Page 37 of A Touch So Wicked

Elissa looked away. “Nay, not exactly. ’Tis just…oh, Mama, please donna tell anyone.”

“Tell them what? You can say anything to me, daughter, and I will understand.”

Elissa had to talk to someone and her mother was the logical choice. She dragged in a sustaining breath. “I saw Tavis. He’s at Misterly.”

Marianne sat up a little straighter. “Tavis? Here? It canna be. Is the man daft? Did you speak with him? What does he want?”

“I donna know what he wants. I’m to meet him tonight in the stables.”

“Oh, Elissa, donna do it. No good can come of it.”

“I have to, Mama. He’s my betrothed. Tavis can help us escape. If we band together, the Gordons and Frasers can drive the English devils from Misterly.”

Marianne gave a shaky sigh. “I lost as much, if not more, at Culloden than anyone, but even I know ’tis time to give up the fight. The Highlanders were defeated and severely punished. The English now control our lands. Conspiring with Tavis Gordon could wipe out our clan, and I know you donna want that. We’ve already lost too many loved ones.”

Elissa’s tortured words came from deep within her soul. “I want my home back; I want to live free of cursed Englishmen. I want the Demon Knight to disappear from my life.”

“Accept that which canna be changed,” Marianne advised. “Donna listen to Tavis, he’s a rabble rouser. Neither Nan nor I believe he’s right for you.”

“What is right for me? The life of a nun? Imprisonment? Death?”

A tear slipped from Marianne’s eye and Elissa was immediately contrite. “Forgive me, Mama, I dinna mean to burden you.” She leaned forward and kissed Marianne’s forehead. “You’re tired, I’ll leave you now.”

“Promise you willna do anything foolish,” Marianne pleaded. “Think about what’s best for our kinsmen. Lord Damian isna so bad. Sir Brody says Misterly is prospering under his guidance.”

“I promise, Mama,” Elissa said guardedly.

Elissa hurried to her chamber and donned a dark, hooded cloak. Glancing out the narrow window, she saw the moon slip behind a bank of clouds. She smiled. It was time. Damian should be in his chamber and the soldiers in their barracks.

There was a guard in the hall but Elissa was able to duck past him and into the passageway leading to the kitchen. Dimly Elissa wondered if the guard had been posted because Damian had found the tunnel. But right now she had other things on her mind.

The kitchen fires were banked and no one was about. She opened the back door and slipped outside, stumbling through the kitchen garden to the stables. She entered the shadowed building, redolent with the soothing scent of horses and leather, and paused to get her bearings. A surprised gasp left her lips when a strong arm snagged her around the waist.

“What kept you?”

“Tavis, you scared the daylights out of me.”

He pulled her to the darkest reaches of the stables before speaking.

“Did anyone see you?”

“Nay. What are you doing at Misterly? What do you want of me?”

“I would think ’tis obvious,” Tavis murmured against her ear. “You’re my betrothed.”

“I…I’d hoped you still thought of me as your betrothed. Oh, Tavis, so much has happened since the day we were to wed.”

“Naught good, I suspect. There’s a way we can be together, lass, like your father intended.”

Elissa was doubtful but willing to listen. She needed to get away from Damian’s none too subtle seduction as soon as possible. “Have you come to take me away with you?”

“Not just yet, lass. There’s something verra important you can do for me and for our kinsmen who lost their lives at Culloden.”

“What can I do, Tavis? I’m not free to come and go as I please. Someone is always watching me.”

“Aye, the Demon Knight is watching you.” His voice dripped with malice. “I saw you with him today. He’s hot for you, lass. We can turn his lust for you against him if you follow my orders.”

Elissa’s smooth brow furrowed. “How so?”