Thistle and Flame - Her Highland Hero
Page 11
“He didn’t always live here. And I canna exactly say how I fell for him since the only talking we’ve ever done was in short, whispered bursts. But every time I saw him since I was a little girl, he took my breath away, made my heart beat just a wee bit harder, a wee faster. I canna explain, but it all sounds so ridiculous to say aloud.”
“Not at all, not at all. Before I shot Mr. Herzinger, he did the same thing to me. Gave me a flush, made my skin prickle when I’d see him, he even made me a rather bit hot, you know, down there.” Olga laughed unashamed, but Kenna flushed red. “Anyway, no, it isn’t strange, dear Kenna. Sometimes your mind does things you can’t explain. Other times, you can explain them, but when you do it, the words don’t make sense outside your head.”
“Thank you. Thank you both,” Kenna said. “But there’s one more problem that I’m not sure how to explain.”
“Let me have guess,” Elena said. “He’s going to come to saving you from the married, but you don’t want him to be hurt?”
“Well, aye, but also, from what I gather, he’s not the type to give up until he gets what he wants. I mean, he’s got his little gang, and he goes around doing all kinds of things to the nobles in Edinburgh. He’s so right famous that we even heard some of what he did all the way back to Fort Mary, though that was just from Edinburg newspapers. I’m afraid he’s going to get caught up in saving me from here, and then get himself hurt or worse.”
“So it’s the tall one, then?” Olga said.
“The tall one?”
“The man, Miss Kenna. You’re after the tall one with those big, round shoulders and that flowing brown hair? As I recall, he had it tied back in a pony’s tail, and had a bit hanging down on either side of his face. The mask he wore was a small one, black, like a bandit’s, and those sharp cheekbones, those big, dark blue eyes, he-”
“Olga, it would seem as though you’ve been lusting after him!”
“I may be a while further on in life than you, but I know a big, strong, able lover when I see one. I’m right, no?”
“Well, aye, it’s him. The first time I saw Gavin was when I was very young, he a little older. It was at a dance in Fort Mary. I’d never even thought of a boy like that before then, I don’t know, he just...”
“Did something to you?”
Kenna nodded. “Like I said, just sent my heart to fluttering. I was a wee li’l girl, so I had no idea what it was, but after I got over my fear that my heart was stopping, I didn’t do much else but look forward to the next time I’d see him. And I did, a couple of years later at another festival, and then again when he was leaving for the Bonnie Prince’s war. He made it all the way down here and then I just stopped hearing from him until...well, until last night.”
Olga pulled her lips tight against her teeth.
“On one account, you’ve no worry. On another you’ve got quite a one.”
Kenna looked at Olga’s kind, round face and felt a strange kind of comfort.
“You’re in love with the Ghost of Edinburgh, dear. You’ve got nothing to worry about in regard to him being hurt. He’s broken into this house twice now, broken into Macdonald’s apartments in the city once, and has been slowly building up a whole bunch of people who have made him a hero, whether or not he meant to be one. If anyone can steal a girl from Ramsay Macdonald, it’s him.”
“What’s the thing I have to worry about, then?”
“Dear Kenna, you’re going to have to figure out what to say to him when he shows up tonight. And my only concern is getting you all gussied up for him.”
“But, what? How did you know about that?”
“Your eyes, dear,” Olga said. “You’ve got eyes that give everything away.”
Kenna did more fidgeting in the two hours after Olga and Elena left her than ever in her life all gathered up, she thought.
First she stared at her hair in the mirror until she decided that the way they’d curled it was very nice, but not becoming of her face shape, and so she let it down, then kept looking until she thought maybe they were right and bunched it all back up, twisted the ribbon back around it and teased her two tentacles as Olga called them into a frame around her soft, perfectly blushed cheeks.
