Page 70 of Keeping Kate
“I am thinking this one is very particular to you,” Neill said.
Kate began to speak—she meant to deny it as long as she could hide it from them—but the others looked around as Roderick, one of Neill and Mary’s twin sons, came up the steps and along the corridor toward them. Black-haired and beautiful, he gave Kate a dimpled and charming smile.
“Katie,” he said. “How is the lad?”
“Better,” she said. He nodded in relief. She liked Roderick and his twin, Padraig, very much. She had learned that they had become good friends of her sister Sophie, and along with Neill and Mary, had been a great help when Sophie had been stolen away by Connor MacPherson—a misunderstanding, Kate had just learned, that had ended well.
“Padraig has gone to find Duncrieff to tell him his sister has come home,” Roderick said. “He will explain that Kate brought a red soldier with her. Other red soldiers may be about looking for them, so we must beware if he stays here.”
“He will soon be strong enough to leave,” Allan said.
“Not yet,” Kate insisted. “Has Rob returned to the glen?”
“Who can say?” Neill shrugged. “He will be coming back over the hills with Connor MacPherson. We have had some trouble recently. Andrew MacPherson and your cousin, Donald MacCarran, were captured when they went spying on a new section of Wade’s road. The soldiers took them to Edinburgh Castle, we heard. Rob and Connor went out to learn what they could from the constable. When Rob heard of your arrest, Katie, he was very distressed, and has been out often with his men to learn what they could of your whereabouts. If they could find you, they meant to steal you away to safety with your kin. That is how my sons and I found you with the red soldier chasing you.”
“He was not exactly chasing me.” She had tried to explain it before, but with Alec so ill, she had not told them much—and perhaps it was better that way. “Well. I am back, and glad to be here, but deeply sorry to hear about Andrew and Donald. Now that I am off Rob’s mind, he can focus his efforts to help them.”
“If it is possible to help them. And Ian Cameron needs assistance too. We all want that great braw lad back safe as well,” Neill said.
“Padraig will fetch Rob and Connor back here to Duncrieff Castle,” Roderick said. “And Padraig has Thomas MacPherson with him. That lad is a crack shot. If they meet up with red soldiers, they both have good Spanish flintlocks. We found a few, but the rest we have yet to uncover.”
Kate set a finger to her lips. “Hush! Do not speak of that. Andrew and Donald were arrested because of the pistols. Did you not know?” she added, seeing their puzzled expressions.
“What do you mean?” Allan demanded.
“We heard, the officer and I, that two Highland men were arrested with Spanish weapons, and it seems that was Donald and Andrew,” she said. “General Wade and others are furious about the cache falling into Jacobite hands, if it has been found. Captain Fraser is looking for the weapons as well. Best not speak of it.”
Neill frowned. “I told you it is not safe to have this red soldier here.”
She returned his scowl. “We cannot send him away, I tell you.”
“For all the lad is braw and bonny,” Neill said, “and for all he seems to have won your wee heart, he has to go.”
Kate deepened her scowl. “I have not given my heart to him or anyone.”
“Good,” Allan said. “Neill is right. Your captain will only bring more trouble.”
“And you, lass, must keep your loyalty where it belongs, with kin and clan,” Neill added sternly.
Kate said nothing. How could she tell them that she had fallen in love with an officer of the crown? Especially because she was a fairy-blessed MacCarran, or so they all believed, she had to be careful whom she loved. Neill and Allan knew that, and it added to their concern, she realized. A dispute over Alec’s presence at Duncrieff did not augur well for the future, even if all the other troubles could be cleared away.
She touched her crystal pendant. “He stays,” she said firmly.
“Stubborn lass.” Neill shook his head, resigned, glancing at the others.
“Kate, your brother will not be happy to have a red soldier here,” Allan said. “Let alone the man who arrested you and pursued you out here. Others may follow him. He cannot be trusted either way,” he said, as she began to protest. “We must send him away by tomorrow, before he recovers enough to learn much about our kin or our glen.”
Roderick nodded. “We can carry him by cart out of the glen and give him a horse. He can make his way east and south. And you can stay safely here.”
“What sort of hospitality is that?” Kate asked bitterly. “Highlanders pride themselves on helping friend and enemy alike in time of need. He is too weak to go.”
“That braw lad,” Neill said, “will survive.”
“Let Rob decide. What of the lists you were to fetch, Kate?” Allan asked. “With all the nursing of the redcoat since you arrived, we have had little chance to discuss these things. You said you saw Cameron. What happened then? What more can you tell us?”
“When Rob arrives, I will tell all of you. Not now, not here.” She glanced toward the room where Alec lay and hoped he was not awake to hear any of this.
“You have changed, lass. I cannot say how. But—different,” Allan said.
