The Magnificent Rogue (7 page)

“Aye, for someone who couldn’t lift her head, she’s doing quite well. I saw her strike the blow.” Gavin grinned. “But I was too far away to come to your rescue. Did she do any damage?”

“I’m going to have one hell of a headache.”

Kate tried to knee him in the groin, but he quickly moved upward on her body.

“Your hand’s bleeding,” Gavin observed.

“She’s taken a piece out of me. I can see why Landfield kept the ropes on her.”

The ropes. Despair tore through her as she realized how completely Sebastian had won him to his way of thinking. The man would bind her and take her back to Sebastian. She couldn’t fight against both MacDarren and Gavin and would use the last of her precious strength trying to do so. She would have to wait for a better opportunity to present itself. She stopped fighting and lay there staring defiantly at MacDarren.

“Very sensible,” he said grimly. “I’m not in a very good temper at the moment. I don’t think you want to make it worse.”

“Get off me.”

“And have you run away again?” MacDarren shook his head. “You’ve caused me enough trouble for one day. Give me your belt, Gavin.”

Gavin took off his wide leather belt and handed it
to MacDarren, who buckled the belt about Kate’s wrists and drew it tight.

“I’m not going back to the cottage,” she said with a fierceness born of desperation. “I
can’t
go back there.”

He got off her and rose to his feet. “You’ll go where I tell you to go, even if I have to drag—” He stopped in self-disgust as he realized what he had said. “Christ, I sound like that sanctimonious bastard.” The anger suddenly left his expression as he looked at her lying there before him. “You’re afraid of him?”

Fear was always with her when she thought of Sebastian, but she would not admit it. She sat up and repeated, “I can’t go back.”

He studied her for a moment. “All right, we won’t go back. You’ll never have to see him again.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

He turned to Gavin. “We’ll stay the night at that inn we passed at the edge of the village. Go back to the cottage and get her belongings and then saddle the horses. We’ll meet you at the stable.”

Gavin nodded and the next moment disappeared into the underbrush.

MacDarren glanced down at Kate. “I trust you don’t object to that arrangement?”

She couldn’t comprehend his words. “You’re taking me away?”

“If you’d waited, instead of jumping out the window, I would have told you that two hours ago. That’s why I came.”

Then she thought she understood. “You’re taking me to the lady?”

He shook his head. “It appears Her Majesty thinks it’s time you wed.”

Shock upon shock. “Wed?”

“You say that as if you don’t know what that means. You must have had instructions on the duties of wifehood.”

“I know what it means.” Slavery and suffocation
and cruelty. From what she could judge from Sebastian and Martha’s marriage, a wife’s lot was little better than her own. True he did not beat Martha, but the screams she had heard from their bedroom while they mated had filled her with sick horror. She had thought she would never have to worry about that kind of mistreatment. “But I can never marry.”

“Is that what the good vicar told you?” His lips tightened. “Well, it appears the queen disagrees.”

Then it might come to pass. Even Sebastian obeyed the queen. The faintest hope began to spring within her. Though marriage was only another form of slavery, perhaps the queen had chosen an easier master than Sebastian for her. “Who am I to marry?”

He smiled sardonically. “I have that honor.”

Another shock, and not a pleasant one. Easy was not a term anyone would use to describe this man. She blurted, “And you’re not afraid?”

“Afraid of you? Not if I have someone to guard my back.”

That wasn’t what she meant, but of course, he wouldn’t be afraid. She doubted if he feared anything or anyone, and besides, she wasn’t what Sebastian said she was. He had said the words so often, she sometimes found herself believing him, and she was so tired now, she wasn’t thinking clearly. The strength was seeping out of her with every passing second. “No, you shouldn’t be afraid.” She swayed. “Not Lilith …”

“More like a muddy gopher,” he muttered as he reached out and steadied her. “We have to get to the stables. Can you walk, or shall I carry you?”

“I can walk.” She dismissed the outlandish thought of marriage from her mind. She would ponder its implications later. There were more important matters to consider now. “But we have to get Caird.”

