The Accidental Highland Hero

  Och, she could slug the rogue if it were not that Nesta would tell everyone and it would get back to James. Then he’d want to know why she had struck his cousin. She was certain James would not appreciate his cousin’s teasing her. She wanted to ask Niall what he meant, but she didn’t truly want to hear what she feared everyone was saying.

  “Nesta, straighten the chamber.” Niall motioned to the guest chamber.

  “Aye, my laird.” Furrowing her brow, Nesta didn’t look happy to be dismissed.

  After he shut the chamber door, he led Eilis to James’s chamber, and her heart beat wildly. Surely he did not think she had succumbed to James’s charms and now would Niall’s? In James’s own chamber, for heaven’s sakes?

  Niall shut James’s door. “Who is Fia?” He leaned against the solid wood, his arms folded.

  She couldn’t have been more surprised when he asked about Fia and apparently had no notion of attempting to seduce her. Her heart slowed with the realization.

  He was handsome and arrogant, just like James, but she would not be forced to say a thing. How could she? She didn’t have a clue who Fia was.

  “The lady in Glen Affric?” Niall persisted. “She has kin who married into Eanruig’s line. I did not get the whole story because James and Eanruig had to rush off—”

  “Why?”

  “His brother, Dougald, is long overdue in arriving here.”

  Her mouth dropped, and the notion that his brother might be in trouble made her forget her own woes for the moment. “His brother? What of the others?”

  “They were still at Castle Brecken. But Dougald traveled with Gunnolf, a friend, and both are missing.”

  “I…I am sorry.”

  “Aye, so about this Fia…”

  “I do not know any Fia.”

  Niall cast her a small smile. “Somehow, lass, I knew you would say that.” He gave her a nonchalant shrug. “Then I will have to wait until Eanruig returns to hear the whole story.”

  “Do you not worry about Dougald and the other?”

  “Nay. I fear more for whoever tangles with the two of them.” Niall escorted her to her chamber and bowed his head. “Until later, lass. Although without James around, I imagine you will not become indisposed again.” He smiled. “Lady Catriona will be a terror when she sees you.”

  He shut the door on his departure, and as soon as he did, Nesta began talking. “’Tis a shame about Dougald and Gunnolf. I hope His Lairdship finds them in one piece, or there will be another battle waged like the one twenty summers ago when I was but a wee lass. ‘Twas a horrible thing with heavy losses on both…”

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “…sides. We have been fortunate not to have another one so terrible as that.” Nesta opened the door and curtsied.

  Her face flushed, Nighinn walked into the chamber without invitation. Her blue eyes still glittered with menace. Since she was James’s cousin, Eilis didn’t feel she had any right in telling the woman to go away. Yet that’s what she would have done had the circumstances been different.

  “Fetch us some mead,” Nighinn ordered Nesta.

  Nesta glanced at Eilis, her dark eyes worried, but then she hurriedly obeyed.

  When the door closed, Nighinn remained standing, her hands clenched tightly together. “I have learned from the servants that James is keeping you under guard in this chamber. Why, if you are seeking James’s hand, would that be so?”

  “Mayhap His Lairdship is concerned I will have unwelcome visitors to my chamber.”

  The woman’s lips lifted slightly, but her eyes remained flat. “Mayhap ‘tis because you are his prisoner. ‘Twould be in my best interest to help you leave here. He should not be keeping you against your will.”

  Hope skittered through Eilis that she might have a chance to leave this place far behind. But she really didn’t trust James’s cousin. On the other hand, she might not have any better means of escape. Rashly, she said, “I accept.” And prayed she wouldn’t regret her hasty decision.

  For the first time since Eilis had met her, Nighinn gave her a full-fledged smile. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, rather one borne of contempt, with a hint of greedy design. “Excellent. Niall is looking for someone to serve as your guard. Come with me to my chamber before Nesta returns. You can change into my riding gown and cloak, and I will have one of my men escort you in whichever direction you wish to take. As long as ‘tis far away from here. Let us no’ tarry any longer.”

