Amanda Scott (42 page)

Every movement, his or her own, stirred her blood and sent it racing through her body. Her nipples hardened and her breasts swelled until they strained against her bodice. When his stroking hand moved to cup the left breast and his thumb brushed its nipple, she was the one who moaned.

As abruptly as he had kissed her, he released her. He did not speak. He just stood, looking at her, and his eyes seemed dark, his thoughts impenetrable.

“Let’s go,” he said then, and she nodded silently.

He did not put his arm around her again. Her lips felt swollen. Her body sang.

When they reached the entrance to the castle, he stopped before working the latch to say, “Take care once we are inside, lass. We cannot return together, because it is too late. My aunt may still be up, even so, and it would
not do for her to see us together. Nor would it be wise to let your father or mine see us just now.”

“My father is staying at Roslin?”

“Aye, he will arrive with Michael tonight.”

“But what about all the others?”

“Returning to Edinburgh with Henry. No one will know they went any farther than to supper at his house near Holyrood Abbey. Hush now, not another word until you are safe in your own chamber,” he added, opening the door.

Near the foot of the secret stairs, he picked up the torch she had left on the floor there and set it in the holder. The one he had carried through the tunnel still burned steadily enough to light their way upstairs.

At the doorway to the cask chamber, Sorcha had a sickening thought.

“Wait! I forgot about Kenna. What if she has raised an alarm?”

“She won’t, lass, not tonight when we have guests arriving. She’ll have been busy all day and will have expected you to send for her if you needed her.”

Hoping he was right, she stood impatiently while he eased the door open. It was too late to expect any servant to come to the cask chamber, if any ever did come there, but she had expected him to put out the torch. Only as he stepped boldly into the chamber did she realize that no one would question his being there.

“I’ll go first,” he murmured as they crossed the room. “I can delay anyone heading to the stairs from the hall whilst you go up. Then you need worry only if you meet someone coming down who demands to know where you’ve been.”

“The only ones who might do that are my father or Isobel, or mayhap the countess,” she replied in the same tone. “But, pray, sir, do not leave before you tell me what you have decided about tomorrow.”

“I’ll send you with Einar,” he said, his hand on the latch. “But do exactly as he tells you, Skelpie, and take no risk but that of meeting Adela and returning with her to him. The most dangerous time will be whilst you are alone in sight of the peel tower. We’ll have no way to know how many may be inside. Which reminds me,” he added. “If Adela is there, no matter what she says, do
not
go into that tower.”

“I won’t. But you know, sir, I doubt it would ever occur to your cousin that Adela may have wanted to save Isobel and me, and the baby, so he must believe she warned him as she did only to save him. What if he has simply decided to free her?”

“His intent does not matter, nor should you think about that. You need only meet her. If anything bad happens when you do, or beforehand, run back to Einar. If you can’t do that, try to be civil and avoid more trouble until I can get to you.”

“I will,” she said.

“I’ll send Kenna to you when it is time to go,” he said. “You won’t want to arrive before midday, and I must arrange a few things before you leave. As for my dishonorable behavior tonight, I was going to apologize, but I don’t think I will.”

He let go of the latch then, put his hand at the back of her head, and kissed her gently on the lips. Then he opened the door, looked out, and left the cask room.

She followed quietly as he returned to the hall level
and put the torch in its still-empty holder. Then he strode to the archway and waved her on up the stairs.

Hearing men’s voices in the hall, Hugo glanced back to see her disappear around the first curve of the stairway before he went in. His aunt was not there, but his father, Michael, Macleod, and several others sat at the high table with goblets, jugs, and platters of food in front of them.

Michael grinned, “We have arrived, cousin. Come, greet my guests.”

Hugo obeyed, but at the first opportunity, he approached Macleod and said he’d like a private word with him.

Sorcha reached her bedchamber without incident. Two cressets burned softly there, her bed was turned down, and the night shift she had borrowed from Isobel lay neatly across the coverlet.

She took off her clothes, washed her face, blew out the cressets, and got into bed. She had meant to think about the ceremony she had seen, to try to fix in her memory such details as she could remember, but try as she might, she could think only of Hugo’s “dishonorable” behavior and her own mad betrayal of Adela.

Hugo insisted Adela was not in love with him, and to Sorcha’s own knowledge, according to her father’s notions, love was no reason for marriage. But she did wish Hugo had not been so frank about his feelings. Her guilt
was powerful enough without living the rest of her life knowing she had forced him into a loveless marriage. When men said sacrifice was noble, she did not think they meant sacrificing someone else’s happiness. The tears came then, and her face was still sticky with them when Kenna came in to waken her the next morning.

