“She’s gone out riding. Went with Martin and Bryn to exercise that new filly they’ve been training.”
“She’s done what?” he exploded. People glanced in his direction at his sudden outburst, but Jamie didn’t care. “She’s goneriding?”
Andrea blinked, looking a little flustered. “Aye. Is something wrong, my laird?”
“Aye, there is something bloody-well wrong!” he growled.
Pausing only to grab his claymore from its rack by the wall, he strode from the great hall. What had the idiotic woman gone and done now? Ignored his direct command is what she’d gone and done! So she’d gone with Martyn and Bryn to help train a horse, had she? Was he really expected to believe that? She’d gone looking for this pirate base—after he expressly forbade her from doing so—and had somehow roped Martin and Bryn into her schemes!
As he took the steps down into the courtyard and stomped his way across to the stables, people scurried out of his path, obviously sensing the dark mood he was in. Fury pounded through his veins, and he could tell from the ache in his forehead that he was scowling like a thundercloud. So be it. He was not used to being disobeyed, and he didn’t like it one little bit.
But, he had to admit, as he flung the door of the stable open and strode inside, it wasn’t just anger that sizzled through his veins. It was fear. Fear of what might happen should Elise find what she was looking for.
If anything happened to her…
Hurrying over to Tempest’s stall, he led the old roan stallion out of the stable and into the courtyard. Urgency boiled through his veins, so he didn’t bother with a saddle, instead vaulting onto Tempest’s back and guiding him with his knees. The two of them had known each other so long now that nothing else was necessary.
He paused at the gates only long enough to question the guards about which direction Elise and her companions had taken. Then he sent Tempest into a gallop in the same direction, lying low over the horse’s neck and clinging onto his mane, clods of mud flying from beneath the horse’s big hooves.
It wasn’t difficult to follow Elise and her companions. He found their tracks easily enough—three sets of hoofprints in the mud. They seemed to be taking the main coastal road and making no effort at stealth or speed. In fact, even with their head start, it took only half an hour of hard riding before he spotted them in the distance. They had halted at the top of a rise which fell away sharply into a cliff with a shingle beach below. Here the road ran dangerously close to the edge. Elise had dismounted and was standing perilously close to that edge, peering down.
A voice came to him on the breeze, Martin’s voice he thought, perhaps warning her of the danger of getting too close. Elise, of course, took no notice, but continued to gaze down at the drop below. After a few moments, she gave it up and walked back to the others. She was just about to remount her horse when she spotted him in the distance. Her head came up and her shoulders squared as though preparing for a fight.
Seeing the direction of her gaze, Martin and Bryn pulled their horses around and their eyes widened as they spotted him. Jamie thundered up to the three of them, pulling Tempest to a skidding halt.
“What, by all that’s holy, do ye think ye are doing?” he yelled.
Startled, Bryn and Martin glanced at each other. Their mouths worked but no words came out.
“I…um…we…” Bryn managed after a moment.
“Don’t yell at them!” Elise snapped. She moved to stand in front of the two stable hands and glared up at Jamie. “They came because I asked them to. If you have a problem with that, you can talk to me about it!”
She was bristling like a wildcat. Her shoulders were tensed, her hands clenched into fists, and her eyes flashing. To Jamie, she’d never looked more beautiful. She fairly crackled with strength, but not because of her spellweaving powers. No, this strength was all Elise, the power of a strong, fearless woman defending those who needed defending.
He felt his anger begin to falter, and now all he wanted to do was jump off his horse and pull her into his arms. Instead, he met her furious glare and snapped, “I told ye not to leave the castle.”
“No, you didn’t. You told me not to go outalone.” She waved her hands at Bryn and Martin. “Does it look like I’m alone?”
He growled low in his throat. “Word games. Ye know exactly what I meant. Ye promised that ye would do as I bid and then did exactly the opposite!”
“Well, I wouldn’t have needed to if you actually listened to me!”
“Listened to ye? And let ye go riding out alone on the strength of what? Some…feeling? When there are pirates who would put an arrow in ye if they saw ye? Talk sense, woman! It’s my duty to protect ye!”
“And it’smyduty to save this island! How can I do that from behind the walls of a god-damned castle?”
He opened his mouth for another angry rejoinder, but then snapped his mouth closed. She had a point. He’d been so consumed by his duty that he’d given very little thought to hers. He sighed, letting his shoulders sag and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.
“Fine. We can discuss this back at Dun Arach. Let’s go.” He began to turn his horse but stopped when he realized that Elise hadn’t moved a muscle.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not going anywhere.” She had a stubborn look on her face. Her chin was tilted at an angle that clearly said she wasn’t going to budge an inch.
Jamie bit back the string of curses that sprang onto his tongue. Aargh! Save him from stubborn, headstrong women! He glanced at Bryn and Martin who had been watching this exchange with pale faces and wide eyes. They looked terrified, and who could blame them? Who would want to be caught in the middle of a blazing row between the Lord of the Isles and a MacFinnan spellweaver?
“Lads,” he said in as even a voice as he could muster. “Thank ye for keeping company with Lady Elise this far. Ye can return to the keep now.”
“I’ve already told you!” Elise snapped. “I’m not going back to the keep. I—”
