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Then she narrowed her gaze at Mrs. Murray behind him, dressed in a nightcap and wrapper and holding a lamp. “Ma’am, did your husband lock me in?”
“He did, I’m sorry to say,” the innkeeper grimly replied.
“And where is he now?”
“Locked away in our bedroom. He’ll nae worry ye, miss. For the moment, anyway.”
Donella threw a startled glance at Kendrick.
“Aye, we’re in trouble.” He sounded more irritated than anything else.
She sighed. “Of course we are.” She stepped aside to let them in.
When Kendrick threw the door bolt again, her stomach sank. Not just trouble—danger.
Mrs. Murray set the lamp down and cast Donella an unhappy look. “Mr. Kendrick told me of yer troubles, miss, and I was fair shocked. I’m right sorry to say that my fool of a husband was part of the plot to abduct ye.”
Donella pressed a hand against her stomach. “That’s why he was so surprised when he saw me. He expected the kidnapping to be successful.”
The landlady nodded. “I would have locked him in the cellar myself, if I’d had a clue what he was up to with those hulver-headed cousins of his.”
“So, itwassomeone from the Murray Clan,” Donella said.
Mrs. Murray gave a morose nod.
“Do you know why?”
“I asked Mr. Murray that very same question,” Kendrick said. “He refused to give me a straight answer but seemed to think you would know why.”
Donella’s stomach, which had been attempting to sink to her feet, promptly jumped into her throat. “I . . . I have no idea why the Murrays would wish to abduct me.”
Kendrick’s hard gaze flickered from her to Mrs. Murray, who pointedly looked at the ceiling.
“Try again, Miss Haddon,” he said.
Donella scrambled to come up with something that sounded halfway sensible. “Most likely it has something to do with an old dispute between my uncle and one of the smaller branches of the Murray clan. I’m not entirely sure which family, or what the original problem was.”
Kendrick crossed his arms over his chest, which caused various parts of his anatomy to bulge with muscle. “You are stating the obvious. What I want to know is what part you play in this farce. Whichever group of idiots this is, they seem to be going through a lot of trouble to get at you.”
She crossed her fingers behind her back. “I truly don’t know. You’ll have to ask my uncle when you see him.”
“And you have nothing else to add, madam?” he asked Mrs. Murray in a lethal tone.
The innkeeper was not to be intimidated, even by Logan Kendrick. “I’ll nae betray my husband or my clan, sir. Ye’ll have to speak to the laird to get yer answers.”
Donella breathed a mental sigh of relief. “Of course you can’t betray your clan, Mrs. Murray. And I appreciate your help, even though I’m sure it’s put you in an awkward position.”
“I willna allow my husband to be part of foul deeds against the Flower of Clan Graham or the Laird of Riddick,” the woman stoutly said. “I may be a Murray by marriage, but my mam was a Graham on her da’s side. I owe it to her memory to keep ye as safe as I can.”
“Bloody clan nonsense,” Kendrick muttered.
Donella pointedly ignored him. “The question is, what’s to be done now?” she asked Mrs. Murray. “I assume your husband locked me in so another attempt could be made to abduct me.”
“Aye, sometime before dawn.”
“In the next two or three hours,” Kendrick said.
“I’m thinkin’ we’ll be havin’ company sooner rather than later,” Mrs. Murray replied with a grimace.
