A Bewitching Bride (14 page)
Read A Bewitching Bride Online
Authors: Elizabeth Thornton
She came straight to the point. “I’m not going to Aberdeen with you. I thought I made it clear that I was going home to my family.”
He frowned. “It was all settled last night. What made you change your mind?”
She sat on the edge of the bed. “I think,” she said, “we must have been talking at cross purposes. My family will be worried about me and . . . What?” she demanded when he shook his head.
“I’ll wager that our villain has set himself up nicely in Braemar. That’s the nearest village to your father’s house, isn’t it?” When she nodded, he went on, “Don’t you see, Kate? He’s probably somewhere close by, waiting to make his move. Of course, he’ll know where you live. Can’t you see the danger you’d be in?”
“I have cousins who will protect me if it becomes necessary.”
He was on his feet. “If it becomes necessary?” he roared, making her cower. “You are the target of someone with a deranged mind or an ax to grind. I’m going to keep you safe. That means I’m going to be as close to you as your own shadow until I find out who he is, and since I’m going to Aberdeen to make inquiries, you will have to come with me. Do you understand?”
“What inquiries?” she asked.
His lips flattened fractionally, then relaxed. “Dalziel tells me that all Will’s records of patients past and present are in the Aberdeen clinic. I’d like to examine them. I’d also like to find out who it was that Will wanted to talk to. Apart from that, I have to see Will’s solicitor, make arrangements for the funeral, that sort of thing.”
She wasn’t worried about the records. She’d taken care of that problem a long time ago.
“I thought your brother was going to make inquiries for you?”
“Alex will help, but he may not know what to look for.”
“What about my family?” she asked. “I realize that you and your brother are close, but you have to understand that I’m close to my family, too. I was supposed to be gone for three days, but it’s closer to a week. I have to tell them what happened here. I can’t let them hear it from strangers.”
They stared at one another for a long moment. His eyes were dark and intense, so she tried to copy his look of sheer determination.
“Your family means a lot to you,” he said gratuitously.
“Obviously.”
“What are they like?”
She shrugged. “Like most families, I suppose. We don’t do things together because we’re so different. My father’s best friends are books; my mother is the custodian of the family, you might say, and by that I mean the family far and near. She is forever arranging get-togethers so that we’ll remember that we were once part of a clan. My sister Magda is the beauty. She has broken more hearts than is good for her. Oh yes, and we quarrel a lot. The Camerons and the Frasers have short tempers, and when they are angry, they breathe out fire.”
He laughed at this. “And where do you fit in?”
She said simply, “They’re larger-than-life characters. I live in their shadow.”
He cocked his head to the side. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Trust me. Everything is turned into a drama in my family. If you’re not part of the drama, then you’re part of the audience.”
He smiled at this. “I can’t make you change your mind?”
“No!” she said emphatically.
“You’re as stubborn as a mule.”
Since he seemed resigned, she allowed the jibe to pass.
“Be discreet. Don’t tell anyone what your plans are. If you are asked a direct question, answer it vaguely. Don’t try to leave the room. I’ll be back in a few minutes to take you down for breakfast.”
She was still digesting his words when he walked to the door.
“Wait!” She was too late. He’d already left, and once again Macduff had planted himself in front of the door.
“You wouldn’t bite me, would you, Macduff?” she asked coaxingly.
When she stretched out her hand, Macduff pulled back his lips and showed her his fangs.
She gasped and took a quick step back. “How can you treat me like this?” she said. “I thought we were friends.”
She stopped. She must be out of her mind, trying to reason with a dog.
“May I join you?”
Kate looked up with a start. Gordon Massey was hovering at her elbow with a plate of food in his hand. “Please do,” she said automatically.
He set down his plate and pulled up a chair, squeezing in between her and Mrs. Cardno. Kate’s eyes flicked to Gavin. He was selecting various items from chafing dishes that were set out on a long table. He had yet to notice that Mr. Massey had joined their little group. But Dalziel, who was sitting opposite Kate, noticed, and his expression was sour.
This, she thought, was excessive. What did Dalziel imagine Mr. Massey would do? The dining room was full of people who would be leaving soon to complete their journeys to Aberdeen or Braemar. No one in his right mind would attack her here. Besides, she had a sixth sense about danger, and her heart hadn’t lost a beat yet with one exception—when she looked at Gavin Hepburn.
Massey gave her a smile that dazzled her eyes. “So,” he said, “where are you off to this morning?”
She took a quick bite of toast and chewed on it to give herself time to think of a vague answer. Mrs. Cardno filled the void. “First, we’re going to Ballater to do a little shopping,” she said. “What about you, Mr. Massey?” She waved to his parents, who were sitting at another table. “Are you bound for Braemar?”
“Only long enough to see my parents settled, then I’m off to Aberdeen to keep an appointment I made long before . . . well, before we were cut off by the storm.”
Kate was sure he had been on the point of mentioning Dr. Rankin’s death and respected his tact in avoiding the subject. She could not think of it without breaking out in shivers.
Mrs. Cardno had no such qualms. “We shall all be in Aberdeen for Dr. Rankin’s funeral,” she said. “No doubt we will see you there, Mr. Massey.”
“Naturally, I’ll be there. Has the time and date been arranged?”
“No!” said Dalziel, angry color running under his skin. “The notice will be in all the local papers. I suggest you watch for it.”
“Oh, I shall, I shall.”
Massey bit into a piece of toast, but nothing could hide his smile, and he winked at Kate. She was mystified by Dalziel’s conduct and dipped her head to hide her embarrassment.
A shadow fell across the table, and she looked up to find Gavin staring at her with knotted brows. What, oh what had she done now?
