Page 63 of Abducted By the Highlander
He wasn’t sure he had.
She handed over her casket to Innis, who passed it to Elspeth, and then did a very un-Innis-like thing. She hugged Roisin, a quick, hard-looking hug, before swiftly pushing her back and taking back the casket from Elspeth.
Frowning, he watched Roisin return to the cave where she led out her mare. Had she just given Innis all her possessions that were in the casket? Or had she already packed them into her saddlebags? Considering how they bulged, he was inclined to believe the latter.
It seemed she had already planned ahead for a streamlined escape.
It wasn’t long before those who were heading for Eire were ready, and Hugh eyed the farewells with Darragh, who only showed a crack in his stoic façade when Elspeth gave him a hug. He had to admit he was surprised about Elspeth. She was so staunchly loyal to her brother he’d expected her to remain behind. But she was equally devoted to the bairns, and he guessed she couldn’t bear to be parted from them.
Innis gave him a nod of farewell. “Be sure ye keep yer word to Roisin,” she said, her voice low. “Get her back to her kin before yereach Fergus’s camp, ye hear me?”
“I hear ye.”
She sighed as she hitched her bairn more securely on her hip. “’Tis is a pity there are not more Campbells like yerself, Hugh. Maybe then we MacGregors would not need to flee our land simply to find peace.”
There was nothing he could say to that. Because the truth was, he was one of the Campbells who had fought against the MacGregors from the first day the earl had called for arms against the other clan. He had done it without hesitation for that was what one did when one’s earl commanded it.
It didn’t mean he had to like how so many of the women and bairns had lost everything.
“God go with ye,” he said. “I hope ye find what ye’re searching for.”
As Innis and her group left, he went over to Roisin. Ecne was in his basket at her feet and the wee dog let out a mournful whimper at his imprisonment as Hugh approached. “I’ll carry his basket with me, if ye like.”
As he made the offer, he recalled how horror-struck she had been when he’d tried to help her with Ecne on the day she’d been attacked by the bandits. This time, she didn’t gaze at him as if he were a demon from hell. She gave him a small smile.
“Thank ye, but maybe I should carry it. In case ye need to be… vigilant.”
He instantly understood what she meant and silently berated himself that he hadn’t thought of the possible consequences of being hampered by the ungainly basket should he need to defend Roisin. Not that he believed Darragh would order his men to attack him, should he realize Hugh’s plans to take her to safety, but ’twas best to be prepared.
Within moments, they were on their way with Darragh up front with one of his men, while a second man rode ahead to scout the area,then Symon, and he and Roisin with Grear on her other side bringing up the rear. It was still early as they left the glen behind them and if they kept on their current course, Hugh calculated they were four hours out from the earl’s manor.
They had been riding for some time, and he had resigned himself to the fact that it seemed Roisin never wanted to speak with him again when she gave a shuddering breath.
“Hugh.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, and he leaned closer and tried not to breathe in her scent of crushed rose petals. An impossible task. How did she always smell so fresh, as though she had just emerged from a steamy bathtub?
“Aye.” Unobtrusively, he attempted to shift position on the saddle, but it didn’t ease his discomfort, and he silently acknowledged nothing but Roisin herself could achieve that end.
“What is yer plan?”
He forced his mind back to the current situation. No good would come from wishing for the impossible. “If we stay on this path, in an hour or so we should reach a waterfall in a wooded glen, with an ancient cairn. Darragh’s bearing east, but we’ll turn west. Another two hours ride, and the earl will have men waiting for ye.”
She was silent for a moment, before she gave him a sideways glance. “I’m finding it hard to fathom that ye didn’t tell me any of this, Hugh. I thought ye were planning on taking me to Creagdoun.”
“We were too far from Creagdoun and after the bandits’ attack, I couldn’t risk taking ye without adequate protection in case our suspicions were right, and it had been a targeted attack.” He sighed. “Which it was, as it turned out.”
“But I still don’t understand how ye could be in contact with the earl.”
She had put her faith in him, and he didn’t want to keep anything from her, but he couldn’t share his connection with the earl without revealing he was a part of the underground spy network. Although,God help him, it was hard to hold back.
“I sent him a message.” It wasn’t a lie, but he still felt bad that it wasn’t the whole truth.
She gave him another sideways glance, and it was obvious she knew he was hiding something. He could only hope she wouldn’t press him for further details.
They continued in silence for a while before she turned to him once again.
“What did ye mean when ye said Fergus knew exactly who William was? Did he have something to do with the ambush that killed my men?”
“He did. When we were in the town, he all but bragged about it.” Anger surged at how despicably Fergus had intended to use Roisin and he took a harsh breath. That danger, at least, was over. “Fergus was the half-brother of Alan MacGregor, who tried to bring down William last year. I doubt he would ever have released ye, once ye were in his clutches.”