  Eilis should have been elated to be able to leave without James’s knowledge so why was she having a sliver of a doubt? Then she reminded herself he wanted Catriona. Nighinn could ensure Catriona wanted James in return. Or not. It was his problem, not Eilis’s.

  She had far worse considerations, finding a safe haven before James and his people learned who she truly was and turned her over to her kin.

  ****

  In Nighinn’s guestchamber, Eilis quickly changed out of Jame’s sister’s gown and into the brown woolen traveling kirtle Nighinn had worn. The fabric gaped at her bodice, and the hem of the skirt puddled in folds at her feet. Worse, it smelled of sweat and horse.

  Nighinn’s frown deepened. “Ye will have to use the belt to tighten the garment around ye.” She tsked. “I can see James would no’ wish such a bony bride. But do hurry or Niall will discover our…ploy.”

  Eilis touched the belt since it belonged to James’s sister. She didn’t wish to take anything with her, just as she didn’t want to take the lady’s clothes. But Nighinn’s gown would fall off if she didn’t secure it with the belt.

  Nighinn fingered a brown woolen cloak. “It pains me to have to give away my favorite traveling clothes. Although I…have no choice.” She shoved it at Eilis. “Hurry, put it on.” She motioned to her maid. “Tell Cyn to gather two more men and ready four horses. Have him speak with me at once.”

  “Aye, my lady.” The maid rushed out of the chamber.

  Nighinn wrung her hands.

  Her own stomach fluttering with anxiety, Eilis went to the window and peered out at the inner bailey below. Niall would surely stop her before she even left the keep.

  “Come on.” Nighinn strode for the door. “We will meet my men at the stable.” She jerked her head around. “Wear the cloak and hide your face, for heaven’s sake.”

  After they left the chamber, she led Eilis down a set of back stairs. Despite her rounded figure, Nighinn stalked through the keep at a rapid pace, her focus straight ahead.

  Servants glanced in their direction, and Eilis feared someone would warn Niall she was about to escape. No one made a move to stop them, apparently not recognizing her, thank the heavens. Before long, Nighinn and Eilis were beyond the keep.

  Dark clouds covered the sky, and the air was laden with moisture. Wind whipped about linens hanging to dry.

  “You might get a rain,” Nighinn warned, her words pleased. “Cyn, you will take the lady to…” Nighinn paused, when a couple of stable boys milled about within earshot. The rest of the conversation she spoke low so that even Eilis could not hear her words.

  What if James’s cousin wished her men to murder Eilis, not just remove her from the castle? She was about to change her mind when Cyn glanced at her then looked back at Nighinn and gave a sharp nod.

  Before Eilis could react, Cyn whipped around, grasped her by the waist, and lifted her onto a saddle. Nighinn turned and scurried back into the keep without a backward glance.

  “Come,” Cyn gruffly ordered. “Away with us at once.”

  Mounted, they trotted out of the bailey. The hood of Nighinn’s cloak sufficiently hid Eilis’s face as she rode between the other two men in the escort while Cyn led the way. Were the men posted on the wall walk watching their progress? Would someone stop them?

  “Hold, mon!” a gruff male voice snapped, motioning to Cyn.

  A tremble slivered down Eilis’s spine.

  “Lady Nighinn wishes a ride,” Cyn said. “Let us pass.”

  Eilis kept her la
shes lowered and avoided looking at the men who had stopped them.

  “Ride not far from here as Dunbarton’s men are wreaking havoc at the MacNeill borders.”

  “Aye, only a short ride.” Cyn again drove his horse forth, the rest of her escort and Eilis cantering to catch up. Eilis wasn’t sure if she should be relieved she’d made it this far or more concerned.

  As soon as they left the outer bailey, she rode up to join Cyn. “Where did Nighinn tell you to escort me?”

  “The nearest village. From there, ye will have to make your own way.” Sour faced, scraggly like a horny toad, his lips thinned and his eyes ice blue with contempt, Cyn stared straight ahead and said not another word.

  The cold forced another shiver through her as she huddled closer to her horse. A crack of thunder broke overhead, and Eilis stifled a gasp. Then the deluge of rain began. Her head bowed, she tried to keep the rain from dripping over the hood into her eyes, but the winds whipped this way and that and, after several minutes, it ran down her throat into Nighinn’s gaping gown.

