Page 426 of Wicked Highland Heroes

Victoria nodded. “Once David Robertson’s clan discovers he has been murdered, there will be

bloodlust in the air.”

“It would not be the first time.” Candle in hand, Aurari bent and lit the kindling that lay in the belly of the stove. The wood sparked and caught fire. She straightened, facing Victoria. “And you have assured us safe passage.”

“Aye,” Victoria said. “And you shall have it, but

Evan did not know that when he killed David

Robertson.”

“I knew you must be returned to your husband.”

“How?”

Aurari shrugged and began doling out a measure of flour from the tin.

“I am of a mind you do not make a habit of killing men,” Victoria persisted.

“Murder?”

“You call it that?”

Aurari laughed. “What matters is what your husband will call it.”

Victoria frowned. “I think he would not care.” He protects his possessions all too well. Was that how he saw her? “Do you regret having married me?” he had asked in the meadow. She recalled Lily’s journal and the boy who had grown up knowing he wasn’t wanted. Did he realize he had also learned that if a man wanted a woman he took her? Warmth flushed through her. Did the fact he had taken her by force mean he had never wanted a woman the way he did her? Should she be distressed or comforted by that possibility?

A sudden jolt to the wagon yanked Victoria back to the present. She grabbed the side of the bed.

“Something is amiss?”

The Gypsy woman was staring, and Victoria could have sworn she had read her mind. Aurari smiled. “One of the disadvantages of a home that travels.” She pulled butter and eggs from the pantry over the stove.

Victoria picked up the bowl and began stirring the ingredients. “How did you know I spoke the truth when you saw me with David Robertson? You took my word as a woman?”

“As a woman?” Aurari grunted. “Women are far more cunning than men. Nay. I knew our paths were

destined to cross again.”

Victoria ceased stirring, her mouth parting in astonished realization. “So it was you I saw the day we traveled to Fauldun Castle.”

“You are surprised?”

She studied Aurari. “Are you a witch?”

“Nay.” Aurari located a flat pan from a low cupboard next to the stove. “I do not practice the black arts.”

“But you knew everything, even then.” Aurari added water to the biscuit dough.

“Everything? What is everything?”

Victoria stiffened at the indulgent note in the

Gypsy’s voice. “It is clear I need not say.”

Aurari took the bowl from her. “There was something that day I saw you.” She began stirring the mixture. “You are an open book, mistress. It does not take second sight to understand you hide much.”

“Yet you know exactly what I speak of?”