Y
e’re to dress gey quick, m’lady,” Kenna said as Sorcha tried to wipe sleep from her eyes and tearstains from her cheeks without revealing the latter to her impatient handmaiden. “I let ye sleep late, but Sir Hugo did say ye mean to ride outside this morning. He would choose a horse for ye afore he goes to Edgelaw.”

“Well, I cannot ride in what I wore yesterday or the day before,” Sorcha said. “Mayhap if you can find the clothing I was wearing when I arrived…”

“Och, nay, m’lady. Lady Isobel has a lovely green riding dress ye can wear, and she’ll no mind a bit. I’ll just run fetch it whilst ye’re washing your face.”

Sorcha had not thought about riding, because if Edgelaw lay only three miles south of Roslin as Hugo had told her it did, it would take less than an hour to walk there. Moreover, if Einar expected to accompany her
without showing himself to any watchers, he could scarcely be going to ride a horse.

In any event, her feet were still sore from the previous night’s walk in Isobel’s thin slippers, so she would not object if Hugo insisted. Moreover, if she and Adela had to make speed once they were away from the peel tower, they could do so much better on horseback than afoot, even if Adela had to ride pillion.

Twenty minutes later, wearing Isobel’s forest-green riding dress, a pair of her soft leather boots, and a lace net beneath a flat green cap to cover her hair, she was ready. Hurrying downstairs, she went straight out to the stable, tearing chunks of bread from a manchet loaf Kenna had given her to break her fast.

As she chewed, she indulged in a brief vision of herself atop Black Thunder. He could certainly travel fast enough, even with two women atop him.

However, the horse Hugo led out for her was a gentle-looking gray palfrey that did not look as if it had galloped a step in its life.

She looked at Hugo, and suddenly it was as if he had just kissed her, for her body warmed at the sight of him, and her lips felt swollen again. When he touched her to lift her to the saddle, she wanted to put her arms around him and hug him.

Then he handed her a wooden whistle, saying with a grin, “If you need it, blow hard, lass. It makes a lovely, loud screech, and it will let Einar or anyone else who hears it know you need help.”

She grinned back at him, excited to be doing something again. Then she said, “Won’t your men think it odd that you are letting me ride out alone?”

“If they do, they won’t say so,” he said. “Now, heed me closely. You want to cross the river over the arched stone bridge. You’ll bear left on the other side and follow the narrow cart track you’ll see there, up the glen until you come to the top of a rise and see a gray stone castle in a big clearing a little less than a mile ahead.”

“That will be Edgelaw.”

“Aye. You’ll see the tower, too, for it lies between the rise and the castle. My men and I will take the main road along the east rim of the glen. We should be in place well before you arrive at the tower. Einar will be nearby and may give you news if he has gleaned any. He may even tell you to return to Roslin.”

When she stiffened, he put his hand on her knee, looked into her eyes, and said quietly, “I must know that you will obey him.”

Sighing, she said, “I won’t like it, sir, but I will do as he bids me. Just remember, though, that I am trusting you just as you are trusting me.”

“I know that, and I’ll not let you down. We’ll have Adela out of there, and I’ll do my best to make Waldron face the countess for what he has done. I cannot promise about either one, but my best usually serves the purpose. And if you do as I bid you, and as Einar bids you, you should all three get back here safely.”

He reached out then and caught her arm, giving it a gentle squeeze as his gaze met hers. “Go warily now, and stay wise.”

“I will, sir, and thank you for understanding that I had to go.”

“Aye, well, I understand you well enough, Skelpie,” he said with a wry smile. “It should please you to know that
I spoke with your father last night and told him that I’d be honored to marry the lady Adela if she will have me.”

A tremor swept over her, but she rallied quickly. “Sakes, what did he say?”

“He agreed that it should answer the purpose admirably,” he said. “Now, off with you, and may all go well.”

Sorcha kicked the palfrey a trifle harder than she had intended.

Hugo watched her go, hoping he had not made a tragic decision. She was intrepid, quick of thought, and intelligent. And, too, she seemed to have a knack for coming through the most outrageous actions unscathed. But hitherto her success had depended as much on luck as on anything else, and as any soldier knew, luck was a two-edged sword. One had to expect the bad with the good.