Sarah Gabriel (10 page)

If she could only get there, she would be safe.

She hoped that Allan MacCarran had already brought them word of her capture. If so, her kinsmen would be looking for her. Somehow she had to reach them, and she needed to let them know that she had seen Ian Cameron, that he was on his way to trial and probable execution, and that he had a message for them concerning the hidden cache of weaponry.

Overwhelmed by a sudden need to be home, to be with her family, to be free and safe, Kate gasped aloud and put her hand over her mouth.

“What is it?” MacDonald asked in Gaelic.

“Nothing,” she replied. “I am only weary.”

He squeezed her shoulder, but did not let her get away from him. Moments later, Fraser emerged from the trees.

Kate’s heart leaped inexplicably—so tall and handsome in moonlight and shadows, clothed in dark tartan and regimental red, he exuded both wildness and authority. She watched him almost hungrily, in spite of herself.

But any hint of the romantic warrior dissolved when he went straight to the chaise, opened the door, and retrieved the manacles and chains. He dumped them into a canvas satchel that he dug out of the luggage hold at the back of the chaise. Shouldering the pack, he came toward them.

“How many were after us?” he asked MacDonald. Kate glared at Fraser, thinking about the chains, but he only glanced at her before listening to his cousin.

“Six or eight,” Jack answered. “We lost them coming down here. They did not see us in the darkness and rode past.”

“They’ll be back. But that was well-done, Jack.”

“Well done?” Kate burst out. “He nearly killed us all!”

“Jack did what he had to do,” Fraser pointed out calmly. “It was necessary to lose the soldiers somehow.”

“Why lose them?” Kate snapped. “They were accompanying us.”

“Not exactly.” Fraser took her arm as MacDonald stepped back. “Jack, go on ahead with the chaise. We’ll walk from here.”

“I am not walking to Edinburgh! Tell me what is really going on here,” Kate demanded.

“Later,” Fraser said curtly.

Kate punched him in the arm—a petulant, futile, impulsive response, she knew. Fraser sent her an irritated glance and put a hand on his canvas satchel. She backed away, and Jack caught her.

“Huh!” Jack grunted. “A walk with that lass would be like strolling with a wildcat. You take the chaise, Alec, and I’ll take charge of her.”

“Oh, no. You’d enjoy that too much. I’d wager the two of you would hie off somewhere, and I’d never find either of you again. We’re due in Edinburgh soon, and that’s where we’ll go.”

“
Ach,
the lad does love his rules,” MacDonald whispered loudly to Kate. “His da bought him a commission in the army because of it. But he has a wildness, too, that he will not show to anyone—not even himself.”

Kate blinked at Jack, then Fraser.

“If you two can stop chatting,” the captain drawled, “we’ll leave now and meet you at MacLennan’s, a few miles from here.”

Kate looked up. “Is MacLennan another wicked regimental officer? Does he run a local jail?”

“MacLennan’s Changehouse. An inn,” Fraser said. “Fortunately it’s not far, it has good stables, and it’s owned by friends.”

“Yours or mine?” she shot back. Jack laughed.

“Take that damned chaise and get out of here,” Fraser barked to the ghillie. “Lead the soldiers as far away as you can.”

“I’ll lose them in the hills where the military road ends, and I’ll meet you tonight, or by dawn at least.”

“Fine. Be careful, lad.”

“Aye, Alec. Tell Jeanie MacLennan I’ll see her soon.”

“If I do that, you’d best keep your promise to her this time,” Fraser rumbled ominously.

As Kate glanced from one man to the other, she saw Jack grin and shrug before turning to run toward the chaise and horses.

Guiding Kate with him, Fraser walked away. He seemed calm, but his fingers flexed on her arm, and she felt his urgency, taut as a fiddle string. Behind them, Jack chuckled softly to the horses as he turned them, and the vehicle began to roll toward the earthen track that led up to the road.

“A
lec—such a normal name for a madman,” Kate grumbled as they walked along. “And you must be mad to drag me about like this. What is it you want from me?”