  “Will you show me the way to Glen Affric?” Mayhap she could find Fia, her memories, and a way out of this mess.

  “Aye, I will point out the way from the village.”

  And then he spoke no more. She was too cold to care and concentrated on clutching the cloak to her throat, trying to keep the rainwater from running down the gown any further.

  But a couple of hours into their journey, riding through soggy heather in the glen with the rain pounding relentlessly, she glanced about to see where Cyn was. Gone. She looked back over her shoulder. All of the men had slipped away.

  Chapter Ten

  A twinge of panic attacked Eilis as she halted her horse in the middle of nowhere, wondering where she was as the rain continued to soak her through and through. Now she realized how vulnerable she could be alone without an escort, unprotected. She squashed the impulse to turn around and seek the shelter of Craigly Castle.

  Had Nighinn hoped something untoward would happen to her unescorted as she was? She didn’t doubt it.

  With another ripple of shivers cascading down her spine, she pulled the cloak tighter and hoped when she finally dismounted, Nighinn’s gown wouldn’t fall off her it was so big. But she was glad to leave James’s sister’s gowns behind. They were not given to her to keep and mayhap Catriona could wear them some day.

  Eilis bit back the fit of jealousy that swamped her. She had no right to feel any way concerning James and Catriona’s relationship. He wanted her for his wife, and Eilis was unimportant in the scheme of things except as a means to an end.

  With that dismal thought and the cold rainwater running down her face and gown, she reflected how terrible it was to have nobody to care for and no one to care for her in return.

  The cold wind whipped the hood off her head, and the rain doused her hair. With numbed fingers, she struggled to pull the hood back in place.

  A horse whinnied some distance off. Cyn and his men? Mayhap they were looking for her? Heart racing, she jerked her head around, but saw no one, just sheets of gray water so heavy, she couldn’t make out the lay of the land. But what if it was James or one of his men searching for his brother? Och, she hadn’t considered that. She turned her mount away from the sound of the horse. What if she ran into the search party? Mayhap they wouldn’t recognize her.

  Nay, they wouldn’t. She imagined she looked as drowned as when Eanruig and Niall pulled her from the sea. Eanruig. Aye, he would recognize her.

  More horses whinnied, and men shouted over the wailing wind. She couldn’t make out their words though, and because she couldn’t see them, she presumed they couldn’t see her, which gave her a shred of relief.

  Heading farther away from the men, she hoped she wasn’t riding in a circle and looping back in the direction of Craigly Castle. She nudged her horse into a grove of trees and prayed the branches and needle-like leaves of the larch would deflect some of the drenching rain. When she dipped her head to keep the rain off her face, she saw a cave half hidden by underbrush. Did wild animals live there?

  To get out of the wind and rain, she’d take her chances as cold and wet as she was. After slipping off the horse, she tied him to a branch then ducked inside the cave. ‘Twas so dark, she could see naught but groped along the rugged walls until she was well away from the entrance and out of the wind. But still, she was chilled to the bone, and inside the cave it was even colder.

  What she wouldn’t have given for a fire and dry…

  She tilted her head up and sniffed. The smell of smoke drifted in the chilly, damp air. She froze. Then faint light deeper in the cave caught her eye. Before she could flee, a giant of a man rounded the crag, rushed her, and covered her mouth, stifling her scream. He lifted her into his arms as if she were naught but a cloth doll and stalked deeper into the cavern.

  Although she craved telling the man to let her go, she feared he’d harm her so she bit her tongue and said naught. Mayhap she could talk her way out of this, after she dried her clothes by his fire.

  But the way his blue eyes speared her with intrigue, she thought mayhap not. His blond hair hung loosely about his broad shoulders, and his sturdy build and blue eyes reminded her of a Norseman. She briefly wondered what he’d be doing in these parts. Although the worry about what he intended to do with her soon made her think of naught else.

  His footfalls echoed off the rock, and the fire crackled and popped in the distance. She shivered from the cold and fear.