“Caird? Who the devil is Caird?”

“My horse.” She turned and started through the
underbrush. “Before we go, I have to fetch him. He’s not far.…”

She could hear the brush shift and whisper as he followed her. “Your horse is in the forest?”

“I was hiding him from Sebastian. He was going to kill him. He wanted me to tell him where he was.…”

“And that was why he was dragging you?”

She ignored the question. “Sebastian said the forest beasts would devour him. He frightened me.” She was staggering with exhaustion, but she couldn’t give up now. “It’s been such a while since I left him.…” She rounded a corner of the trail and breathed a sigh of relief when she caught sight of Caird calmly munching grass under the shelter of an oak tree. “No, he’s fine.”

“You think so?” MacDarren’s skeptical gaze raked the piebald stallion from swayback to knobby knees. “I see nothing fine about him. How old is he?”

“Almost twenty.” She went over to the horse and began to tenderly stroke his muzzle. “But he’s strong and very good-tempered.”

“He won’t do,” MacDarren said. “We’ll have to get rid of him. He’d never get through the Highlands. We’ll leave him with the innkeeper, and I’ll buy you another horse.”

“I
won’t
get rid of him,” she said fiercely. “I couldn’t just leave him. How would I know if they had taken good care of him? He goes with us.”

“And I say he stays.”

The words were spoken with such absolute resolution, they sent a jolt of terror through her. They reminded her of Sebastian’s edicts, from which there was no appeal. She moistened her lips. “Then I’ll have to stay too.”

MacDarren’s gaze narrowed on her face. “And what if Landfield catches you again?”

She shrugged and leaned her cheek against Caird’s muzzle. “He belongs to me,” she said simply.

She could feel his gaze on her back and sense his exasperation. “Oh, for God’s sake!” He picked up her saddle from the ground by the tree and threw it on Caird’s back, then began to buckle the cinches. “All right, we’ll take him.”

Joy soared through her. “Truly?”

“I said it, didn’t I?” He jerked off the belt binding her wrists, picked her up, and tossed her into the saddle. “We’ll use him as a packhorse, and I’ll get you another mount to ride. Satisfied?”

Satisfied! “Oh, yes. You won’t regret it. But you needn’t spend your money on another horse. Caird is really very strong. I’m sure he’ll be able to—”

“I’m already regretting it.” His tone was distinctly edgy as he began to lead the horse through the forest. “Even carrying a light load, I doubt if he’ll get through the Highlands.”

It was the second time he had mentioned these forbidding Highlands, but she didn’t care where they were going as long as they were taking Caird. “But you’ll do it? You won’t change your mind?”

For an instant his expression softened as he saw the eagerness in her face. “I won’t change my mind.”

Gavin was already mounted and waiting when they arrived at the stables a short time later. A grin lit his face as he glanced from Kate to the horse and then back again. “Hers?”

Robert nodded. “And the cause of all this turmoil.”

“A fitting pair,” Gavin murmured. “She has a chance of cleaning up decently, but the horse …” He shook his head. “No hope for it, Robert.”

“My thought exactly. But we’re keeping him anyway.”

Gavin’s brows lifted. “Oh, are we? Interesting …”

Robert swung onto his horse. “Any trouble with the vicar and his amiable wife?”

Kate’s hands tensed on the reins.

“Mistress Landfield appeared overjoyed at giving me the girl’s belongings.” He nodded at a small bundle tied to his saddle. “And the vicar just glowered at me.”

“Perhaps he’s given up.”

“He won’t give up,” Kate whispered. “He never gives up.”

“Then perhaps we’d better go before we encounter him again,” Robert said as he kicked his horse into a trot. “Keep an eye on her, Gavin. She’s almost reeling.”

Sebastian was waiting for them a short distance from the cottage. He stood blocking the middle of the path.

“Get out of the way,” Robert said coldly. “I’m not in the mood for this.”

“It’s your last chance,” Sebastian said. “Give her back to me before it’s too late.”

“Stand aside, Landfield.”

