Highlander the Dark Dragon (25 page)

Heather paced in front of the window in Rhys’ solar. Thankfully Rhys had included her when he and Pitt retired there to discuss the impending problem. She was worried for her family, for her clan. They were good, honest people and none deserved to suffer because of a man hungry for power and wealth.

“My family needs to know of this,” Heather said worry filling her gentle green eyes.

“They have been kept apprised of Greer’s movements,” Rhys said.

Heather turned to glare at her husband. “And you did not think to tell me of this?”

“Until there was something to tell you, there was nothing for me to say,” Rhys said and held his hand out to her.

Heather reached out and took it, easing into the folds of his tender embrace.

“Our union has its advantage. Is that not why you married me?” he asked.

“Aye, it is, but it is different now.” Heather turned with a smile to Pitt. “Do you know that I love the Dragon with all my heart? And he loves me, though he does not realize it yet, but I am patient and will wait for however long it takes.”

“The Dragon is a lucky man,” Pitt said with a grin.

“That he is,” Heather agreed. “And soon he will realize just how lucky, but for now...what do we do to help my people.”

“We wait,” Rhys said more pleased by his wife’s remarks than he would have either of them know. “We see what Greer does. We see if he is aware that the Dark Dragon is now an ally of the Macinnes.”

“With his wife and brother’s body found on Macinnes land Greer will demand retribution and,” —she stopped abruptly, her brow knitting—“why would Haidar dump the headless corpse on Macinnes land?”

“A question I was wondering myself,” Rhys said, giving his wife’s waist a gentle squeeze. “Greer is rash and unpredictable, dangerous traits in an enemy. It would be foolish for anyone to think him an ally. Greer would appear loyal, until it did not suit his need any longer.”

“As he did with Hew McDolan,” Pitt said.

Rhys nodded. “He turned a friend into an enemy when he allowed his brother Rab to send Saundra away with the intent of having her killed. Of course, if Saundra had not escaped, Hew could still be an ally of Greer’s.”

“It is good we kept watch over Saundra, though she did make it easy for us, escaping on her own,” Pitt said.

“You followed her and made certain she stayed safe?” Heather asked with a curious stare.

“Aye, we did,” Pitt confirmed.

Heather looked from Pitt to her husband, back to Pitt, and then to her husband again. She quickly moved out of his embrace to stand in front of the two and pointed her finger from one to the other as she said, “You let me escape!”

“Of course I did,” Rhys admitted. “Did you not once question how you could escape my ghost warriors so easily?”

Heather sighed, shaking her head. “It was not until later that I gave it thought and wondered over it.”

“It was time for you to return home,” Rhys said. “Negotiations with your father had been completed. Once the documents were signed, you belonged to me.” He gave a nod to Pitt and he quietly left the room. “If your father would have agreed when I first approached him requesting to wed you, it would not have been necessary for me to abduct you. It had not been part of my plan.”

“You spoke with my father about marrying me before the marriage agreement had been made with Rogan MacClennan?”

Rhys nodded. “I had someone approach him. Unfortunately, he was not in favor of it. He was actually quite clear that he would never allow such a union to take place.”

“So you abducted me and forced my father to agree.”

“He left me little choice after he agreed to a marriage between you and Rogan, though it took some convincing since he was quite certain your sister Patience would be successful in finding you, and she did come close a couple of times. Your father understood that I would be denied for only so long, and with the unexpected threat of war with the McLauds, he realized refusal was no longer an option.”

“His health as well was not good,” she said, feeling guilty that he had shouldered this burden himself.

“Your father was not as ill as he made it seem.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, though did not give him a chance to respond. “Are you suggesting my father faked his illness?”

“Aye, I am.” Rhys stood and walked over to the side piece, filled a goblet and held it out to her.

