Highlander Betrayed (Guardians of the Targe) (34 page)

“Scotia is alive?” She covered her mouth with a trembling hand. “I thought you both dead.”

“She is alive, and wee Ian, too. She was trying to carry him out when a beam fell, trapping them. I managed to clear enough of a path for them to get out but it took time. I do not think we would have made it without you holding up the building. I still cannot believe you did that.”

She swallowed the tears of relief that threatened. “It is amazing what I can do when people I love are in danger.”

His eyes went soft at her admission but before he could say or do anything else, she stopped him.

“Archie started the fire.” She had to get it all out quickly. “He killed Elspet and stole the Targe stone from me—that is when the
ceiling gave way. I was sure he had killed you and Scotia. He tried to take me with him.”

“He killed Elspet? Took the stone?” Nicholas shoved his fingers through his wet, sooty hair. “You fought him off, did you not?” There was a hint of pride this time and it warmed Rowan’s heart that he knew that about her. “My God, love. I knew he was heartless but I did not see
this
in him.”

“And Kenneth does not know.”

Nicholas turned toward the fire and bellowed Kenneth’s name, dragging Rowan with him as he yelled for the chief again.

Uilliam emerged from the diminishing smoke. “What d’you want with Kenneth? He is a mite busy!” He was as sooty-black as Nicholas.

“Where is he, Uilliam?” Rowan asked quietly. “It cannot wait. You need to hear the news as well.”

Uilliam scowled but nodded at her and bellowed the chief’s name until they heard Kenneth mutter one of his favorite curses as he appeared like a wraith in the smoke.

Rowan did not waste a moment telling him what had happened, only then noticing that Scotia stood behind him, hearing everything, too. Kenneth was stunned into an unnatural quiet.

“Uncle, you need to see to Elspet and your daughters. Uilliam, can you spare a few men and come with me to find the bastard who did all this?”

“You are not going after him,” Nicholas cut in. “It is too dangerous.”

“It is no more dangerous for me than for anyone else today. Look at what he has already done to us. He has no soul. He’ll not hesitate to kill you, even if you were once friends.” She reached out and gripped his hand. “I do not want to lose anyone else I love this day.”

“We were never friends, not true friends. I know that now. But the clan cannot risk you that way.”

“Nicholas, I will not be alone. You will be there beside me. You will be my Protector. I choose you to be my Protector.” She spoke to him, but looked at her uncle, Uilliam, and Scotia.

Uilliam grumbled. Scotia did not react at all. Kenneth stared at Nicholas, his eyes revealing nothing, then gave a quick incline of his head.

“As the Guardian wishes,” Kenneth said formally, if reluctantly. “But the bastard is not to be killed.” His voice was like hot iron. “Bring him back to me alive.”

“We will,” Nicholas said, his voice as hard as Kenneth’s.

Without another word the chief went to the tower, Scotia following him a few steps behind. Uilliam left to round up men to find Archie.

It would be far easier confronting the bastard than it was confronting the evil the bastard had wrought.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

L
EFT ALONE IN
the busy bailey with Nicholas, Rowan was suddenly unsure of herself. No matter how much she wanted to fling herself into his arms or race off after Archie, she knew she could not until Nicholas understood exactly what was required of him as her Protector.

“How fare you, love?” he asked.

“So much has happened, and there is so much to do, to recover from,” she began, looking past him to the fire-wrought destruction, before she looked up into his eyes. “But there is something we must speak of before we hunt down Archie.” She glanced around them at the people still handing buckets of water down the line, while others beat at the crumbled ruin of the great hall with wet cloths. Too many people present for something best done in private. “Not here.”

She grabbed his hand and made for the stairs that led from the bailey up to the wall walk where they had first kissed. It was a fitting place for this conversation.

At the top, she slipped into the same deeply shadowed spot where he’d found her once before. When he joined her, she slid into his arms and kissed him with a desperation honed with the grief she had felt when she thought him dead in the fire and the joy she knew when she found him alive. He ran his hands down her arms, over her back, cupping her face. She leaned into him, running her hands over him just as hungrily. She needed this not to be their last kiss, but that was up to him now.

The possibility that he would not take up the role she offered stilled her, though she held on to him tightly.

“We must talk,” she said, hearing the edge to her words as hope and fear laced through them.

“Of what, love?”

She looked up at him. “I named you my Protector but I did not tell you what that means and I will not hold you to it if you do not want… me.”

“Is it not clear that I want you quite desperately?”

He kissed her, softly now, holding her so close she felt the hard length of him against her stomach. A heated thrill ran through her, but she knew this was not enough.

She smiled. “Aye, but ’tis not exactly what I meant.” She tried to step back but he wouldn’t release her.

“I love you, Rowan,” he said. “I do not think I have ever loved before, but I know I love you.”

She touched a hand to his chest, just over his heart where it beat in time with her own. “That is fortunate, since I love you, too.” She took a steadying breath. “But that still is not quite the point I need to make clear.” She did step away now, putting a little distance between them so she could think clearly.

“I must explain what it means to be the Guardian’s Protector, Nicholas. I will not let you accept the position until you understand exactly what it means.”

She was wringing her hands now, and he reached out to still them, gently bringing them back to rest on his chest again.

“Tell me.”

She nodded and took a deep breath looking him straight in the eye. “It means you would be my husband.” She swallowed but did not look away from him, wanting him to see how deep her feelings for him went.

He held her gaze for long moments. She could barely draw breath as she waited to see in what direction her future lay.

“Are you asking me to marry you?”

