The Runaway Highlander (The Highland Renegades Book 2) (4 page)

“Today’s events have convinced the Sheriff that not only can he be first in our daughter’s affections, but he can have a powerful ally in our family.”

The two of them exchanged a look that made Anne want to claw off her own skin.

This was about the war.

Anne wondered for a moment if her mother hadn’t known that she would try to help the man escape. Was it possible she’d been lying in wait, armed with guards, hoping her daughter would fall into her trap? Was she that devious?

“I was most impressed with your commitment to justice.” The man slid his sausage-like fingers around Milene’s offered hand and helped the countess to her feet.

That translated into
you are appropriately in league with my allies,
and Anne couldn’t help but wish they’d been two minutes earlier or later in their attempt. That would have given the Sheriff a more accurate display of her commitments.

“The de Cheyne family is highly committed to the
King’s justice.” The countess’ sweet words were the product of much practice, and still fell unwelcome on her daughter’s ears.

Anne feigned a yawn. “Forgive me, my lord.” Those words still drug heavily on her tongue and she couldn’t meet his eyes while she inwardly took them back. “It has been a fitful evening. I’m afraid I must retire.”

“You haven’t given the Sheriff your answer, Anne.” This time, when her mother spoke, no sweetness lined the undersides of her words. “Certainly you should express your assent.”

Anne stood, only to sink into a deep curtsey. “My assent is unnecessary. But you have it nonetheless.”

The Sheriff glowered at her and Anne turned away, attending to her sister to escape his disgusting leer. She pulled at Elena’s arms and finally wrestled her younger sister to her feet.

“Let me send guards with you, my dear.”
Simon Alcock, for she must get used to calling him this now that her mother had all but sold her to the man, offered her a curt bow.

He gestured to two of his men, who walked forward out of sync and stood, one at attention, one not. Surely, if the English were this poorly prepared, the war would soon be over.

“Take the misses de Cheyne to their room and stand guard.” The Sheriff waved his hand to dismiss them and ushered Anne’s mother from the room, through the door that led directly to the guest quarters.

Anne
held up her nearly-asleep sister who’d missed the day’s festivities and wished she could be more like Elena. More oblivious. Better able to sleep through calamity. Less concerned with the affairs of others.

Once they had walked the near length of the castle to their bedrooms, Elena became almost more of a weight than Anne could carry. She rested a moment at their bedroom door while one of the guards opened
it.

“We will be here all night, my lady,” one of the guards said. Anne walked past him and nodded. When she turned to close the door, she noticed that he did not avert his eyes, as the other guards had been trained to do. She recognized those alert brown eyes that had tried to speak to her before.

Anne wondered what his eyes would say if they could truly convey messages. The emotion she read was simple enough. Concern. But the eyes themselves, what would they have said?

She knew what hers would have said in this moment.

Save me
.

Chapter Four

Aedan woke with forward motion on his mind. But the pain that consumed his head stopped any ideas of moving. Somehow, he felt that he must run and yet could not run, equally, like a bad dream. Yet he recognized the foul stench of the dungeon too well for it to be a dream. Certainly, the gods would spare him the smell if he were truly still asleep.

He felt for the source of the pain but found a bandage where he expected bloody flesh. Who had bandaged him?

Anne.

Fear cut through him, slicing his capacity to move, to think. She had been here, in this room. Standing in dim shadow when the pain struck him. Now, she was gone, he was bandaged, and the captive he’d struggled so hard to find had escaped.

And he’d taken Anne.

Aedan tried to regain that forward motion that had gripped him when he’d woken. A lady like that shouldn’t get caught up in his mess. He’d already ruined one lady’s life, and that was too much.

He stumbled across the room and sagged against the door. The pain in his head pulsed like a battle cadence. Instead of stopping him, it pushed him toward his target. He had to find her, to find William and keep him from hurting her. Or worse.

A sliver of wood cut into his hand as he dragged himself upward, and with his other hand, he wrenched the handle open. The door swung away from him, undoing the last shred of his balance and Aedan collapsed to the floor again. The cold of the stone seeped through the bandage and chilled the skin on either side of his scar, but the dead space in between reminded him of the moment he’d seen that sword slashing through the air toward his face. He couldn’t let that happen to Anne. Who knew what these lawless men would do to her?

Aedan clenched his fists and used his knuckles to push himself up again. Once his knee made contact with the ground, he was quick on his feet and taking the stairs two at a time.

At the top of the stairs, he turned back toward the hall and ran for the nearest doors. He shoved one open and two dull-eyed soldiers met him with bent spears.

He waved them away and they raised their spears to attention, looking around the empty hall. The lights had nearly all been extinguished. Two plump lords lay in their plates, across one of the giant tables from each
other, a dog atop the table between them, licking at the leg of meat one had discarded in his slumber. The dais was empty, as were the chairs near the giant fire.

