Highland Rake

by Terry Spear

  "Are you no' going to defend your honor against such a remark?" Alana asked Angus.

  He laughed. "Oh, aye, 'tis a bonny barmaid Dougald wishes to see. But I dinna mind that he uses me as his excuse."

  She gave Dougald a smug knowing smile, thinking back to his comment about women and loving one to the exclusion of all others to the lad. "Just one?" she asked Angus.

  He smiled back at her, and she realized he had the most wickedly charming smile just like Dougald. She imagined then all the brothers were the same.

  Within the hour, they were drenched, the rain coming down is such thick sheets, the men stayed close together so they would not lose sight of one another as they made their way to the village.

  Dougald had even taken hold of her reins to ensure he didn't lose her. She didn't believe he thought she'd run away, but that he might lose sight of her in the deluge.

  By the time they reached the tavern, she felt as though she weighed a hundred more pounds as wet as her clothes were. The ground was slippery and muddy, and Dougald gave up his reins and hers to one of the men, then helped her down from her horse, only he wasn't letting her go.

  She didn't mind. It was bad enough that she was soaking wet all the way to the skin, but she didn't want to add a layer of mud to that.

  He hurried her inside with all haste, his brother and Gunnolf leading the way, his cousin and a couple of the other men following behind them, the rest taking the horses to be stabled.

  As soon as they walked inside, the laughter and talking subsided and every eye was upon them. The place smelled of ale and mead and of something cooking, roasted boar, she thought.

  Men sat at five of the long tables. Although some moved to another table when Dougald's men arrived, many greeting him, and she assumed he was a regular.

  "I will get you a room so you can get out of your clothes and dry them by the fire," Dougald said. "The rest of you, have a seat."

  "Did you want me to bring up something for the lady?" Angus asked.

  Dougald waited for Alana to say. "Nay, thank you." She was shaking so hard, all she wanted to do was get out of her wet things and get warmed up by the fire. A woman brought him a key to a room.

  "What about the rest of you?" Alana asked, concerned any of them could become ill.

  "We will get another room. The men can strip down and dry off there."

  She couldn't help the heat that crept across her neck and cheeks. All she could think of was the way she'd seen those same men naked in the loch.

  He took her upstairs and into the room, then removed the brooch on her cloak and laid the brat out on a bench near the fire, setting the pin on top of it. "Did you need help with your léine?"

  She held her hand to her breast, not wanting to look so surprised, or shocked, but she couldn't help herself. "Nay," she said, sounding so upset, he smiled.

  "I was going to send up a maid. I would not make a good lady's maid, Lady Alana."

  "Of…of course."

  "You willna be going anywhere, will you?" he said, still not leaving her alone.

  "Nay, of course no'."

  "I have your word?"

  "In this weather? I would catch my death."

  "Aye, you would. I will fetch a maid at once." Then Dougald left her, locked her in—so he didn't trust her as much as she thought he might—although he might have done so to keep other men from intruding.

  She sat down on the wooden bench and began to remove her stockings and boots. She was shaking so hard from the cold she could barely make her fingers work.

  Someone unlocked the door and a bonny woman around Alana's age hurried into the room, her hair dark and her eyes a pale brown, and dark brows knit in a tight frown. She closed the door. "I am no lady's maid, but I will see what I can do for ye. Ye look like a drowned rat."

  Alana should have been angered by the woman's condescending words, but she found her comment too funny and laughed.

  The woman stared at her for moment, probably surprised to get that reaction, then roughly hurried to help Alana out of her léine. "Ye know Dougald well?" the woman asked.

  "Oh, aye," Alana said, and realized the pretty woman was probably the maid Angus had mentioned Dougald had been seeing. "I had considered marrying him as he has said he loves me more than he has ever loved a lass. But alas, I have fallen in love with another."

  "You would be foolish to believe he would love only one lass." The woman smiled at her, and Alana assumed this was indeed the wench Angus had referred to that Dougald wished to reacquaint himself with.