“I’m not a mad sort, according to my family,” he answered, so blithely that she felt tempted to stomp on his foot out of sheer frustration. He had simply ignored her question. The man was so consistently unruffled that it irritated her. Kate was the opposite much of the time: high-tempered, direct, and expressive. Serenity of character, such as her sister Sophie possessed, eluded Kate, though she craved peace often enough.

“Our branch of the Frasers,” he went on, “is tradi
tionally said to be made up of ‘mad’ Frasers and ‘staid’ Frasers. I am not one of the wilder ones.”

“Really,” she said sourly.

“When I was a lad, my Highland nurse dubbed me
Alasdair Callda
in the Gaelic.”

“‘Dull Alexander’? I could see it…though Jack MacDonald says you have a touch of the wildness in you.”

“I make up for staidness in other ways,” he murmured, and his fingers flexed on her arm.

An unbidden thrill poured through her like a spiral of flame. Kate remembered his compelling touch upon her body on another night, when matters had been very different between them.

“Besides, more to the point here would be to learn your name, Miss Hell, not mine,” he said.

“
Alasdair Callda
…You may call me
Catriona Allta
,” she replied quickly.

He chuckled. “Very good. Wild Katherine. Alas, not quite what we’re after.”

“Alas,” she echoed.

Within minutes, he had led her along a diagonal path over the slope, far from the drover’s track, keeping below the level of the military road. As they mounted another hillside, Kate yanked out of his grip. Fraser let go long enough that she stepped away, but he snatched her arm again.

She twisted. “Please, just let me go.”

“If I did, you’d soon be lost out here.”

“I know the area too well for that—” Instantly she regretted the words.

“Do you? Interesting. So your home is near here, is it?”

“No,” she said hastily. “I’ve…just been through here before. On my way to Edinburgh for shopping,” she added.

“Shopping? So the laundress shops in Edinburgh?”

“No, the fairy queen does,” she snapped.

“The mysterious Miss Kate,” he drawled. “Even if you know the area, if you were to wander alone, Grant’s men would find you, I promise you. They’ll search the roads and the hills.”

“And the inns,” she pointed out.

“We’ll take that risk together.”

Together
. A feeling stirred in her, something she did not want to awaken, a deep and real need for companionship, for a partner in life, for love. Captain Alexander Fraser was not the remedy for that, she told herself sternly.

“‘We’?” She spoke defiantly. “I would not go anywhere willingly with you, nor would I go with Grant’s soldiers.”

“That’s an odd remark for Katie Hell,” he growled.

Without thinking, she slapped his face.

Angling his head to one side, Fraser stared down at her. In the moonlit gloom, she saw the flushed mark of her hand on his cheek. Heart pounding, she stared upward in silence, breathing hard. Tension rose between them, palpable and pulsing.

“I am not a whore,” she said between her teeth.

“And I’m usually more of a gentleman,” he murmured. “I beg your pardon.” He took her arm and walked onward.

Over the shoulder of that hill and along a weathered track that led beside a burbling stream, Kate allowed him to guide her. Then she tried again to pull away from him, another futile attempt. Although she was determined, he was simply stronger.

“Please, you must let me go.”

“You’re a stubborn wee thing,” he muttered. “You’re not off to a certain beheading. It’s just a judge’s inquiry.”

“Which could lead to a hanging. I’ve done nothing wrong. And I want…I just want my freedom.”

“So do we all, lass, in our ways.”

“What sort of freedom could you want? You have what you need, seems to me—a man of privilege and rank and good family, with only the thought that he must do his duty or be damned. You crave nothing more than that, I’m sure.”

“You’ve a mouth on you,” he ground out. “I crave the sort of freedom that brings peace of mind and peaceful lives. The sort that helps make a man’s life what it truly could be.”

“Then get rid of your red coat, Lovat Fraser,” she replied.

He exhaled audibly. “Careful of the rocks here,” he said, and she realized in that moment how patient and tolerant he could be. “Listen to me, Kate. You’ll go to Edinburgh with me, or with Grant. I’d far rather you were in my company.”

“Why should you care who takes me to prison?”

“It is the manner of the taking that concerns me.”

