by Alisa Adams
“Ye may be an old retired warhorse that no one wanted, but I owe ye all my thanks for saving me Kaithria. She loves ye Dummernech, and I see why. Ye are a proud, brave hero for what ye did for her. Standing on yer feet and walking, I hear, while striking at evil scunners and saving the most beautiful lady.” He patted him some more before Dummernech wandered away to graze grass beside his friend, Bunny.
Keir wandered back into the stables. He wanted to check on the mare that his friend Greysteil McKinnon sent from Dunnet Head. She was a lean, sleek racer of a horse that had been used for smuggling whiskey at Castle Steil. Keir had great plans to breed her with some of his heavy warhorses. She was putting on weight and looking much better than when Steil had found her.
While he was in the stables, he cleaned himself up with some fresh water. He borrowed a straight razor from Robert’s room off the main aisle and began shaving his face. He had known Robert for many, many years.
Robert kept him company, like they used to do, talking at length about horses. Robert was holding a bridle that he was cleaning. Rubbing a rag along the fine leather, buffing it clean until it shined.
“What is it, Robert? Ye look like ye want to say something,” Keir said curiously as he shaved his chin carefully. He glanced at Robert in the small mirror in Robert’s room.
Robert took a breath and met his laird’s eyes in the mirror. “Aye, milord. Been wanting to tell ye since ye came back, but things took a bad turn for the young lady and I forgot.”
“’Tis fine Robert. Tell me noo,” Keir said in his deep voice as he watched Robert in the mirror.
“There've been some men on the Gunn lands. Men I dinnae recognize. Whenever they see me, they disappear. Up to no good is whot I think.”
Keir put down the razor and turned around. “How many?”
Robert shrugged. “Three? Four?” he said. “It changes. Sometimes it’s just a single mon. Watching is all they seem to be doing. But they are coming in closer noo. Keiths maybe?”
Keir’s face became thoughtful. “We have had no problem with the Keiths in a long, long time. Why now?”
Robert rubbed at the bridle as he thought about it. “I dinnae know milord. But the Keith laird is mad, evil even. Ye havenae been home in some time, but it has come out that he was a pirate at one time. The mon claimed he was merely a merchant trader, but ’tis known that his ships traveled all the way down to Spain, Portugal, and beyond, I am told.”
Keir narrowed his eyes. “Beyond? As far as Morocco?”
“Och, aye! There too,” Robert said as he thoughtfully buffed his lord’s bridle.
Keir narrowed his eyes and looked away from Robert. He was picturing what he remembered of the Alaouite crest of Morocco, compared to Kaithria’s brooch. He looked back at Robert.
“When did this start?” Keir asked him.
“When ye arrived milord.” Robert looked down at the rag in his hand and shuffled his feet. “Lady Catriona McKay told me that yer lady had seen someone watching them on the way here and to keep me eyes open. And, weel, thot is what I did. She told me to let ye know if I saw anyone here aboots that dinnae belong, but not to worry yer lady aboot it. That yer lady is in fear often. Thot is what Lady Catriona said.”
Keir stared thoughtfully at Robert. He had seen someone watching now and then as he, Kaithria, and Cat rode here from Dunnett Head. He and his niece had agreed to not alarm Kaithria. She had been running since the orphanage she was raised in had been attacked in the Clearances and emptied out.
Keir had noticed men watching Kaithria off and on since they left Brough Castle where they first met. Suspicious men had also been seen watching Kaithria at his friend Wolf and Swan’s wedding.
Cat’s idea to have Kaithria come to Kinbrace had been a perfect plan to make sure that Kaithria was safe.
And near him.
“Vera good, Robert. Thank ye. I want ye to have our best men riding the perimeters of the land. Keep watching and let me know if they show up again.”
Keir finished up and went back into the great hall and toward the stairs. He stopped suddenly, looking at the stairs. Do the two stairs form a heart? he asked himself. Aunt Agnes is certainly a woman of feminine and romantic taste, he thought, particularly for a woman as giant as herself. He smiled. He approved of what she had done to Kinbrace to make it a home.
He took the stairs two at a time in a hurry to get back to Kaithria.
He strode down the hall and immediately opened the door to his bedchamber without announcing himself. He stopped with his hand on the door, staring at the women in the room.