  Which reminded Alana that Dougald was no better than her brother when it came to dallying with the lasses. She shouldn't have cared, but she did. Mayhap because she'd wish the way he'd held her so close on his horse had meant he felt she was someone special to him. Someone who appealed in the flesh and not just to be bargained with as in MacDonald's case if her uncle was arranging for her marriage to Hoel.

  She helped Alana out of her sopping wet chemise, then handed her a drying cloth. "I have no' clothes to loan ye as Dougald asked. Climb under the covers, and ye can get warm that way."

  "Thank you."

  The woman nodded, then hurried out of the room and locked the door.

  Alana had barely slipped under the covers when her brother appeared, and she shrieked.

  And knew at once her mistake.

  Chapter 9

  "Get out!" Alana screamed at her ghostly brother as he appeared in the tavern room, giving her a fright. She pulled her covers higher as her heart pounded and blood raced.

  "Someone has to stay here and protect your virtue," her brother said, leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest, obviously not about to do as she bid.

  Heavy footsteps tromped up the stairs at a run.

  Connell unsheathed his sword and watched the door. Alana stared at the door, waiting for a whole pack of men to come barging into the room to rescue her. Hoping to stop the inevitable and save her pride, she held the covers up to her chin and called out, "I am all right."

  The key poked into the lock with such ferocity, she thought the bearer of the key could have slain a villain with the brass object alone. The door slammed against the wall and Dougald, sword in hand, rushed to the bed while Gunnolf and Angus followed, both with swords drawn. Niall stayed in the doorway, guarding it. Gunnolf checked the window and made sure it was locked. Angus was peering under the bed.

  Dougald raised his brows at her when everyone confirmed no one was in the room besides her.

  "It…was a rat," she managed to get out, giving her ghostly brother a glower. He cast her a small smile and resheathed his sword.

  She let out her breath, holding her covers tightly under her chin as if they might somehow slip down and reveal any naked part of her. Even her bare arms were too much for these men to see, but she was afraid to release the wool coverlet.

  "I am sorry. I told you I was all right. You had no need to check on me. I am fine. Go back to what you were doing," she said to Dougald, his gaze steady on hers, judging her sincerity, she felt.

  Dougald nodded to the others, but as they left the room and shut the door, he didn't leave. She noted her brother hadn't either. He was waiting, observing Dougald as if he would fight him to the death if he so much as touched Alana. As if her brother could truly do anything about it. On top of that, it was his fault Dougald was here in the first place.

  "You didna see a rat." Dougald sat down on the bed beside her.

  She looked at her brother. He was too a rat. How could he invade her privacy and keep scaring her to death if he wasn't? He could knock…well, she guessed he couldn't. But still…

  "Alana," Dougald said, drawing her attention. "Did you see who murdered your da?"

  Her eyes widened. Oh God, he had heard her speaking the words to her brother. Had Dougald been crouching in front of her the whole time? Only she had seen her brother instead of Dougald?

  "I…I dinna know what you mean."

  "You said they were
on the hunt. Your da and the others, and that you were with them. That you had hidden beneath the fallen leaves. It had been near winter when your da and his men had been attacked. Did you see any of the men who murdered them?"

  She shook her head. For all she knew, they could have been some of the MacNeill. That Dougald and the others had not taken part, but had arrived late to discover the carnage. Would the word spread through his clan that she'd witnessed the murders?

  When she didn't answer, Dougald asked, "Who were you talking to?"

  She opened her mouth, paused, then said, "I…I wasna talking to anyone." Then it sounded like she knew just when he meant and that wouldn't do. "You mean, before you reached the room?"

  "At the camp. I came to wake you, but you were already awake and talking to someone."

  He couldn't have heard everything she'd said then. "I was asleep."

  "You were looking straight at me."

  "I was asleep," she insisted, a lot more vehemently.