The two guards that should have been at attention at the other two doors were asleep
as well, two leaning back against the wall and two resting against each other.

“Where is the Sheriff?” Aedan’s breath came in quick bursts as blood pumped through him with fierce speed.

“What happened to your head, sir?”

The soldier mistook him for a knight and Aedan would have corrected him, but for the time. He must get to Anne. Save the lady he put in harm’s way. He never should have let her tend to the man, whether or not she knew him.

“The captive. William Campbell. He escaped. Took the lady Anne with him. We must wake the Sheriff.”

The two guards exchanged a nonchalant look. Morons.

“You haven’t heard.” One of the men set his spear butt on the ground and leaned against it. “The lady’s mother caught him about to escape and brought her daughter and the man back to the Sheriff’s court.”

Aedan looked behind him and took a step back to the
massive door, then slumped against it. Heavy as it was, it kept swinging back until it hit the wall and his body pitched right along with it. The jolt of pain that accompanied the cease of motion made him wince.

“Should we call for a healer?”

Aedan gave a short shake of his head. “No. Tell me what happened.”

“Whenever the man bested you,” he stopped so he and his compatriot could share a good chortle. Aedan planned to take his pound of flesh if the laughing continued, but either their amusement was short-lived, or they saw the involuntary flash of his teeth. “Well, whenever he escaped, he managed to get up to the south stair, near the entrance. Countess de Cheyne was on her way to her room and her guard overtook the man.”

“And Anne?” Aedan drew in a breath. Not Anne. Why did he insist on calling her Anne? “And Lady de Cheyne, the daughter? What happened?”

The other guard stepped forward. “Are you sure you’re not in need of medicine, brother?”

Aedan burst away from the door and slipped his hands around the idiot’s throat. “What the hell happened to the daughter?”

The choking man lost his sense of mirth and his eyes rounded. “She was rescued. Nothing happened to her.”

Releasing his grip on the fool, Aedan dropped his hands to his knees and bent over.
Thank you, God.
If anything had happened to her… Aedan was already living down one grave. He couldn’t stand another.

“
She’s safe?”

The guards exchanged another look. “She’s in her room, being watched over by two of the Sheriff’s guard.”

Aedan collapsed back onto the door and a laugh burst through the pain. What a fool he’d been. Of course someone would be here looking out for her. She was, after all, a guest of the Sheriff, and she would be well cared for.

He could put her out of his mind.

“And the captive?”

The choked guard stepped back into line, as though they were reporting to a superior officer and Aedan waved his hand again. He was only a paid soldier, now. Paid for services rendered. No need to stand at attention.

“I see you’re recovering,” boomed a familiar voice to his side. Aedan looked up to find the Sheriff sweating in the doorway, smirking down at him.

“I woke to find the captive and the woman gone,” he explained. “I came to report but you’d gone.”

That wasn’t the complete truth, but it was as much as the man deserved. His reputation hadn’t been lost when he took this position, and no amount of title would make Aedan show deference to this pig, regardless of purse strings.

“Well, I hope they’ve filled you in.”

Aedan nodded. “I assume since the captive was recovered, he’s now in the dungeon.”

“Yes.” The Sheriff wiped his hands on his trousers and smiled. “It would seem that the Lady Anne did her duty in stitching the man’s wound, for he was fit enough to attempt escape. Still, the Countess de Cheyne was most helpful in returning the escapee.”

“Excellent.”

“So I’ve given her your fee.”

Aedan nearly stopped breathing. “You’ve what?”

“Well, not just your fee. But in addition to the bride price, I’m paying the bounty into the dowry.”

Aedan stiffened against the door as shock gave way to burning anger. “You’ve given away my fee?”

The Sheriff’s laugh stoked the fire of Aedan’s growing anger. If he didn’t need his freedom so much, Aedan might have gutted the pig where he stood. Instead, he held his breath, hoping the pain would thrum some sense into his head before he let his anger overtake him.

“Technically, you let the man escape. Head wound aside, he was in your custody and nearly kidnapped an innocent woman in addition to gaining his freedom once more. The way I see it, if the Countess hadn’t stopped him, he would have been back with Moray, burning cities and killing the King’s men.”

Aedan could think of a list of the King’s men he’d like to kill himself. It was a list of one. The lout stood before him, sweating like a mating sow and giggling like a chit.

He wondered how long it would take the Sheriff to slowly bleed to death from a gut wound.

“I need that money,” he finally said, through gritted teeth.

The Sheriff grunted. “Then you shouldn’t have let the man escape.” As much as he could muster it, the pig leaned over his massive gut and down near Aedan’s face. “I have a feeling you were doing a good bit of gawping at a pretty face instead of doing your duty and watching her patient.”

