Hannah Howell

by Highland Hearts

  “Ye can visit with the wench later, Delgado,” drawled MacKinnon, his tone arrogant and sneering. “I am a busy man.”

  “Ye will have a long rest soon, MacKinnon, though reaching your final rest may well be a very painful journey. The death of a traitor isna a pretty one.”

  “I am no traitor, Delgado. Ye toss about empty charges. I will see that ye pay dearly for the insult.”

  “The charges arena empty. Ye were seen, fool. Your conspiring with the Douglas traitors was witnessed.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Remember riding with your treasonous companions one afternoon and chasing down a couple caught watching you?” Silvio nodded when the man grew visibly pale. “The chase was ended. Ye thought them but peasants who wouldna ken the value of what they had seen. Well, ye erred badly, MacKinnon, and we thank ye for it. Here sit those witnesses.” Silvio indicated Revan and Tess with an idle wave of his hand. “My niece recognized you, remembered seeing you at Tomas’s wedding. She got a very good look at you, as did Sir Halyard.”

  “Her word willna hold firm against mine.”

  “Hers and Sir Halyard’s. Once she pointed you out, he took a closer look. They can both swear to having seen ye riding with the traitorous Douglas’s men, riding toward the Douglas lands. Now ye return to the king. James will be very eager to hear why. ’Tis a shame the two she saw riding with you werena caught as well.”

  “They were caught, sir,” said one of the men guarding MacKinnon. “Well, one of them was. The other was killed. The one we hold is wounded. Old Alice cares for him and says he will live.”

  “Live to talk, eh, MacKinnon? I think ye will soon regret that ye didna stand more firmly against my men, thus forcing them to kill you. Death at their hands would have been a great deal more merciful than what ye face now.”

  The man cursed, then jerked free of his guards. Tess expected him to race for the doors despite the guards standing there. She gave a soft cry of surprise when he started toward her instead. Revan scrambled to his feet, putting himself between her and MacKinnon, but the guards grabbed the man before he could reach them. There was a brief, fierce struggle before they got a firm grip on the man. When MacKinnon was on his feet again, he glared at Tess. Although she knew it was somewhat cowardly, she tried to avoid that murderous look by hiding behind Revan.

  “Ye will regret this, Delgado,” MacKinnon told Silvio, only briefly diverting his glare from Tess.

  “Regret serving my liege lord—King James? I think not. Secure him, men. I mean to deliver this traitor to our king alive.”

  “Ye will all pay for this!” MacKinnon yelled as he was dragged away. “Especially you,” he spat at Tess. “Fergus was a fool. He should have killed you years ago. I willna be so careless. Ye are a dead woman, bitch. A dead woman!” he screamed just as he was yanked out of the hall and the doors were slammed shut behind him.

  Revan sat down, his gaze fixed upon Tess. She looked pale, and her hands shook faintly as she picked up her goblet of wine. He reached out and took one of her hands in his. Since she had just spent over a fortnight running from people who wanted to kill her, he was not sure what it was about MacKinnon’s threats that bothered her so.

  “ ’Twas just words, Tessa,” he said. “Just words. The man hurls empty threats. He just wants to scare you.”

  “Aye. I ken it.” She took a slow, deep drink of wine to steady herself. “He wants someone to share the fear that is eating away at him now. And by now I should be quite accustomed to people wishing to kill me. At times it seemed as if half of Scotland was trying to put me in the ground.” She gave Revan and Silvio a weak smile, then sighed.

  “I sometimes thought the same.” He kissed her hand. “Ye didna quail then, lass.”

  “ ’Twas dark in that cave. Ye couldna see me that well, ’tis all.”

  “Tessa.” He knew she was being evasive and was determined not to allow it. “Why were this fool’s threats different?”

  “ ’Tis foolish, but I suppose ’tis because he spoke them aloud. No one really has before. This also seems more personal. He doesna want me dead so that he can have my money or to save himself. He is already doomed. Nay. He wants me dead. There was such hate behind his words,” she whispered. “Such fury aimed at me. Most everyone else after us has done only what they had been ordered to do. This man wants to see me dead. ’Twill take some getting used to.”

