‘I am safe!’ Leona told herself. ‘I am safe!’
She stood for a moment looking down at the cascade knowing that, once she was behind the veil of water, she would be safely concealed in the cave that had hidden the Chieftains of the McCairns after Culloden.
She remembered that few people knew of its existence. ‘I am safe!’ she thought again. ‘Thank you, God.’
She raised her face to the stars, realising now that there was no hurry and some hours must pass before dawn.
Then, feeling suddenly very tired, she moved down to the rushing water.
Without much difficulty she found the place where Lord Strathcairn had pulled aside the heather to show her the narrow passage along which she could move behind the cascade.
It was very dark in the cavern, but she was no longer afraid and moved forward confidently into the darkness to sink down onto the floor against a boulder that supported her back.
She stretched out her legs in front of her and saw that her stockings were torn to pieces and there were tears in the hem of her gown.
But that was of no consequence, just as it did not matter that her legs were scratched and bleeding. Although she had not even felt the roughness of the twigs and the thistles she had scrambled through, the scratches were now beginning to smart.
‘I have escaped! I have escaped!’ Leona whispered.
But, remembering again the horror that she had felt when the Marquis tried to get into her room, she still trembled at the thought of him.
‘I have to – plan what I shall – do now,’ she told herself, but found it difficult to think coherently.
Forcing her brain to work, she decided that when it was daybreak she would start walking towards Cairn Castle.
She was sure that the stalkers who were watching on Lord Strathcairn’s instructions would tell him of her arrival.
‘I shall ask him to lend me money to return home with,’ she thought. ‘At least if the house is not yet sold, I can stay there until I find some work to do.’
If in fact the farmer had found a purchaser, then she would have enough money to keep her from starvation.
‘There is no one else I can – ask except – Lord Strathcairn,’ she thought helplessly.
She knew it would be an agony to see him again and a humiliation that she must accept his assistance, but there was no alternative.
At the same time even to think of him was to feel an agonising pain within her heart because he had deceived her.
She knew now that he was everything she had longed for and hoped to find in a man.
The sense of protection he had given her when he had held her in his arms had awakened her love even before he kissed her.
Never again in her life, she thought despairingly, would she be able to feel for a man that same inexpressible rapture and wonder.
She felt the tears gather in her eyes at the thought of what she had lost.
Then she told herself severely that this was not the time to weep over her lost love, rather she must make sure of being able to return to her own home in England.
The thought of going back to the emptiness and the loneliness without her mother was so poignant that Leona put her hands up to her eyes.
‘Help me – Mama – help me!’ she prayed.
But her prayer seemed to be lost in the sound of the cascading water and all she could remember was Lord Strathcairn’s head silhouetted against it when he had taken her in his arms and his lips had found hers.
Because she was so unhappy, so desolate and still so afraid, she allowed herself for a moment to remember the wonder of his kiss and the ecstasy he had evoked in her.
It had been something so exquisite and so spiritual that even now she could hardly credit that he had been acting a lie in letting her believe that he was free to express his love.
“Oh, Torquil, how could you?” she murmured, then resolutely fought against the tears which threatened to overwhelm her.
Because she was so exhausted by her ordeal in The Castle and by her panic stricken climb up the side of the hill, Leona sank lower on the floor of the cave.
Finally she lay down on the sand and with her hands beneath her cheek she fell asleep.
*
“My darling, what has happened? Why are you here?” Leona heard a voice say.
Unbelievably Lord Strathcairn was beside her and was pulling her into his arms.
For a second she was only conscious of a wild irresistible joy because he was there and that he was touching her.
“I could not believe it when I was awakened at dawn, when one of my keepers, who has been up all night trying to shoot a fox, reported that he had seen you cross the boundary!” Lord Strathcairn said in his deep voice.
With an effort Leona thrust aside her happiness and the sense of security he always gave her and tried to move from his encircling arms.
“I-I was – h-hiding,” she stammered.
“But why? And from whom?” Lord Strathcairn asked. He looked down at her feet and saw her torn stockings and the congealed blood on her legs.
“You are hurt!”
“I had to – get away and this was the only place I could – come to.”
He pulled her a little closer to him as he asked quietly, “Tell me what happened?”
She turned her face against his shoulder, struggling for words, fighting for self-control as the terror of the night swept over her.
“The – Duke, wants me to – marry his – son!” she whispered. “But he is – he is not – normal, there is something wrong with him from birth and I cannot love him!” “My God!”
Lord Strathcairn held her so tightly that she could hardly breathe.
“Is that really the truth?” he asked after a moment. “Could the Duke really conceive such a plan?”
“I – saw the Marquis, then – then he tried to – enter my room.”
She felt that Lord Strathcairn was stunned into silence and went on quickly,
“But the door was – locked and, when he had – gone away, I – came here.”
“Thank God you did!” Lord Strathcairn ejaculated. “I will take you home with me, my precious. Come, you are cold.”
