A Highlander's Gypsy (Highland Temptations Book 2)

by Aileen Adams

This was out of his hands, and he’d done neither of them any favors by allowing her a place in his esteem. Or his heart.

  The closing and locking of the shackles tore at him. It was a sentence on them both. They’d both been in the wrong.

  “You cannot do this.” Her voice was no more than a whisper, or the buzzing of a gnat close to his ear. He could not swat a hand to free himself of the incessant, droning buzz.

  It would continue to buzz in his ear so long as she remained locked away. And there was nothing he could do about it.

  23

  Shana managed to wait until she was alone before the tears began to flow.

  Once they began, she couldn’t stop them.

  Foolish lass. She should’ve known better. How many times had the opportunity to escape presented itself? How many times had she been no more than a moment from running away? While she was alone, outside Inverness. The perfect chance to ride away. Or before they’d crossed the last bridge, on the other side of the river. He’d fallen asleep. She could have run and kept running, but she had instead listened to…

  To what? To the soft heart her family had always made such a laughing matter of? Rightly so. She’d deserved nothing less.

  Would that she’d hardened over time. Would that she had seen William as the enemy all along, for he was nothing less.

  Her enemy. Someone she’d been a fool to ever trust or feel for.

  Now, she was back where she’d started. In a cell. Alone. It was colder now, without even the small window to allow a shaft of light into the stone room.

  The floor might as well have been ice, and the wall to her back as well. The chains attached to the iron cuffs on her wrists were long, but heavy. She could drag them across the floor if she wished to move, but where was there to go? The other side of the cell?

  How had she traveled so far, only to end in the same situation?

  The squeaking of rats replaced the steady dripping of water. She watched as a pair of them—fat, sleek—scurried across the floor just outside her cell, paying her no mind.

  Yet. They would in time. At least she had a torch by which to see them. Listening to them going about their business in the darkness would be too much for her already strained mind to bear.

  She walked a short distance back and forth, the chains grinding against the stone and setting her teeth on edge. This could not continue. She would go mad.

  She was already well on her way.

  After all, had she not allowed him to kiss her? Had she not longed to kiss him outside the door to her chambers? Had her already soft, easily wounded heart not already opened fully to him?

  Only to have him throw her in a cell, where rats would be her only companions.

  In the end, he had taken up Richard’s side. He’d lied to her so many times, and she had believed because she’d wanted to believe. She’d needed to, because she’d needed an excuse to stay with William when she should have run at the first chance.

  He’d lied when he told her Richard would understand and wish to help. He’d lied when he said he would pretend he knew not who she was—now, it was clear he’d told his friend everything, which was why there was so much resentment on the laird’s face and in his voice when they met.

  Because he knew who she was, who her family was, and he hated her for it. Just as she had predicted.

  To what end had he lied, however? What was the meaning of bringing her all this way only to shackle her to a wall? If it was gold he’d wished for, he might have returned her to Jacob from the very start. Why put himself through such tribulation for it to only end this way?

  These were questions she would likely take to her grave, as she would never have the chance to ask him and he would never answer even if she did.

  The coward would just as likely never step foot near her cell again. He would follow the orders of his laird and nod and scrape and bow as he’d been doing all along.

  She’d never meant anything to him.

  The realization and everything it entailed sent her sliding down the wall, no longer feeling the icy stone at her back, until she landed in a heap on the floor. She was nothing to him.

  Once the bitter sting of this certainty faded until it was not quite so painful, Shana took one deep breath after another in an effort to calm herself. She had to think clearly if there was any hope of escape.

  She had to escape. It was time to begin thinking about herself again.

  The shackles were not tight enough to prevent her working her hands out of them, though it would be a painful process and would like as not tear her skin. She would do this only if truly desperate.

  The chains were attached to the wall with iron plates through which thick bolts had been driven. No chance of pulling them from the stone—she wrapped one chain about her wrist several times and leaned back with her feet braced against the wall, grimacing from the strain as iron links bit into her flesh.

  Finally, she gave up with a frustrated groan.

  What of the bars? Little good would it do to free her wrists if she could not free herself from the cell. The length of the chains allowed her to reach them, where she studied the lock on the other side of the door. It was old, but was it old enough for her to break it? What other chance was there of escape?

  Unless another old, sympathetic man brought her meals, there was little other option.

  She would continue thinking about this, as there was little else for her to think about at the time which did not involve William.

  And he was the last thing she wished to dwell on, for her heart was already in pieces. No need to grind them down further.

  24

  William burst into Richard’s study upon returning from the cells. “What was the meaning of that?”

  Richard did not look up from his work. “The meaning of what? And once again, I would appreciate ye taking an easier tone with me. Dinna forget yourself.”

  He looked up now, his eyes hard. “I am willing to forgive the way ye came here with her, knowing who she was, what she’d done. Knowing I would have qualms about keeping her here with us when she is not to be trusted.”

  “She was not the one doing the raiding.”