  "You called me…or him, rather, Connell. Your brother? The one who died a while ago?"

  She felt as though all the blood had drained from her face.

  Connell clapped his hands. She heard him, though no one else could, but it earned a glower from her just the same.

  Dougald glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at Alana. "Is he…here now? Standing over there? Protecting you?"

  Alana stared at Dougald, her lips parted, her eyes misty with tears. Other than the times she'd mentioned about people she'd seen who she thought had still been alive, she had never told anyone she saw the dead and spoke with them as if they were still among the living. How could she ignore them when they were so real to her? And sought her attention?

  "Alana, is your brother here with us now?"

  She couldn't believe Dougald would ask her that. She couldn't help looking back at Connell as if confirming to herself he was still there. Which of course he was. He shrugged at her as if he couldn't help her out, and she was on her own when he was the cause of the trouble. Well, at least this time.

  "Nay," she said to Dougald. She couldn't tell him the truth. How could she? But then she realized she didn't act indignant that he said such a thing to her. She couldn't rectify her mistake that quickly without him becoming even more suspicious.

  "Did he tell you to say that?" Dougald asked.

  Connell laughed.

  She glowered at her brother.

  "All right." Dougald let out his breath. "Your secret is safe with me, lass."

  She wanted to ask him if his brother and cousin and Gunnolf had also overheard everything she had said to her brother at the camp. Would her secret be safe with them as well?

  "A man will be posted outside your room at all times for safety sake. A meal will be brought up later. I dinna believe you got much sleep last night. Take a rest and I will be up to see you in a while."

  "Thank you, Dougald."

  He patted her bare arm, and she felt her cheeks warm.

  Seeing her blush, he smiled, then he grew serious. "I just want to say one more thing. My sister by marriage to Malcolm, Lady Anice, sees…glimpses of the future. I canna say I wasna concerned about her visions when I first learned of them. But I have come to believe her special sight is a gift and no' a curse. Mayhap what you see is just as much of a gift."

  Her brother smiled and nodded at her. She scowled at him.

  "Just let whomsoever is guarding your door know if you require anything," Dougald finished.

  "Thank you."

  Then Dougald looked in Connell's direction and said with a brusque tone, "Protect her if you must, but in a way that doesna scare her half to death."

  "I rather like him," Connell said to Alana.

  "You should. He is a rake just like you…were," she amended, then saw Dougald studying her.

  Her whole body heated all over again.

  "I will be back in a little while," Dougald said.

  She knew then he believed that she truly spoke to ghosts, that Connell was standing against the wall looking smugly satisfied, and that she should never have allowed her brother to get the best of her. She was usually so careful with keeping up her guard. With the other ghostly entities, they had found their way home after a short time. Not so with Connell, and she was getting too lax with seeing him come and go. She would have to be much more diligent in watching what she said to him when the living might be close by.

  Would Dougald tell the others? Mayhap not. She hoped not.

  Dougald leaned over and brushed her forehead with a whisper soft kiss that warmed every part of her all over again, and she quickly looked to see Connell's expression.

  Connell shook his head, but smiled again at her.

  So, he approved of Dougald because he wasn't concerned she could see ghosts?

  "I will return." Dougald again looked in Connell's direction, nodded to him, then left the room, locking the door behind him.

  "I like him," Connell said. "You could do worse."

  "He is a rake like you!"

  "Mayhap you will be the lassie he loves above all else."

  "You were listening the whole time! At the campfire."

  Connell smiled. "I love it when your feathers are ruffled. Not a soul who was there was sleeping, Alana. They may have had their eyes closed, but they were smiling."

  She turned away from her brother and closed her eyes.

  "And for your information, dear sister, I have no' been with a woman since…since…hmm, the predicament I found myself in."

  "You are dead!"

  "You need no' keep reminding me. I well know what has happened."