“Mhac na galla!” he exclaimed.
14
“What have ye done? Raided the weapons hall?” Keir asked the women.
They stood there, armed to the teeth in front of the bed, holding weapons.
Pointed at him.
“Och, ’tis only ye, Uncle Keir,” Cat said with just a hint of disappointment that was echoed by the other ladies as they also murmured their disappointment in the false alarm.
Cat lowered the huge basket sword she was trying valiantly to hold which she had pointed at him where he stood in the doorway. It was wobbling in her hands. Her wrists gave out and the sword clattered to the floor. She smiled meekly at her uncle as she picked up the big sword again, this time letting the tip rest on the floor.
Keir looked at Lady Gillis and Lady Jane. “What have ye got there?” he asked them with a crooked smile as he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against the door.
Gillis turned pink but Lady Jane smiled with relish. “I chose a claymore fer meself. Isnae it magnificent?” she asked. She gratefully lowered the huge, long, thick-handled sword she had pointed at him, or rather at his feet.
“Ye cannae lift it can ye?” Keir asked with an arched brow. “Do ye really think ye could have swung that sword at someone?” he asked a disappointed Lady Jane. “It requires both hands to lift and swing it, even for a warrior; a large, strong warrior.”
Lady Jane scowled at him and tried to lift the sword fully up. Keir had to look away.
Keir’s eyes went to Gillis. “A targe shield, Lady Gillis?”
Gillis raised her chin and looked him in the eye. “Aye, I have read at great length aboot their uses, not just as a shield but as a weapon.”
Keir just arched his eyebrow at her and shook his head. Suddenly the targe flew past him, out the door and into the hallway, where it stuck in the wall across from him. He turned slowly back to Gillis. “I stand corrected, Lady Gillis. Did ye read in a book how to do that?”
Gillis nodded her chin regally at him with a small smile.
He turned to Lady Ina. She was looking at him with a mischievous smile. “And ye, what weapon have ye got, just that wee dirk?” For he could see no weapon except a small knife that she held in front of her.
Ina kept her eye on the big, dark-haired Highlander as she slowly put her dirk into a slit in the leather corset vest she wore over her blouse. She patted her waist with both hands on her hips and watched as Keir’s eyes opened wide.
“Is yer entire belt filled with knives?” he asked incredulously as he saw that what he had first thought was a line of decorative silver going around her waist was indeed knives. “Are ye any good with those?”
Ina gave him a grim smile and with a startling flash of silver, she flung six knives, one after another with incredible speed, into the door, right beside his head. “Aye, I am,” she said, arching her eyebrow back at him. “Sorry aboot yer door,” she said as an afterthought.
Keir nodded at Lady Ina with new respect as he turned to his aunts. He froze and looked at the floor to conceal his laughter. He put one hand on his hip and one hand over his mouth as he looked back up at them. They were holding ancient battle axes. All they needed now was helmets with horns on them.
They looked so incongruous. One a huge, giant woman with a pipe stuck in the side of her mouth, wearing men’s breeks. And the other a tiny, messy, grey-haired woman. Both holding batt
le-axes, looking ready to charge into a fray.
“Battle-axes, Aggie? Hexy?” he said, trying to keep a straight face.
“Aye,” Aggie said indignantly around her pipe. “We thought ye might be someone else coming to try to hurt the girl!” she shrilled at him as she brandished her ax in the air.
“Aye!” exclaimed Aunt Hexy as she held her ax aloft as well, swinging it left and right as her little dog peered out from under her shawl. It was growling and yipping.
Aggie bent backward to avoid Hexy’s ax swinging as she scowled at the tiny woman.
Keir’s smile faded. He should have asked them why first. Why did they feel the need to arm themselves? And to protect Kaithria? He had been so shocked at the sight when he opened the door he hadn’t thought to ask.
He turned to his niece. “Cat? Why?”
Cat looked at Lady Jane.
Keir followed her eyes. “Lady Jane?”
Lady Jane managed to meet his eyes. “Because that is what the men did before. They tried to get the best of Lady Kaithria. She would do good for the children and us women that needed her help. But the men didnae like it, and sought her out to attack her for helping us.”
