Cadha's Rogue (The Highland Renegades Book 5) (3 page)

“Oh no. I would never ask you to give up your room. Our room.” Pien took Cadha’s hand. “I shouldn’t be telling you these things, anyway. I just haven’t had anyone to talk to about them. And it’s so wonderful, cub. Being this close to a man you love. It’s heaven.”

Months ago, Cadha might have blushed at these things, but her best friend had been married last winter, and Milla had already told her of the secrets that men and women shared in bed.

“I’m sure it is. I only meant to say, if you’d like to sleep here until you can find a house and a bed of your own…”

Pien’s smile lit the room. “If you insist.” She rolled onto her back and stretched. “I really did have the strangest dream, though.”

“What was it?”

“I was floating on a cloud, and you floated down to me and put a baby in my arms and said it was yours, but you couldn’t keep it. You told me I should keep it, and call it Abbe.”

“Abbe?” Cadha allowed herself a silly giggle, deep from her belly, like they had always done so often as children. “That’s an odd name for a girl.”

“It was a boy.”

“Oh, Pien, you know that we’ll have all girls. Mother has only sisters, and her sisters have all girls, and her mother and mother’s mother had all girls. We are destined for girls.”

A strange glow came over Pien’s face, cutting the lines of her youthfulness into an odd, grown-up look. “I want to give Kees a boy.”

Cadha wilted inside. She knew that feeling. Wanting to give the man you loved whatever he wanted.

She leaned over and kissed Josephine’s soft cheek. “Well, you can have this bed tonight, and try to make all the little boys you want.” Cadha climbed out of the bed and gazed back down on her sister. “But I’m warning you, we’re destined for little girls.”

Pien laughed. “Well, if I do have a boy, I think I have to call him Abbe now, after that dream.”

“That would be wise.” Cadha splashed water on her face from the basin in the corner of the room and pulled out her grey day dress. “I’m going to sit on the dock for a bit this morning.”

Pien came up from the bed, resting on her elbows. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps I just enjoy the docks.”

Her sister’s eyebrows pulled together in disapproval. “You’re not waiting for Maas anymore. He’s not coming back.”

A sharp pain pierced Cadha’s heart. “I know that. I know he’s not coming.”

“He’s not going to send a letter, either.”

“You don’t know that,” Cadha snapped. She slipped her hand over her mouth, shocked at her own ferocity. With a breath, she calmed herself. “He might decide he wants to write me and explain himself.”

“If he’d been going to write, he would have sent the letter with us, and not paid someone else to take it. He trusted us to make his goodbyes for him, and there will be no letter.”

Cadha bit back her retort. Pien didn’t understand, didn’t know how Maas felt about her. None of them really understood.

“You don’t know that.”

“I know that he doesn’t have the money to hire someone to bring a letter to Holland when he simply could have written one and handed it to Father to take with him.”

“But he might…”

“Cadha.” Pien jumped out of the bed and crossed the room. “You need to understand. Maas was never really ours. He thought his sister was dead, or he never would have stayed with us.”

The stale smell of their morning bedroom crept into Cadha’s nose and stung it. She needed to get out of the house. Her family didn’t understand, and they wouldn’t listen.

To placate her sister, she nodded and parroted the words. “He’s not coming home. You’re right.” She pulled out of Pien’s grip and put on the dress she’d just taken out.

“Where are you going?”

Cadha tied her apron in a quick bow and turned away from her sister. “I’m going to help Mama with breakfast.”

Josephine seemed to accept her excuse, and returned to their bed, stretching out on her side. “I may try to get some more sleep.”

“I’ll tell Mama not to wake you.” Cadha touched the door handle and stopped. “Your ordeal has taken a toll on you.”

The silence pulsed like a wave with a heart of its own. Pien made a small noise. “It will be good to sleep a bit more, I think.”

Cadha swept out of the room, wishing her sister a good rest, and aching inside. Her family refused to acknowledge she knew anything of Maas and his desires, and they never told her anything important.

She was done being treated like a child.

