The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch) (42 page)

Ian reached back for the sword in his baldric but stopped with his hand still raised when her ladyship spoke again.

“It matters not if we are on Tùr Meiloach’s ground or in some other place,” she said. “
You
named me Seer, Dougal MacPharlain, so you should believe me when I tell you, you won’t harm me. Nor would your father thank you if you did.”

“Ye do not control me, nor can ye ken what my father would do or not do. Where are the charters I commanded ye to bring me?”

Hearing Lina gasp beside him, Ian put a finger to her lips. Then, motioning for her to stay where she was, he drew his gloves from his belt and pulled them on as he stepped silently toward the voices.

“The charters are safe,” Lady Aubrey said.

“Believe me, madam, before I release ye, ye’ll tell me where they lie.”

“Nay, Dougal. They belong neither to you nor to me, so I will not.”

Ian moved closer. He could see the two of them through the trees ahead.

“Then Andrew Dubh will bring them,” Dougal said. “If I take ye hostage, I’ll wager it will not take him long, either, not with your life at stake.”

“As I said, you will not harm me,” she said. “Not only would your father recoil at such a thing, but my Campbell kinsmen would cease to receive you or
anyone else
for whom you declare support. They would also seek vengeance.”

“D’ye think so? I do not. Ye fail to understand the importance of one man whom your Campbells do support most strongly. But that matters not to either of us now. I have nae cause yet to harm ye. But ye’ll come with me, madam. Now.”

“I won’t.”

“Ye will. Ye’ll come either willingly or by force. Choose how.”

Leaving his sword where it was, Ian silently slipped his dirk from its sheath.

Moving as silently as Ian, Lina followed him and felt as if her heart were trying to thump its way out of her chest. She had all she could do not to shout at Dougal that he was
not
alone with her mother. When Ian drew his dirk, she wanted to stop him, to tell him to put it back, lest Lady Aubrey be hurt.

That Dougal would dare to threaten Lady Aubrey was
bad enough. That he had expected her to bring him the charters for the Arrochar estates horrified Lina.

Had her mother
agreed
to such a betrayal?

Lina’s imagination rejected that thought as swiftly as Ian’s had rejected the image of his own mother behaving furtively or even nervously. Lady Aubrey would do naught to jeopardize her beloved husband’s chiefdom.

How had Dougal got here ahead of them? Had he been riding with James Mòr’s lot and she somehow failed to see him? How had he known where to go?

Ian looked back then and caught her gaze. Anger, nay fury, contorted his features and he gestured unmistakably for her to back off.

Instead, she moved more quickly toward him.

Lady Aubrey cried out.

When Ian turned toward the sound, Lina dashed past him to the edge of the clearing beyond. The strangely formed tree she had recalled stood ahead of her as it had before. Beneath it, she saw that Dougal, wearing a leather jack, breeks, and boots, had grabbed her mother.

He had not seen
her
yet, so Lina stood where she was.

Lady Aubrey struggled to free herself until Dougal twisted her arm hard.

“Leave her be!” Lina cried.

To her shock, Dougal grinned at her and twisted Lady Aubrey’s arm harder, bringing her to her knees. To Lina, he said, “Come here to me, or I’ll break her arm. Two hostages must always be better than one.”

“I don’t think you’ll take any hostage today,” Ian said from behind Lina.

The fury in his voice, she knew, was meant as much for her as it was for Dougal. But she was glad to hear Ian’s
voice. Even his heavy hand on her shoulder, holding her firmly in place while he stepped in front of her, was a comfort.

Dougal put two fingers to his lips and whistled. “To me, lads!” he shouted.

In a rush of terror, Lina expected to see a large force of men-at-arms leap from the trees and shrubbery. When two men with swords and dirks drawn stepped into view beyond Lady Aubrey, Lina tried to tell herself that two were nothing. But her knees declared otherwise, quaking so that they threatened to buckle beneath her.

Three men could surely overwhelm and kill one, knight of the realm or not.

“Run, lass,” Ian snapped without looking back at her.

But she could not. Her weakened knees would fail to support her. In any event, her feet would not move. Terror for her mother and for Ian, or some equally powerful force of which she had no ken, froze her where she stood.

Knowing as well as if he were watching her that Lina had not moved, Ian wished he could pick her up and throw her to safety. That being impossible, he watched the two swiftly approaching swordsmen and cursed himself for not having brought at least two of his own men with him.

That thought withered away at birth. Lina’s actions had angered and terrified him, but he would not have let others see his anger with her or his fear. That was not in his nature. He would never purposely expose her errors or foolhardiness to anyone else, especially to any man who served him. He would attend to her himself.

“Come to me, lads,” he murmured. Gripping his dirk
with his left hand, keeping the right one poised to draw his sword, he glanced at Dougal. Would the man attack him, order his minions to do it, or would all three charge him at once?

Dougal jerked Lady Aubrey to her feet. Pulling a thin rope from his jack, he swiftly tied her wrists behind her and shoved her back down to the ground.

Then, as the other two men stepped into the clearing, Dougal said curtly, “Kill him and don’t waste time about it.”