  When the roof of the cave reached downward, the man stooped low, holding her closer to his body. His heat slightly warmed her, his actions reminding her of James when he carried her into the keep after she attempted her first escape. She shivered again in a man’s warm embrace but wished she was in James’s protective arms instead. Even though the Norseman didn’t scowl at her like James had.

  In a darkened corner of the cave, a man’s abrupt laughter erupted. She jerked her head around to see who it was.

  Long dark hair and eyes the color of a mink watched her. His bemused expression and build reminded her of James. His brother? Dougald?

  “I am usually the one to catch the lasses so quickly, but do you not think in our current predicament this is neither the time nor the place for such frivolities, Gunnolf?” His smile broadened, and his eyes sparkled with mischief.

  Gunnolf? Wasn’t he the man traveling with James’s brother? Praise be to God they were safe.

  “Ja, but I thought she was one of them,” the Norseman said, his mouth curving upward as he set her on her feet next to the fire.

  She rubbed her arms and moved even closer to the flames.

  “Aye, she looks very much like a hardened warrior, minus a sword. Unless you already disarmed the lass and dropped the sword yonder.” The man’s dark eyes caught and held her attention as he strode across the cavern and joined them. Just as beautiful as James, the same way he walked, with purpose and nobility…and charm.

  The Highlander pulled off her cloak, and she squeaked, the sound bouncing off the limestone walls. “You will catch your death, lass.” He shook her cloak out, sending water droplets flying, some sparking the fire. He set the garment next to the flames.

  “You are Dougald?” Eilis asked, her breath in her throat.

  He raised his brows. “Do not tell me my brother has sent you to rescue me?” He cocked his head to the side and considered her gown, the fabric voluminous enough to attire two women, clinging now to her shivering form.

  “You need to remove your gown, lass, or you will become ill.”

  “Nay.” She vigorously shook her head.

  Dougald shrugged out of his worn tunic, revealing his naked torso, as bronzed as James was, and now wearing only a pair of trewes. “You will learn I am not easily dissuaded when a lass’s health is at risk.” He handed his tunic to her. “We will turn our backs.”

  Her skin flushed with heat, she hurriedly yanked the wet gown down to her feet then pulled off the skin-clinging shift.
After slipping Dougald’s tunic over her head, his own body heat still warming the wool, she laid her garments beside the fire.

  “I…I am dressed.” Although in a man’s short tunic she felt nearly as naked as when she had no clothes on at all and still felt chilled to the very depths of her person.

  Dressed only in the pair of ragged, checkered trewes, Dougald retook his seat by the fire. The light of the flames glistened off his skin and the moist walls. The wind howled eerily at the entrance to the cave, muffled by the thick rugged stone. Droplets of water dripped off daggers of rock clinging to the ceiling into shallow pools. The fire spit and crackled as she stretched her fingers over the scant warmth.

  “Now, explain why you are out in this weather all alone,” Dougald commanded, as authoritative as James would be. Did all his brothers sound the same?

  Gunnolf considered her nearly sheer shift lying beside the fire, a small smile tugging at his lips. She had heard men oft had the most wicked thoughts about women even when they were fully clothed, but God’s knees she wasn’t even half dressed.

  “Sit.” Dougald motioned to a natural stone bench situated next to the fire.

  She took a seat. “James and his men are searching for you. They might be quite close.”

  His eyes dark, Dougald frowned. “You have not explained what you are doing out here all by your wee self, lass.”

  “I have business that is none of your concern,” she snapped.

  Gunnolf grinned. “’Tis not that James has upset another wee lassie who belongs to some clan chief who wishes James to marry, eh?”

  “Of course not!” She glowered at Gunnolf. “He is marrying Lady Catriona who should be here…soon. And his cousin, Nighinn is trying to win his hand, if the marriage fails to occur with Catriona.”

  “Nighinn?” Dougald groaned. “Not her.”

  “Aye and Lady Beatrice is there.”

  “James would not allow a bonny lass such as yourself to travel alone across his lands.” Dougald leaned closer to the fire, and the flames danced off his eyes, entrancing her.