At his sides, Aedan’s hands fisted of their own accord and he had to do his best at counting the stones between him and the Sheriff’s guards to keep his anger at bay.

“Surely a ruined face like that can’t get you much in the way of pleasure, short of paying for it.” The Sheriff continued to blather, spittle spewing from his fat lips and landing on Aedan’s exposed skin. “I’m sure you had a good leer at the Lady Anne, and I’ll consider that your payment for losing the fool Scot.”

“I’m a Scot, too,” Aedan growled.

“Could have fooled me.” The Sheriff stood and laughed, his belly jiggling with each short burst. “Any man who would sell his soul as you have has no right claiming anywhere as home.”

The truth of the words chilled Aedan to his very heart. While a fat, greasy bastard, the Sheriff was right. Aedan had no right to claim any loyalty, not when he took gold coins for capturing his countrymen.

He was no Scot. He was a soulless sword. For hire.

“So you’ve given away my bounty.”

“That’s right.”

“And I imagine, since you’re down here telling me this and not up with your Countess, that there’s something else you’ve got for me to do.”

“Actually, I’m finished with the Countess for now.” The Sheriff patted his belly. “A right pleasing woman, that Countess de Cheyne. So pliant. But no, it’s her daughter I have plans for this evening. Since she is, now, mine to do with as I will.”

Aedan counted his breaths.
One. Two. Three.
Don’t kill the swine. He isn’t worth your freedom. Or your sister’s. Remember Brighde.
Four. Five. Six.

“But I do have something for you. You two, help him over to the table so we can talk like men.” The Sheriff signaled to
the two guards, who dragged Aedan to the chair next to one of the sleeping lords.

As they sat, the dog scampered away, the remains of a cooked bird’s carcass dangling from its mouth. The Sheriff started picking at what was left of the leg near the sleeping lord’s hand. Aedan hoped he caught some disease from the foul dog and died a thousand deaths.

“You.” The Sheriff pointed at one of the guards. “Get the cook up here to clean this table. And round up some men to take Lord Creighton and Lord de Montfort to their chambers. They’ll make for better hunting partners tomorrow if they sleep in their beds and not in their cups. And get this one something for his head.”

“Yes, sir.” The two guards parted ways, one toward the open door and the kitchens, the other toward his comrades asleep at the other doors.

The Sheriff grabbed Aedan’s arm.

“Mark my words, son. I didn’t give your money lightly. But I need the Countess to be in good spirits for what I have in store for her, and the reward just sweetened the pot. I know you’re counting on this purse, and I have another task for you.”

As much as Aedan’s stomach roiled at the thought of helping this man again, he knew he didn’t have a choice. He only had two more weeks before he was sworn to return to his father with one hundred pounds, and he was still short, thanks to William Campbell.

Against his better judgment, Aedan nodded and leaned in, catching an unfortunate whiff of the Sheriff’s filth. “Whatever you have for me, I’ll take it.”

He swallowed hard and readied himself for the worst.

*****

Anne woke to rustling in the hallway. She pulled her covers back and slid from the bed, careful not to wake her sister. Perhaps the silent guard had dispatched his friend and would now speak to her. He’d been trying to communicate something, that much she would bet on, but he had said nothing.

Something had been roiling inside ever since the announcement of her marriage to the Sheriff. She couldn’t decide which was worse, the knowing or not knowing.

She opened the door to find an empty hallway. The guards who had so carefully deposited them, and been ordered to stand the night watch were gone. None had replaced them.

The hallway was dim and silent. Whatever noise had woken her was curiously absent.

Anne closed the door and glanced back to where Elena slept in the low firelight. The cool floor should have frozen her feet, but instead, felt good. She’d been flushed all night, between thoughts of Aedan Donne and an over-hot fire. She walked back to the bed.

No, certainly, it was the over-hot fire. A promised woman couldn’t have thoughts about another man. It just wasn’t done.

Another rustling in the hallway startled her. Perhaps these were the ghosts Elena had been worried about, for all the rooms around them were empty, and the hall was long enough in both directions, they couldn’t disappear before she could catch them.

She scurried to the door this time. Elena moaned and turned over in the bed and Anne nearly went back to comfort her, but she had to know what was happening in the hallway.

Perhaps it would be Aedan, come to take his leave. No matter how inappropriate the thought, she still entertained it.

The half-smile that she wore in preparation for her new friend’s presence quickly soured at the sight of Simon Alcock. His face was flushed and his breath heaving as he leaned against the wall outside her room.

But it was the leering smile that slid onto his face like dripping grease when he looked up to find her. “I thought you would be awake. Your mother said you weren’t much of a sleeper.”