Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy (42 page)

Jake was keeping an eye on the sky, as was his habit wherever he was. Clouds had gathered in the afternoon but only enough to provide a good sunset. The sun touched the western hills, so it would be dusk before long.

Ranald had been quiet, clearly thinking. He said, “Why do you think Albany is coming to Perth?”

“I wish I knew,” Jake replied. “He should be arranging his grace’s funeral.”

He wondered about the men Albany had sent ahead and wished he’d thought to ask
when
and if the alemaster had seen them go by or had only heard about them. Jake had a bad feeling about it, but if the duke was on their heels and were to overcome them, the meeting might offer a chance to renew his acquaintance with Albany. The duke would likely recall his obligation to him, and reminding him of that debt now might prove useful in future.

He noted that he’d increased his pace, and slowed. Impatience to see Alyson was no reason to punish his horse. His thoughts returned to their last discussion.

He was not a man to put his foot down where women were concerned. He’d never before had one for whom he
felt responsible, although he did keep an eye on Giff’s wife, Sidony, when Giff was away. She sometimes sought Jake’s advice, but he could not imagine himself commanding her to obey him. Giff frequently did, sometimes successfully.

But Alyson was
his
wife, and there were things he had to clarify with her if they were not to be often at odds. Her relationship with her demanding family was one such thing. Her father was still man enough to look after his own if he’d take the trouble. That he had abdicated his responsibilities was not Allie’s fault. But her willingness to assume them let both MacGillivray and Ranald take unseemly advantage of her. Although Ranald seemed to take Jake’s advice to heart, if Allie felt obliged to stay home and run things, Ranald would let her.

The obvious solution was for Jake to insist that he and Allie live on that second estate of hers, near the Moray Firth. It would be accessible for the
Sea Wolf
, and if things went well, he could harbor her nearby and arrange to acquire another vessel for the Isles. These images pleased him more than his earlier thoughts, and he had decided just to tell her what they would do, when Ranald said, “That lad yonder’s in a gey great hurry.”

Jake was making way for the rider pounding toward them, when Ranald exclaimed, “Sakes, that’s one of our kitchen lads, sir. Hey, Tam!”

“What is it, Tam?” Jake demanded when the rider yanked his horse to a plunging halt. “Is aught amiss with Lady Alyson?”

“Aye, but no as ye mean it… or no as bad…”

“Just spit it out, lad. What’s amiss?”

“Her husband came back from the dead.”

“What!”
Jake and Ranald exclaimed as one voice.

“Aye, and Sir Kentigern be wi’ him, Master Ranald. So he’s no dead neither. They say Lady Alyson’s lands dinna belong tae her but be Niall Clyne’s, on account o’ their marriage. They didna ask the laird aboot that.”

“How do you know this, Tam?” Jake asked.

“That Will Fletcher what came wi’ ye told us, sir. He said they took her ladyship away. He sent me tae tell ye. And Malcolm Milroy and the laird sent a lad off, too, tae try tae find kinsmen what be coming from the Highlands. The laird said they might be near enough tae fetch quick.”

“Mayhap they will be,” Jake said. “But what do you mean, they took her? Surely, her father and the others—”

“Did nowt, sir. Nobbut there were nowt they
could
do. Sir Kentigern had dunamany men wi’ him, Will said, and they slipped away. See you, Sir Kentigern knocked Malcolm down. Had Will no found him—”

“Where have they gone?”

“Tae the hunting tower,” Tam said. “Will heard ’em and said I should hie me tae find ye. I near killed this pony a-getting here.”

“You did well,” Jake said. “We must get back to—” He had another thought. “The hunting tower, Ranald, did you not say it lies three miles northwest of town?”

Ranald said, “Aye, atop a hill near the river Almond. We get prime hunting in Glen Almond in springtime and fall.”

Jake’s thoughts raced. “How many men do those villains have, Tam?”

“Will said three score or more. He didna count ’em. Also, Sir Kentigern said the Crown will protect Niall’s rights. We all ken fine that means Albany—”

“Albany is on his way,” Jake said. “We may be less than an hour ahead of him. He means to stay with the Blackfriars tonight.”

He did not mention the King’s death or that Albany could now be certain that, with his grace’s letter to present, he’d easily reclaim the Governorship. Moreover, with the new King of Scots captive in England, Albany had good reason to get to Perth and take control as the lords of Parliament arrived, rather than wait and make a grand entrance after they’d gathered, as had been his habit.

Ranald said, “We can reach the tower from here, sir. A turning just ahead will take us there. ’Tis nobbut six miles from here.”

“How hard would it be for me to find the tower alone?”

“Sakes, you cannot miss it. The road from town runs along the river Tay, and the Almond flows into the Tay. Sithee, the Tay road crosses the Almond within sight of the tower. At night you’ll see its lights easily. But I’ll go with you.”

“Nay, for I want you and Tam to ride to town as fast as you can. My men from the
Sea Wolf
are at the harbor. Find my man Mace, and get my lads mounted. I’ll take that turning ahead and meet you at the tower. Send Tam here to the house to arrange for horses. They’ll have enough there for thirty men?”

“Aye,” Ranald said. “I’ll
find
enough.”

Jake heard him but was already riding for the turn.

Chapter 20

A
lyson was determined to hold her own with Niall. She knew he not could see her men in the outer yard and hoped to keep him from going farther.

“What are you doing here, Allie?”

“This is my home, Niall. I go where I like.”

“You know you promised Mungo you’d stay in your room.”

