Page 83 of Keeping Kate
Chapter 23
On the sunlit veranda, Kate picked up her skirts to walk quickly beside Alec’s long-legged stride. Rob, Connor, and the others turned as they approached.
Then Rob came forward, somber and wary, a tall man with ash-blond hair and a quiet demeanor, not at all the hotheaded chief of his reputation. Adoring her brother, Kate always thought him a handsome, masculine version of his golden-haired sisters in appearance and complexion. Connor MacPherson of Kinnoull came behind Rob, much more the Highland warrior and rogue. Her new brother-in-law was a tall, robust man with striking good looks, dark-haired with intensely green eyes. In his wrapped plaid he looked the savage warrior despite his fine education and scholarly leanings. She had quickly come to love him as a brother, appreciating his slow smile, dry wit, and kindness beneath a gruff exterior.
But she did not know how they, or Allan and Neill who came with them, would greet Captain Fraser. She had not had a chance to talk to Rob in depth since his late-night arrival. Surely Neill and Allan had already told him, and Connor, what they knew.
The sun was warm, the breeze chill, and she shivered—was it cool air or nervousness? “Robert MacCarran of Duncrieff,” she said, “and Connor MacPherson, Lord Kinnoull, this is Captain Alexander Fraser.”
Rob nodded, eyeing Alec for a moment. “Fraser, sir,” he said simply.
“Duncrieff.” Alec held out his hand. Rob shook it, and Alec turned to Connor. “Lord Kinnoull.”
“Connor,” he replied, taking the offered hand. Despite politeness, Kate sensed tension in the air as Alec turned to greet Neill and Allan as well.
“We were just coming inside,” Rob said, “though Connor was just showing us some things Sophie has done in the gardens.” Rob gestured for Kate to lead the way back to the drawing room. He turned to Alec. “You are recovered from your illness?”
“Aye, well enough to travel, and I thank you for your hospitality. But I must be going as soon as possible. May I trouble you for a horse? I will see it returned to you. Your sister wishes to remain here,” he added. “I will not demand that she go with me.” His voice was deepened and serious, and Kate felt her breath catch in her throat a little.
“Kate?” Rob turned to her. “There are—consequences for that?”
“There could be,” Alec replied.
She lifted her chin. “I asked him to leave me here. He has agreed, though he takes a chance in doing so.”
“I will tell the courts that...I lost her,” Alec said quietly.
The tone of his voice, the meaning in the words, tugged hard at her. Kate glanced at him sadly, but he did not look her way.
Her brother nodded. “We are in your debt, sir, when I thought we might be in confrontation. Allan said you had Kate arrested.”
“I did, originally. Under the circumstances, it appeared that she was acting as anintriguante, or at the least a thief. It was not until later that I understood...well, perhaps I made the wrong decision.”
“Wrong decision?” she asked.
“I may have been hasty,” he said. “But I am glad that I brought you out of prison and home. Duncrieff,” he added, turning. “There is something I need to know.”
“And that is?” Rob sounded cautious. Kate watched in alarm, wondering if Alec might ask about the missing Spanish weapons.
“What the devil were you lot thinking, to send a lass out to do that sort of work?”
Kate caught her breath. Rob looked startled, and all of them stared at Alec.
“She agreed,” Neill said. “Saw the sense in it.”
Rob held up a hand. “Let us not be hasty, if he will not. Fraser?”
“The mischief she took on was dangerous for a young woman on her own. She was bound to be arrested. Or worse,” he growled. “I am only glad I was the one who discovered it.”
“It was her choice,” Allan countered, stepping closer. “She knew the danger. We kept watch over her every time.”
Neill nodded. “There was always one or more of us nearby. We never let the lass go anywhere entirely on her own.”
“But you did,” Alec said. “Every time she stepped into an officer’s quarters, she was on her own. She could have been raped. Murdered. Arrested. Hanged before you even got into the camp.”
”I was fine,” Kate said.
“You were never entirely safe, except with me.” Alec flashed a glance at her.