Mostly satisfied with how her hair looked , although it ended up exactly how it started, Kenna set herself to tugging her sleeves, then pulling them back up and then tugging them down again, convinced that there was something off about the length. After several minutes of tugging and un-tugging, she realized that the dress wasn’t moving very much at all, and let it be. She took a deep breath, held it in for a moment, and then blew it out as she fell backwards onto the bed.
Olga had initially insisted upon putting Kenna back in that awful corset because ‘men, they like the way it makes the bosom stand,’ but Kenna convinced her that he’d be far enough away that the condition of her bosom was not the chief concern. And anyway, she said to Olga, he’s not the sort to worry about that. He loves me for me, she said, not for how I look or how I poke out here or there or suck in one place or another. For some reason, when she said that, Olga had just smiled, and Elena chuckled.
When she finally settled down enough to do anything besides pulling on her clothes or her hair, or worrying that he might never come, Kenna pulled a large volume of Mallory’s Morte D’ Arthur off the shelf and set to reading. It was a book she’d been through a hundred times as a little girl and one that continued to fascinate her. She especially loved the Orkney knights, Gawain and the others, who fought endlessly between themselves, as brothers do. She read and read, finally letting herself laugh at one of the stories which had always been her favorite – when the Orkney knights beat each other roundly and Arthur was concerned whether or not to invite them to the Round Table – when she heard a rhythmic tapping at the window.
She sat up with a start, flinging the heavy tome off of her chest and sent it thudding to the floor.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap-tap.
“The window!” She jumped up with a start.
Cheeks flushed with fire, Kenna ran to the window and opened it, then dodged a stone, and giggled. She squinted out over the horizon, trying to trace the trajectory of the rock and saw – there he stood against the trunk of a tree right on the edge of the space behind the manor. He was far enough away that she could make out only the vaguest glimpse of his features. She had a pair of opera glasses that she’d scrounged up from a trunk in her chambers, and used those. He was a little closer, but not too clear.
“Is that...is that you?” She said out the window.
Of course it is, you fool, who else would pitch rocks at your window at the exact time he said he’d show up.
Even as she gazed at him, the sun deepened its slackening and the deep orange of Edinburgh dusk began to set in around them. She felt a thick heat between the two of them, and knew that if he was in her room she’d have a great deal of trouble protecting her decency since all she wanted to do was have him throw her across the mattress and...
Kenna! What naughty thoughts! Keep yourself decent, at least for now. She giggled to herself, hearing Olga’s voice in her head, filling her with all sorts of trouble.
“Gavin?” She said. “Answer me if that’s you.”
The man lurking among the trees looked left, then right to make sure there were no sentries, then crouched low and advanced to a place behind a bush, halfway between the woods and her window. He never settled down, constantly searching back and forth.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “The whole estate is busy with a dinner party in the north wing. Unless you start screaming, or shoot someone, they’re blind as a black sheep to you.”
Gavin settled down behind his bush and took a drink of something from a skin.
“Ach, it’s good to see you again,” he said. “I canna believe it’s been so long. When Red Ben told me you were goin’ to be at the party, I dinna believe him, though I knew you were coming to marry that greased pig Macdonald.”
“You too,” she said. “I mean, it’s good to see you too. I was just telling my chamber ladies – ach, I hate these words. I was telling Olga and Elena, the two that take care of me, I was telling them about you.”
“Good things, I hope,” he said. There was the Gavin she knew. Or at least the one she thought she did.
Kenna wanted to talk to him, she wanted to bring him closer and see him, or – God forbid – get him to climb up to her window and let him to wonderful, terrible things to her prickling, excited, overwhelmed body, but something held her back.
“Gavin, I...I’m scared. I have to tell you this, okay? I dinna want you to be mad.”
“I couldna be mad at the likes of you, Kenna. You’re all I’ve cared about since I was a wee laddie. What could you do to upset me?”
His voice, that’s not...there’s something amiss with his voice, Kenna thought. He must be sick.
Before she spoke again, Kenna watched Gavin shift his weight back and forth.
“Are you in a hurry?”
