Page 45 of Highland Crown
“You’ve learned to ignore him.”
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She took the used bandages and walked to the table where she kept her clean cloths and ointment.
The dress was baggy and draped from her shoulders. He assumed she’d borrowed it from the housekeeper orone of the servants. He truly thought she’d never left the room at all while he was going through the duration of his illness.
“He doesn’t know what to make of me. At first, I believe he didn’t trust me with your life. In fact, I think he was somehow convinced I shot you. Now, why I would bring you back here after shooting you involved some logic I couldn’t understand. But since Mr. Carmichael’s visits and his good words to Searc about my abilities, he’s eased up in attacking me. Still, I doubt he believes we’re married. When he glowers at me from beneath those eyebrows, I know he cannot see any reasonwhyyou would marry me.”
An old bachelor, Searc was blind to real beauty and goodness and talent. He would state outright that he had no room for feminine influence in his life. His women were bought and replaced with as little concern as a pair of gloves. When he wanted one, he simply went across the river to a brothel he owned with several partners. He could only remember the topic of marriage coming up a few times, but when it did Searc always spoke quite disparagingly about the institution. On the other hand, Cinaed couldn’t imagine he’d ever met someone like Isabella.
If Searc only knew what she had to offer. In truth, it was Cinaed who was not worthy of her. If the dire circumstances that had thrown them together had never occurred, he didn’t think she’d even acknowledge his existence. She was a university-educated doctor, he a mere self-taught man of the sea who did whatever he needed to survive.
She was the noble mainsail, he the fouled anchor.
“Who is this Carmichael you mentioned?” Since he’d been carried up here, faces coming in and out of the room had been only vague and fleeting images.
“The surgeon. Searc brought him in the first night to see to your injuries.” She brought clean bandages and ointment back to the bed. “He’s pleasant and honest. I like him.”
She started to put the salve around the sutures, and he caught her wrist. “Don’t trust anyone who comes to this house.”
Their gazes locked. “That’s whathetold me.”
Cinaed knew he had to have faith in her judgment, but he was still not completely satisfied. Years ago, he’d learned that in the murky world in which Searc existed, a thin line existed between friends and enemies. And it was a line that was constantly crossed.
Isabella freed her hand and spread the ointment. His skin warmed beneath her fingers. He tried not to think of how close she was standing. The pressure of her arm against him, the brush of her skirt, a dozen inadvertent touches… he noticed them all.
She moved on to his arm. “Who were the Highlanders who came to our rescue that day at Stoneyfield House?”
He’d asked himself the same question. He didn’t know them. Outlaws perhaps, down from the hills to steal cattle or horses. Reckless as it was attacking British soldiers, they’d shown admirable courage. He intended to ask Searc about it. The Innes and Ross clans, as well as the Frasers and others, were all increasingly eager buyers for weapons he smuggled into the Highlands. But Searc and his agents handled the business side of those transactions.
He shook his head. “I wish I knew. But I’ll find out. I owe them a great deal for what they did.”
“That wasn’t the only help they’ve given us,” Isabella said, wiping her fingers on a piece of cloth. “They’ve been here.”
“The same men? In this house? Are you certain?”
“They keep to the shadows outside. I didn’t know who they were, but I began seeing them right after we came here. When I looked out the window, they’d be watching the house, standing in pairs or alone.”
Cinaed wondered if they were members of the army of men Searc employed to keep his house safe. If not, he had to already know about them. Nothing went unnoticed by him.
“That changed yesterday. One of them came forward.”
He waited for her to say more.
“Yesterday was market day in town, so Jean went up to High Street, thinking she might hear something. Talk of what happened at the inn, rumors, news that might be coming from Fort George about John. Anything.” She backed away from the bed and leaned against the table, facing him. “While she was at the market, a man approached and gave her a message about John and about my family.”
He recalled Isabella’s hesitation to leave Stoneyfield House without learning more about John Gordon. She wanted to know where her sister and stepdaughter were hidden. “The man gave Jean a letter?”
She shook her head. “According to Jean, he said that John Gordon is still at Fort George. He’s only told theauthorities that he shared a coach to the Highlands with a woman who called herself Mrs. Murray and he knew nothing else about her.”
He knew this was only the start. The soldiers interrogating the man would torture him until they’d forced whatever confessions they wanted out of him. Cinaed had been barely alive, but he remembered promising the old woman that he’d help to free her nephew.
“I need to talk to Searc. He can gather together enough men for me to—”
“John is being moved,” she interrupted. “The Highlander told Jean that her nephew was being sent to Edinburgh next week.”
“What day?” he asked, already relieved. It would be far easier attacking a prisoner escort than breaking into Fort George.
She shook her head. “He didn’t know.”
