“And here comes Annie to lend ye aid,” Lucas said as he strode out of the room. “I will return later.”
Much later, he thought as he barely stopped himself from running, as far and as fast as he could. Katerina still moved him, still had a tight grip on him, and it scared him to death. He had grieved for her, for the loss of all he had thought he had wanted, and for the betrayal she had dealt him. To his shame he had even wept for the loss of her. Every feeling he had thought he had killed or buried had been renewed as he had fought to keep her alive. When she had finally begun to recover he realized that every caution he had thought he had learned had been swept away. That kiss had shown him just how susceptible he still was. In fact, he feared he was still in love with her.
He cursed and headed for the hall. He would have something to eat and then find a quiet place to get some rest. After that he was going hunting for some answers even if it took him deep into Dunlochan keep itself.
“Men can be such a trial,” Katerina complained as Annie helped her back into bed.
Worrying over all she still felt for Lucas and how dangerous those feelings were had actually helped her endure Annie’s kind help in seeing to her personal needs. She had been so busy fretting over that kiss and all it had made her feel that she had done what she needed to, been cleaned up, and was now back in her bed without being painfully embarrassed by Annie’s help. Unfortunately, she had not come up with any solution about what to do concerning Lucas and how she felt about him.
“Sir Lucas kept ye alive, m’lady,” Annie felt compelled to say.
Katerina sighed. “I feared that might be the way of it. So now I must be grateful.”
Annie bit back a grin over those somewhat petulant words as she helped Katerina sit up slightly, resting her against the bank of pillows Annie set behind her. “Aye, I fear ye must. Now, I have brought ye some broth. Ye should try to eat as much of it as possible.”
“I ken it. I do feel verra hungry, but I also ken I cannae eat anything too rich or hearty.” She was pleasantly surprised by how tasty the broth was as Annie spooned some into her mouth. ’This shallnae be too hard to bear. ’Tis surprisingly tasty.”
“Sir Lucas told me about some ways to make broth taste better.”
“The mon can cook, too, can he? That simply isnae fair.”
Annie laughed, but quickly grew serious again. “He told me that he learned about such seasonings when he was recovering from that beating. He had to have a lot of broth as his jaw was broken and he couldnae eat much of anything for a verra long while.”
“The beating he thinks I ordered done out of jealousy.”
“I cannae think he truly believes that, nay down deep in his heart. No mon could care for a woman as he has cared for ye this past week if he thought she had betrayed him so. Nay, not e’en if he does come from a family with a lot of healing women in it. I feel sure he was verra worried about ye and he worked the whole night through several times to keep ye alive when the fever was raging through your body.”
That news stirred a hope inside Katerina that she did not wish to feel. It could make her do something very foolish, such as give her heart into Lucas’s keeping again only to get it shattered once more. He had not yet offered her an apology for his accusations and, until he did, she could not trust in the hope that he had already changed his mind about her. She had lost faith in him as well and was not sure if that could ever be fully restored.
“Ah, Annie, when I first saw that he had survived I was overjoyed and ready to run into his arms. I felt as if every prayer I had uttered had just been answered. ’Tis then that he accused me of trying to have him killed. It will be hard to forget how that hurt, how it still hurts. It will be also verra hard to trust my heart into his care again.”
“What if he grovels?”
“That may soothe me a wee bit,” Katerina drawled and exchanged a grin with Annie. Pleased with how that touch of humor had lightened her spirits and eager to get Lucas out of her mind for a moment, Katerina decided to change the subject. “Tell me what news there is. I cannae bear nay kenning how everyone fares.”
Annie began to tell her nearly everything that had gone on since she had been wounded even as she kept spooning the broth into Katerina’s mouth. Despite the fact that Ranald was hunting for her and Lucas with a vengeance, nothing of any great importance had happened. Relieved, Katerina was able to settle down for a rest once she had finished eating. She knew she was going to need all her strength to face what lay ahead and it was not just Ranald’s pursuit that concerned her. Lucas and her feelings for him would have to be faced and dealt with and she knew whatever decision she made about him would affect the rest of her life. It was a daunting thought.
Lucas caught William looking at him with something approaching amusement. “Ye can laugh if ye feel so inclined,” he drawled.
“’Tis a sore temptation,” William said and grinned. “Might I ask what ye are planning to do?”
“I am going into Dunlochan keep and see if I can find a way to hear or see something that will help us. We cannae just keep hiding, nay with Ranald so desperate to get his hands on Katerina.”
“And for that ye have to dress all in black and dirty your face?”
“Aye. It makes it easier to hide in the shadows and slip about in them. One can dress all in dark clothes but then be betrayed by the whiteness of one’s face. My brother and I used to practice the many ways one could hide in the shadows and quickly discovered how the hands and face could give one away. Hence the gloves and the dirty face.”
After studying Lucas for a moment, William nodded. “I can see that now. Dinnae ye think that ’tis a wee bit dangerous to go right into the keep?”
“It is that, but we can barely move now because of Ranald and his men hunting us as they are. They seem to be everywhere and ne’er rest. I also think there are ways to move about inside Dunlochan without being seen. There are passages in the walls.”