“Coward,” Ian said loudly as the other two stalked toward him, widening the distance between them as they did. He knew they hoped he would be unable to watch them both closely enough that way. Still speaking to Dougal, he said, “I expect you always have others do your work for you, you hen-hearted coof.”

“It is what I pay them for and why I brought them,” Dougal retorted. “I own, though, I never expected to see ye here, Colquhoun. I thought ye’d be stalking deer today with your da and the others.”

“Just how do you know about that?” Ian asked, keeping his eyes on the other two. “You’ve been cowering at home ever since you let your captives escape.”

“When my lads finish with ye, if they leave aught to question, I’ll learn how ye came to marry our Lina. Not that that matters now. One day, I’ll own all of Arrochar, including Tùr Meiloach. Then I’ll leave it to mine
own
heirs at the end.”

From a too-short distance behind Ian, Lina said, “You will have no heirs, and Tùr Meiloach will reject you.” But Ian dared not turn. He continued to watch the two swordsmen, only one of whom had paused at Lina’s words.

“You, Dougal MacPharlain, lack proper respect for Tùr Meiloach,” she went on sternly. “You should give thanks to the Fates that you do not stand on its sacred soil now, because that very soil would betray you. But you
will
learn your error. By my troth, if you fail to change your wicked ways, you will rue them sorely.”

“Lass, ye’re devilish insolent,” Dougal said. “Either that, or ye’re a witch and a daft one at that. ’Tis as well I didna marry ye.”

“You will marry no MacFarlan. But you should heed my warning,” Lina went on solemnly. “As punishment for your crimes against the true chief of Clan Farlan, the Fates have decreed that one whom you deem a friend will betray you.”

Hearing those words and her eerily distant tone, Ian felt a chill slither up his spine. His left hand tightened on his dirk, and he reached back with his right hand to draw his sword. But he had no need to move quickly.

His two would-be opponents stood gaping at Lina, their swords wavering.

Dougal likewise seemed to have grown roots, and his face was ashen. But he recovered faster than the others did. “Kill him, damn ye!” he snapped.

When the two warriors moved to engage Ian, Dougal left Lady Aubrey long enough to skirt the three swordsmen, grab Lina, and drag her to join her mother.

Livid, but unable to confront Dougal without first dispatching the other two, Ian leaped to the attack.

Chapter 18
 

N
ot another word,” Dougal snarled at Lina, gripping her tightly enough to leave bruises. “If ye think I won’t kill ye, ye’re wrong.”

Fighting to regain senses that seemed to have deserted her, Lina also fought to regain her calm. She had a vague notion that she had said something that had made Dougal angry. She had heard him clearly enough when he shouted at his men to attack Ian. But whatever occurred before that was just a buzz without meaning.

“Did ye hear me?” Dougal demanded, giving her a shake.

“Aye, sure, you said you would kill me. So what if you did?” Lina asked, struggling now to ignore the clanging swords behind him. “Do you think you can force my lady mother and me to go all the way to Arrochar with you? You’d not get past Inch Galbraith with us.”

“We won’t go that way,” Dougal said, feeling inside his jack, doubtless for more rope. “A boat will fetch us at the Loch of the Long Boats.”

“We ken fine that James Mòr escaped from Dumbarton,” Lina said, shooting a glance at her mother and noting that she was lying as she had lain in the vision. “I suspect, too, that he thinks you helped Lizzie and me escape.”

“He has nae ken of that,” Dougal said. “If ye’re thinking of yon scrap—”

“I’m thinking not only that you asked him to let you have me, but also, as far as I could tell, that you and the manservant who brought our food had the only keys to our chamber. Since I saw that man with others in the yard when we slipped away, I ken fine that he will have witnesses aplenty to say that he did nowt to aid us.”

“I don’t know how ye escaped,” Dougal admitted, shifting slightly to look toward Lady Aubrey. “Nor do I care. I do care that ye left that message, trying to make it look as if I’d released ye. But, since James Mòr never saw it and expects my father and me to see him to safety, he won’t care what becomes of ye.”

The noise of clanging swords in the clearing had diminished.

Glancing that way, realizing that Dougal no longer blocked her view of the combatants, she saw that one villain had fallen. Just then the second one leaped at Ian, sword raised in both hands as if to split him in half from head to toe.

Before she could react, Ian danced nearer the man and eluded the descending sword. When the too-powerful, irreversible stroke brought his opponent within reach, Ian drove his dirk upward with his left hand in a powerful arc. Thrusting the weapon’s point in just below the man’s ribs, Ian lifted him to his toes with it.

The man’s sword fell to the ground near his erstwhile companion in arms. When Ian yanked his dirk free, the man collapsed at his feet with a thud.

Looking at Dougal, she saw that his face had paled.
Then color flooded back, and he shoved her with so much force that she tripped and fell over Lady Aubrey.

Snatching up his sword, Dougal growled an epithet and strode toward Ian.

Lina rolled off her mother and to her feet. But as she did, Lady Aubrey said urgently, “Let be, love, and keep silent. You must not interfere.”