  “Ye willna have to get used to it, dearling,” Silvio said. “The man is well secured now. His next journey will be to the gallows.”

  “I ken it, Uncle Silvio. I will shake the chill he has left me with. It but takes a bit of time, is all.”

  Revan and Silvio nodded and returned to discussing the battle they felt was certain to come. Tess was glad that she had soothed their concern. She wished she could soothe hers so easily. After all she had been through, she knew it was foolish to be so frightened by one person threatening to kill her, yet she could not shake that fear. Although she could not really explain it, even to herself, there was something different about MacKinnon’s threat. Inwardly she shook her head. It was undoubtedly just his looks, that hawkish, predatory face, and the emotion he had embued his words with. She would put the man and his threats from her mind. He was locked up now, and no one from Donnbraigh would help him.

  Tess paused in brushing her hair to look at Revan as he entered their bedchamber and walked by the bed she sat on. She was beginning to think that getting up earlier in the day would not buy her much more time with Revan. Immediately after the noon meal, he had left with the other men and had not returned until it was time to eat again. Even her uncle had hobbled off. She had spent the rest of the day helping what few women remained at Donnbraigh do their chores.

  “The mighty huntsman has returned to his lair for the night, has he?” She faintly regretted her sarcasm. She was not really angry with him, but he was at hand.

  Revan cast her a wary glance before undressing to his braies. “Looking for an argument, are we?”

  “Mayhaps.” She grimaced and set her hairbrush on the table by the bed. “ ’Twould be more interesting than hearing about Janie’s bairn and how he is teething now or Maura’s aching bones or the weather.”

  “Spent the day with the women, eh? It canna be so strange. Ye must have done that back at Thurkettle’s keep.”

  “I didna do it much. I helped with the chores, did my part and all. Spending much time with the women often meant meeting up with your beloved, Brenda.” She tensed, as the mention of Brenda brought on a sudden, clear memory that left her stunned.

  Finished with his washing up, Revan rubbed himself dry as he turned to face Tess. The somewhat cross reply he was prepared to make to her reference to Brenda stuck in his throat. Tess looked strange, as if someone had struck her, but she had forgotten to fall down. He hurried over to the bed, grasped her by the arm, and lightly shook her.

  “Tessa, are ye ill? Tessa?”

  “I just realized how I could recognize MacKinnon’s horse.” She turned her head and stared at Revan, who frowned and slowly sat down beside her.

  “Ye recognized MacKinnon,” he said, his voice revealing the confusion he felt.

  “Aye, but ’twas his horse that first caught my eye. I thought that was just because it was a fine stallion but then got distracted by the man himself, by the certainty that I had seen him. But now I realize I had also seen that horse before, that it was the horse that had first stirred a memory.”

  “Ye probably saw it at the same place—your cousin’s wedding.”

  “Nay, I didna see the people come and go, didna pay any heed to that at all.”

  “So how did ye recognize his horse? Where else would ye have seen it?”

  “At Thurkettle’s keep.”

  “MacKinnon met with Thurkettle?”

  “Well, he might have, but I never saw him. I just saw the horse. And ’twas that horse. I am certain of it. Several times I saw it tethered outside of Brenda’s cottage.”r />
  “Brenda has a cottage? Why would she need one?”

  “To tryst with her lovers, of course. Surely ye must have gone there a time or two.” She studied him, wondering why he wore such a cross expression.

  “Nay, I never went to her trysting cottage,” he growled, irritated at this further proof of how thoroughly Brenda had fooled him.

  “How odd, since she eventually takes all her lovers there.”

  “Then it isna odd at all, is it? For I was never the wench’s lover.”

  Tess stared at him. He looked both annoyed and insulted. She tried very hard not to laugh, but several things conspired against her. It was a joyful relief to know for sure, at last, that he and Brenda had never been lovers. Revan also looked very much like a sulky child who had discovered that, even though the sweets had been given out freely and often, he had come up empty-handed. She clamped a hand over her mouth, but it failed to completely smother her giggles. When Revan scowled at her, she started to laugh even more.

  “Ye find that amusing, do ye?” Revan was not quite sure what Tess found to laugh about and if he should be insulted by it or not.