With quiet footsteps, she passed Maas’s old bedroom and then her parents’ and left the house, taking a deep breath of the salt air and wishing for the sea.

Chapter Four

Valc Vanhorn stuffed the front of his dress with more straw than was likely necessary, and checked both sides of his chest for escapees. Finding none, he pulled the brown hood low, dragged the woolen sash around his face, and hobbled onto the street.

His staff sank into the dirt with each step, and he kept his eyes down as much as he could. Careful to make the creaky noises Greta would have made, he groaned his way down the street to the docks while people gave him a generally wide berth.

It helped that he stank to high heaven—or more accurately, lowest hell. His long hair slipped out the side of the hood, one strand hanging down past his chin. If none of his customers looked too hard at his face, they would never see he wasn’t Greta Rulf, and the illusion of her pleasant plumpness would help to hide him.

The docks were emptier than he expected. Once he reached the spot by the big tree where hired boats typically plied their trade, he planted his staff to one side and pretended to lean on it. A big man approached with a slight woman at his side.

“Ship for hire,” Valc croaked. Greta would have been proud. He’d imitated her almost precisely.

The man eyed him and switched places with his woman, walking nearest to Valc. Both of them scrunched their faces when they passed him and hurried their pace.

“Ship for hire,” he repeated when a balding man in a black coat passed. No luck.

Damn
, Valc thought. He’d been watching the previous day when three different people hired out a boat standing in this exact spot. It was a known hocker stand, although perhaps he was too early for the regular crowd, and not early enough for the truly desperate.

Another couple walked by, uninterested.
Why in the blazes would anyone be here at this time of day if they weren’t looking for a boat?
No one but sailors should be awake this early.

At the other end of the dock, a few men worked on the deck of a longship. Their chatter and clatter were the only noises, save the occasional patter of passing feet.

“Are you hiring?” a voice came from behind him. Two young men stood back off the walk path, hands in their pockets.

“I am.”

They exchanged a look and one of them made a crude gesture. “I won’t pay much for an old crone like you, but I do like fat women.” The two laughed so loud, their cackle seemed to crack the morning.

Valc closed his hand around his staff and was just about to advance on the two rats when someone appeared between him and the vagrant youths.

“Ralph, William, if you don’t leave this poor woman alone, I’m going to go get my father, and he will split your skulls like ripe pumpkins.”

It was a woman, and one with a fine shape by the look of her, and a quick tongue, too. She took a wide stance, hands on her hips, grey woolen dress hugging her long waist. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back. He hadn’t seen a woman’s hair loose and flowing like that in… too long. It was half-braided on one side, as though the boys had interrupted her.

Did she live in the area? Why else would she be on the docks with half-braided hair at sunup?

“We… we didn’t mean…” stammered one boy.

“We only meant to hire… a boat…” the other finished.

The half-done girl swiped her hands. “You leave her be. Go home. You shouldn’t be on the docks at this hour, anyway. Don’t make me get Papa.”

The young men bolted, running down the dock and onto the street without looking back. The woman pulled her hair over her shoulder and turned around.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, but Valc lost the rest of her sentences, staring at the beautiful contours of her face. He raised his chin a touch too far and the hood began to slip back.

Valc caught himself and lowered his eyes. “Not to worry, my dear. I would have clocked them straight away with my staff.”

“But surely…” She released her hair and made a wide sweep with her hand. “I mean, I didn’t intend to say you couldn’t protect yourself. I just know these boys.”

“I’m quite capable.” Valc cleared his throat when he let a bit too much of his own voice slip out of his disguise. His response to her unnerved him. He’d need to watch himself if he was to keep the ruse up.

“I’m sure you’re strong enough.” Her pink lips settled into a rigid line. She didn’t believe him.

Valc held up his arm, curling his wrist back toward his head. “If you would like to test my strength, you can feel my arms for yourself.”

“As I said, I’m certain you…”

“Go ahead, dear, try me.”

One side of the beauty’s mouth curled up and she reached forward to touch his arm. Her hand gripped him, surprisingly strong herself. A slide of heat through his body sent him into a pulse of hot breaths and Valc found himself licking his bottom lip under the protective disguise.

