Highland Song (22 page)

"I let her do what she does best."

The only sound the next minute was a soft whisper of the wind around the yard.

"Tell me the rest of it," Stephan said finally.

"She handed over the loot to her men."

Again, Stephan waited, his arms crossed over his chest.

Slade was silent.

"Bloody hell, it's like pulling teeth," Stephan muttered. "You're as close mouthed as any one I've met. Spit it out. Why was Jericho Manning looking for Lainie MacPherson?"

"You’ve got the gist of it."

"Like hell I do. I know you well enough to know you aren't telling me half of it. You wouldn't bring a thief into Josie's home."

He shrugged. "I guess I did."

A taut silence followed then the whinny of a horse changed it.

"Talk," Stephan said bluntly.

"When Lainie left the tavern, I followed her. Then all hell broke loose. When the fighting ended and the dust cleared, she'd left. But not before she set me up to die."

Stephan whistled through his teeth. "So that's what eating you. She chose to save herself when there was no chance in hell she could help you--a man she’d never met before."

"I got the hell out of there and prayed Jericho and what was left of his men didn't end up on my heels. I meant to catch up with her and find out what hurricane had just blown over me."

Shaking his head, Stephan said, "Be damned. Lainie doesn't look like a thief."

"What do you think a thief looks like? She set me up to die," Slade said again.

"If any man but you said that, I'd call him a liar."

Without warning Slade turned and looked into the darkness beyond the lamplight.

"Tell him, thief. Tell him why Jericho Manning was looking for you. Tell him why there is a bounty on your head."

Lainie froze in the act of taking a step back. After a sharp struggle with herself, she controlled the impulse to turn and run. But she could do nothing to put the color in a face gone as pale as milk. She prayed the light was poor enough that her terror wouldn't show. Shoulders back she walked toward the two men who would condemn her.

"I'm not what he says I am," she said.

Slade grabbed the bags Lainie was holding, opened one of them, and yanked out the journal she'd read from.

"Not as heart-tugging as a pair of boy's britches worn thin and ragged, but a damn sight more truthful," Slade said to Stephan.

Color returned to Lainie's cheeks in a crimson tide.

"I was living in the forest with men who were working for King James and Scotland. I have nothing to hide from you," she said in a thin voice. "Everything I stole went back to the Scottish people to whom it belonged in the first place."

"So you
say,
little fox. So you say. Your gang of thieves abandoned you. Do you really believe they would give the riches you pilfered to the poor?"

Slade jammed the journal back into the bag, flipped the joined bags over the corral rail, and went back to saddling the pony.

"Have you eaten?" Stephan asked Lainie.

She shook her head, not trusting her voice. Nor could she look Stephan in the eye. He had taken her into his house, and what he must think of her now that he knew a partial truth made her wish to be somewhere else--anywhere else. Yet she was still glad he did not know the whole truth. She did not wish to be judged again for something she'd had no control over.

"Is Josie up yet?" Stephan asked.

Lainie shook her head again.

"Not surprising," Stephan said easily. "The baby was cranky all last night."

"Teething," Lainie said.

The word was barely a whisper, but Stephan understood.

Slade swore under his breath. That, too, carried in the stillness of dawn.

"Cloves," Lainie whispered a moment later.

"Excuse me?" Stephan asked.

Lainie cleared her throat painfully. "Oil of cloves. On his gums. It will make the pain go away and sweeten his temper."

"Bloody Hell, it's too bad oil of cloves won't improve Slade's temper. Right now, I'd rather kick his butt around the stables," Stephan said, "until he understood what a damn fool he was."

Slade's head shot up. He gave Stephan a hard glare. Stephan gave it right back.

"I'd think you'd be the last one to be taken in by a pretty face."

Slade reached under the pony's belly, shot the long leather strap through the cinch ring, and began tightening the cinch with hard, quick motions of his hands. His words were the same--hard and quick.

"You went to the high seas with Josie, an innocent girl who wanted love. I wanted to kick your butt right into the grey Atlantic."

Leather hissed over leather.

"I'm going into the highlands with an experienced little thief who likes to earn her keep on her back with men like Bertram. Makes a man wonder about her real motives--the ones she hasn't talked about. And to make my life worse, I'm going to have to worry about her two brothers attacking me."

Slade snapped the stirrup into place. The scrape of leather was like a cry in the stillness.

"If I give into temptation, I won't pay her for her services nor will I give her trinkets. And I'll keep my eyes open while I sleep because she might steal me blind or stab me in the back and leave me to the likes of Jericho and his mercenaries," Slade finished harshly. "She's done it before. I don't trust the little fox farther than I can see her and her hands."

Slade yanked Lainie's bags off the corral fence, took the bedroll from her hands, and secured both behind her saddle. When he finished, he spun around, picked Lainie up, and dumped her in the saddle.

Only then did he turn to Stephan.

"Tell Josie good-by for us."

Slade sprang into the saddle like a big cat. A swift motion of his hand jerked one of the packhorse's lead
rope
free of the corral rail. He wheeled Baby around and touched her with his spurs.

The horse headed out of the yard at a brisk canter. The two packhorses followed.

So did Stephan's voice.

"Run while you can, you hardheaded son of a bitch. There's nothing on this earth more powerful than a silk rope--or sweeter."

~ * ~

Slade didn't like the feelings he was having now, nor did he like the things he'd said about Lainie.

The hair on the back of Slade's neck stood on end--a sure sign that someone dogged their back trail. He pushed the horses hard from dawn until dusk, covering twice as much ground as a normal traveler would, hoping to wear down Jericho and his men.

Lainie didn't complain. The long hours stretched into an eternity even for Slade. When he thought about the conversation this morning, her silence unnerved him. He knew he’d made her angry and for some reason he didn’t like himself very much right now. She said nothing at all except to answer direct questions, and Slade had very few questions.

Gradually Lainie's anger gave way to curiosity about the trail. Slade had purposely avoided the main roads and well used roads. At times, he made his own trail, and at other times, he followed animal trails. As they headed farther north she was filled with both peace and a heady sense of being on the edge of the world.

To her left a high, ragged cliff rose, covered with moss and tiny wildflowers that were trying desperately to find a foothold. To her right was a dense forest of trees.

Noticing the familiar landmarks she'd memorized from her journeys, she knew they were making their way into the highlands. Mile by mile the land was changing, beneath the agile feet of the horses.

Lainie could not take her eyes from the ragged thrust of land. Plants grew on the cliff's steep sides. Water dripped from every crevice, and the sound of rushing water was ever present.

Lainie wanted to talk to Slade about the beauty of the country as well as the path he meant to take. She didn't believe they headed toward Edinburgh but she couldn't be sure. She didn't ask questions. She had decided miles back that she would ask for nothing from him that wasn't part of the devil's bargain they had struck.

And the thought of having to keep that bargain--of giving herself to a man who thought her a liar a cheat and a whore--was like ice congealing in her soul.

Surely, Slade doesn't still believe the worst of me. The more we're together, the more he must see that I'm not what he thinks I am
.
Maybe he just doesn’t want to see me any other way
.

All through the day, Slade watched his back trail. At first Lainie had thought it was concern that she would cut and run that kept Slade so alert and wary. Gradually she had realized it was something else entirely.