Page 72 of Heather and the Highlander
At the Cat & Mouse, she rode to the side where the stables were. There was no proper courtyard here, and whoever minded the stable likely had other tasks as well, leaving Heather temporarily alone, which suited her well. She dismounted, intending to walk Sterling to the furthest stall. He would be found quickly, of course, but wouldn’t be visible from the front.
I could go back, she thought unexpectedly.Right now, I could turn and ride back to Carregness and tell Niall I’ve been thinking and we could work something out because we’re adults and we respect each other and there’s no reason to lose our heads over this whole mess.
The idea tugged at her soul. Was it possible to go back? She had acted badly the night before—not just accusing Niall of heartlessness, but also pretending that she was an innocent victim, when the truth was that shewantedhim to do everything he did. The right act would be to own up to her mistakes and talk to Niall, and perhaps even confess her feelings…though it would only make their relationship more fraught. Running away from her uncle had been a smart move, the only move she could make to maintain her independence. Running away from Niall was different. She was just taking the easy way out now.
She had to go back.
Turning around with the slightly confused horse, Heather walked to the stool near the stable entrance, placed there for solo riders. She’d got one foot on the step when she sensed someone near her.
“Well, if it isn’t little Heather.”
The voice was familiar…and horrible.
She turned to see Mr. Webb standing there, a gun in his hand.
“What are you doing here?” she got out.
He pointed the gun directly at her head. “I was waiting for you, dear.”
Heather wanted to turn again and mount up on Sterling, but the sight of Webb’s gun stopped her from making any move whatsoever.
“Surely you don’t intend to murder me,” she said cautiously.
“Certainly not, dear. But remember that I can shoot you in a lot of spots and still get what I want from you, so really you’ll just be hurting yourself.”
“Where’s Uncle Cyril? He put you up to this.”
“Oh, no, he’s long gone. Gave up on you. But I didn’t.”
“Why?”
He smiled, showing glittering white teeth. “I think you know why. Now come along, Heather. Be a good girl. Walk over here. There’s a carriage outside. We’re getting into it.”
“But Sterling…”
“Leave it. You won’t need the horse where we’re going.”
That avenue of escape cut off, Heather had little choice but to follow Webb’s instructions. The ugliness of the gun kept her mind focused. Whatever she did, she could not allow Webb to shoot.
In the carriage, Heather sat on one side, while Webb took the other, facing her and unfortunately not relaxing his grip on the gun at all.
“Please put that away,” she said. “It frightens me.”
“Does it?” Webb’s eyes gleamed, and Heather realized that he liked her scared. “Too bad. You have a history of running away. But you won’t try anything now, will you?”
Heather shook her head. He wanted her to be a frightened little mouse, did he? Well she could play along with that until she saw a chance to escape.
Ifshe got a chance to escape.
Chapter 21
At Carregness, Niall spent nearlythe whole day chasing after the hints Mr. Halperin had given him. He sent Ian out to speak with several people who either lived near or worked with Ogilvy, hoping to glean some information about what was going on that would cause the man to be so needy for ready cash.
Several times, he nearly went up to Heather’s room to beg her forgiveness, but each time he thought of the absolute disgust in her face when she realized what he’d been up to last night, and decided that he did not yet deserve her forgiveness.
But at least she was safe in the castle. That was all that mattered.
Of course Ian and Rob both took note of how frosty Heather had been at breakfast. Fortunately, they didn’t start to mock him about it until she finished her meal and got up to leave. He refused to explain what happened, and let them both think it was a mere lovers’ quarrel—or a non-lovers’ quarrel, to be accurate.