  Tears filled her eyes as she studied her brother's expression and thought for the first time he truly looked repentant. "I am sorry, Connell. I miss you, you know."

  "I know, lass. And I…hate myself for leaving you alone without protection. I should have been there for you until you were married and your husband could protect you."

  Was that why her brother stayed with her? Because he had to see her married off? She didn't know why the ghosts came to her, stayed with her for a time, and then finally departed her world. Or why he seemed to be taking so long to find his way to his final resting place.

  "I will be all right, Connell. You need no' feel as though you have to stay with me to protect me."

  He shook his head. "I dinna know why I canna leave you, lass. But I canna. Rest, as Dougald said for you to do. The rain willna let up, mayhap no' even until the morn. You still have a long day's ride to Craigly Castle."

  She closed her eyes then, weary, worried about how she'd be received, what James would decide to do with her, and fearful Dougald would tell his clan how she could commune with the dead.

  ***

  Dougald returned to the table downstairs to join Gunnolf and Angus, and drank the tankard of ale that Angus had ordered for him, wondering if Alana truly had seen her father's murder. If so, would she be able to identify any of the men? If she could, it had been so long ago, most likely no one would believe her.

  "What was that all about?" Angus asked, his voice low for Dougald's ears only. Although Gunnolf leaned in to hear also.

  "She saw a rat."

  "Nay, she didna," Angus said, looking annoyed with Dougald.

  "A ghost of a rat rather," Dougald said.

  Angus smiled. "Now that I believe. We had heard her dead father had seen her home safely after he was murdered. Think you she truly sees the dead?"

  "Some, mayhap. Close family, if 'tis what I suspect."

  "Good, if 'tis only close family. Otherwise our sister might plague her also."

  Dougald had not considered that. He shook his head.

  "Who is the rat?" Angus asked.

  "Her brother."

  Angus leaned back on the bench and raised his brows. "Connell. He was murdered a while ago."

  "Aye."

  "He made her shriek?" Angus asked.

  "Imagine being a naked lassie, who suddenly sees a dead brother appear
in the room she is staying in. Would you no' shriek in fright?" Dougald asked, sounding annoyed.

  Angus grinned. "I never imagined myself being a lassie." Then he grew thoughtful. "But I see your point. What do you think James will do about her?"

  The maid came up to the table and smiled at Dougald as if Gunnolf and Angus were not even there. "I am free in a wee bit."

  Dougald shook his head. "But I will take more ale."

  She frowned at him. "She says she isna yours. That she loves another."

  Dougald smiled up at her. "The lady? She was shy about declaring her love for me to a perfect stranger. We will wed as soon as we are able."

  Angus choked on his ale. Niall joined them at the table and slapped Dougald on the back. "A wedding? When did this happen?"

  It wasn't happening, he wanted to tell his companions. He just wanted Ragnall to know he was not interested in her today or any other.

  Then Ragnall's scowl quickly changed into a calculating smile. "Aye, and when you tire of her bed, you know where I will be. I will bring more ale." She bounced off as if she was perfectly pleased with the idea.

  Niall took a seat across from Dougald. "Think you James will go along with your plan?"

  "There isna a plan," Dougald growled low under his breath.

  They all laughed.

  "You know," Angus said, still smiling, "the lasses will soon get word of this and some will shun you if you come to see them."

  "And others," Niall said, having just as much fun with this, motioned with his tankard toward Ragnall, "will be just like the wench. The sport so much more intriguing when you are wed."

  Wanting to get them off the subject, Dougald said, "The lass witnessed her da's murder."

  Everyone's expression instantly turned somber.

  "But there has never been any word as to who had done such a deed," Niall said. "If the lass knew—"

  "She said she didna. But she was there. Hiding. Buried by leaves. What if she had seen one of the men, or more of them than that?"

  "Would they have not killed the lass already?" Gunnolf asked, his face dark with concern. "Even if she had not seen them, they wouldna know that for certain. They could not risk her telling what she saw."