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Hannah grimaced. “You can’t go riding in that outfit, miss.”
“I’m wearing my gardening boots, so they’ll do. I just need a—”
“Coat.” Hannah disappeared into the tack room.
“Brian, do you have gloves?” Kathleen asked.
The boy pulled out a pair of plain leather gloves from his jerkin. Then Hannah returned with a wool jacket, the sort grooms wore in colder weather.
Kathleen pulled on the gloves and shrugged into the coat. It swamped her, but would keep her warm. “Hannah, hold the bridle while Brian gives me a leg up.”
The maid looked scandalized but did as she was told.
Brian boosted Kathleen onto the mare just as Angus led a saddled bay out of its stall.
“Ridin’ hell-bent for leather, are we?” he said to Kathleen as she settled, draping her skirts over her legs.
“That we are.”
“That fella’s skittish, Mr. MacDonald,” Brian said, eyeing the bay’s twitchy behavior. “Mayhap ye should take one of the mares?”
Angus scoffed. “Och, there’s nae horse I canna handle, lad.”
The old man nimbly mounted, and quickly brought the fidgety horse under control.
Kathleen led the way to the stable yard and around the house. Once they passed through the courtyard and onto the main drive, she prodded the mare into a gallop. Angus kept pace, easily controlling the big bay.
As they raced toward the main road, Kathleen’s heart pounded, seemingly in time with the mare’s hooves. When they reached the estate’s gates a few minutes later, they slowed to make the turn to Dunlaggan.
Kathleen’s breath caught when she saw a rider coming toward them from the village, still several hundred yards out. “Can you tell who that is?”
“Looks like a man.”
Drat.Not Jeannie.
She shielded her eyes from the afternoon glare. “Maybe it’s Grant.”
Angus peered forward and then spat out a curse. “Nae. It’s the scaly bastard.”
Brown was riding straight toward them at an easy canter. It seemed almost impossible to believe.
Kathleen gathered her dumbfounded wits. “At least Jeannie isn’t with him, so I hope that’s a good sign. He doesn’t seem the least bit disturbed, does he?”
“Happen yer right about that.”
A moment later, the captain waved his hat in greeting.
“He obviously thinks we don’t know what he’s up to,” she said.
Angus glanced at her. “What’s the plan, lass? Shall we take him?”
She grimaced. “I didn’t think to bring a pistol.”
The old fellow patted his pocket. “I got a nice popper from the tack room. No worries about that.”
“Thank goodness one of us is thinking ahead. Let’s slow down. We can’t rush in unprepared.”
This might be their only chance to capture Brown. More importantly, they didn’t yet know where Jeannie was. If Brown had done anything to her, they couldn’t afford to let him get away.