She shook her head. “My father would never—”

“Your father knew it was past time his daughters wed and since the three of you showed no interest in it, he knew he had to do something. Feigning an illness, making the three of you think he was too weak to lead the clan would make you more agreeable to an arranged marriage. If anything, he knew the three of you were loyal to your clan and would do whatever was necessary to see it kept strong.” Rhys raised his goblet of wine. “I toast your father, a very wise and brave man.”

“This is complete nonsense. He sought my counsel on many things, why not this?” Heather asked more to herself than Rhys. She simply could not comprehend her father doing this.

“You and your sisters are very close. Would you have been supportive of an arranged marriage for either of them?”

She thought of both Patience and Emma. Patience would never have accepted an arranged marriage and when Rogan had turned down her father’s proposal for such a union between him and Emma, saying he would only wed the beautiful sister, it had hurt Emma and made her adamant about never marrying.

Heather shook her head. “I could have never forced my sisters to wed against their will.”

“Your father did what he had to do, not only for his daughters, but for his clan.”

“How do you know all this? It is as if you have lived among us,” —Heather’s mouth dropped open and her eyes turned wide—“oh my God, you planted a spy in our clan.”

“It was necessary,” Rhys said, setting his goblet down and walking over to her.

She poked him in the chest when he got near. “Who? Who is the traitor? I will inform Patience and have him returned to you immediately.”

“I do not think your father will agree to that,” he said, brushing her poking finger aside.

“He most certainly will.”

“Afraid not,” Rhys said with a smile and wrapped his arms around her. “He has grown rather attached to the spy and I do not think he will surrender her.”

It took Heather a minute to understand. “Maura?”

Rhys nodded.

“Does my father know she spies for you?”

Rhys nodded again. “Maura came to me when she learned that your father felt the same for her as she did for him. She asked permission to leave, not wanting to see your father hurt. I told her to tell him the truth and if he wanted her to leave then she had my permission to do so.”

“My father did not want her to leave,” Heather said, thinking how long it had been since her father had loved.

“Not at all,” Rhys confirmed. “Your father is a wise man. He understood that Maura was not there to harm your clan, nor did she harbor any ill-will against it. She was more an emissary than a spy. Maura is a good woman and will make your father a good wife.”

“He wants to wed her?” Heather shook her head and answered her own question. “Of course he does. It has been so long since he has loved, he would not want to lose her. You know this woman well? You can vouch for her good nature?”

“Aye, I can,” Rhys said, “Maura is my aunt, my mother’s sister.”

A smile spread wide across Heather’s face.

Rhys laughed. “I know what you are thinking. You think to ask her many questions about me, but she will answer none of them, unless I give her permission to do so. I would concern myself more of what Patience will think when she finds out. Emma, I think, will be sympathetic.”

“You are right. Patience will grow angry whereas Emma will be happy for our da. You are getting to know my family well,” she said, though wondered if it was because he already knew them well and cared for them. “My father would have wanted to know more about the man who would wed me. Does he know more about the Dragon than I do?”

“That was not part of the marriage agreement and your father had little negotiating power.”

“Did you ever meet with my father personally?”

“He insisted on it and I respected him for it, so I met a couple of times with him.”

“But he never saw your face?” she asked, curious to know if perhaps her father saw in Rhys what she did...that he was Quinn.

“He asked, but it was another thing that was not negotiable.”

Heather eased out of his arms and he reluctantly let her go.

Silence settled between them for a few moments before Heather said, “Why did you let me escape? Why not just return me home?”

“I thought it best that you have a few days of freedom before you learned your fate.”

“So when you let me go, I was already your wife.”

“Aye, you were and I was impatient to claim you as such,” Rhys said.

“I would have never thought that I would be glad that you did. And while the Dragon can breathe fire at times, he also can be a loving creature.”

Rhys walked slowly over to her. “A creature you say, not a beast?”

“A beast strikes without cause or thought and cares naught for the consequence,” she said, stretching her hand out to him.

He wrapped his hand around hers and pulled her up against him. “I have done just that often.”

