No servants appeared in the hall near Delilah, but she eased herself against the wall and in the shadows at the same time Kaid shifted to stand protectively in front of her.
She knew she couldn’t be seen, not before Kaid was ready to announce the plan. And first they’d need Torra’s compliance. Hopefully it would come soon, not only through their efforts to convince Torra of her rightful place, but also through the tea Percy concocted.
Based on what Percy stated, she’d found a combination of extracts and herbs to aid in bringing Torra’s wits together. It sounded an impossible task, to be sure. But then, Percy was a woman who made miracles happen on a daily basis.
Footsteps sounded nearby and Kaid nudged Delilah back into one of the darkened alcoves. While Delilah didn’t want to be caught, she was very much enjoying the press of Kaid’s body against hers. Their eyes met and they shared a secret smile.
“Ye were amazing in there, Delilah.” The quiet intimacy of his voice sent warm ripples of desire through her. “I dinna know how ye do it, how ye’re so patient and ye know exactly the right thing to say. I dinna know what I’d do without ye.”
She flushed at his praise.
Sylvi was wrong to offer such a silly warning against Kaid. The more he touched Delilah, and kissed her, and loved her, the more she knew his affection to be true.
“We shouldn’t linger,” Delilah whispered.
“We should go somewhere no one will find ye.” He grinned. “Like my chamber.”
The blatant suggestion in his voice turned those delicious ripples of pleasure into excited prickles of anticipation.
The footsteps turned the opposite direction, away from them. He caught her hand and pulled her out of the alcove. Together they made their way down the hall, and were almost to Kaid’s chamber when a little voice stopped them mid-step.
“Elizabeth?” it whispered in wonder. “Elizabeth!” This time the shout was high-pitched and desperate.
Delilah swung toward the cry, and her heart nearly burst from her chest with delight at the girl running toward her with arms outstretched.
Claire.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Claire.” The child’s name clogged in Delilah’s throat, and she dropped to her knees to embrace the girl.
Claire wrapped her arms around Delilah and clung to her with impossible strength.
The little girl whispered in Delilah’s ear, which was really more breath than words. “I missed ye so much, Lady Elizabeth.”
Lady Elizabeth.
Delilah winced against the reminder. She had so much to explain. She only hoped sweet Claire would understand.
“Let’s go to the solar.” Kaid’s voice abruptly interrupted the reunion.
Delilah caught the repetitive padding of leather-soled shoes heading for them. She moved in the opposite direction, toward his solar.
Claire curled her arms around Delilah’s neck and allowed herself to be carried without complaint. The girl’s slight heft was comforting against Delilah’s hip and brought to light the realization of how much she’d missed Claire. An odd thought. She’d never desired to be a mother, and now this child made her heart swell with something light and beautiful.
Kaid motioned them both into the solar and let the door lock behind them.
Delilah lowered Claire to the ground. The girl was wearing a lovely blue dress with a ring of lace stitched onto the edge of each sleeve.
Delilah remembered the girl mentioning the dress when they’d spoken before. It had been resewn, but there’d only been enough lace for the sleeves. “Was this your mother’s dress you told me about?” she asked.
Claire nodded emphatically. “Do ye like it?”
“It’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen.” Delilah placed a kiss on the girl’s silky blonde crown.
Before she could straighten, Claire’s hand found hers and clasped it tight.
“Thank ye for bringing her back, laird,” Claire said. “And I’m so glad ye love her too.” She grinned and looked between the two of them.
Kaid slid a glance toward Delilah. “And how do ye know I love her?”
Delilah’s heart tripped over itself in spite of her own flimsy warning.
Claire grabbed Kaid’s large fingers. “I know ye love her because ye brought her back to us. That, and ye were holding her hand, and ye’re always staring at her. I canna imagine ye’d look at someone for so long without loving them. Especially—”
Claire lifted her shoulder in a shy gesture, as if she meant to hide her face beneath them, and turned red to the tips of her ears.