“No one need keep a promise to dishonorable men, Niall. I don’t answer to Mungo, or to you. You left me to die. You know you did.”

“I did not know you were still on the ship!”

Beside her, Will snorted.

“How can I believe you when you lied about the rest, Niall?” she demanded, ignoring Will. “You boarded that ship willingly, and you did
not
jump overboard. For all I know, you are as complicit in Jamie’s capture as Mungo is.”

“We had nowt to do with the bairn!”

She stared at him. “Is
that
how you manage your conscience? Do you pretend that Jamie, although heir to the crown, is just a bairn rather than a noble and thoughtful prince betrayed by his greedy uncle’s wicked schemes?”

Niall had the grace to look ashamed, but he made no apology.

She knew she’d do better to keep silent and was sure that Jake would recommend it, but she had been silent about too many things for too long. She said, “I thought I knew you, but I do not.”

“Then how can you
know
we did not save ourselves by jumping overboard?”

Will made another sound, this one a sibilant huff of disgust.

“Because I ken fine that you cannot swim,” she retorted. “When I think how desperately worried I was about you when we learned that they had
thrown
so many overboard, I feel sick.”

“We should not have lied, Allie. I don’t know why we did.”

“
You
lied because Mungo did or because he told you to. Does his good opinion of you matter so much more than anyone else’s?”

“I suppose it may,” he admitted. “But we should not have lied. I should have remembered that you know I can’t swim.”

He avoided her eye, and she wanted him to look at her.

“Niall.” She waited until, reluctantly, he met her gaze. “Saying that you forgot I know the truth just means you are sorry that you got caught,” she said. “Frankly, I think you did remember but decided that my knowing was irrelevant. The one thing you’ve said that I do believe is that
you
thought I’d drowned. A dead woman could not call you a liar, could she?”

“Allie, don’t… you mustn’t. You’ll upset yourself to no avail. You heard what Mungo said. Albany promised that
your estates will be lawfully mine. And Albany will keep his word.”

“I’d wager that when he said that, he believed you were my husband. But you are not.”

“As I’m not dead, lass, Mungo says Albany will direct Wardlaw and your legate to put things back as they should be. Albany did say that the land is mine as your husband, and after we brought him word so quickly of the disaster at Flamborough Head, he promised to make sure that it remained so.”

“Certes, but you are a fool, and stupid withal,” Alyson said. “Or do you merely pretend not to
know
that your odious Mungo betrayed us all?”

“What a thing to say!”

“But true, aye,” Will muttered.

His mutter drew a look from Niall. It was only a look, but Niall’s anger was plain, increasing Alyson’s doubt that he’d known about Mungo’s true mission.

“Think, Niall,” she said. “How do you imagine that you and Mungo acquired an armed English escort to see you to the Scottish border?”

“I don’t understand how you can know so much, Allie, and not recall that our two countries are at peace.”

“Yet Will heard the pirate captain say that the reason they stopped our ship was that it lacked English Harry’s permission to be in his waters. Truce or none, you
must
know that Harry regards Scotland as an errant English possession.”

“But the fact that Mungo and I did travel safely, with English men-at-arms willing to keep us safe, proves the truce.”

“For mercy’s sake! That pirate captain
knew
his
prizes—Jamie and Orkney. Neither Mungo nor you could fetch much ransom, Niall, and every
Maryenknyght
man except you two went into the sea. Why did you not? I saw Mungo the next day at the Blue Boar. He told the taverner that he carried a royal safe-conduct to get him home to Scotland.”

Niall glowered. “You cannot know any such thing.”

“But I do, because the taverner told Sir Jacob. And Mungo certainly did not get a royal safe-conduct from the King of Scots to cross England. The only one who could issue such a document is English Harry. If you can think of any reason for his doing so, other than Mungo’s having betrayed Jamie’s presence on our ship, so the English could capture him, prithee tell me what it is.”

Niall looked mulish. “Do
not
be such a fool as to fling that wild accusation at Mungo,” he said sternly.

Calmly, Alyson said, “It is no mere accusation, Niall. It is the unpalatable truth. Now, stand aside. I’m going in.”

He hesitated. But when she moved, he did step aside, and she swept past him with a blessedly silent Will at her heels.

Only as they neared the entrance did Will mutter, “Hoots, but that man’s a feardie! Ye’ll be gey happier wi’ Cap’n Jake as your man than
him
.”

Alyson’s lips parted to call him to order before realization struck that she agreed completely. She was more than happier. She was in love with Jake.

An hour later, Jake crested a rise and saw the tower looming out of the darkness. Lights shone in four windows, and pale moonlight through occluding clouds turned the
tower walls a ghostly gray. Leaving his horse in woods below the tower, he skirted the hill to explore. The first thing he saw was a clearing below with campfires, men around them, and snuffling horses grazing nearby.

He slipped by and came to a stable and stableyard. The yard was large and dark, and men moved in it like shadows. Woodland beyond it looked occupied, too. He saw no sign of Alyson and no way to enter the tower or pass safely across the outer yard to what looked like a courtyard leading into the tower. So he returned to the hillside to await his men, and saw riders soon afterward.

They carried no torches but traveled by the pale, hazy glow of the moon, reassuring him that they weren’t Albany’s. When the moon peeked between clouds, brightening, he recognized Mace in the lead with Ranald riding beside him.

They slowed when he neared them, and he heard Ranald say, “If they’re keeping watch, they’ll see us coming.”