Cat nodded eagerly. “Just like the mon at the Devil's Pool and those two in the stables,” she said in a rush. “We willnae let them do anything to hurt her again,” Cat said firmly.
“Not in this house,” Agnes declared.
“Really, Aggie?” Keir said softly. “Ye would protect this girl?”
Agnes blushed hotly and pursed her lips around her pipe. She pulled her pipe out of her mouth and pointed it at him. “Are ye planning on keeping this girl or nae?” she demanded.
Keir went silent, looking at all these women who were ready to defend Kaithria.
His Kaithria.
“What is happening?” came a husky voice.
Keir turned to the bed. Kaithria had woken up and pulled herself to a sitting position.
“Och,” Cat said. “We dinnae mean to wake ye! Ye slept through us changing yer bandage. Are ye hungry?”
Kaithria looked at the strange sight of all the women in the room, each with a weapon in their hands.
“Has there been a battle?” she asked calmly.
“Nay,” Cat laughed lightly. “But we were ready, just in case.”
Keir said lightly, “Aggie even wore her breeks…”
Kaithria looked at all of them. Her eyes ending on the giant Agnes Gunn, standing almost as tall as Keir. “I thank ye,” Kaithria said solemnly. “And I think yer breeks are marvelous. I would like to wear a pair meself.”
Agnes Gunn smiled and fidgeted a bit, adjusting her pipe in her mouth as her cheeks turned faintly pink.
Kaithria moved in the bed to sit up better and winced, ever so slightly.
Cat dropped her basket sword on the floor and rushed to her bedside. “Are ye in pain?” She reached to the cup beside the bed. “Here, drink more of this!” Cat held the cup out to Kaithria.
“Nay, no more of that. Ye have been keeping me in this bed with that drink.” She pushed the bed coverings off and slowly swung her legs over the bed. “I dinnae need to be in bed if there is a battle to be readied for. I am not sick,” she said. She frowned quickly and looked up at Cat. “I am sorry, I dinnae mean—”
“’Tis fine!” Cat said hastily as she glanced at the other ladies.
“There is nae a battle, my jewel,” Keir said in his deep voice. He could not help his quick glance at her long, lithe legs. Her skin was not the pale white of a Highland lass; instead, it was smoothly sun-kissed. A craving welled sharply within him to run his fingers along the sinewy curves of her calves.
A figure stepped forward before he could look away as a gentleman should.
It was Aunt Agnes who blocked his view. “Put this on before me nephew’s eyes fall oot of his head,” she said loudly around her pipe with an arched look at Keir as she handed his bed robe to Kaithria.
Kaithria stood up with Agnes Gunn blocking her, and quickly put on the huge robe. It enveloped her in his scent and she clutched it tightly to her, surreptitiously inhaling his scent. She looked around at the ladies again, as Agnes moved away once she was decently covered.
“Why the weapons if there is no battle?” Kaithria looked at her friend Cat.
Keir put his arms across his chest and turned to the ladies, waiting avidly to hear their answer to Kaithria. His eyes drifted to Lady Gillis, out in the hall, trying mightily to pull her targe out of the wall where it was embedded.
“We were defending this room and ye in it,” Cat said with a shrug. “I suppose it sounds a bit naft and numpty, but…” She shrugged again and looked at the others helplessly and somewhat uncomfortably.
Lady Gillis stepped forward with her targe shield that she had finally managed to pull out of the wall. She was a bit out of breath from her efforts. “Lady Jane told us how the men in the village would try to get the best of ye. And it seems they were doing that here as well.” Gillis looked at the other women for affirmation. “We set up a defense in this room if any of them thought to try anything.”
The other women quickly added their agreement as Kaithria listened, astounded.
Aunt Agnes spoke up as well. “I have alerted all the house staff. John is watching the front of the house vera carefully. He has chosen a Lochaber ax as his weapon,” she said with a sharp nod of her chin as she pointed her pipe towards the front of the house. “His brother Jack is watching the back of the house.” She jabbed her pipe towards the rear of the house. “I believe he has a claymore, a terribly large one too. Noo, the chambermaids have dirks and the kitchen staff has access to all sorts of knives. They all know to be on the lookout for any skivers who wish ill will!” she said shrilly, with some excitement. “’Tis like the old days!”
