The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch) (41 page)

Aware that her sense of danger had increased significantly and attributing the increase to the scene she was sure lay just ahead, Lina hurried on. She had not seen Lady Aubrey again. But if she remembered how to reach the place they sought, she still had some distance to go.

Moving faster, she kilted her skirts higher to keep them from tangling around her legs. Her sense of danger grew stronger, more impending, until it filled the very air around her. But her mother was still ahead of her. Certain that danger threatened Lady Aubrey, Lina could not let her own fears force her to look behind every tree.

Then, ahead, she caught sight of movement beneath the trees and saw what looked like a faint trail wending
through denser shrubbery. Snatching hold of her skirts, she ran that way, then stopped when she saw a flash of russet through the greenery—only to startle violently seconds later when a grouse broke cover with clapping wings and the eerie, low-pitched double-hoot common to the bird.

Taking a moment to collect herself, she scanned left and right but saw nothing moving. The sensation of danger now lurked behind her. Instinct urged her on.

Deciding that she was letting her imagination run riot and needed to focus on finding her mother, Lina went determinedly forward.

The lass had jumped nearly out of her skin, so she was sensible enough to be nervous. She’d lost sight of her mother, though, and heaven knew where
she
was.

Ian sighed. Recalling again the men Pluff had seen, he wondered where they were but dismissed them without hesitation. He had seen no sign of horses in the woods, and one could easily reach Colquhoun land from Glen Fruin. It lay just the other side of the hills that cradled the head of the glen, so, for all he knew, they had been Colquhouns who had joined the hunt and were heading back to Craggan.

He saw Lina moving again. She was now some yards below the crest of the hill. Aware that she might well be heading over that hill into Glen Finlas, he strode up behind her until, in just three long strides, he would have her.

She whirled, and color surged into her cheeks. “What are
you
doing here?”

“I came after my foolhardy wife,” he retorted. “You deserve a scolding if not worse, little wife, for taking a risk that may be greater than any I’ve ever taken.”

“How
could
it be?”

“There is a battle raging below us, even now, in the lower part of the glen.”

“Faith, who is fighting?”

“James Mòr and his followers escaped from Dumbarton. They fight my men, Rob MacAulay’s, and the MacFarlans who serve Mag. Where is your mother?”

“Ahead of me somewhere. She turned back toward Bannachra.”

“Then we will also turn back,” he said, fighting to keep his hands off her. “But we will return the way we came, on the trail, because I must collect my horse.”

“I
can’t
go back. You don’t understand!”

“Nay, Lina, you will do as I say.”

She clutched his arm. “Mam is walking into a trap, Ian. Sithee, I
know
she is, and she does
not
know it.”

“Then tell me where she is going,” he said. “I’ll follow her whilst you stay safe here,” he added reasonably. “Think, lass! I can protect her. You could not.”

“She will go to a clearing in the trees,” Lina said with a sigh. “I cannot describe the place well enough for you to find it, though. I know where it is only because Lizzie, Mam, Murie, and I went there one morning soon after Galbraith brought us here. We took our midday meal with us. I recognized the place at once.”

“What do you mean, you recognized it?”

She hesitated, nibbling her lip.

“Tell me.”

“You will think I’m daft or telling a falsehood,” she said.

“Lass, I ken fine what your opinion is of any sort of falsehood. If you’ve ever told one in your life, I shall own myself amazed.”

“Well, I don’t think I have. But since you—”

“We are not discussing me. How do you know where she is going?”

“I saw the place, and more than once, sir. The first time was on our wedding night. I’d have told you then, but you were nearly asleep, and I thought you would be irked that I had paid heed to such a thing at such an important time.”

“Aye, sure, I would have,” he agreed, knowing that was an understatement. “But how did you know the clearing? There must be many on these wooded hills.”

“There is a tree, a misshapen one. It must be a beech because it is gey tall with a slender trunk. But beeches’ trunks are usually as straight as straight can be. This one turns back on itself and then grows straight again.”

“I warrant I can find such a tree if it is near the crest of this hill.”

“I don’t recall that it
is
near the crest. Anyway, I must go with you. It would be more dangerous to stay here alone. There is danger in the upper glen, too.”

“Aye, Pluff told me he had seen six riders ahead of the others. Sithee, a host of men, many on horseback, left Dumbarton with this morning to join my father in a hunt for that magnificent stag we saw. That made it possible for others to help me retake the castle. But James Mòr and his closest followers had already fled.”

“I’m glad you took the castle and sorry they escaped,” she said, fervently hoping to avoid more discussion of those six riders. If Ian learned that they had nearly caught her, there would be further argument and thus further delay. Hastily, she added, “But they are gone now, and we must not stand talking. Mam is in grave danger, sir. I have seen that danger four times now, and in much the same
way. She is walking through a wood, and she may be carrying things in her arms.”

“What things?”