  “Aye. Pardon.” She struggled somewhat vainly to stop laughing. “She had you thoroughly fooled. It fair stings your vanity, doesna it?” Tess started to giggle again. “ ’Tis clear she guessed your game from the start.”

  “Aye, ’twould appear that she did.” He eyed her curiously. “Why do ye find this so amusing now? Ye learned it long ago.”

  “Well, I did guess that she had fooled you, played a game with you. I just hadna realized how completely she had deceived you. Sweet Mary, Brenda spent more time out of her clothes than in them, yet ye thought her innocent?”

  “Not innocent exactly, but”—he frowned—“surely ye saw that before now. Ye kenned we werena lovers.”

  “I wasna sure.”

  “I told ye we werena.”

  “Ye didna state it quite so firmly then. Mostly ye just denied drooling over her or pining after her or—”

  “Enough. Of course I denied all that. I didna drool, pine, sniff, or whisper poetry.”

  “Well, ’tis no wonder ye didna get an invite to her trysting cottage.”

  She laughed as he gave a growl of false anger and wrestled her down onto the bed. Once he got her pinned beneath him, he kissed her. Although their passion was there, easily stirred to life, Revan’s kiss was one of affection, not demand. Tess found it painfully sweet. It was the forerunner of the love she sought, of the love she needed. It was the hint of what she was beginning to believe she could never have. She would have to set it aside or watch it wither beneath the chilling effects of his ravished pride. Pushing aside those mournful thoughts, she smiled at him when he ended the kiss.

  “Poor Sir Revan,” she teased. “He worked so hard and gained naught.”

  “I wouldna say naught. ’Tis true that my vanity is sorely pinched to think she gave out her favors so freely yet not to me. But, I believe I hold the best the Thurkettle family had to offer a man.” He grinned down at her when she blushed, then grew serious. “I am also very glad I didna share her bed so soon before I was destined to share yours.”

  “Destined, were ye?” She smoothed her hands up and down his arms.

  “Aye, ’twas fate.” He brushed the few strands of hair from her face with his hand.

  “Fate could have given us less trouble to deal with whilst she interfered with our lives.”

  “It will soon be over. I am pleased to see that ye have shed your fears over MacKinnon’s hot words.”

  “More or less. The threats still haunt me some, but I keep reminding myself that he is now a prisoner. Donnbraigh has some very secure dungeons and no traitors to help him. Soon I will forget about the man completely.”

  “Good.” He brushed his lips over hers. “And I believe I have a way to help you do that more quickly.”

  Tess smiled as she wrapped her limbs around his lean frame. “Do ye, now. Best get started, then. I believe I feel a twinge of fear coming over me.”

  She laughed along with Revan, then accepted and returned his kiss. For a while his lovemaking would make her forget her lingering fear of MacKinnon, and she intended to take full advantage of that. However, she knew she would not be completely free of the man and the chill of his threats until he was gone. Although she hated to wish the horrible death meted out to traitors upon any man, she knew it was the only thing that would put an end to her fear.

  “Ye can seek your bed now, Jamie.” The new guard in the dungeons sat down in the chair the old guard had just left.

  “I am right pleased about that, Dermott, m’lad.” Jamie scratched his chest as he scowled at MacKinnon. “Silvio badly wants this cur to be sure to meet his fate. We dinna usually have to watch a prisoner so closely.”

  “Mayhaps Silvio fears someone would aid him.”

  “A traitor in Donnbraigh?” Jamie laughed and shook his head. “Nay, not here,” he said as he started up the narrow stone steps leading out of the dungeons.

  “Fool,” Dermott muttered as soon as the man was gone, then leaned forward in his chair to look more intently at MacKinnon. “Ye have gotten yourself into a fine muddle.”

  “This is an insult and an outrage. Delgado will pay dearly for it.”

  “I would give up that game, my friend. Ye showed your true colors when ye threatened the man’s niece.”

  “ ’Twas but a moment of unthinking passion, of rage. It meant nothing and proves less.”

  “Ah, ye are clever with words, but I doubt ’tis skill enough to save your neck. I fear that must be left to me. ’Tisna the reason the Douglas set me here, but I ken it will serve. My job is nearly at an end anyways.”

