

I paused and looked at him thoughtfully, then decided to answer with the truth.

I certainly did not have to worry about sparing his feelings.

“It is true that I have always disliked you, Malcolm, and at first I did not even know why,” I said.

“But I soon discovered that I not only disliked you, I despised you. For many reasons, the first of which is that you were disloyal to Alex. You were always contemptuous of him and you sneered at everything he did and ridiculed him when he was kind and fair to others. And I learned to hate you when you tried to kill him and were silent when he lived. I despise you because you prey on women and those who are weaker than you, because you beat Sibeal when you were the one at fault, and I hate you because you betrayed Alex to Robert. Your own brother, and you showed the enemy where to find him. I despise you because you are intelligent and you use your mind for harm instead of good, because you cannot be Alex and so you would destroy him instead of becoming like him. Because, even now, when we all fear Alex is dead, you only think of yourself. You are incapable of thinking about anyone else’s needs.

I hate you because you are everything I’ve said, and a coward as well. ”

He took a step back as though I’d struck him. After a moment he took a deep breath and opened his mouth, then closed it and turned and left the room without a word. When I heard the front door close I climbed the stairs and returned to my room.

Henrietta turned from the window with shining eyes.

“Lady Mary,” she whispered, “I’ve been watching.

There is someone in the trees. Several people, I think.

Some are wearing red and some green. We can see them because we can see over the underbrush.

Look.” She pointed to the trees as I came to stand beside her.

“There. See? The brush prevents the guards from seeing them.”

She was right. I could see the small movements in the trees, but couldn’t tell who was there.

There was no movement from the underbrush.

The sun moved lower on the horizon and the shadows lengthened.

It was almost dark when we heard a thump and then another from downstairs and then silence.

And another series of thuds. We ran to the door and pressed our ears to the wood but there was nothing else to hear.

On the other side of the door the guard moved his feet and let us know he was still there.

He must have heard the noise as well, I thought.

I ran to the window, but the six guards who patrolled the front were behaving normally.

And then a horseman thundered into the yard. Alex vaulted from his mount, grabbing one of the guards by his collar and shouting at the others. They started toward him but stopped when Alex put his sword to the guard’s throat.

“Back off or he dies,” he growled at them. “Back off!”

The guards stepped backward, then circled him slowly. I watched in horror. He was one against six. It was only a matter of moments before at least one of them could reach him.

“Mary Rose!” Alex shouted, turning his captive so they faced the house. “Get yer things together, lass. I’ve come to take ye home.” And then, seeming to come from all directions at once, I heard the roar of a battle cry. The MacGannon battle cry. And men poured from the trees to come to Alex’s aid.