Page 24 of Highlander's Escaped Prisoner
“Then the matter is settled.” His voice was decisive.
Just then, the tray with their food came, and they ate in silence. It was not a companionable silence, however, as it had been before. There was a tension between them now, an awkwardness that had never been there previously, and both of them felt it, although neither would acknowledge it.
When it was time to sleep, Bryce moved the mattress over to the other wall and lay down on it. He was only two yards furtheraway, but at least he was not within touching distance. He hoped it would be far enough.
As soon as Logan saw Jo tethered outside the Black Sheep Inn, he knew he was in the right place. He had slept in the woods since it was too far to ride back to Drumblane Castle, and he was tired and irritable. He stormed inside and went straight to the first person he saw, who happened to be Sam Donaldson.
He was astonished; it was very early in the morning for new guests. “How can I help ye, sir?” he asked with a polite smile.
“I am looking for the owner of the horse outside,” Logan replied, his eyes darting around the inn. “The big black one. The lady’s name is Nessa. Is she here?”
“Aye, sir, she is,” he replied worriedly.
Logan was furiously angry, much bigger than Jack, and looked as though he could do some serious damage.
“Where is she?” he demanded. “Was anyone with her?”
Jack dithered for a moment, but he glanced quickly at the staircase to the rooms upstairs, and Logan followed his gaze. In an instant, he had dived toward the stairs and was sprinting upward, taking them two at a time.
Bryce woke early that morning, roused by the sound of men’s voices talking loudly in the main room of the inn below him. Hewas ready to go downstairs when suddenly he saw the face of Logan Crosbie. His heart leaped into his throat. He went back to the chamber.
“Damnation!” he growled. “How did he find us? Nessa!” he hissed, trying to wake her up. He shook her hard by the shoulder, but all she did was grumble and turn over in her sleep.
Bryce was beginning to panic as he heard footsteps thumping upstairs and Logan’s voice calling: “Nessa! Nessa, where are you?”
Bryce could hear the fury in his voice, and although he knew he could best Logan in a fair fight with any weapons or none at all, he decided to stay hidden until he could find out what intrigues had been going on at the Blair and Guthrie estates while he had been gone. He needed information, and Logan was the best person to provide it. As well as that, he had no wish to be recaptured if Logan had brought company with him. However, if he threatened harm to Nessa, Bryce knew that he would not hesitate to tear him to pieces.
“Nessa! Nessa!” Logan was yelling outside and pounding on the door. “Let me in, or I will bust this door down!”
Nessa woke with a jerk and sat up, yawning. She felt drowsy and disoriented, and as she looked around herself, she vaguely wondered where she was. Then memory slammed into her. But where was Bryce? At the same moment, she recognized the voice outside. Logan! How had he found them?
She took a quick glance around, but Bryce was nowhere to be seen.He must have found a way out,she thought, although she could see none. At last, she took a deep breath and turned the handle. As soon as she did, Logan Crosbie slammed the dooropen and, shoving her aside rudely, he burst into the room.
14
Logan stood in the middle of the chamber, casting his eyes around it and looking frustrated when he could not find what he was looking for. “Where is he?” he demanded. His face was crimson with fury.
“Who?” Nessa asked, spreading her hands and looking baffled. “I have no idea what you are talking about, Logan.”
“Please do not take me for a fool, Nessa,” he growled. “You know exactly who I mean. Bryce Blair, of course. I have just been to the healer who treated him after he was injured by bandits. She said that he had bruises all over him, and she said you called him Bryce.”
“That was not Bryce Blair,” she declared angrily. “He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, as you well know. The man the healer saw me with was my cousin, Bruce Caldwell. You can see how she got the names confused, or perhaps in your eagerness to think the worst of me, you misheard her.”
“She said he was a very tall, muscular man,” Logan said triumphantly. “With dark hair and a beard.”
“A description which exactly fits my cousin Bruce,” she replied angrily. “I was out riding, and I found him lying on the side of the road to Wallaceneuk. He had been waylaid by bandits, and they had beaten him very badly. He managed to scramble up onto Jo’s back; God alone knows how.” She shuddered.
“We left there together, and I took him to his friend’s home halfway between the healer’s house and here. I had not intended to come all the way here, but when I left, it was too dark to ride home, and I knew that all the inns in Wallaceneuk would be full because of the market. I spent the night here since I did not wish to be ambushed by bandits in the dark. I was just about to have breakfast and return to the castle.” She looked at him out of narrowed eyes and put her hands on her hips. “You obviously think I am hiding someone or something, so please feel free to look around if you do not believe me.”
Logan glared at her. “Thank you, I will,” he said grimly. “And you had better pray that I do not find anything, Nessa.”
“And if you do?” She looked at him expectantly. Logan was going through her meager luggage. Nessa threw back her head and laughed. “What do you expect to find in there? A man?” she asked derisively.
“A man’s clothes,” he replied. Then he stood up and moved toward the bed, and Nessa’s heart skipped a beat as she finally realized where Bryce had disappeared to.
She had to stop Logan from looking under it! She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Do you think so little of me that you suppose I would hide a man under my bed? Or perhapsyou think he has been in it?”
Logan’s lip curled. “Get out of my way.” His voice was calm, but his expression was dangerous. Nessa stepped aside, suddenly afraid.