His implication was clear, and Kate felt grateful for his protectiveness. But she could not stay with him for
that, or any other reason. “Releasing me would solve this for everyone.”

“It would solve it for
you
.”

“Just tell them that I escaped from you.”

“But Colonel Grant would be so disappointed. He and I do not see eye to eye about some matters as it is.” His tone had a wry, teasing note in it.

“You agreed with him about packing me off to prison!”

“I’m following orders, as you point out. General Wade assigned you to my custody. I’ll keep close watch over you until the courts decide what’s to be done with you.”

“They should just release me.”

“I hope for your sake they do, my dear. Or Miss Hell,” he amended carefully.

My dear
sounded so much better. “Where are you taking me, if not directly to prison?”

“To my home in Edinburgh for a few days,” he said.

“That is the first good news I’ve had from you. If I must go in your custody, I at least want a proper bath after the hospitality of your prison.”

“It’s not
my
prison, lass. You can have all the baths you like at Hopefield House, and clean clothing, too, until it is time for your interview with the Lord Advocate. It would greatly help matters if I could give his office your name.”

“It would be so much more helpful if you just let me go.”

He sighed. “I suppose I will have to register you with the courts as Marie Katherine Hell. Or do you prefer MacHellion?”

“Register me as the Queen of Nonny-nonny, for all I care. Why did Colonel Grant send soldiers after us if you already have custody of me?”

“Because he is a blethering idiot.”

Kate laughed, surprised. “We do agree on that.”

Alec glanced at her. “Apparently he has some personal grudge with you and would like nothing more than to see that you pay for that. I suppose you know what he’s upset about, Katie Hell?”

Her face burned, despite the cool wind. “I did not seduce Colonel Grant, if that is what you are thinking.”

“Just as you did not seduce me? No fists, now,” he said, feinting with a hand. “You have better manners than that. I would appreciate an honest answer, not a display of your temper.”

She looked away in silence, more frightened than fuming. “I remember clearly the night I encountered Grant,” she said in a low voice. “He treated me roughly, quite overcome with…lust. I feared that I would not get away unharmed.”

His fingers flexed on her arm. “Go on.”

“I defended myself. I struggled, then I planted my knee in his…trousers before fleeing the tent. He was so drunk that he fell, hit his head, and collapsed to the floor. I suppose he blamed all of that on the wicked Katie Hell.”

“As a matter of fact, he did.”

“I did nothing to that man, I tell you.”

He was silent for a long moment as they traversed another hillock, the breeze blowing hard against them on the ridge. “Had I been there and seen that—”

“Then you might believe what I’m saying now?”

“No. I’m saying I might have killed the man.”

She glanced at him, astonished, even pleased. “Then you do believe me. I do not seduce men, though they may say it of me.”

“Kate, whatever you have done or have not done is not proven—and if it remains so, that is in your favor, for it is a legitimate verdict under Scots law,” he added. “But if Grant and other officers identify you as the girl who came to their quarters and took papers and maps, your denials will do no good. As for seduction, I only know for certain that something happened between us.” He pulled her along with him.

She could not deny that something had occurred between them, and she cherished the memory of it. “I cannot help it if—” She touched her throat, where her silver necklace was still missing. No one beyond her family knew of her inherited fairy power. “I sometimes have an effect on men,” she ventured.

He huffed. “I know all about that. Come ahead.” He urged her onward, righting her when she nearly stumbled.

“I see trying to explain myself to you would be futile.”

“You do not have to explain that part of it. I know what happened with us, and I would guess you’ve been in that…predicament before, Miss Hell.”

“What happened with you—was different.”

He stopped, turned her toward him. “What do you mean?”

“I have never…done that before,” she admitted.

He frowned down at her. “Do you tell all of them that?”

She sucked in a breath, feeling as if she had been slapped this time. “I am not a harlot.”

“Then who are you, and what is your business with officers?”

She looked away, heart slamming. “I cannot tell you.”

“Whoever you are,” he growled, “what happened between us in my bed should be forgotten.”

She glanced up then. “Forgotten?”

