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Kate's question told Annabel that she'd heard at least the last part of her conversation with Grant, but there was little she could do about that. Ignoring her sister's question, Annabel gestured to the small treasure and asked one of her own. "Where did you get that?"
"From the chest in your room," Kate said unapologetically.
Annabel stiffened. "How--?"
"You left it open when I said Seonag was returning with the servants and you rushed to get back into the chest," Kate informed her with satisfaction.
Annabel closed her eyes as dismay, regret and guilt rushed through her. She had beggared her husband and their people with that thoughtless move. Dear God, why did she have to be such a failure at everything?
The jingle of coins caught her ear and she opened her eyes just as Kate caught the small sack Grant tossed to her.
Kate opened and upended the bag on top of all the other coins and jewels and then tossed the bag aside to clap her hands happily. "Is it not lovely, Grant? We can have our happily ever after."
"Aye, on the backs of those who will suffer from this loss," Annabel said grimly when Grant didn't comment.
Kate glanced up sharply at that, but at Grant, not Annabel. Something in his expression made her own tighten, and then she turned and scowled at Annabel and said, "Grant, go and fetch a bucket of water from the river. I would have a word with Belly."
Grant hesitated, but then left Annabel where she was and headed out of the barn.
The moment he was gone, Kate glared at Annabel. "Do not speak to me of suffering. I need this. I will not live in squalor like a peasant."
Annabel did not point out that Grant was a peasant and that by choosing him she had consigned herself to that life. Why bother? Kate seemed to have difficulty seeing her own contribution to her situation. She just liked to blame others for her troubles and for enjoying a happiness she not only wanted, but felt she was entitled to. Besides, Annabel just wanted to get out of there and see Ross again and she didn't trust that if she angered her sister too much she might not do something foolish in a moment of anger, like kill her. And Annabel really would rather live to see her husband again.
Although once he found out she was the reason he had been robbed, Ross might not want to see her again, she thought glumly.
Kate continued to glare at her briefly, but then lowered her gaze to her treasure and ran her fingers through the coins and jewels as if they were water. After a moment, she said, "Are you not going to ask me how I got away from the keep today?"
Annabel tore her gaze away from the treasure that would no doubt support her sister and Grant for a good many years, perhaps all of the years they had left, and asked dutifully, "How did you get away?"
"I hit Seonag over the head, dumped the contents of the chest into a sack and hung it from inside the waistline of my skirt, then told the men I was going to see the priest and . . ." Kate shrugged and finished simply, "I just walked out to the stables, saddled two horses and rode out on them. No one stopped me."
Annabel wasn't surprised. From what she could tell, Kate had offended every single person she had met at MacKay. The stable master had probably hidden when he saw her coming, and everyone else had most likely turned a blind eye. They had probably been more than happy to see her go and had hoped never to see her again. But Annabel was more concerned with Seonag.
"Oh, I did not kill your precious Seonag," Kate said, apparently reading her expression. "At least I do not think so." She shrugged as if it mattered little one way or the other.
Giving a pleased little sigh, Kate then leaned back and tilted her head as she peered at Annabel. Her voice was pleasant as she said, "I have hated you for such a long time."
"M'LAIRD!"
Ross lowered his hand from knocking at Effie's door and glanced around at that hail from Fingal. Shifting impatiently, he glanced to Bean.
"I'll see what he wants," he said and moved to meet the man.
Ross turned back to the cottage door and knocked again.
"Effie should be home. I saw her receive a delivery no' a half hour ago," Fingal said with concern as he walked past Bean to Ross.
"A chest?" Ross asked.
He nodded. "But she'd barely accepted it when that nasty English bit o' skirt showed up."
"Kate?" Ross asked harshly.
"Aye, and she had a big man on her heels." He scowled. "A great bull o' a man who fit the description ye gave o' the fellow who's been bedeviling ye. So I thought I'd best head up to the castle to tell ye. I was just saddling me old nag when I heard yer horses on the cobblestone and came to investigate."
Ross cursed under his breath and stopped knocking. He opened the door and strode in. Effie lay on the floor not more than half a dozen steps from the entrance. Ross knelt and placed his hand by her mouth, relieved when her breath brushed his fingers. "She's alive."
"The chest is no' here," Bean pointed out, making Ross glance around the small one-room cottage to see that indeed there was no chest.
"They brought it out just minutes after entering," Fingal said, kneeling across from Ross and frowning worriedly over Effie. "The big fella was carrying it."
"Did ye see which way they went?" Ross asked straightening.
"Aye. The road to MacDonald. They were walking at first and I followed at a distance, but they had horses half a mile or so outside the village. I hurried back then to saddle me nag."
Ross nodded, started to turn, but then glanced to Effie and hesitated.
"I'll look after her," Fingal assured him. "Go on with ye. Catch the bastard who has been hounding our sweet Annabel."
Ross did not explain that the "bastard" most likely had their sweet Annabel in the chest he'd been carrying. He merely headed for the door, saying, "Take her up to the castle, Fingal. Seonag was injured as well. Giorsal can tend them both. Then I'd appreciate it if ye'd tell Gilly and Marach to gather the men and follow us. Tell 'em to check Carney's barn first and then follow the road after that if we're no' there."
"Aye," Fingal said. "I will, me laird."
"Yer thinking they're at Carney's barn?" Bean asked.
"I told ye about the day I was attacked," Ross muttered, leading the way out to their waiting horses. "About how I rode fast and weaved about to ensure we were no' followed ere stopping at the barn."
"Aye," Bean said.
"Well, I was sure we were no' followed. I would no' ha'e risked Annabel by stopping had I no' been sure."
"Ye think they were at the barn all along," Bean realized.
Ross nodded, and then admitted, "It only just occurred to me when Fingal said they took the road to MacDonald. It leads right past the barn. Why would they not head further south, or even to the coast? Either direction offers a better chance o' disappearing into a city or escaping on a boat than heading north to MacDonald."
"Aye. And Kate's accent would make her stand out like a throbbin' thumb there," Bean commented. "I'd have had her stopped until ye could get out to ensure it wasn't her." He was silent for a moment, but then frowned and asked, "But why go to the barn? Why are they no' fleeing as fast as they can?"
"They have Annabel in the chest. I'm sure o' it," Ross said quietly. "I presume there is a reason fer it."
"Well it can no' be fer ransom," Bean said and then pointed out, "The English bitch stole everything from ye. She must ken ye've nothing left to pay a ransom with."
Ross's mouth tightened, but he didn't comment. He was quite sure that Kate was bitterly jealous of Annabel, and because of that, hated her with a white-hot passion that would want some form of torment, or even death to slake it. Ross just hoped he found Annabel in time and he did not learn the hard way which it was that Kate wanted.
