Highland Wolf (Highland Brides #10)(52)

Rushing to the foot of the bridge, he watched with his heart in his throat until she reached the other side. Once there, she turned and beamed a smile that didn’t hide her own relief at reaching land safely.

“Lovey weighs more than me, so I thought mayhap if he crossed safely, I could too,” she explained, and then—looking quite pleased with herself—added, “And I did.”

“Aye,” he said grimly, his gaze dropping to what was left of the drawbridge as he debated whether it might hold his weight as well.

“Nephew?”

Sighing, he turned sideways at his aunt’s pleasant enquiry, and then automatically stepped back when he saw how close she was. He only realized what she was up to when his uncle began to shout in alarm.

“Annabel, do no’ e’en think about—Ah, damn!” Ross MacKay ended with disgust as his wife traipsed across the drawbridge with their daughter on her heels.

Conall glanced from the drawbridge to his uncle, debating the matter, and then was suddenly bumped to the side. His uncle caught him when he stumbled forward, but the man’s eyes were huge in his head and staring past him when Conall regained his feet and straightened. A bad feeling in his gut, he turned at once and was just in time to see Stubborn Bastard trot across the small strip of bridge too. The wood trembled and creaked and Conall swore he heard a cracking sound or two, but the horse made it to the other side and walked straight to Claray to nuzzle her shoulder.

“Well, Gannon did say the horse followed her around like a dog,” his uncle muttered, shaking his head.

Conall didn’t respond. He was watching his wife, who had turned to caress the stallion’s neck, and was crooning, “Who’s a brave boy! Aye, you are. Are ye no’ clever to test it fer the men? What a brave Stubborn Bastard. Aye, ye’re a good boy!”

“She’s unmanned the poor beast,” Gilly said in a mournful tone as he joined them to watch the powerful horse respond to Claray’s coos by licking her cheek and forehead. “She’ll be tyin’ bows around his neck, or some sech thing next.”

Conall shook his head with disgust and started across the drawbridge. If the damned thing could hold a horse that weighed close to two tons, it could surely hold him. At least that’s what he told himself as he moved quickly across the narrow strip of bridge. Despite those reassurances to himself, Conall was more than a little relieved when he reached the other side without falling through into the moat below, which, despite how it had looked from the hill, was still a moat. The surface of the water though was covered with some kind of bright green algae that he didn’t think he’d like to fall into.

Pausing once he reached solid ground, Conall surveyed the curtain wall. Now that he was close, he could see that it was green from moss and mold growing on it. He surveyed it briefly, considering how he would get rid of it or if he even should. The covering would be slick and make it harder for anyone to scale the wall, he thought, and then glanced over his shoulder, unsurprised to see that his uncle, cousin, Roderick, Hamish and his uncle’s men Gilly and Machar were following him over the bridge one after the other. The rest of the men waited on the other side with the horses. Deciding that was a good thing, Conall turned toward the women, but they weren’t there.

Eyes wide, he surveyed his surroundings and just glimpsed Stubborn Bastard’s tail end disappearing into the forest of trees now filling his bailey. Knowing the beast was following his lady wife, Conall instinctively looked down to where the wolf had been moments ago, not surprised to find the beast was also gone.

“Lovey went with yer wife,” Roderick told him with amusement.

“O’ course he did,” Conall said dryly, but then frowned and added, “Though it may be a good thing. He and Stubborn Bastard’ll keep the ladies safe if any wild animals ha’e taken up residence in the bailey or keep.”

“Damn,” his uncle said with realization, concern crossing his face as he peered to where the women had disappeared. “There could be animals in there.”

“I’m sure there are lots o’ them,” Payton said with a shrug. “Stoats, pine martens, birds.”

“That’s fine, but I’m more concerned with larger more feral animals like wildcats.”

“Or boars,” Roderick added grimly.

“I had no’ thought o’ that,” Payton said with sudden concern.

“Neither had I ’til this minute,” Conall admitted on a sigh, and when his uncle and the other men started into the bailey to chase after the women, he turned quickly to Hamish. “Divide the men into three parts. A hundred are to stay on the other side o’ the moat to watch the horses and guard against anyone approaching. Another fifty are to sort out the issue o’ a temporary, or e’en a permanent, new bridge if they can find old leftover tools somewhere in the bailey. They can use the trees growing inside fer wood,” he added.

Hamish nodded. “And the other half o’ the men?”

“Four on each wall to keep a lookout, if the stairs are passable,” he instructed. “I want the rest to spread out and search the bailey and buildings fer any man or beast who may ha’e set up residence while the keep was empty. Select them first, and quickly,” he added firmly, growing more anxious as he considered the possibility that not just wildcats or boars may have made their home here over the last twenty-two years, but bandits and outcasts too . . . and the women could be heading straight into their midst.