“Especially when she’s so bonny?” Kaid offered.
Claire gave a wide smile and nodded vigorously.
“I couldna agree more.” Kaid moved closer, embracing Claire and Delilah together, and pressed an endearing kiss to Delilah’s lips. “I do love my bonny lasses.”
Claire beamed up at Kaid.
It was then Delilah knew with certainty in her heart that this was where she belonged. This was what families were supposed to be, what love was supposed to be.
Kaid loved her.
Hadn’t he just said so?
The giddy thought tickled through her and she suddenly wished Sylvi could be there to witness the heartfelt embrace, the bond of their mismatched, yet perfect, family.
Shouts came from below and pulled Kaid from their embrace. He strode toward the window, looked once, and then ran to the door. “I need to be in the courtyard. Stay in here, Delilah—we canna have anyone seeing ye. No’ yet.” He winked at Claire and gave Delilah a look which lasted long enough to demonstrate the depth of his affection.
“Delilah?” Claire asked, her confusion evident in the furrow of her brow.
Delilah’s heart flinched. The time had come to tell Claire about who she was.
“My name is Delilah,” she said, kneeling so she was level with the girl. “I was only pretending to be Lady Elizabeth.”
Claire’s face was smooth and without accusation. “Why?”
“To try to protect you and the rest of the MacLeods from MacKenzie.” Delilah tilted her head toward the window, but heard no more shouts below. Whatever the issue was had clearly been resolved.
“Ye pretended to be MacKenzie’s bride. To save us,” Claire surmised.
Delilah stared for a moment at the clever girl with sunshine hair and her heart in her eyes. “Aren’t you a smart one? Yes, I pretended to be his bride.”
“Ye’re a hero, Delilah.” Claire darted forward and bestowed another squeezing hug.
Delilah had been many shameful things in her life—a mistress, a deceiver, a thief when necessary—but never had she been considered a hero. The idea of such innocence thinking so highly of her brought a fresh embrace of affection to her already enamored heart.
While she’d done as much as she could thus far, Delilah would never confess the truth to the child—that there was still considerable danger.
Her stomach gave a savage snarl of hunger.
She put a hand to her bodice and laughed. “It would appear I forgot to break my fast this morning.”
“I can get ye something from the kitchens if ye like.”
“You don’t have to. I—” Delilah almost said she would go down herself. But that wasn’t possible, was it?
“The laird told ye to stay here. Besides, the cook likes me, and I always get a bit of sugar.” Claire winked, the same as Kaid had done earlier—a slight head cock and a half-smile to accompany the action. “I’ll be back quick. I swear it.”
Delilah nodded slowly, finally conceding. “Very well, but come straight back. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve done while I’ve been away.”
Claire released her and darted from the room with purpose. Only when the girl was gone did Delilah realize they had not told her to keep what she’d seen secret.
Before Delilah’s heart could even descend into her stomach, a knock sounded at the solar door.
Delilah relaxed, assuming Cla
ire had changed her mind and she could tell her to keep Delilah’s appearance a secret. But when she pulled open the door, her lowered gaze met only the waist of a well-made dress and slid up to find Percy’s face, her skin pale and her blue eyes wide with shock.
“Percy?” Delilah gasped.
“Oh, thank God you were in here. I’d hoped it was where you’d be when I realized you weren’t in Kaid’s room. It’s Torra.” Percy shook her head. “You must come. I need help.”
• • •
A scream from one of the rooms above pulled Kaid from his interference with the courtyard tiff. He didn’t have to guess from which chamber the high-pitched shriek emerged.
The two merchants who had decided to settle a price war with their fists gaped up toward the open window as well. Kaid shot them both a stern warning look in the hopes that the issue was resolved and hurried up the stairs.
He was greeted with a scene of chaos.
The table in Torra’s room was overturned, and all the chairs lay pitched on their sides. Several of Percy’s books lay strewn across one side of the room as if they’d been swept to the ground.