“Aye. I know it is not the usual way of things, but for the Guardian of the Targe, nothing is usual.” She took his hands in hers now, holding them between them. “I am asking you to be my husband, Nicholas, but with that comes as large a responsibility as I have as Guardian. The Guardian’s husband is the chief of the clan.”

Shock was clear in his eyes and in the tense grip of his hands on hers, but he did not let go and she allowed herself to hope.

“But I am not a MacAlpin,” he said, as if that mattered.

“Neither is Kenneth. He is a MacGregor, like me. Elspet chose him as her Protector and he became chief here.”

“But he still lives. He is still chief.”

“Only until I marry.”

Now he dropped her hands. He started to speak, then stopped. He walked away from her, then turned and came back. He started to speak again and she stopped him.

“It is too much I ask of you. I understand.” She blinked hard, disappointment difficult to hold back.

“Nay, Rowan,” he said, once more taking her hands in his. “Nay, it is not too much to ask. You offer me the world. You offer me your love, your life, a home, a clan, a place to belong, to protect. You offer me the life of a Highlander, something I’d long since given up as impossible.

“But your clan does not trust me. They might accept me as your husband, but they will not accept me as chief. I would marry you instantly, Rowan,” he said, “but I would not do so if it causes trouble with the clan, with Kenneth. They do not trust me, and with good reason.”

“But if they came to trust you, you would accept all that is required of the Protector?”

“I would embrace it, treasure it, and do everything in my power to be a good husband to you and a good chief to the clan.”

She cupped his face in her hands and drew him into a lingering kiss.

“It is my decision alone,” she said. “I wish for you to be my Protector, my husband, and the chief of this clan. Kenneth is grief-stricken but he kens how chiefs are chosen. He will still be a valued member of the clan, a necessary counselor for you, as Jeanette will be for me. We have much to learn, we two, but together we can keep this clan from further harm. Your knowledge of the English king, and what he plans, will be invaluable in protecting us.”

She closed her eyes for a moment. “I need you,” she said as she looked up into his eyes and saw her own love, and need, and yearning reflected there. “I need you here to watch over me, to call me back when my gift consumes me, to love me as no one else ever has. And I need you to let me love you.”

He pulled her close. “I would wed you this very moment, if the clan would agree, but I will not come between you and your family. Your first responsibility is to them, not to me.”

She smiled at him, her heart lighter than she had dared imagine. “They will do as I wish, but not right away. We have much to grieve this day, much to make right, and I would not take the right of passing judgment upon Archie from my uncle.” Her expression turned fierce. “I will love you no matter what anyone else says.”

He grinned at her then and swept her into another long kiss. “And I will love you, no matter what.”

R
OWAN AND
N
ICHOLAS
made their way back down to the bailey where they found Uilliam, Duncan, and a knot of warriors ready to leave with them.

“We are leaving sufficient men here to see to the fire?” Rowan asked Uilliam.

“Aye, lass. There was much arguing over who would have to stay here and who would get to hunt down the vermin who killed Lady Elspet, but we settled it.” Rowan did not want to know how the argument had been settled, for she’d seen such things before and they usually included much yelling and fists flying before decisions were agreed to.

“Let us get this done,” she said, anxiety churning her empty stomach once more. “There is much work needs doing here when we return.”

There was a rumble of agreement from the warriors.

“Duncan will track the man,” Uilliam said, but he looked at Nicholas. “Do you ken where he might have headed? Was there a meeting place you had agreed to, perhaps?”

The words were surprisingly civil and Rowan realized that Nicholas had been right: He had not been trusted, but now something was subtly different. Uilliam might not trust him, exactly, but he trusted Rowan and her decision to claim Nicholas as her Protector changed much.

“I do not know for sure,” Nicholas said.

“He said he would return for me,” Rowan said. “I do not think he understands what my role is, but he saw me wielding the Targe when he took it from me. He said he would return.”

“Then he has not gone far,” Nicholas said, his face as grim at this news as the other men’s. “If he suspects Rowan is important he will want to take her to the king with the stone to collect his reward.” He looked toward the gate, considering something.

“I do not think he will be alone,” he said, his voice measured, thoughtful. “There were English soldiers in Oban when we were there. He was with me when we first came here, the day the wall fell, but he disappeared and I did not see him for at least a sennight. He told me he had returned to Oban to send word of where I was to the king as a token of our efforts, along with news of the breached defenses here. If I had been in his position I would have had the king’s soldiers draw close to the glen so they would be nearby if I needed their aid. Archie well knows that we will be hunting him for this day’s deeds. I am sure we will find him surrounded by soldiers and they, most likely, would be camped west of here, between us and the sea.”

Uilliam was quiet, then grunted his agreement. “That is what I would do, too. Is he so predictable?”

Nicholas thought for a moment. “Archie is a good spy but he acts on his emotions more than logic and careful consideration. Sometimes that serves him well. Sometimes it does not. He is angry and he wants to hurt me for my betrayal. He would not want to make it too hard for me to find him. Aye, I believe he is so predictable, at least in this situation,” Nicholas said.

Uilliam stared at him, nodded, and led the group out to hunt down Elspet’s killer.

Archie had made it difficult for Duncan to track him, but it wasn’t impossible. The ground, where it wasn’t rock, was muddy from the rain, making it hard for Archie to completely hide his passing. Some of his tracks had washed away, but Duncan managed to find his trail again and again, first leading away from the loch, counter to Nicholas’s expectations, but then eventually winding back toward the loch just as the sun sank behind the western bens, casting fingers of golden light and indigo shadows down the length of the dark water. They smelled the smoke of a cook fire long before they came upon the English men-at-arms’ encampment.