  MacKinnon slowly stood up, staring at the guard in surprise. “Ye are a Douglas man?” he asked as he walked to the bars.

  “Aye, though I begin to question the wisdom of my choice. But I made it and I will stay with it. That means setting you free. Once I do, I have ended my usefulness here. They will ken who let ye go, so I must go with you.” He stood up and took the keys from the nail on the wall. “We will hie for the Douglas’s keep. By the time they realize ye are gone, we should be a safe distance away.”

  “I willna leave here without that cursed wench.” MacKinnon stepped back from the bars.

  “Are ye mad? I canna get her now. She doesna sleep alone, for one thing. That Sir Revan is tucked up with her.”

  “Then we will wait until we can get her and take her with us.”

  “Ye dinna have much time left, my friend. Old Silvio plans to ride and join the king in a fortnight’s time. If ye are still here, ye ride with him, straight to death at the king’s hand. Aye, and it willna be a gentle death ye face.”

  “I ken it. I dinna mean to stay here until I am dragged off like a sheep to slaughter. But I would like to take that wench with me. Ye said we have a fortnight. There is some time left to us. Mayhaps I can yet have both my freedom and my vengeance on that wench for betraying me. There has to be some time when she is alone.”

  “Aye, a time or two, but we could wait until Michaelmas before it coincides with my guarding you.”

  “Then ye will have to take care of the guard who is here.”

  “Ye are a bit too eager to put my life in danger. Your neck might be on the chopping block already, but I dinna mean to have mine there, too, just to satisfy your need for revenge.”

  “Then maybe ye will be more willing to take a risk to collect the reward offered for the wench.”

  “There was talk of a reward, a bounty price,” Dermott murmured. “I thought it but rumor.”

  “Nay, not rumor. How long have ye been here? Ye werena sent here to try to stop her and Halyard?”

  Dermott shook his head. “I eased my way in here months ago because old Silvio and most of his kinsmen are close to the king and his court. They hear a lot, ken a lot. The Douglas wanted that information.”

  “He wants the girl and Halyard, too.”

&nbs
p; “There is no way to get our hands on Halyard, not secretly, not without rousing Donnbraigh. He is never alone.” He rubbed his chin with his hand. “But we could take a few days to see if we could get the lass.”

  “A week.”

  “A week, then, but then we leave. We will take the girl to Thurkettle.”

  “The Douglas is closer.”

  “Not by many miles. I want Thurkettle to have her. He will be far less swift and tidy in the killing of her. And he will pay a richer bounty, for he gains more by her death. Thurkettle gains her silence and her fortune.”

  “She will be taken to Thurkettle, then. One week,” Dermott said as he put the keys back on their hook. “ ’Tis all I will allow, all I can allow. Then ye must leave Donnbraigh—or die.” He sat down and smiled faintly. “The Douglas doesna want ye speaking to the king any more than he wants Halyard or the Delgado wench to talk. When the week is up, I will leave it to you to decide which ye find the sweeter—life or revenge.”

  “I intend to have both.”

  CHAPTER 18

  “Sir Revan thought ye might enjoy a ride,” Dermott said.

  Tess frowned. “Aye, I would, but why didna he come for me himself?”

  “He needed to finish his hunting, mistress, but he will meet us at a spot he himself has chosen.”

  She stood up and brushed herself off, looking down at the small herb garden she had been weeding. It was just one of the many chores she had busied herself with in the last week. Although she felt a little guilty, she knew she would not mind leaving the tedious work to spend some time with Revan. It puzzled her that she was still somewhat hesitant.

  A small frown curved her lips as she covertly glanced at Dermott. She did not know the man. He was new at Donnbraigh. For reasons she could not name, he made her uneasy. The fact that everyone else at Donnbraigh appeared to accept the man did not help cure her of her wariness.

  The sudden invitation from Revan also bothered her. He had insisted, as strongly as Silvio had, that she remain safely within the high walls of Donnbraigh. Then she recalled something Revan had said only the night before. He had claimed that all of the Douglas’s and Thurkettle’s men had been slain or chased off of Donnbraigh lands. She had thought it just something to soothe her lingering fears. This invitation indicated that it had been the truth. Tess felt relieved and a little lighthearted. She smiled at Dermott.