“No,” he said. “Well, aye, I suppose I am. Dinna want to be caught is all. What’s bothering you?”
Gavin was so easy and relaxed the other night. I wonder if he’s having second thoughts about all this. It’s so dangerous, what he’s doing. Maybe he’s just going to give up on me and go back to stealing things and giving it all away. I’d understand that. I mean, he’s taking quite a-
“Ach, I’m sorry but can you get on with it?” He said. “There’s people moving about inside. I think the party’s over.”
“I...” Gavin’s irritation took Kenna off guard. She momentarily forgot what she was saying. Raising the eyeglasses to her face, she looked again. His hair was the same color, and he had blue eyes, she thought. But something about him wasn’t right. Something just wasn’t quite the same. He was hunched up against the back of the bush so she could only see a part of him, so it was hard to tell if it was a trick of the light or if this was some imposter.
“Is that really you, Gavin?”
“Yes, of course,” he said. “Who else would know to be here? Sorry I’m bein’ curt with you, but if I’m to get you out of here, I canna do it from inside a jail.”
“Aye, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m being foolish, of course it’s you.”
She remembered Olga’s words about bad things moving us forward, trouble making people grow, and she decided to just say what was on her mind.
“I’m scared of what will happen to you – to us.”
“What are you on about, girl? It’ll be fine. I’m as well-known as Robin Hood. I won’t be gettin’ myself in any trouble.”
“But that’s what I’m worried about,” she continued. “I’m worried that if you come get me, we’re going to have half the police in Edinburgh looking for us.”
“Don’t be silly, lass.”
“No, Gavin, listen to me!” She said. “Macdonald, he’s come up with a plan that’ll get a lot more attention that you think. We’re to be married in a week...six days now. He said that if a commoner, as I am now, gets kidnapped, his men will look for a few days and then give up. Even if they catch you, the penalty is next to naught. But if I’m married, I become Lady Kilroyston and...”
“They’ll come after me, find me and catch me and throw me in the Tower for kidnapping a noble, and a Lady at that. Is that what you were going to tell me?”
“Well, aye, I suppose it is.”
“Then the answer is to get you sooner, not to be afraid.”
“You knew?”
“It only makes sense,” Gavin said. “And he’s right. That man might be a right steamin’ mess, but if he knows anything, it’s how to make people do what he wants. He’s right and he’s wrong, though. The penalty is a lot stiffer, but the Crown doesn’t care one shite for us now, and won’t care one to send a squad of Crown police after some woman, even if she’s the wife of an Earl. Scots are Scots. Scots are nothin’.”
She stood in silence, and he crouched in silence, for a moment.
“One more thing before I go, which I should be gettin’ to presently.”
“What is it? Can we have another meeting like this soon? Maybe one that’s less rushed? I can lock my door, and...”
“Aye, perhaps, but listen to what I’ve to say. You need to get away from here and meet me in the city. However you can. We’ve a plan but we canna do it out here. There’s too much what can go wrong. Do you understand? Move for a shake.”
She backed away, and a rock whizzed past, then hit the wall with a muffled sound.
“When I’m gone, look at that paper. On it’s an address. Wha’ever you got to do, get to that address tomorrow eve. You do that, we’ll be safe. You don’t, well...I’ll have to think of somethin’ else. Aye?”
“Y...yes, alright. I’ll try my best.”
When she looked next, he was gone.
Vanished without a trace. Not a word, not a wave.
Kenna collected the stone-delivered note, glanced at it long enough to read an address on Queen’s Street and then folded the paper and tucked it into one of her pouches.
With her head on her pillow, she closed her eyes and stuck her hand underneath the soft lump and closed it around a harder one.
Her thistle.
Her anchor.
Her Gavin.
Chapter Twelve
Gavin woke up in a cold sweat, shaking and trembling on a stone bench. The throbbing on the side of his head, the soreness of his jaw and the dull ache behind his eyes all pulsed at once.
He shook his head. That just hurt worse.
