Highlander Enchanted(58)
“Ye’ll no stay.”
“Am I not the Lady of this hold and clan now?” she demanded, squaring her shoulders.
“Lass,” Brian said, laughing, “Ye can frown and order me as ye wish, but I fear my cousin’s wrath more than yers.”
“Brian –”
“Marie will cure him, and he will defeat Duncan. But if ye’re here, he will worry about ye instead of fighting.”
She searched his gaze and then glanced towards the sleeping form of Cade. No part of her wanted to leave him before she knew for certain he was not in danger from the fever or infection.
“Ye leave at dawn, lass,” Brian said firmly and strode towards the door. “Rest. Without Cade awake to temper the storms, it’ll be a long, wet, tiring ride.” He left.
Isabel stood for a moment in the middle of the chamber. A gust of wind chilled her, and she crossed to the bed and climbed in at the edge, afraid to disturb Cade. Facing his sleeping form, she tried to convince herself Brian knew his cousin’s ability to fight off infection better than she did. Worry soon lost out to exhaustion. Her eyelids grew too heavy for her to keep them open any longer, and she drifted into deep sleep.
Chapter Nineteen
Isabel awoke with a start, groggy and tired. Someone smashed into the table beside the bed, and the bowl she had placed there clattered to the ground. She blinked away sleep.
If not for the clouds, the light of dawn would be shining into the room. Instead, the darkness was murky, as if she had awoken in a storm cloud. The hearth had burnt out, and the chamber outside her coverlets was chilly. The scent of rain was in the air.
Movement came from the same direction as the table, and she twisted and squinted, expecting Brian had come to wake her so they could leave. A dark figure in a cloak was replacing the pitcher he had knocked over.
“Brian?” she called. “Is it time to leave?”
He froze, the opening of his hood turning towards her. “Yes,” came the response almost too quiet to hear.
“I will dress,” she said and flung off the covers. Gathering her clothing from a trunk, she went to the corner opposite him, going through the motions to dress. When she was finished, she sat on the bench to pull on her boots.
He ran into the trunk at the base of the bed, and she paused in her task of tying her boots.
He had said yes instead of yea. Isabel peeked out from behind of the screen. The man in the cloak stood in the center of the chamber and look around him, as if unfamiliar with his surroundings.
A chill ran through her. She checked the pocket to ensure the blade Cade had given her was present, finished with her boots, and braided her hair. Gripping the hilt, she left the dressing screen.
The stranger was at the bed.
Fear fluttered through her at the thought of him hurting Cade. “I am prepared to travel,” she called.
The figure turned towards her and motioned her towards the door.
She breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to know Cade was safe at least from the intruder. Isabel walked slowly, hoping the stranger would leave the chamber with enough room for her to slam and bar the door behind him.
As if suspecting this, he stood in the doorway.
She drew nearer, trying to see his face. His hood was deep enough that even the corridor’s torchlight did not illuminate his features. He was well armed, dressed in well worn and well tailored clothing and boots.
Isabel stopped, heart pounding, the knife hidden behind her. “Who are you?” she whispered.
“Come with me, and I will not hurt you.” The man spoke in a low, harsh and broken voice, as if his throat had been damaged.
“No,” she replied and backed away.
He moved with the speed of a trained warrior. Reaching out to snatch her, he had her forearm briefly before she slashed at him with the dagger. Cursing quietly, the man glanced at the long, red mark across his arm.
Isabel backpedaled and sucked in a deep breath, ready to scream loud enough for the guards on the wall to hear her. The intruder snatched her again, this time twisting her wrist until she released the dagger with a cry of pain. He wrapped an arm around her and clapped a hand across her mouth.
She struggled and strained, managing to smash him in the shin with her kicks.
“If you do not cease, I will kill him in his sleep!” the man hissed.
Isabel froze, eyes on Cade’s sleeping form. She stopped.
“You will leave here with me, silently, or I return for him. Do you understand?”
She nodded, scared by the resolve of his broken voice.
The stranger released her and took her wrist in a gloved hand, pulling her towards the door.
With one last look over her shoulder, Isabel went.
He raced through the keep as if he knew it, slowing at intersections and before darting across opened doorways. She saw Cade’s clansmen more than once but did not scream, terrified of someone hurting Cade when he was unable to defend himself.
They broke free of the keep into the rain. The intruder hurried them towards the side gate facing the forest and yanked her through it. All but slinging her onto a horse, he mounted in front of her and kicked the beast into a run.
She hung onto him, soon drenched and shivering. The stranger found the trail through the forest and moved the horse to a quick walk. The forest lightened around them as dawn shifted to early morning.
Isabel tried to lean around him, to make out something about the person who captured her. He did not speak like a Highlander, and his voice was almost too low and quiet for her to make out anything else about it. She had feared him to be there on behalf of Richard at first, but the smug lord would not have sneaked her out. He would hire or bring his own army to claim her, since he believed her to be rightfully his.