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"Nay," Aulay said firmly. "It just does no' make sense fer him to kill her when he planned to make money from her. But ye came damned close to dying last night and if nothing else, yer marrying her will see Murine safe if the next attack kills ye."
Dougall merely turned and continued on toward Saidh's room. He still couldn't think of anyone who would want to kill him. But the arrow couldn't have been meant for Murine. As Aulay had said, it made no sense for Danvries to want her dead and he couldn't imagine she'd made any enemies. Except maybe . . .
Pausing abruptly, he turned to face Aulay. "That woman who tried to kill our Saidh and Lady Sinclair?"
"Aye?" Aulay paused too, his brows pulling together in a frown as he tried to sort out what Dougall was thinking.
"What happened to her?" he asked.
"I don't know," Aulay admitted.
"She would ha'e been executed," Uncle Acair announced, catching up to them.
Dougall noticed again that the older man was limping. There was no sign that he'd broken anything in the tumble down the stairs Murine had sent him on, but he must have twisted an ankle or something, he thought and then shifted his attention from the man's gait to his face as his uncle added, "Or banished to a nunnery if her family was powerful enough to keep her alive."
Dougall nodded slowly. That made sense, he thought and then pointed out, "If she was no' executed, she could be seeking revenge on Murine for foiling her plan. Or her family might be seeking it for her."
"Possible," his uncle murmured thoughtfully. "Her actions must ha'e been a great stain on the family name when she was caught."
"I'll look into it," Aulay said quietly.
"Thank ye," Dougall muttered and then jerked around to catch Alick by the arm and pull him to a halt when he tried to rush past them. The door to Saidh's room was the only one left at this end of the hall, so he knew where the lad had been headed, but still barked, "Where do ye think ye're going?"
"To give Murine me shirt," Alick answered, tugging at his arm.
"Yer shirt?" Dougall peered down at the soft linen in the boy's hands, then back to his face. "Why the devil would she want one o' yer shirts?"
"Because all o' Saidh's and Mother's gowns that we gave her went up in flames when the lodge burned," Alick pointed out with a grimace. "The only thing we left behind here were a pair o' braies Saidh likes to wear under her gowns. Murine's going to wear those, but she's got no dress to wear o'er them so"--he raised the hand holding the shirt and shrugged--"she needs something to cover the top o' her."
"God's teeth," Dougall muttered, jerking the shirt from Alick's hand and turning to continue on to the door to Saidh's room. There was no damned way his woman was running about in braies and a shirt. No way on God's green earth.
They'd sort out something else . . . and quickly. Because Murine was obviously awake, and his instinct was telling him to bundle her up and get her out of there. He'd rather camp in the MacDonnell woods and approach the castle where his sister and her husband lived the minute Danvries left than wait to hear from the men Aulay had sent. He wanted the wedding done and Murine safe as soon as possible.
Chapter 13
Dougall watched Murine raise herself slightly on the mare she was riding, astride, to tug at the bottom of her braies as if they were crawling into places only he should be, and had to swallow the sudden rush of liquid in his mouth. He'd have been more than happy to tug at the braies for her, and not just to stop their crawling. He'd like to drag them right off, pull her onto his lap and slide into her warm, moist--
"I'm surprised ye let Murine wear the braies," Aulay said, interrupting his lascivious thoughts.
"I can no' let her do anything. She's no' me wife yet," Dougall growled. They were the exact words Murine had said to him when he'd reached her room and announced she couldn't wear the braies, that they'd have to find something else. She'd followed that up by announcing that there was nothing else, and there was no time for her to sew anything since she was quite sure they didn't want to remain at Buchanan any longer than necessary and risk her brother returning to find her there.
Dougall hadn't been able to argue with any of it, especially the part about remaining at Buchanan. He himself had wanted her away from there as soon as possible. So, he'd tossed her the linen shirt, turned on his heel and marched out to order his horse readied. By the time Murine was dressed and came below, his horse, as well as seven others, had been waiting at the base of the keep steps. Six were each of his brothers' mounts, the seventh was the mare he'd gifted Murine with when he'd decided to marry her. He'd learned then that Aulay had decided that the whole family should travel to MacDonnell. All of his brothers wanted to attend the wedding. They also wanted to see their sister, Saidh.