Sitting on his bench, he cupping his palms over his eyes to keep out what little light there was down in the...jail? He looked around through half-opened eyes at the bars on the tiny hole in the door in front of him.
“Why am I...how did this happen?”
Gavin stood on wobbling knees and braced himself against a stone wall as chilly as the bench. With each step, he feared he’d fall. Slowly, gingerly, he pushed himself away from the wall and stood on his own accord for a half second before his left knee, then his right, weakened, collapsed, and he fell down hard.
“Head hurts, jaw aches like I’ve been punched...did John and I get in a fight?” His voice echoed off the stone. “John? John! John! Where are you? What happened?”
“Shut it, then. It’s the middle of the night and me name’s not John.”
“What?” Gavin turned his head, then winced at the pain and turned his whole body. “Who’s there?”
“Your cell mate? You’ve been in here almost a full day, tossing and turning. Lucky it’s just the two of us, lad. If it were any’ne else, they’d have had their way with you.”
“Ach, well I suppose I should thank you for not...taking advantage.”
“Say nothin’ of it, lad. I been where you are. More than once. It’s gone both ways for me, but I prefer it this one. Listen, the way you were brought down here under lock and key and with the sheriff hooting and cheering when he tossed you in, you must be someone of some importance, aye?”
“Ah,” Gavin laughed. “First thing’s first. I’m Gavin Macgregor, of Fort Mary.”
“Oh, he introduces himself. This is a fresh one, aye.” There was a smirk behind the man’s words. “Good to meet you Gavin, I’m Liam Douglas, of nowhere in particular. I think I was born a traitor. Certainly became one. And I’m well aware who you are, Ghost.”
“Yes, well I – what did you say?”
“The sheriff, he was rather excited about having you as his guest. For half the night it seemed, he wouldna stop shouting about it with the guards. Never mind all that, it’s an honor.”
Gavin took a deep breath. “Seems like my work precedes me.”
“Aye, it does. You’ve done things that no one else c
ould. Drove three nobles back to their cushioned houses in England, threaten to break up an entire conspiracy to buy the midlands? I’d say you’re a right legend.”
“Break up a conspiracy, I don’t...” Gavin pushed his palms into his forehead and sighed. “I don’t even know how I got here.”
“Don’t surprise me none. You were busted up pretty good when you made my company. And what do you mean you don’t know about the conspiracy? That Macdonald fellow, that great, pompous pig’s arse, when you shook up his little engagement party the other night, he was meeting with a banker from Lausanne to borrow the money to buy up half the land ‘tween here and Glasgow. You stopped him.”
“I was just looking for a girl,” Gavin said. “I don’t know about any conspiracy.”
“Ach!” Liam slapped him on the back, then immediately apologized. “Just looking for a lass, he says. Listen to me, Gavin Macgregor, and listen to me good. However it is you’ve got yourself in this mess, we’ve to get you out. There’s work for you to do. You’ve got to make sure this land grab doesn’t go through. You can save Scotland, you know, or it can be damned.”
Gavin rolled backwards until his head touched the ground, and then stretched his legs out in front of him, wincing at the bite of pain in his lower back and the bruises on his side.
“I’m not...I don’t know about any of that. I just steal trinkets from people and give them to others who buy food and drink and clothe their babes. Nothing I do is bigger than that.”
“You may think it not, sir, but you’ve got yourself wrapped up in something more important than any one of us.”
“No!” Gavin said, digging his palms into his eyes. “No, I’m not. I’m not into anything important. I’m not a legend, none of that is true. All I am is a man who’s in love with a girl he doesn’t know, and has to get her out of a nobleman’s house before something awful happens. That’s all I am. That’s all I have to do.”
“The words of heroes,” the man said in a hushed tone.
“Will you stop? I’m not a hero. I’m a thief. I’m a thief who is in love with a girl he can’t have, and I’d give anything to change that. She’s...she’s being wed to Macdonald in six months. And here I am, in jail. And I haven’t even an idea of how I got here!”