“Aye, but I dinnae ken where they all are.”
“Neither do I, but I have learned from Katerina where some of them are and I will start with those. Most times one passage will lead into another although there is often a trick about it.” He shrugged. “It will give me something to do aside from hiding in these caves and hoping Ranald doesnae discover them.”
“Weel, I wish I could go with ye, but I suspicion this is one of those jobs best done alone. Take care. We cannae afford to have ye caught If naught else, they would use ye to get to Katerina.”
Lucas nodded even as he told himself William was wrong. Ranald and Agnes might try to use him to get to Katerina, but Katerina might not be interested in sacrificing anything to help him. After all, there was still a chance she had tried to have him killed just because she thought he was showing too much interest in Agnes.
As he made his way through the passages to the storerooms of the keep, he realized that the accusation he had flung at her and tried to ding to even now no longer felt right. Even the words in his mouth tasted wrong. At some time during the days and nights he had spent with Katerina and her men, he had begun to believe her incapable of trying to kill him. He did not know when or why, but he knew he no longer thought her guilty of wanting to see him dead. Lucas did not think she was completely innocent, but he found far too much comfort in the fact that she did not want him dead. It was somewhat alarming and made him even more determined to find out the whole truth.
After slipping along several passages and finding out nothing more than the fact that Agnes’s people had very few morals, Lucas was ready to return to Katerina’s hiding place. If nothing else it was growing uncomfortable to listen to so many lovers entertaining themselves when he had been celibate for so very long. Even as he turned to start his journey out of Dunlochan keep, his hand lightly sliding along the wall of the dark passage, he felt something that drew his attention. Cautiously opening his shuttered lantern a little more, he found himself staring at what looked to be a door. The mix of wood and st
one that lined the passages inside the keep walls had made it hard to see at first, so perfectly did it blend with its surroundings.
Dimming his light, Lucas slowly opened the door. Seeing that it led to another passage, he quietly slipped inside and eased the door shut behind him, placing one of the small bits of wood he had carried with him in the frame of the door so that it could not shut completely. The last thing he wanted was to discover that these doors could only be opened from one side just as he was trying to make a swift escape. Silently he moved along the passage and within a few feet he began to hear the murmur of voices. Lucas followed the sound even as he tried to guess what part of the keep he was in.
“Why havenae ye found them yet, Ranald?”
The sound of Agnes’s voice startled Lucas into stopping. He was surprised at how clearly he could hear and quickly shuttered his lantern. He did not want some flash of light to give him away. There had to be some sort of listening hole nearby or the thick walls would have muffled Agnes’s voice. She was sounding almost shrewish, he mused as he lightly ran his fingers over the wall to try to see if there was a hole and if it was low enough for him to see as well as hear.
When he found the hole, he quickly put his eye to it. He could not see all that much of the room but suspected it was Agnes’s solar. He recognized the tapestry over the fireplace and the grim-faced woman named Freda sitting in a chair to the right of the fireplace. All he could see of Agnes was the edge of her skirts. They were blue, a color she often wore because he suspected she felt it complemented her eyes. Around the edges of the hole he peered through was cloth and he felt sure he was looking through a tapestry. Not sure how safe it was to keep his eye pressed to the hole he backed away and leaned against the wall, hoping he would hear something worthwhile.
“It has only been a week, Agnes,” snapped Ranald. “Ye ken as weel as I do that these bastards are verra good at disappearing. We have been chasing them for a year.”
“Someone must ken where they are. Ye need to beat the truth out of some of those insolent villagers.”
“I tried that and all that accomplished was to make more people angry. Ye get them too angry and ye will have more than a small group of reivers to deal with. Ye may even give the men on that council some backbone and ye cannae afford that.”
The swish of skirts told Lucas that Agnes was moving and he chanced another peek through the listening hole to see that she had seated herself near Freda. Agnes did not look very sweet and witless at the moment. Her expression was one of cold, hard anger. As he returned to leaning against the wall he realized that everyone was right about the woman, and his confidence in his own judgment sank even lower.
“Mayhap it is time to do something about those foolish old men,” Agnes said.
“That wouldnae be wise,” said Freda, her voice strong and weighted with an authority that surprised Lucas. “They arenae poor villagers or crofters. They have important friends, ones who would ask questions, mayhap e’en seek retribution.”
Agnes cursed. “I grow verra weary of having to bow to their rule.”
“It willnae be for verra much longer. Word has come that Robbie may have been found.”
“May have been? That does me no good. I need him found and then buried.”
“Patience, child. Patience is often the best weapon against one’s enemies.”
“If Robbie has been found, he will be taken care of,” said Ranald. “He isnae such a great threat. Sir Murray and your sister are of greater importance. They could put a noose around our necks.”
“Sir Lucas didnae e’en send his family after us, so why should he act against us now?” asked Agnes.
“He didnae come back here to see Katerina.”
“Are ye sure of that?”
“The mon thinks she tried to have him killed. E’en if he no longer believes that, he must still believe that she was the one who ordered him beaten and no mon will forgive a woman for making him a cripple.”
“A cripple? Ye ne’er said he had been crippled.”