“Scroll-like things,” Lina said warily. “Then, as she passes the tree, a hand reaches out and grabs her.”

“Sakes, lass, that sounds like the sort of nightmare a man has after a night of too much drinking,” Ian said. “You will have to do better than that.”

“I cannot help what it sounds like. I have never endured such a thing before. Nor do I think that aught occurred on our wedding night to account for it.”

“Our wedding night!” But as he said it, he recalled her mentioning that night just moments before—something about trying to speak to him then.

“Right in the middle of things, aye,” she said. “Moreover, I do not think I’ve ever before dreamed the same thing twice, let alone four times—or whilst standing on stairs or staring at a fire. You must heed me, sir, but let us walk as we talk. We can come back later for your horse. Forbye, he may have returned to his stable.”

“Since his stable is at Dunglass, I hope he did not. But he is well tethered, lass, so we must fetch him.” He spoke a bit distantly, because he was thinking of all that she had said and recalling his sense that she
had
seemed distracted… at the highest point of their first coupling!

Wanting to shriek at him that they had no time to fetch his horse but knowing that if she did, she would more likely inflame his temper with hers than persuade him of anything, Lina forced herself to calm down. She hoped that if she could compose herself, he might grow calmer, too.
That had sometimes happened with Lizzie, so perhaps it might work with Ian, too.

Quietly, she said again, “Mam is in grave danger. I know that as well as I know that you stand here, Ian. You have spoken of the magic of Tùr Meiloach—”

“This is
not
Tùr Meiloach,” he said curtly.

Clearly, her self-imposed calm was not affecting him.

“I am as sure of her danger as I can be,” she said. “Prithee, sir, believe me.”

“You are imagining things, lass,” he said. Then, apparently noting that she had stiffened at those words, he added hastily, “We can walk a bit farther as we talk. But I’ll wager that your mother is simply returning to Bannachra.”

“Walk swiftly, then,” she said, relieved but more fearful than ever for Lady Aubrey. “The place she seeks lies this way. I was too busy trying to follow her without letting her see me to think about the distance, so I am not sure how far.”

“Aye, I can imagine that she might have been peeved to catch her daughter spying on her. By my troth, Lina—”

“If you saw
your
mother behaving as you had never known her to behave before,” she said, “would you not want to know why she did so? If she suddenly became furtive, watchful, and nervous, would you not be concerned for her?”

“I would,” he agreed, trying but failing to imagine his amiable, ever-sedate mother in such a role. “To tell the truth, lass, my mind flatly rejects such an image.”

“Just so,” she said. “My mother is also unlikely to behave in such a way. But for days now, perhaps a sennight, she has behaved oddly. And then, suddenly, Lady Margaret declared that she wanted to return to Bannachra.”

“What demon possessed the woman?”

“She said it was because Father doubled the guard at
Tùr Meiloach. Strife unsettles her, she said. In troth, she
is
a woman who likes solitude. But she is also indolent and hates traveling. I suspect she declared her intent to leave because Mam wanted to come back here and could offer no other good reason to do so.”

“Sakes, did she have a
good
reason to come with Lady Margaret?”

“Aye, sure, a plausible one, too. She said it was unseemly for Lady Margaret to travel so far with only men as companions. Since she had not brought her woman with her to Tùr Meiloach, even my father saw naught amiss in Mam’s coming here with her. The flaw in their plan, if it
was
a plan between them, was that Mam did not suggest that her own woman should travel with
her
. So when I said that I would come with them, she could hardly forbid it.”

“I don’t understand. If she was scheming, why
did
she let you come?”

“How could she not? She had just said that Lady Margaret needed female company. Then I said I should go, too, so Mam would not find herself in that same predicament when she wanted to return home. Good sakes, sir, even Father would have wondered if she had refused to let me come with them after that.”

“But
she
is the Seer in the family, is she not? If it was dangerous for her to come here, would she not know it?”

“Her foresight almost never predicts aught that will personally affect her,” Lina explained. “It did warn her to leave Arrochar all those years ago when it was under Pharlain’s attack, but it has never let her know if my father’s charters will protect Tùr Meiloach or if he will win back his chiefdom.”

“He
will
win it back,” Ian said, putting a welcome arm
around her shoulders. “We’ll see to that, betwixt the lot of us.”

The woods ahead of them seemed to darken then, and Lina held up a hand. “Listen,” she murmured. “Do you hear voices?”

Ian did hear them and recognized Lady Aubrey’s voice by its calm firmness.

“I expect that you are gey pleased with yourself,” she said. “I came to meet you here only to tell you that you have wasted your time and will continue to waste it if you threaten me or my family again.”

“Lest ye’ve failed to notice, madam, ye’re nae longer on Tùr Meiloach’s soil. Moreover, we are alone here, and ye’ve nae defense against me. So ye’d do better to keep your word.” The voice, unmistakably Dougal’s, was harsh, his tone confident.