Page 34 of Highland Hero
“Ah…on the road…near Fort William, I think.”
Both of the MacDonnell men looked skeptical.
“If ye reached Fort William, why did ye not seek help from the dragoons to escort ye back?” the laird asked. “As an Englishwoman, they wouldna have turned ye down.”
“Yes, but…” Juliana looked toward Rory once more and frowned when she saw he was looking rather amused. She lifted her chin. “Mr. MacGregor suspected the ruffians were Camerons, and since the fort is in the midst of their holdings, we did not know if we could depend on support from there.” She really wanted to glare at Rory for not helping her out, but since everyone was watching her, she had to maintain a neutral demeanor.
“Camerons?” Calum asked. “Why would they be attacking travelers on the road?”
“Aye. ’Tis nae like their laird to condone such a thing.”
“Perhaps he did not know,” Juliana answered. “They might have been renegades or some such.”
The MacDonnell laird frowned. “If there be Cameron men turned outlaws, their laird needs to ken about it. I’ll send a messenger as soon as the snow clears—”
“—and we can also send a letter to Strae Castle,” Sima added, “so they ken ye are safe.”
“I already did that when we stopped at Spean,” Juliana replied. “There was a mail coach stopped there.”
That earned her a look from Rory that promised there would be a discussion later.Fine.“So there is no need to send a message to the Camerons—”
“’Twas Neal Cameron who led the party,” Rory interrupted.
Heads swiveled toward him at that news.
“Neal?” the laird asked. “The man has a temper and everyone kens he likes to have his own way of things, but what would possess him to take to robbery? He is nae so stupid.”
“He dinna intend to rob, at least, not our coin.” Rory ignored Juliana’s warning look. “What he intended to steal was a bride.”
Sima blinked. “A bride?” She looked at Juliana. “Ye?”
She could cheerfully have kicked Rory—hard—in the shins, except her feet were just beginning to thaw out and he wore high boots. “I have no idea why he would want to do such a thing, but it seems he did.”
The laird frowned. “Neal Cameron abducted ye?”
“Aye,” Rory answered for her. “And I was sent to fetch her back.”
“Which is what he did while we were on the road,” Juliana said quickly before anyone would ask how he had accomplished that. She certainly didn’t want him bringing up that whole business of being handfasted. The embarrassment of being rejected when he embraced his paramour—wherever the cousin was—would be too humiliating. Of course, she wouldn’t really berejected, since he’d only made that claim to get them away from Neal and hadn’tmeantit. All the same, if either of them tried to explain the circumstances, it would stillfeellike rejection. Which didn’t really make any sense—why should she care?—but perhaps her brain was half-frozen, too. “So,” she quickly concluded, “we decided to ride north since Neal Cameron might be pursuing us.”
“The man is hardheaded,” the laird acknowledged, “but the storm will nae doubt make him turn back.”
“He’d be a fool to try and follow ye on horseback,” Calum added. “’Tis too easy to lose the trail with the snow blinding ye.”
“Aye, ’tis the reason I decided it best to sail up the loch,” Rory said.
“Since only one packet sails north each day, he willna have followed ye by sea, either.”
Rory nodded. “And the captain decided to anchor for the night rather than try to sail south during the blow, so if Cameron thought to follow by ship, he’d have to wait another day.”
“More likely, he’ll hole up at Spean and, if the snow hasna stopped, his men will want to turn around and head home.”
“Meanwhile, ye’ll be safe here at Invergarry,” Sima said. “I’ve already had two chambers prepared for ye.”
Twochambers. Juliana gave her a grateful look, glad she wasn’t going to have go through another debate about sharing a bed. Or rather,notsharing a bed. Of course, Greer and Aileen’s mother might have made sure Rory had his own chamber because he’d be entertaining Cousin Morag later.
She just hoped his chamber wasn’t close to hers if he did.
…