Torra charged around like a bull with Percy and Delilah fluttering nervously around her. Both were entirely capable of stopping her physically, but he was sure neither would do so at the risk of jeopardizing the rapport they’d worked so hard to establish. And from a corner, Sylvi watched the entire scene with her arms folded over her chest and amusement quirking at her lips.
“It’s her,” Torra howled. “It’s her! She’s coming for me.” She gripped her hair in her fists and spun around toward Kaid. Her eyes were wild and at some point, she’d torn the fabric of her sleeve.
“Enough,” Kaid commanded in a hard tone.
Everyone in the room stopped.
“I told them they should have squeezed her neck until she slept.” Sylvi shrugged.
Kaid gave her a sharp look. “I’m sure ye’ll remember, Lady MacKenzie is a guest at Ardvreck. We dinna treat guests in such a manner.”
He righted a chair and set it to the floor with a hollow clack. “Have a seat, Lady MacKenzie.”
Torra’s body trembled, but she managed to stagger to the seat and collapse into it. Delilah slid him a look of gratitude. Even her patient demeanor seemed ruffled from the ordeal.
He regarded Percy. “Please go get some ale for Lady MacKenzie from the kitchen.”
“Um…” Percy’s face went red and she twisted her long, slender fingers.
“Percy is to stay here.” Sylvi pushed herself off the wall. “I’ll go.”
Percy settled a touched Torra’s shoulder. “I’ll make you a tea to calm you.”
The nod Torra gave was one of cultured politeness, the sort one would expect from a laird’s daughter. For all the time the woman had been in the dungeon, a part of her still had not been broken.
“I saw her. The white-haired woman.” Torra squeezed her hands together and placed them over her heart. “I saw her. She’s going to kill me.”
“The white-haired woman is going to kill you?” Delilah asked, her voice patient as ever.
Torra nodded and began to cry in snuffling sobs. “She’s here. She’s going to kill me.”
“We willna let anyone kill ye,” Kaid reassured her. “Describe this woman to me.”
Delilah put her hand on Kaid’s. “I need to get back to the solar. Claire went to get me food, and I fear she’ll worry since I’ve been gone so long.”
He nodded and was hit with the urge to let his lips brush over hers before she left. But now was not the time, nor the place. Instead he watched her as she gracefully strode from the room.
Percy appeared beside them and passed Torra a cup. The wet spicy scent of steeped herbs filled the room, and a curl of steam rose from the concoction.
“Drink this to calm yourself,” Percy said. “It tastes like flowers, and I’ve added some honey for good measure.”
Torra immediately sipped the tea.
Kaid’s patience began to ebb. “Who was the white-haired woman?”
“Her.” Torra turned to him. “She locked me up. She told me not to tell anyone he’s a bastard. She told me she’d kill me.” Her voice was thick with emotion.
Kaid shook his head. “I willna let her kill ye, but I need to know who she is.”
Torra nodded. “The one who locked me up, the one who told me she’d ki—”
Kaid put up a hand and the rambling ceased. “Who is she to have done this to ye?”
“Seumas’s grandmother,” she said.
“Seumas MacKenzie, ye mean—yer bastard brother?” Kaid asked.
Torra looked down at the tea. “Yes. She locked me up,” she said miserably. “She said she’d kill me.”
“And ye saw her here?” he asked.
Torra nodded toward the open window. “In the courtyard.”
Alarm spiked through Kaid. MacKenzie’s grandmother was at Ardvreck Castle.
Percy settled a hand on Torra’s shoulder again, the gesture soothing. “No one will hurt you now.” Her easy reassurance sent fresh tears rolling down Torra’s cheeks.
“I was just down in the courtyard. I dinna see anyone out of the ordinary.” He combed through his memory and shook his head.
Percy motioned to the tea and Torra obediently took a sip. “She left,” she said after she’d swallowed. “Through the other side of the courtyard from where ye were.”