The moment passed when Dalziel got to his feet. “I shall pack and get my boxes downstairs,” he said.
There were handshakes all round, then Dalziel left them to finish their breakfast. Kate couldn’t concentrate on the chatter that went on around her. The antagonism issuing from Gavin was almost palpable. She was confused. Mrs. Cardno, on the other hand, seemed to be highly entertained.
Finally, it was time to go. They were all milling about in the hall, saying their good-byes. Sally Anderson gave her a hug and made Kate promise to be her bridesmaid at her wedding. Kate readily agreed, knowing that if she ruined her bridesmaid’s gown, at least it would be her own loss.
After securing Kate’s promise, Sally turned a speculative gaze on Gordon Massey. Her look was returned. Kate was taken aback. Sally was engaged to Cedric Hayes.
“Don’t gawk, Kate,” Mrs. Cardno said in a stage whisper. “You’re already taken. What’s the poor man to do?”
Kate gritted her teeth and feigned to be as amused as everyone else who had overheard Mrs. Cardno’s comments. At Kate’s side, Gavin chuckled and linked his fingers through hers in a proprietary gesture, as though, thought Kate, he was proclaiming to the company that she belonged to him. She wasn’t flattered. She wanted to hit him. He was only doing it to annoy her.
“Smile,” he whispered in her ear, a whisper that no one else could hear.
She smiled dutifully, but her thoughts were chaotic. Once again, she felt that she was participating in a drama, only this time, she was one of the lead actors.
The trouble was, she didn’t know her lines.
It seemed that everyone wanted to leave the hotel at the same time. The result was that there was a run on the carriages the hotel kept to convey its guests to and from the station. All that was available were a pair of twoseater vehicles that looked as though they’d been rescued from a graveyard.
Gavin helped Kate into the cab and climbed in beside her. The hood was up to protect them from the light drizzle that had begun to fall. Kate could see that the journey to Braemar would be miserable beyond bearing. They’d be lucky if they did not come down with pneumonia by the time they reached their destination.
She was on her best behavior since she felt that she had won the point. Gavin would escort her home and, she assumed, catch a later train to Aberdeen. Though he seemed rather stern—a poor loser, she supposed—she made up for his sobriety by adopting her most charming manner. She was, however, not nearly as bright-eyed as she appeared. Only to herself would she admit that she was becoming a tad too fond of this irresistible rake. The sooner they went their separate ways, the better for all concerned.
When they came to the crossroads and the carriage turned left, Kate stirred herself. “We’re going the wrong way,” she said. “We should have turned right.”
“No,” responded Gavin. “We’re going to the station. If I miss this train, I won’t be able to leave until tomorrow. There’s only one train running, you see.”
She was taken aback. She’d assumed that he would escort her home. Surely he would not let her go alone?
“Who is going to escort me home? Dalziel?”
Her eyes were on Macduff. He was trotting beside their buggy. Was he going to trot the eighteen miles to Braemar? She did not think so. So he was going to Aberdeen, too?
“No,” he said, “I’ll take you home after our business in Aberdeen is completed.”
It took a moment for his words to register, and when they did, she tried to jump to her feet. There wasn’t room, of course, so she hit her head on one of the hood’s slats, and before she knew it, he had a hand clamped around her wrist. She tried to drag her arm away, but it was held fast in fingers of steel.
“You’re hurting me,” she hissed and tried to wrench her arm out of his grip.
“You can make a scene,” he said, “but it won’t do you a bit of good. I told you, where you go, I go, and vice versa. You’ve got to take our killer more seriously, Kate.”
She was breathing through her teeth. “You won’t get away with this. I’ll scream ‘abduction’ to the first policeman I see.”
“And I shall be forced to kiss you into silence.” The shadow of a smile touched his lips. “Grin and bear it, Kate, else people will think you’re touched in the brain.”
The color washed out of her cheeks, and something inside her seemed to flare to life. She struggled for air as the familiar litany of taunts beat inside her head:
freak
,
lunatic
,
bedlamite
. They were only words, Dr. Rankin had told her. Only words. She could lock them out and control her visions with mind games.
Lock them out, Kate
.
freak
,
lunatic
,
bedlamite
. They were only words, Dr. Rankin had told her. Only words. She could lock them out and control her visions with mind games.
Lock them out, Kate
.
She retreated to her safe haven and locked the doors.
There were plenty of people milling about in the station, and not all of them were guests from the hotel. Gavin released the pressure on her wrist, but she sensed his fingers were like the claws of a trap, ready to clamp on her arm if she tried to bolt. She’d become strangely passive, and that troubled him, because it was so unlike her. He slid his hand up to her elbow as he guided her to one of the first-class carriages. Mrs. Cardno was waiting inside with a big smile on her face.
Kate stopped, undecided, but the fingers on her elbow tightened their grasp and propelled her into the window seat. Mrs. Cardno chattered about nothing in particular, then withdrew to the other compartment of their private coach, leaving Gavin and Kate to face each other in silence. His eyes were grave but not unkind. Hers were unseeing, as though she were sleepwalking. He tried to engage her in a rational conversation, but every overture he made was met by silence. He tried to apologize for the steps he felt he’d had to take to keep her safe, but that, too, was met by silence. As a last resort, he closed his eyes and focused on entering her mind with some idea of soothing her fears. What he met was a medieval castle ringed around by a moat. The bridge over the moat was up, and the portcullis was down. There was no way in. What was he supposed to make of that?
His eyes jerked up to her face. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing softly.
“My time will come,” he whispered in her ear, and he smiled when a little frown flashed across her brow before tranquillity settled on her again.
She wakened on the last leg of their journey feeling refreshed and ready for anything, even for her obnoxious captor, who was watching her with wary eyes.
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