“In the old days,” Hexy grumbled, “we would still have our pistols! Shame on a king who takes our weapons away, save our antiques.”
Ina laughed out loud. “Be careful what ye say, Aunt Hexy. Me husband is one of the King’s favorites, as are me sisters’ husbands and Laird Wolf McKay and Laird Gunn. Never mind the pistols. We are no Jacobites, though we are Highlanders and have suffered many of the same cruel fates. But we have done more than well with what we have!” she said and smacked her hand into her fist. “We have put many a vile mauchit, manky, mingin, bampot, bowfin, boggin scunner away to his end. Or the prison in Edinborough if that may be needed. All of the Ross sisters, the McKays, the McKinnons, and now the Gunns are able to handle any of these cacan, blaggard, talla-thons!” she said with relish.
Aunt Hexy started laughing in her cackling voice, quietly, under her breath.
Her little dog barked raucously from under her shawl. He didn’t bother to come out. He was happy to bark bravely from under the cover of her tartan shawl.
“Did she just say what I think she said?” Aunt Agnes demanded.
Keir stepped forward with one hand on his hip and the other on his chin where he was stroking his jaw and the cleft of his chin. “Aye, Aggie. She just used many a word that should not be repeated in front of the ladies.”
Gillis scoffed politely. “We all know what those words mean, Lord Gunn. We also know that she is correct, and we are ready for them.”
“Hold,” came Kaithria’s soft, husky voice. She stepped forward, away from the bed. “All this for a few disgruntled men at Lady Gunn’s house party?” she looked at Cat. “There is more.” At Cat’s innocent, overly wide-eyed stare, Kaithria added, “I know there is. What arenae ye telling me?”
Cat glimpsed at Keir and then back at Kaithria. “The figures ye saw on the way here?” Cat said hesitantly. “They are here.”
Kaithria looked at Cat and then at Keir. Her eyes went back to Cat. “Ye said they were travelers, just like us. That there was no need to be worried.”
Keir took a small step forward. “Aye, that is true. There is no need to worry.” He glanced at Cat with an arched brow. “Ye are safe here, on Gunn lands. There is
no need for concern or all these weapons,” he added with a meaningful look at the other ladies.
“But they are here on Gunn lands, now,” Kaithria said quietly. “’Tis cause for concern, I think.”
“Och, we are ready!” Agnes said loudly, jabbing her pipe in the air, as the others added their voices.
Kaithria looked back at Cat and Keir; they were staring at one another. “What? There is still more. Tell me. Please?” Kaithria insisted calmly.
“Uncle Keir spotted them watching ye at me home. At McKay Castle,” Cat said quietly.
Kaithria stared at her. Her face changed as she worked out the timeline. “And at Brough Castle?”
“Nay,” said Keir with a sigh. “We lost them there. Brough Castle is so isolated out on the tip of Dunnet Head they must not have tried to follow us.”
“Who are they?” Kaithria asked in a hushed voice. She tried to stop her hands from trembling.
“We dinnae know, me jewel. Not yet,” Keir said, watching her face.
Kaithria turned to Agnes Gunn. “Ye have been watching over Cat and I, havenae ye? When we were out with our horses?” Kaithria stared at her. “I wondered why ye were always watching. I thought ye were judging me.”
Agnes Gunn puffed furiously on her pipe. She looked at her feet and then back at the beautiful girl in front of her. “I was doing both. I am ashamed to admit it.” She took several puffs. “Me nephew didnae tell me aboot what was happening right away,” Agnes said and narrowed her eyes at her nephew. “But he is keeping ye, so...so be it,” she said with a nod and another puff on her pipe,
“Still, I thank ye,” Kaithria said humbly to the big woman. She paused for a moment and looked back at Agnes. “What do ye mean he is keeping me!” she said with shock. “Ye cannae keep someone. Am I a prisoner here?” she said fearfully.
She thought of how Ronan Keith had taken her mother, that first day he had set eyes on her and had declared she would be his, and her mother had gone willingly. Kaithria tried to stop the panic welling up within her. She thought of how she was losing her heart to the big, dark-haired, dark-eyed Highlander. No, she had lost her heart to him the first day they met. Just like her mother had lost her heart to Ronan Keith! And Ronan had kept her prisoner, and eventually killed her!