Understanding this, Uncle Acair had offered to remain behind and look after Buchanan until Aulay's return. While their uncle hadn't broken anything in the tumble he'd taken down the stairs, and he was sorry to miss the wedding himself, he'd also apparently gained several bumps and bruises that would have made riding extremely uncomfortable.
Dougall was glad to have his brothers along to help keep Murine safe, but was less happy about her riding her own mount. While she hadn't shown signs of fainting since before she'd been shot with the arrow, she'd also spent most of that time asleep. Now, on top of everything else, he had to worry about her fainting and falling off her horse.
And that was the only reason his eyes hadn't left her braies-clad bottom since they'd departed Buchanan two hours ago, he assured himself and then almost snorted aloud at his own lie. Damn, she looked fine in those braies. Too fine. They made him want to lay her down, strip them off and bite her on the arse . . . and that was not an urge he'd ever experienced before with anyone. But it was just one of the ideas of what he'd like to do to her that had rolled through his mind during this ride.
Dougall was toying with some of those ideas when Geordie, Niels and Alick came charging around the bend ahead, racing toward them. Dougall immediately dug his heels into his horse to urge him to a run, aware that Aulay was doing the same. They quickly caught up with Murine where she rode with Conran and Rory on either side. They'd spaced themselves out that way on purpose. Since they expected trouble to come from ahead, they'd had Geordie, Niels and Alick ride out in front of the group to watch for approaching parties. Conran and Rory had stayed with Murine to guard her, and Aulay and Dougall had ridden a good distance behind. At least they'd started out a good distance behind, but Dougall had found himself reducing the distance with every mile they'd passed, finding himself drawn to the woman like a bee to a flower.
"What is it?" he barked when his brothers reached them and reined in. He scanned the road ahead tensely as he waited for the answer, mentally preparing himself to drag Murine off her horse to his own and race off into the woods with her if the lads had bad news.
"Our boys are on the road ahead, riding this way," Geordie announced.
Dougall relaxed a bit in the saddle.
"Danvries must have left MacDonnell," Aulay commented.
Dougall nodded. Aulay had told him that he'd sent men ahead to find out if Danvries was still at MacDonnell. If he was, they'd been ordered to wait until Murine's brother and his party left, and then ride back with that news. If they were returning, Danvries must have left MacDonnell, no doubt headed north toward Sinclair. Unless he was heading south and the Buchanan men were just riding ahead of them, trying to reach Buchanan with a warning ere Danvries could get there.
That last thought made Dougall frown and he asked, "Did ye talk to them?"
"Nay. They were still a good distance away when we turned back to bring ye the news," Niels admitted. "We thought we'd do that ere riding to meet them."
Dougall nodded. "You and Alick ride ahead now and make sure they're no' bringing news that Danvries is headed this way. Signal us if he is, so we can get Murine off the road."
The two men immediately turned their horses and raced back the way they'd come. Dougall then urged h
is horse up between Conran's mount and Murine's mare. Hooking his arm around her waist, he dragged her from her horse and onto his lap.
"Just in case," he murmured by way of explanation as he watched his brothers ride away.
Murine didn't comment and simply slipped her arms around his waist and shifted about to find a more comfortable position. Dougall glanced down then and found himself peering straight down the shirt she wore. While Alick was the smallest of the brothers, he was still quite a bit larger than Murine and the neckline was presently gaping, allowing him a perfect view of at least two thirds of the top of each breast. The only thing hidden from him were her nipples.
It was a damned fine sight, Dougall decided, fighting the urge to tug the cloth down and lavish the rounded globes with attention.
"Are ye still mad at me?"
Dougall blinked and glanced blankly to Murine's face at her question.
"Fer insisting on wearing the braies when ye did no' want me to," she explained.
"Oh." He shrugged, and admitted, "I was. But I've found I quite enjoy the view."
Murine's eyes widened and then she blushed at his words and ducked her head with shyness or embarrassment. Sadly, the action blocked his view of her breasts.
"There's Geordie."
Dougall jerked his gaze to the road ahead to see his brother ride into view and rein in to give him the signal for the all-clear. Danvries had not headed south. They could ride straight to MacDonnell.