“When you were a slave warrior and it was forced upon you,” she said her arms reaching up to wrap around his neck. “You are a slave no more. You are free to do as you wish. To love who you wish and to make love to whom you wish.”

Rhys gave her a gentle kiss. “There is one woman that I want to make love to all the time.”

Heather smiled. “She pleases you that much?”

Rhys kissed her gently again. “She pleases me in more ways than she will ever know.”

“She must be very special to you.” Heather pressed herself more tightly against him.

“Aye, that she is. She has done what no one else has been able to.”

Heather tilted her head, curious. “And what is that?”

He brushed his lips across hers and whispered, “She has worked her way into my heart.”

Heather brushed her lips across his and whispered, “And she intends to remain there forever.”

“That is good, for I intend to keep her there forever.”

He kissed her then, different from ever before since his words were the closest thing he had come to telling her that he loved her, and it pleased her beyond reason.

The kiss naturally aroused them both and it was some time before the Dragon and his wife left his solar.

~~~

Heather woke suddenly. She sat up and looked around the bedchamber. She was alone. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She hurried and dressed, wondering what took her husband from their bed. She was barely out the door when she heard the bell toll.

She hurried through the keep and out the door, halting for a moment at the top of the keep’s stairs to stare in horror at the flames shooting into the air.

The barn was on fire.

Men, women, and children rushed out of their cottages, snatching up buckets as they went. Rhys’ warriors came running, some from their posts, knowing if the fire was not contained quickly the whole village could be lost. Warriors raced into the barn to get out whatever animals were in there.

The fire was spreading rapidly, a night wind carrying some of the flames in the air and dangerously close to a few cottages. If they did not douse the fire soon, cottages would catch the flames.

Heather looked around for Rhys, but he was nowhere to be seen and neither was Pitt. The warriors needed no one to tell them what to do. They were quick in getting a brigade formed to the well and buckets filled and passed on to be dumped on a fire that would soon be raging out of control.

“Lady Heather, go to the keep and stay there,” Henry ordered, rushing up beside her.

“I can help.”

“No,” Henry insisted. “All the warriors are needed here or we will lose the whole village. Go to the keep now and stay where you will be safe or the Dragon will have all our heads.” He rushed off, calling out for another line to be formed.

Heather’s first thought was to ignore Henry and join one of the brigades, but when two more warriors begged her to hurry to the keep, she realized her presence created more of a hindrance for them. She turned to leave, stopping abruptly when she spotted a dog barking at the side of the barn the flames had yet to reach. When she saw two little pups barking along with their mother, she realized the problem. The third pup was stuck in the burning barn.

She hurried over to the dog and as she got closer, she could hear the frantic yaps of the pup trapped inside. If she could somehow get in from this side...Heather did not hesitate. She ran to the side of the barn and near the corner found a loose plank. She squeezed behind it and slipped inside.

Flames were greedily consuming one wall of the barn and would soon be spreading to the other walls. Smoke filled the air and would shortly consume the whole area. Heather wasted no time in looking for the pup. Once she spotted him, she rushed over to him, crouching down as the smoke grew thicker and picked him up.

His small legs were tied together and as she quickly freed him, she realized what she had done. She had walked into a trap. She recalled her husband’s warning.

He will find your weaknesses and use them.

Someone had purposely tied up the pup and left him there to lure her in. She had to get out and fast.

With the smoke growing heavier, she kept low and when she reached the loose plank she shoved the pup through first. She stood and went to squeeze between the planks when she was suddenly grabbed by the arm and yanked back in. A hand was quickly pressed to her mouth and in seconds she found herself shoved out the back of the barn where a plank had been removed, and carried off into the woods.

~~~

Rhys and Pitt saw the smoke as they approached the village and rushed forward. Rhys was off his horse in an instant, one of his warriors taking hold of the agitated animal and directing him away from the heat and flames of the fire.