He pulled Leona’s shawl around her protectively and for the first time she realised that it was both chill and damp in the cavern.
She had, however, been too preoccupied to notice it before and only now, when the first daylight was filtering through the cascade, could she see that the sides of the cave were streaked with damp.
Lord Strathcairn drew her to her feet.
“When we get to Cairn Castle,” he said, “you must have a hot bath and something warm to drink. Then you need no longer think of what you have left behind.”
There was something so caressing and comforting in his voice that Leona weakly let it beguile her.
Although she thought she ought to tell him that she knew about his wife, she could not bring the words to her lips.
He went ahead of her to draw back the heather and she emerged to find that the pale rays of sunshine just rising in the East were sweeping away the last remnants of the night.
It glinted in Leona’s eyes, making her feel that she was dazzled by the fresh loveliness of the morning.
Lord Strathcairn let the heather fall back into place, then, putting his arm around her shoulders, he drew her forward to where she knew that his horse would be waiting.
Then, as they took a few steps round the hillock, they both stopped simultaneously and Leona gave a little gasp of fright.
Standing by Lord Strathcairn’s horse were five men, tall, bearded and all wearing the McArdn tartan.
She knew without being told that they were the Duke’s men, who had been sent in search of her.
Even if no one had seen her climbing the hill, she thought that the Duke would have guessed she would go over the boundary onto the Strathcairn land.
When her pursuers reached the Cairn, they would have seen the riderless horse.
&nbs
p; As if to reassure her, Lord Strathcairn’s arm tightened as he asked,
“What do you want?”
“His Grace instructed us, my Lord, to find the lady and bring her back to The Castle.”
“I am taking Miss Grenville home with me,” Lord Strathcairn replied.
“We’ve had our orders, my Lord.”
There was an uncomfortable silence and Leona was aware that Lord Strathcairn was speculating what chance he had of opposing five determined men.
Before he could speak, there was a sound behind them and Leona glanced around to see yet another man appear over the boundary. He was leading one of the Ardness ponies used by the sportsmen on the Duke’s moor.
It carried a side-saddle and she realised that the Duke had been quite confident his men would find her and force her back.
She had a sudden fear that Lord Strathcairn might do something rash and hastily, before he could speak, she said in a whisper.
“I must go – with them.”
“I think we have no alternative,” he said quietly, “but we will go together.”
He saw the relief in her eyes. As the horse reached them, he lifted her in his arms and set her on the saddle.
“Try not to be afraid,” he said. “I will look after you.”
Leona’s heart gave a leap of gladness. Then she remembered it would be impossible for him really to protect her, since he could not offer her marriage.
He might oppose the Duke’s plans, he might try to argue that she should not be forced into doing anything against her will, but she thought miserably the Duke had the upper hand.
‘He is to all intents and purposes my Guardian,’ she told herself, ‘and Torquil is only an outsider, a man who can have no claims on me whatsoever.’
And yet somehow, some irrepressible instinct within her told that her she could trust him.
In fact, because of her love, it was impossible to think anything else.
Whatever he had done, whatever had happened in the past, she loved him so that everything else sank into insignificance.
The keeper leading the horse that Leona was riding moved ahead. Lord Strathcairn followed behind her on his and the five Clansmen walked behind them.
Leona wondered as they started the long descent back to The Castle whether the Duke was watching from one of the windows, triumphant that he had succeeded in bringing her back, certain that she would find it impossible to defy him again.
It took them some time to descend the hill that Leona had climbed so quickly the night before.
Even the hill pony slipped occasionally on the loose stones and despite the fact that she was being led back like a prisoner of war, Leona was glad of the keeper’s restraining hand on the bridle.
On reaching the bottom of the Glen they did not go through the garden as Leona had done, but instead took the road that led up the drive so that finally they arrived at the great iron-hinged front door.
It was open and the Major Domo stood waiting in the entrance and there were a number of other servants behind him.
He glanced at Lord Strathcairn as if in surprise, then without a word led the way through the Hall and up the wide staircase.
Now that it was possible to walk side-by-side, Lord Strathcairn took Leona’s hand in his and held it tightly.
Her fingers were very cold and he felt them tremble.
“It’s all right, my darling,” he said in a low voice that only she could hear, “do not be afraid. You know that I will protect you.”
She wanted to answer him, but her voice seemed to have died in her throat and her lips were dry.
She was suddenly conscious of how strange she must look in her thin pink gown that her mother had once said made her look like a rosebud, with her fair hair falling loose over her shoulders and her eyes very large and frightened in her pale face.
The Major Domo reached the top of the stairs ahead of them and opened the door of the Duke’s Room.
“Miss Grenville, Your Grace and Lord Strathcairn!” His voice seemed to ring out.
The Duke was standing waiting for them on the hearthrug looking, Leona thought, even more autocratic and more intimidating than usual.
One glance at his face was enough to tell her that he was extremely angry. There was a frown between his eyes and beneath his thick grey eyebrows his eyes seemed to glitter ominously.