  “Perhaps not the last raid, during which she was captured. But she did. She must have. Even a small thing such as herself might have been quite valuable to the others.”

  “Ye dinna know it.”

  “I dinna need anyone to tell me. This is my home, my land, and I will deal with her as I see fit.” Richard rose, leaning over his table. “Ye told me last night that ye dinna wish for this to come between us, yet ye burst in here, full of anger. Daring to tell me how I ought to conduct my affairs.”

  “She is not your affair.”

  “She is, now that ye have brought her here.”

  “Can ye not see she’s frightened? Can ye not try to understand how difficult her life has been?” It took a great deal of fortitude not to strike his best friend when he scoffed at this. “Tis true! Try to imagine, even for a moment, what it would mean to be born as she was. Not as the heir to these lands and the castle, but as nothing. No one. Without a home. With no chance of ever having one, as those ye might settle near dinna want anything to do with your kind.”

  “What does that have to do with what goes on now?”

  Was he truly so dense? Or did he merely not wish to sympathize? “It means she does not trust us. She trusts no one who does not share her blood. She has been ill-used her entire life and does not wish to be so ill-used again. Can ye fault her for this?”

  Richard was silent, staring at the wall behind William.

  “Please. I have never begged ye for anything in all the years we’ve lived under this roof together. Can ye not see how important this is to me?”

  “I can see how important she is to ye.” Richard sat back down, rubbing his temples. “Och, you’ve gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble over her.”

  “That isn’t what I came here to talk with ye about.”

  “Ye d
idna come in here to talk with me. Ye came to bully me into giving in to ye, and I have to say I dinna much like it.” Richard tapped a stack of papers with one finger. “Do ye know what this is?”

  “Ye know I dinna.”

  “A group of reports which I’ve received over the past month regarding these gypsy raiders. Aye, I’ve been quite aware of their activity. More than ye have, I would wager, and rightly so.”

  “Ye never told me anything of them before I left.”

  “Nay, because they were so far to the south. I thought little of it but wished to be kept abreast. As a matter of fact, I allowed several of these reports to pass unnoticed until now. I never imagined one of them would find her way to my land, hence my never having brought it to your attention.” His face screwed up in a rather sour expression as he began going through them, withdrawing one of the pages. “Ye may wish to read this.”

  William was suddenly certain he had no desire to read it. There was something in his friend’s voice and his troubled expression which made the page he held out seem much more ominous than it would have otherwise.

  He took it nonetheless. “A band of raiders were captured near Fort William,” he read aloud, his brow furrowed. “When captured, they spoke of one of their numbers having gone missing over a fortnight ago.”

  He looked up at Richard, who nodded. “I’ve heard nothing more of them since that report, but now ye see. I had not read it until this very morning, before I saw the pair of ye, and I wished to speak of it.”

  “Now ye know.” William thrust the page back toward Richard. “Ye know they will not come for her. Ye know she is no threat to ye. Yet ye insist on locking her away?”

  “Because she refused to answer my questions, and she needs to know where she is and who makes the rules here. I dinna care that she has not known civilized company her entire life. It makes no difference to me. What I care about is knowing I’ve brought someone under my roof who understands the sacrifice that could entail for myself and my men, should Jacob Stuart decide to come for her.”

  “He does not know we’re here.”

  “Oh, does he not?” Once again, Richard tapped the stack of paper. “What leads ye to believe he does not receive the same reports I do? I would wager he has eyes and ears everywhere, and if he put a bounty on the lass’s head ye know there are plenty of men eager to tell him everything they saw, anything they heard. About the pair of ye.”

  Was he right? William could not say. There was not even a guarantee that the raiders captured were of her clan, though it would be an astounding coincidence if they were not.

  “Do ye believe he’ll come here for her? Is that what ye mean to say?”

  “If he does not, he shall send someone. Mark my words, my friend.” Richard’s tone softened. “And ye are still my friend, even if I question whether ye ought to be at times. Perhaps I ought not be so close with the captain of my guard. He takes it into his head that he has the right to burst in here unannounced and challenge my decisions.”

  “When ye order a defenseless woman shackled to a wall?”

  “Defenseless?” Richard chuckled. “Och, I pity the man who believes her to be truly defenseless. Anyone who’s lived the life you’ve described to me has ways of defending herself. Mark my words.”

  “Just the same. Ye know what I mean.”

  “Dinna be so stubborn. Ye sound like her now. You’ve spent too much time with her. I shall keep her where I wish to keep her for the time being, and I’ll hear nothing else about it.” Richard shook his head when William opened his mouth to protest. “Nothing else. I mean it. I still make the rules on this land, and that is my final decision. I shall sleep better tonight knowing she canna run away and cause more trouble than she might already have done.”

  “What do ye mean?” So he expected her to attempt an escape, just as William had also feared. Perhaps he understood her better than William had anticipated.

  “I mean what I say. If Jacob Stuart is out there somewhere, ‘tis best she remains here. Without any of my guard going after her.”

