Page 90 of Sins of the Highlander

Darkness-blind, she swept her fingertips over the rock walls and found the torch. After only a few tries with the flint, she managed a spark which caught, and the torch burned brightly. The smell of pitch and sulfur almost covered the mousy staleness of the underground space.

Then Elspeth retraced her way out. She crept down the long steps, mindful of the slick spots and listening to the steady drip of water through the rocks. She walked softly through the corridor with dark passages leading off at intervals. Once or twice in the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the gleam of feral eyes in the dark, but when she turned her head, they were gone.

Her heart pounded in her throat. She heard the scritching of wee claws on rock and held the torch aloft, banishing the shadows. The temptation to run snatched at her skirts, but she forced herself to keep to a steady walk. She never caught sight of any creeping thing, but she sensed movement in the shadows on all sides.

When she smelled warm dung and hay and heard the soft whicker of the horses ahead, she nearly wept with relief. Rob had been back to see to their care. There was water in their trough and fodder in the manger.

The soft starlight stealing into the opening of the cave was enough for her to see to saddle the mare, so she stubbed out the torch and replaced it in the wall notch. When she led the mare out, the gelding tried to follow, but she pushed him back and reblocked the exit.

“No, my fine lad,” she said softly. “There’s nothing for ye abroad in the world but misery. Stay with my Rob, now. He may need ye.”

As she mounted and rode in the direction of her father’s encampment, tears gathered in her eyes. She swiped them away.

He wasn’t her Rob. Not really. And he might not ever be.

Chapter 31

Elspeth wandered the game trails, using the snow-kissed peak of Ben Vorlick as a touchstone to keep her bearings, always turning the mare’s head east toward the fighting men arrayed against her lover. It was still dark when she stumbled onto the outer edges of the armed encampment. Fortunately, the guard standing night watch was a Stewart man and recognized her when she responded to his challenge.

“If it had been one of Drummond’s men, they mighta thought ye was another camp follower come to—Oh! Begging your pardon, my lady. O’ course, ye’re not…oh, bugger!” the poor man stammered. Elspeth suspected the man’s ears were bright red, but it was too dark to be sure. “I shouldna ought to’ve said that.”

“No matter. Dinna think on it,” she said. “Take me to my father, and all will be well.”

Even though dawn was another hour away, her father wasn’t asleep. Alistair Stewart’s tent glowed with the light of a single lamp. The guards at the entrance didn’t try to stop Elspeth from pushing the flap aside.

Her father was sitting at his camp desk, a stack of missives on either side of him. But he wasn’t working. His face was buried in his hands. Elspeth suspected he wept. Or prayed.

“Father.”

He looked up, and the dark splotches under his eyes made her heart ache. Drawn and haggard, he’d aged a decade since she’d seen him last. Then his face lit in a disbelieving smile.

“If I’m dreaming, may I never wake,” he said softly as he rose to his feet.

She rushed to his waiting arms. “Ye’re no’ dreaming, Father. I suspect ye’ve no’ been asleep often enough of late for that.”

He rocked her in a great hug, which she returned just as fiercely. She knew she was blessed to have the affection of her parents when so many were distant with their offspring. Being the last bairn born to the House of Stewart was probably to blame for the way they doted on her, but she’d not complain, whatever the reason. She leaned into her father’s love, but it didn’t begin to fill the gaping hole where Rob should be.

Would Rob hate her when he realized she’d tricked him and run back to her father?

“How did ye manage to escape?”

The last thing she wanted was to divulge the secret of the back door into the castle. Rob had trusted her with it. She couldn’t betray him.

“That’s no’ important,” she said. “I’m here now, and I want to go home. Please, Father, take me home. Let’s go now.”

“There’ll be time enough for that.” He held her at arm’s length. “Tell me what happened to ye. Did the man force…did he hurt ye, daughter?”

She shook her head, knowing her father asked if she was yet a maiden. She hoped heaven would forgive her small lie to spare his sensibilities. “The MacLaren did me no hurt.”

Rob gave her only unspeakable bliss and the love she’d always longed for.

Her father released her and motioned for her to sit. She sank gratefully onto his clothes trunk. “Then your marriage to Lachlan Drummond can go forward.”

“No. I’ll no’ marry the Drummond. No’ after what I’ve learned of him.” Elspeth told him about Rob’s claim that Lachlan had raped his wife and driven her to her death.

“I’ve heard this rumor. Drummond denies it.”

“But I believe the MacLaren,” Elspeth said. “Lachlan Drummond is no’ the man ye think he is. Ye canna make me wed him. Please dinna try.”