He looked at Leona and then at Lord Strathcairn.
“I did not invite you here, Strathcairn,’ he said after a moment’s pause.
“You are well aware why I have come,” Lord Strathcairn replied.
“I am aware of nothing! As I have told you before, what happens in my County, on my land and in my Castle is none of your business!”
“I have made it my business,” Lord Strathcairn replied. “As I wish to speak amicably to Your Grace on this occasion, I suggest that our disagreements of yesterday are not brought into the matter which concerns us both at this moment.”
“I told you when you last spoke to me,” the Duke said, “that we had nothing more to say to each other and that, as far as I was concerned, you and your Clan, which has little importance beside mine, had ceased to exist. I see no reason to change my mind.”
“There is every reason, Your Grace,” Lord Strathcairn corrected. “But what concerns us at the moment is Leona Grenville.”
“She is no concern of yours!” the Duke retorted sharply.
“That is untrue and, because, as I have already said, nothing is to be gained by a violent disagreement and it might in fact disturb Leona, I wish to put my suggestions to you quietly and without anger.”
He paused to ask in a conversational tone,
“May I sit down?”
“No!” the Duke ejaculated harshly. “You have come here without my permission. I will not offer you my hospitality and, if you do not leave when I request you to do so, I will have you forcibly removed by my servants!”
Leona trembled at the violence in the Duke’s voice.
Lord Strathcairn, feeling her agitation took his arm from her and walked nearer to the Duke.
“I am trying to talk to Your Grace in a sensible, reasonable way,” he said. “Will you hear what I have to say? Let Leona express her point of view, then perhaps you will begin to understand that what you are contemplating is completely and absolutely impossible!”
“How dare you challenge my authority!” the Duke stormed.
He glared at Lord Strathcairn as he spoke.
As the two men faced each other defiantly, Leona heard a movement just behind her.
She thought it must be a servant and turned her head. Then seeing who was approaching her, she gave a little cry and instinctively flung out her hand towards Lord Strathcairn.
But she was too late!
It was the Marquis who had come into the room, moving in a surreptitious way that had not attracted attention until he had reached Leona’s side.
“Leona – pretty – Leona,” he stuttered.
He picked her up in his arms and, as she screamed, carried her away.
Both Lord Strathcairn and the Duke started forward, but the Marquis ran out of the room.
She screamed again as he rushed down the corridor with her in his arms, his feet thumping noisily as he moved with an ungainly gait, but at the same time incredibly swiftly.
Passing the top of the stairs he ran down the corridor on the other side of it holding Leona so tightly that she could scarcely breathe let alone scream.
She tried to struggle, but his arms were like bands of steel and she knew that there was an almost diabolical strength in his madness.
They reached the end of the corridor and now she could hear voices behind them and the sound of men running.
The Marquis pulled open the door of the tower and she had a glimpse of the stone stairs leading upwards before he pulled her even closer against him and her face was buried in his coat.
Up the stairs he pounded and again she tried to struggle, but without avail.<
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They reached the landing at the top.
There the Marquis paused for a moment to drag down from the wall a claymore, which rested beneath a shield.
The Duke had told Leona when she first visited the tower that they were the weapons kept by the ancient guards who watched for their enemies.
The Marquis dragged Leona through the door onto the roof of the tower and slammed it behind him.
“Let me – go!” she began to scream frantically, then realised that it was not the way to deal with him.
She looked up into the Marquis’s face.
She could see by the glitter in his eyes and the saliva on his wet lips that he was in the grip of some insane frenzy.
“Put me down – Euan,” she asked gently.
“Leona – mine!” he shouted fiercely. “My – wife – I – want – you!”
“You are hurting me,” Leona said, “and that is unkind.” The quietness in her voice seemed to have some effect upon him.
“Pretty – Leona,” he burbled. “Pretty – pretty – Leona.”
But there was still a terrifyingly wild look in his eyes.
“Please put me down,” Leona pleaded. “I want to tidy my hair so that it will look pretty.”
He was so strong and so large that she realised he could hold her completely immobile with one arm and she would not be able to move.
In his other hand he held the claymore.
Slowly, reluctantly, he let her feet touch the ground.
With a superhuman effort, Leona forced herself to smile at him. “Thank you,” she said. “You are kind, Euan.”
“Kind – to – Leona,” he said slowly. “My – wife – mine!”
Horrified, she tried to move a little away from him, frightened that if she did anything hastily, he would clutch at her again.
Then, as he stood looking at her and felt that there was something in his scrutiny and his shining eyes to which she dare not put a name, the door from the tower burst open behind them.
It was the Duke who stood there.
“Come here at once, Euan!” he commanded. “Do you hear me? Come here!”
The Marquis turned his head and Leona thought with a sensation of relief that he was going to obey the Duke.
Then he stepped forward and with a sudden thrust drove the claymore into his father’s chest!
The Secret of the Glen Page 12