  To his horror, William’s face flushed. “I would never.”

  “Aye, that ye would, and I will not sit here and argue the point like a pair of wee lads. I have work to be done, as do ye, and I think it’s best we both get to it.”

  This was not meant to be.

  Richard’s words still rang in the air when a member of the guard appeared in the doorway. “My laird, Captain Blackheath, a group of men have been spotted approaching the castle on horseback. They fly the Stuart banner.”

  Richard was out of his chair in an instant, going to the window overlooking the southern side of the castle. “How many?”

  “Five, it appears.”

  “Only five?” William joined Richard at the window. “It seems unlikely he would send only five men, does it not?”

  “Aye, it does that.” They both saw the approaching men at the same time, once they rounded a bend upon leaving the woods. They were still little more than shapeless forms at such a distance, though the colors of Clan Stuart were plain to see.

  “Alert the guard. Tell them to prepare themselves, but dinna show themselves unless they receive word from one of us. These men might have come here to speak and nothing more.”

  “Ye dinna believe that.”

  “Nay. I dinna.” Richard’s smile was grim. “But I shall treat them as if this were the case just the same. If anyone is to make the first move toward a battle, I want it to be him. I would not lead my men into battle without provocation.”

  William turned to the man who’d come in with the news. “Alert them, as the laird orders.”

  “What do ye plan to do?” Richard asked.

  “I’ll stay with ye, of course. Why do ye need to ask?”

  “I did not ask ye to guard me.”

  “As if I would leave ye alone with any one of those men. This is my duty. I intend to see it through.”

  “Verra well, then.” They strode from the study together, and for the first time since his return, William felt as though they were working together again.

  “Prepare the great hall for visitors, and quickly,” Richard ordered two of the household lasses as they passed in the corridor. “Enough wine and refreshment for five guests.”

  “Do ye believe they’ll come in and sit down with us?”

  “I know not, but I wish to extend the normal courtesies nonetheless.” Richard came to a stop behind the closed front door to the keep. Having witnessed many such meetings, William knew he would wait for his guests to be escorted through the castle walls and into the keep rather than meeting them outside. One subtle way of reminding visitors who was laird and who was not.

  William turned to him, his voice low. “What will ye say when they demand her return?”

  “Ye dinna know they will.”

  “Och, come on, man. Ye know as well as I do why they’ve come all this way. I believed I was smarter than I was at concealing our movements. I was wrong. I must ask your forgiveness for anything that might come as a result of my carelessness.”

  “Ye did as ye felt ye had to,” Richard replied. The tightness in his voice and the way he held himself told William there was much more left unsaid, but this was not the time to speak of such matters. Not with someone who might prove to be an enemy just outside the castle walls.

  “What will ye do, then? Will ye hand her over to him?”

  There was a moment’s hesitation. A moment might as well have been an eternity. “I canna say as yet,” Richard admitted. “I dinna wish to, but I must consider my lands, my people, my guards.”

  Once again, there was nothing he could do but stand to the side and watch as this took place. To wait for the visitors to arrive and hope Richard made the right decision.

  Though even William could admit to not knowing what that meant for anyone but himself.

  All the while, his thoughts were with the one waiting in the cell below. She had no knowledge of what went on above her.
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  25

  One of the stewards opened the door to the keep, giving them a view of the courtyard in time to watch five horsemen walking their steeds through the massive doorway.

  Beautiful horses, which spoke of the wealth of the riders. Or, at the very least, of the man who rode before the others. He sat tall, proud, with a certain tilt to his head which in William’s opinion made the man a perfect target for his fist. He’d never cared for men who observed the world with their head thrown back in such a manner. As though they owned everything beyond the end of their nose.

  This was his first impression of the man he assumed was Jacob Stuart. Little wonder then that he needed to lock a woman away in order to keep her under his roof.

  He dismounted, along with his men, all of them bearing the same proud expression. But none of them were like him. William had lived his entire life in the keep and knew the difference between a laird and his guard.

  Jacob’s dark hair gleamed in the early morning sunlight. He looked well-rested and recently groomed. Where had he spent the evening? William’s stomach turned at the realization that the man and his guard had been near enough to where he’d been with the lass that had they lingered much longer, their paths might have crossed.

  “Laird Richard Munro.” The visitor inclined his head. “I am Jacob Stuart, laird of Clan Stuart.”

  “Welcome, Laird Stuart,” Richard replied in his deep, booming voice. “What brings ye so far from home?”

  Jacob’s dark, knowing eyes had already moved from his host and onto the man standing beside him. William thought they bore a gleam, as though he already knew the name of the man upon whom he’d turned his attention. “I received troubling reports which I would like very much to discuss with ye,” he replied, still staring at William.

  “Aye, and ye shall. Do come and join us inside. I arranged for refreshment upon receiving word of your approach.” Richard was the laird of the castle in every sense, and he maintained this appearance of warmth and hospitality as he led his guests inside with William walking beside him.