“Didnae see that it mattered as ye want him dead. He has stiffness in his left leg. Ere we tossed him o’er that cliff, we broke his leg, fair crushed it, so that he couldnae do much to help himself e’en if he survived the fall.”
“Weel, he managed to do both, didnae he.”
“Is there any way he could have guessed the truth?” asked Freda. “I always thought too many kenned that ye forced Katerina to act as she did. Someone may have told Sir Murray.”
“Nay, none of my men would tell him anything,” said Ranald. “If they ever saw him they would either run or try to kill him. They certainly wouldnae pause to have a wee talk with the mon and tell him they beat him near to death and tried to drown him because Agnes told them to and they are verra sorry they let him think his lover did it.”
“Ye grow verra insolent, Ranald,” Freda murmured. “I ne’er much liked the plan anyway. It wasnae thought out weel. In truth, ’twas just ye striking out in a temper, Agnes, because the mon didnae fall for your charms. Ye have ne’er tried to control your temper as ye should. Doing something because ye are angry is ne’er a good idea. Things swell as that attempt to kill them both should be planned coldly and with a clear mind.”
“It was verra obvious that he was wooing Katerina,” snapped Agnes. “When I couldnae seduce him away from her, I kenned he was serious in his pursuit of her. Ye ken as weel as I do that the council would have thoroughly approved of Sir Lucas Murray as her husband. He had to be gotten rid of.”
“Dinnae try to act as if ye actually had a plan, child. Ye didnae. Ye struck out in anger as ye often do. It failed. Accept that.”
“As ye wish,” Agnes said tightly. “Do ye have any great, weel thought out plan for getting rid of him and Katerina now?”
The sound of a slap echoed in the passageway. “Dinnae be so disrespectful. Aye, I have a plan. Grab either Sir Lucas or Katerina.”
“That is what we have been trying to do.”
“Use whichever one ye capture to draw the other into a trap,” Freda continued as if Agnes had not spoken. “The mon may think Katerina guilty of having him beaten near to death, but he is one of those honorable men and he willnae be able to do anything else but try to rescue her. Katerina will ne’er leave him in your hands either, Ranald. Each of them, with their honor and compassion, is the other’s own worst enemy.”
“Tis much the same plan I had when I went after Thomas,” Ranald said. “I had hoped to beat some information out of the boy but kenned weel that he could be used to lure Katerina into my grasp.”
Agnes snorted in obvious contempt “Ye thought to lure Annie into your grasp, Ranald. Dinnae try to fool us.”
“Either one would have brought Katerina running to the rescue.”
“Which is what we need her to do now,” said Freda. “They must be hiding close by as they are always quick at hand when someone is in trouble. There is a hiding place on Dunlochan lands, Ranald. Find it. There may be some note of it in the ledger room. If ye cannae read, get Agnes to do it for ye.”
There was the sound of a door shutting and, after a moment of heavy silence, Agnes said, “Weel, ye heard her. We are to dirty our hands and look through the papers in the ledger room.”
“I will do it. I can read weel enough.”
“Ye need to be out searching for Katerina or Sir Lucas. I cannae do that, can I. Ye can help me with that tedious chore from time to time, but catching Sir Lucas and Katerina is the far more important one. I still cannae believe that bitch survived being thrown into the loch or that Sir Lucas has returned to trouble us once again.”
“’Tis nay their ghosties I am dealing with. The old woman was right. The last time we tried to be rid of those two we just struck out at them, didnae think it through. It wasnae a bad plan and I did have Lady Katerina convinced that she could save her lover by standing still and quiet, acting like she was watching it all with a cold eye. Yet, we failed, and it could weel be that we would have s
ucceeded if we had thought it out and planned it more carefully. This time we will do so.”
“Mayhap whilst ye are planning it all so carefully, ye can think of a way to allow me a wee bit of time with Sir Lucas ere ye kill him.”
“Only if ye allow me a wee bit of time with Lady Katerina ere we kill her.”
Agnes cursed softly and then sighed. “Fair enough. I suspicion ye had plans to take that time anyway.”
“Cannae see wasting an opportunity.”
“And I think it is time we made a few plans to rid ourselves of the burden of that cursed council.”
“Aye, I think Freda is being far too cautious there.”
“Thank ye, Ranald. Come with me, I have a plan as to how I might thank ye for your support of all my plans.”
Chapter Eight
He was an utter ass. Lucas slowly slid down the wall until he sat upon the floor and lightly banged his head against the wall a few times. It did nothing to dislodge the distasteful truth from his mind, however. He was still an ass, a witless blind fool. Katerina was innocent. He had scoffed at her tale of what had happened that night and it had all been the truth.
How could he have ever thought otherwise? Katerina had always shown nothing but kindness to all around her and she possessed a light spirit, compassion and honor as much a part of her as the blood that ran in her veins. There had been a part of him that had constantly denied her guilt, but he had always ruthlessly silenced it whenever it stirred. Lucas did wonder if it was that part of him that had kept him unable to take another lover even after he had healed enough to feel lusty again. At least he had not been unfaithful to her despite the few times he had tried to be. It was humiliating to realize that the usually witless part of him had been the only part to show any good sense.
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