Page 105 of Stealing Sophie
Chapter 29
“We can hardly walk over there and tell them to give the lads over to us,” Andrew said. Connor grunted agreement.
Propped on his elbows, lying on an outcrop that overlooked the valley floor and the nearby slope, Connor watched Campbell and the red soldiers pacing beside their captives. “They are watching the road carefully. Do they think we would come through the glen so openly?” He huffed.
“They are waiting for you and your wife to arrive,” Thomas said.
“Let them wait. The gunpowder you set earlier—where did you put it, lad?”
“Packed into pewter tankards, with one in the mortar, another at the base, there by the bank. Andrew and I added the fuses.”
“How will we reach the bridge to blow it? Even if we can light the fuses, if the guards move now, it could harm Neill and Duncrieff,” Andrew said.
“We need to distract the men and snatch our lads,” Roderick said. “How?”
“Listen, now,” Connor said. “We must get down to the riverbank and keep by the water. Then we can make our way to the bridge and not be seen, since they are watching the road and the hill, not the water. Andrew, Roderick—once at the bridge, you two run along the bank toward Kinnoull. Make sure you are seen. Lead them away.”
“And separate them from the prisoners,” Andrew agreed.
“Thomas, do you have your firearm? Aye then. We may need your keen aim, lad.” Connor stood. A few streaks of golden light remained in the twilight sky, with darkness falling. That would help to hide their progress.
This was a true risk with an unpredictable outcome. For an instant, he thought of Sophie, relieved that she was safe at Glendoon with Padraig for a guard.
Still, he had an uneasy feeling. “Lads,” he finally said. One by one, they moved like wraiths down the hillside.
“Get down.”Padraig pulled Sophie with him to duck behind an outcrop of rock. She went to her knees, stumbling on the hem of her gown. If she leaned just so, she had a good view of the long glen with the grand house above on a hilltop and the gleaming river with a bridge arching over the water. A few soldiers in red stood at the base of a hill, with two men seated among them.
Movement along the hill caught her attention and she focused on it, making sure of what she saw. “Connor, there, with the others—look!” she whispered.
“Aye, it must be them.”
She saw them run forward, crouched low, pausing behind bracken and boulders stones along the way. She could only pray the soldiers would not see them; on the open hill, there was little more than terrain and twilight to hide their progress.
“Campbell is a fool to think he can take Connor MacPherson—or claim you,” Padraig said. “The magistrate is calling up great trouble for himself. Even if he could capture Connor, he cannot succeed.”
Though hoping he was right, she was puzzled. “Why so?”
“He would have to prove that Connor has done a crime. Conn is the rightful Lord Kinnoull, and that holds some power still. And he was a captain in the Black Watch.”
“Oh, under Wade!” She nodded, remembering that Connor had mentioned it, though she knew little about his years in service.
“Aye, so he is known to Wade and some of his men. Campbell will find he cannot eliminate Captain MacPherson, Viscount Kinnoull, as easily as he thinks.” Padraig nodded briskly as if reassuring himself as well as Sophie.
Inching left, she saw Sir Henry and one of the sentries step away from the seated men, who were guarded by other soldiers. Then she gasped. “Neill—and Robert!”
She knew the set of that long back, those wide shoulders, the ash-blond hair. Tears started in her eyes. He was alive. He seemed strong, sitting tall with the dignity that was natural to him despite his hands bound behind him.
She leaned so far to the side that Padraig yanked her back. “I should not have let you come out here. Kinnoull will have my head.”
“You could not stop me, lad,” she said.
“Perhaps I can stop you instead,” said a voice pleasantly.
Sophie whirled. Padraig leaped to his feet, only to be knocked in the head by the butt of a pistol, wielded by a redcoat soldier.
“How nice to see you at last, Miss MacCarran,” Sir Henry said, stepping around Padraig, who had slipped senseless to the ground.
“Oh!” She leaned toward the lad, but the soldier grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, holding her arms tightly. Sir Henry came closer.
