Page 104 of My Highland Love

“How many were in the party?” Marcus asked.

“I didn't see inside the carriage. Let me see, there was the driver, wheeler,” he paused, then added, “there were three or four men riding alongside. Can't say for sure.”

“Sounds as if the men are accounted for,” Justin said.

“Come,” Marcus directed the man, “you will show us exactly where you saw my wife.”

They rode a mile south on the road, when the farmer stopped them. “Here.”

Marcus dismounted and examined the tracks. “Bloody hell,” he cursed. “It looks as though all of Edinburgh has traversed this road.” He tried following his line of sight along one set of carriage tracks, only to lose them in the tangled web of another in the moist ground.

“Lord Phillip passed this way,” the man said.

Marcus cut his gaze to the man. “Lord Phillip. When?”

“I passed him about two miles north of his estate,” the man replied.

“Then you saw Lady Ashlund here?”

“Aye.”

Marcus looked at Justin. “Phillip's estate borders mine.”

Justin nodded. “Perhaps they passed one another.”

An hour later, Marcus departed Lord Phillip's estate knowing nothing more than that the earl had set out to visit a friend to the north before heading south for Edinburgh. Marcus cursed the earl's timing, his absence, and his person.

Marcus glanced at the sky as he mounted his horse. The day had turned to dusk. He had ridden since morning and his mount flagged. He rode to Ashlund and exchanged his horse for a fresh one. He reached the outskirts of Ashlund property and encountered the search party.

“Exchange your horses for fresh ones at Ashlund,” Marcus instructed. “I'll speak to the tenants of the two farms to the south.”

“Father,” Kiernan said in unison with Justin's, “Marcus.”

“I left instructions for horses to be readied for you,” Marcus said. “You will overtake me soon enough.”

* * *

Dusk gave way to night as they extended the search into the countryside to the west. To the east, a high cliff butted the shoreline of an inlet from the bay. Now, they rode fifteen miles south of Ashlund, stopping at every village and home on the road to Edinburgh. The next village lay five miles farther south. Marcus urged his horse into a harder trot and the company following did the same. Sophie rode between Marcus and Justin with Kiernan behind them.

“Marcus,” Sophie called above the clatter of hooves.

He looked at her. An overcast sky hid the moon, but four of the twelve men who accompanied them carried torches and he easily made out her strained expression.

Sophie shook her head. “Why didn't Elise—” She broke off with a stifled choke.

Marcus looked straight ahead. “I alone bear the blame. Don't cause yourself any further grief over the matter.”

“No further grief?”

Her words hit him like barbs and Marcus snapped his attention onto her.

Her eyes blazed. “You can be an arrogant bastard, Cousin. Whether or not I share blame, I will grieve as I please.”

She yanked her horse's reins and Marcus pulled to the right in order to avoid her horse. She circled to the rear of the company and brought her stallion alongside Justin's.

A moment of silence passed before Justin said, “Seven men traveled in the company, all trained men of war. Not easy prey.”

“Yet they are gone,” Marcus said.