Behind his damn back. “Who?” He had to fight to keep his demand from being too hard with his desperation. “What did she look like?”
“The same as she always has.” Torra shuddered. “Long white hair and a purple cloak.”
A chill went through Kaid’s veins. There was only one person who fit that description perfectly.
Rhona.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rhona was nowhere to be found.
The hairs on the back of Kaid’s neck prickled with unease.
He pushed his first and middle fingers against his temples to stave off the building pressure and entered Torra’s chamber once more.
She stood where she always did now, staring out the window overlooking the village in the distance.
Percy glanced up from her book and kept her finger on the page where she’d stopped reading.
“Ye canna find her, can ye?” Torra asked without looking at him. “Nathaira.”
“Nathaira?” he repeated. “Ye mean Rhona?”
“If that’s what she goes by here, then yes—Rhona. It has been some time since I’ve seen her at Edirdovar.” Torra turned from the window. The late afternoon sun glowed against her face and lit her red hair like a flame.
There was very little anxiety on her face now. She was regal in the deep blue gown of velvet with split sleeves and full skirts. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders in silver and red, and her back was straight and proud.
Percy’s teas had worked wonders.
“I knew she’d left with how she walked,” Torra said. “Too fast, desperate almost. She kept looking toward ye.”
“Do ye know where she’s going?” He figured he already knew the answer, but wondered if she might have better insight.
“To my half brother.” She spoke calmly, but a line of concern creased over her forehead. “If she knows I’ve escaped—if she tells him where I am and they find me—”
“We will protect ye no matter what.” Kaid hoped she would hear evidence of his genuine promise in every word he said.
She flicked a glance out the window before returning her haunted gaze toward him. “And if I do not feel safe, I can leave?”
It had been a generous offer Delilah had extended, a wild gamble. Though Kaid would never have been so daring as to propose freedom, he understood why she’d done it and still held tight to the hope it would pay off.
He nodded. “If that is what ye wish.”
Torra considered this a moment and drank another sip of tea before speaking again. “He will bring a powerful force to see me dead.
” She stared out the window and shuddered, as if she could already see the men coming over the hills.
“I’d rather bring a powerful force to see him dead—with you and I at the lead together,” Kaid said. His pulse raced with the danger of moving too quickly and frightening her. It was like reaching out the first time to stroke a skittish horse’s neck.
Torra swallowed and swung her gaze back toward him. “You truly want an alliance with me.”
Kaid gave a nod. “Ye’re the rightful laird to the MacKenzie clan.”
One of Torra’s fingernails dug against the edge of her thumb. “And ye’re just as serious about helping me reclaim my rightful place?”
Kaid’s heart swelled with a hope so great, it almost stole his breath. “Aye.”
“My father wanted this.” She spoke more to herself than to him and lifted her chin with a tilt of defiance. “Then gather yer men and tell yer clan. Ye will have an alliance with the MacKenzies, and I will take back my rightful place.”
Kaid bowed low. “Aye, Laird MacKenzie.”
She beamed and extended her arm to him, which he grasped as he would any man he respected.
“Percy, we will have a clan meeting at sunset with her. Will ye be able to have her prepared in time?” Kaid asked as he made his way toward the door. He would need to act quickly to gather everyone, and did not wish to put off the announcement until the following day.
Percy looked to Torra for confirmation, received it and nodded to Kaid. “That will not be a problem.”
It was all he needed. He pushed through the door from Torra’s chamber, victorious, and all but ran into Delilah.
Elation glowed through him and a smile pulled at his lips. The only thing better than having accomplished so wonderful a goal was having Delilah there to celebrate with him.
He caught her by the waist and spun her around. “She agreed.”
The happy confusion on Delilah’s face gave way to joy. “Oh, Kaid, that’s wonderful.”
He set her down and gently pressed her back against the wall, capturing her mouth in a kiss. Desire surged through his body, demanding to be sated.
If only he had more time.
Highland Ruse: Mercenary Maidens - Book Two Page 22