She withdrew her hand quickly and stepped back. “You are strong, indeed…”

“Greta,” he said.

Her blonde head nodded. “Greta. Nice to meet you.”

“Thank you, my dear.”

“I’m sorry for them.” She waved her hand after the absent fools. “They only just returned from a long journey and they need to stretch their legs and get into mischief.”

“You’re from here?” Valc wondered.

The woman glanced around, her gaze landing behind them. “I know these docks.”

Vague. Interesting. He pushed a little harder. “You said your father would intervene. Does he live here?”

The woman crossed her arms. “I heard you say you have a ship for hire.”

“I do.”

“Is it seaworthy?”

“It is.”

She reached behind her apron. “I can give you two Heller now, and the rest when I meet you for the journey.”

Valc was about to extend his hand when he saw the hair on the back of it. He’d grabbed the wrong dress in his haste. The arms were too short on this one. He’d have to go back and get the other.

“You can give me the full sum upon departure, my girl. When would you like to leave?”

“As soon as possible.” She split her hair into three sections and began to braid. “I can be ready in half an hour. Less if you need.”

“I’ll need at least an hour.” Valc picked up the staff. “And your name.”

“Ca…” the girl started, then stopped. “Can I trust you to keep this a secret, Greta? Just between the two of us?”

Valc smiled for a long moment before he realized the beauty couldn’t see his face. He nodded. “You can trust Greta.”

“My name is Thora.” She stuck out her hand, but Valc couldn’t take it. He wanted to attempt the bold handshake, if only to feel the touch of her skin. He would make a point to do so once he had the longer dress.

“And where will we be traveling, Miss Thora?”

Her brown eyes focused across the harbor, as though she searched for the open sea. “We sail for Scotland.”

Cadha snuck back down to her hiding spot once Greta had hobbled off. Something wasn’t quite right about her appearance. She moved with much more speed and surety than a woman her age ought to, and her arms… they had been so strong.

At least she would have no problem operating a vessel. And the place Greta had requested to meet was on the other side of the cathedral, in Werkhaven. Cadha wouldn’t have to worry about her father finding her.

If Greta’s calculations were correct, they could be to Wick in two days. That seemed such a quick journey, compared with what her father had described. Gone two days, back in two days. Her family would barely have time to miss her before she returned.

The cave was barely above the water line, but she managed to tie up her skirts so they wouldn’t get wet. She needed to retrieve the purses. One carried her own savings, and the other was Maas’s. All in all, they’d managed to save up six months’ wages over the last several years.

It would have been Maas’s nest egg when he was ready to marry her, or her dowry, whichever Papa required. It would be more than enough to hire Greta’s boat, and perhaps even another crew member if they needed one.

Most of all, it meant Cadha didn’t need to return home. Her parents would be up soon, and they wouldn’t miss her all day, assuming she’d run off to the docks to mope. By the time they even knew something was wrong, she would be halfway to Scotland.

She cinched up the purse, after counting the gold. Cadha dug out another of their hiding spots and pulled out the other purse. She would spend only her own, if she could help it, and save Maas’s to give to him.

Once armed with the finances, she would need to go to Milla’s and retrieve the sack of clothes she always kept ready for when she might need to elope with her love. Milla could cover for her with her family, hopefully long enough to get to Scotland and then back home again.

Ever since Maas had said they should marry, she’d been waiting for the day she would leave her home and go with him. That day had finally come.

Cadha climbed out of the cave and scrambled up the hillside, just catching her feet in the cool seawater. Her muscles ached from squatting and she stretched her legs when she was finally upright. It had been so long since she’d been at sea, but there was no other option.

Maas couldn’t have abandoned her. Something had to be wrong. Perhaps the Scots were holding him against his will and Papa simply hadn’t been able to ask the right questions. Or maybe he owed his sister money and had to work it off.

But something was keeping him from her, and Cadha wasn’t going to rest until she was safe in her love’s arms once more. Even if it meant hiring a secret ship from a strong old woman and sailing across the sea on her own.