“It has no bearing here and now. It’s best for both of us if it is forgotten.” He resumed walking, shouldering his satchel and tugging her beside him. “As for Grant—I warn you, he is not the sort to forgive and forget.”

“Unlike you,” she drawled.

“Unlike me.” He said it so calmly that Kate felt a little swirl of stubborn defiance. Planting her feet, she refused to move. Alec turned.

“Katie my lass,” he said, as he groped inside the satchel and drew out the chains and manacles. “Come with me now, or you’ll come along in chains.”

“Just leave me. I will be fine and off your hands.”

“I will not leave you anywhere that Grant’s men can find you,” he said firmly.

“Why not? Either way I’ll end up going to prison!”

“You do not want to go that way, if you take my meaning.”

She scowled at him. “I take it.”

“Good. Now what do you choose?”

“If I have no choice but to go with you, I’ll want my
necklace, please.” She opened her hand. “I’ll bargain my cooperation for that.”

“Something tells me I could get the poor end of a bargain with Katie Hell,” he murmured.

“Take that chance.” Kate knew that she was taking the greater risk. She often felt bespelled in this man’s presence, yet Alec seemed capable of resisting any charm she might have—but for one night she could not forget as easily as he could.

Dipping a hand into his sporran, he opened his palm to show her a moonlit pool of silver and crystal. Kate reached out, but he closed his fingers over the necklace and over her hand.

“I wish this wee bauble was all the chain you’d ever need, Kate.” His voice was quiet.

She felt her knees go weak. “Give me my necklace, sir.”

“I have no desire to put irons on you, but I don’t want to have to bargain continually either. I have to trust you to come with me. But my guess is that you’d leave first chance.” He stated it quietly, as fact.

Kate sighed. “I would.”

“An honest answer. I’ll keep the bauble as an assurance of your good behavior. I’ve nothing else to bargain with.”

She gazed up at him, heart pounding, breaths fast. He had so much to bargain with, she thought. Had he bargained a kiss such as he had given her before, her resistance might dissolve.

He leaned so close, nearly nose to nose with her, that for a moment she thought he might kiss her as he had done before, and she impulsively craved it, like a
hunger rising fast in her. Tilting her head back, she waited, and her wildest thought was to allow it, to revel in it, to let that erase the threats and stress she felt otherwise. She half closed her eyes.

“Later, darling.” He dropped the necklace into his sporran. “I think we will not gamble like this just yet.”

She blew out a breath, trying to shake off the effect he had on her, the subtle, powerful influence that made the blood rush in her veins. “The inn is this way?” She strode past him, limbs trembling.

Fraser caught up with her and took her hand to guide her through a cluster of trees. “I warn you to behave yourself, lass. No escaping, no arguing, no slapping or punching your custodial officer.”

“You’re crediting me with evil thoughts.” She lifted her chin in defiance, shook her hand loose, though the contact felt dangerously pleasant.

“Have all the evil thoughts you like. Just keep them to yourself.”

“I’ll consider it.”

“Good. Give me your word on it, one Highlander to another.”

“Highlander? You’re but a Lowland officer in a plaidie.”

“I’m a captain in Lovat’s independent company, and I’m considered a Highlander by all but you, apparently.”

“You live in Edinburgh, you’re a red soldier, and likely a Whig. You insist on keeping my personal property when you’ve no right to it, which is not the natural courtesy of most Highland men. A Highland oath would mean little to you.”

“I was born and raised in Inverness-shire, spoke Gaelic until I was given knee breeches, have worn the plaid all my life,” he said, “and oaths mean all to me.”

She returned his gaze, breath quickening as she wished she could believe him. When she had first seen him at St. James’s Palace, he had looked like a magnificent Highland warrior. That day, she had fallen a little in love with him—but since then, he had proven himself other than what she thought.

“If you were a true Highlander, you’d be Jacobite.”

“Not necessarily so. The
Am Freiceadan Dubh
, the Black Watch as we are sometimes called, police our own—which is what I’m attempting to do now,” he said wryly. “We are not a Jacobite faction, but a goodwill extension of cooperation between Scots and the crown.”