“Kathryn.” Sebastian turned to her, and his voice was pleading. “Do not go. You know you can never wed. You know what will happen.”

Robert rode forward, and his horse’s shoulder forced Sebastian to the side of the trail. He motioned Gavin and Kate to ride ahead. “It’s over. She’s no longer your responsibility.” His voice lowered to soft deadliness. “And if you ever approach her again, I’ll make sure I never see you repeat the mistake.”

“You’ll see me.” Landfield’s eyes shimmered with tears as his gaze clung to Kate. “I wanted to spare you, Kathryn. I wanted to save you, but God has willed otherwise. You know what has to be done now.”

He turned and walked heavily back toward the cottage.

“What did he mean?” Gavin asked as his curious gaze followed Landfield.

She didn’t answer as she watched Sebastian stalk away. She realized she was shivering with a sense of impending doom. How foolish. This was what he wanted her to feel; this was his way of chaining her to him.

“Well?” Robert asked.

“Nothing. He just wanted to make me afraid.” She straightened her shoulders. “He likes me to be afraid of him.”

She could see he didn’t believe her, and she thought he would pursue it. Instead, he said quietly, “You don’t have to fear him any longer. He no longer holds any power over you.” He held her gaze with a mesmerizing power that frightened as well as soothed her. “I’m the only one who can hurt or help you now.”

T
he lights
of Tabord
’s
inn gleamed warm and welcoming ahead of them.

But not welcoming for her, Kate remembered suddenly, stiffening. Dear heaven, she had been so weary and dazed at the bewildering changes in her life, she had let MacDarren lead her where he would.

She reined in Caird. “No.”

Robert looked impatiently over his shoulder. “What the devil is wrong now?”

“I can’t stay here.”

“The hell you can’t. You wouldn’t stay at the cottage, and now you won’t stay here. We’re not camping by the side of the road tonight. I’m tired and almost as dirty as you are from that roll in the mud. I need a bath and a bed, and this is where we’ll get both.” He turned and kicked his horse into a trot. “Now.”

He didn’t understand, and she was too numb with weariness to explain further. He would find out soon enough.

Master Tabord threw open the door and came out into the stable yard. The light from the candelabra he carried revealed the broad smile on his face as his gaze instantly appraised the richness of MacDarren’s garments.
“Ah, my lord, welcome. I am Peter Tabord, the owner of this inn.”

Robert inclined his head. “I’m Robert MacDarren, earl of Craighdhu.”

“And how may I serve you?”

“Beds, food.” Robert got down from his horse and came around to Kate’s horse. “And above all, tubs of hot water for baths.”

“We have the finest of all three. You took a fall?” Master Tabord shook his head sympathetically as he watched Robert lift Kate from the saddle. “I hope the lady was not—” He broke off, his eyes narrowing. He stepped closer, the candle held high, peering at Kate. She knew by the tightening of his lips the minute he recognized her. “Good evening, Kate.” He turned abruptly back to Robert. “I’m sorry, my lord. I can give you no shelter here. I have no room.”

“You had rooms before,” Robert said slowly.

“Not now.” The innkeeper turned back to Kate. “Go home. Have you not caused the vicar enough woe with your wild ways? I will not have you come whoring under my roof. You’re not to—”

“Quiet!” Robert stepped forward, and his dirk was suddenly pressed to Tabord’s plump stomach. “No more. By thunder, I’ve had enough. You’ll find two rooms in this ‘crowded’ hovel of yours, and you’ll give me what I ask or I’ll slit your gullet.”

“Please refrain,” Gavin said, flinching. “You know how I hate the sight of blood.”

Robert ignored him as he pressed the knife harder against Tabord’s stomach. “You will find a maidservant to wait on my wife, and you will give her both the respect and service she requires.”

Master Tabord’s lips set stubbornly. “You cannot intimidate me, my lord. I will do what is right. You cannot—Your wife?” Master Tabord’s expression mirrored Kate’s shock as he grasped the full meaning of Robert’s words. “Kate? She is not your—”