The Master Of Strathburn (29 page)

‘Are ye all right, miss?’ Janet was at her shoulder. Jessie hadn’t even noticed the maid arrive.

‘I … I’m no’ sure if the guards will permit me to visit Lord Lochrose.’ Her heart sinking, Jessie turned away from the iron gates and looked back down the street toward the Canongate. ‘I have acted too hastily. Perhaps we should go.’

Janet stepped closer to Jessie and lowered her voice. ‘Now dinna fash yerself, miss.’ She suddenly smiled somewhat conspiratorially. ‘I should ha’ mentioned it before. My Uncle Angus is one o’ the head wardens here. He’ll let us in, dinna ye worry. Just let me do the askin’. Ye’ll see.’

Janet was as good as her word. She spoke with the sentry on duty and within a few minutes, Angus McDonald, Jessie’s uncle, was ushering them through the gates and into the dark and fetid interior of the gaol.

Jessie held her cloak to her nose to try and dissipate the rank stench around them as she followed Janet’s uncle down dim corridors and up a narrow, twisting stairwell. She shivered, unsure if it was the frigid, foul air that caused her to do so or the pitiful moans and desperate calls that came every now and again from behind the bolted cell doors that they passed on their way. Her heart ached at the thought of Robert being locked up in these inhuman, squalid conditions. She silently prayed that he would be soon free from this hellish place.

After a seemingly interminable length of time, they emerged onto a fourth storey floor where the stone corridor was quite well lit and there seemed to be fewer locked doorways. The air was remarkably cleaner as well. Surprisingly, there was only one guard on duty on this level—he stood by the iron barred door where they had entered and after a quick cursory search of Jessie’s food basket, he escorted them down the corridor.

As Jessie passed a barred window, she could see down below to the bleak cobblestones of Parliament Square where the convicted were executed at the Mercat Cross. Her cousin had once told her that in the case of beheadings, the victim’s heads were displayed on spikes along the north wall of the square. There were no such obscene displays today at least. She shivered and hurried on.

‘Here we are then, miss,’ Angus said almost jovially to Jessie when they stopped before one of the doors, but then he frowned when he observed her face. ‘Ye are verra pale, miss.’ He turned to his niece. ‘Ye ken, I’m surprised that ye didna think to bring summat sweet smellin’ with ye, Janet. Ye should ken better than that. Yer mistress ’ere looks as if she’s aboot to faint dead away.’

‘I’m quite fine,’ said Jessie quickly, afraid that Janet’s uncle would suddenly curtail her visit if he thought she couldn’t cope. ‘How long can I visit with Lord Lochrose?’

‘A quarter of an hour ’tis all tha’s permitted I’m afraid, lass,’ he replied. ‘Mr Cameron, the door if ye please.’

Mr Cameron, the guard, unlocked the cell door. ‘Lochrose, rise n’ shine. Ye ha’ company,’ he announced unceremoniously into the gloom beyond. ‘I hope ye are decent. They’re ladies.’

Jessie peered into the dim interior as she was ushered across the threshold. Although the cell was larger than she expected, its only source of light was a high, narrow barred window that let in a thin strip of weak grey light. In the far left corner, obscured by shadow, she discerned movement.
Robert.

He was seated on a narrow bunk, rubbing his hands down his face as if he had just woken. ‘Jessie?’ His voice was husky with sleep.

She wanted to go to him, throw her arms around him, but she stayed hovering in the doorway, suddenly unsure of herself, and of him. In the dimness and shadows she couldn’t see his face.

‘Yes, Robert, ’tis I,’ she murmured, her voice cracking. She took a tentative step forward into the cell at the same time Robert got to his feet. She could see his face now and her heart clenched for him—he looked drawn; his jaw was covered in dark stubble and his unbound hair tumbled across his forehead and onto his shoulders. Despite his dishevelment, or perhaps because of it, he was both darkly handsome and forbidding all at once.

She took another step but his next words halted her, taking her completely aback. ‘Christ, Jessie. I can’t believe you’re here.’ He pushed his hair away from his face with a shaking hand and ran his gaze over her. He was frowning, clearly shocked. ‘You shouldn’t have come.’

Jessie’s breath hitched. She opened her mouth to speak but the sound jammed in her throat. He didn’t want her here. What had she been thinking? Perhaps he had meant to leave her at the inn in Invercauld after all. She’d obviously been mistaken about his feelings for her. Tears suddenly scalded her eyelids. She knew she should go, but she couldn’t move, frozen to the spot by Robert’s penetrating blue gaze.

She felt Janet at her elbow taking the basket from her arm. ‘Lord Lochrose, Miss Munroe thought ye may like some provisions … to make yer stay more comfortable.’

Robert dragged his eyes away from Jessie to briefly acknowledge Janet. Then within the space of a heartbeat he took two strides toward Jessie and enveloped her in his arms. He buried his face in her hair.

‘Jessie, Jessie my love,’ he murmured against her ear. ‘I’m such an idiot. I didn’t mean that I didn’t want to see you. I just can’t believe that you would set foot in this godforsaken place. After all you’ve been through, this is the last place I would want you to be. You could have just sent word to me.’

Jessie drew a ragged sigh, relief flooding through her. He had called her
my love
. He cared for her. He was worried about her. She pressed her damp cheek into his linen shirt, breathing in the musky scent of him, drinking in the warmth of his hard chest as he crushed her against his body.

‘I wanted to see tha’ you were all right,’ she whispered. ‘I just had to know …’

Robert gently pushed her away from him, his eyes searching hers. ‘You had to know if
I
was all right,’ he said shaking his head, the lopsided half smile she loved so much tugging at the corner of his wide beautiful mouth. ‘Jessie, if you only knew how worried I’ve been about you. At the inn, when Simon had me arrested, he knew you were there also. I’ve been going mad, not knowing what happened to you.’ Robert’s eyes sparked with sudden blue fire and his grip on her shoulders grew harder. ‘Tell me, Jessie, did he hurt you? I have to know. Because if he did …’ The unspoken, deadly intent was clear in Robert’s expression.

Jessie reached out to stroke his stubbled cheek. ‘He didna hurt me, Robert.’ She quickly explained what had happened at the inn—how MacTaggart had woken her to warn her about his arrest and Simon’s imminent visit, and then how the chivalrous Watchman had protected her. ‘If it hadna been for Captain MacTaggart … I can barely stand to think o’ what might have happened … I was hoping that he would have got word to you that I was safe, but he must have been prevented from doing so.’

Robert raised a sardonic eyebrow. ‘Simon’s interference no doubt. I’ll make sure my father gives the good captain a commendation. If I get to see my father that is,’ he added somewhat wryly.

Jessie smiled. ‘Yer father is here in Edinburgh, Robert. He left Lochrose wi’ yer stepmother soon after Simon had mounted his pursuit. He suspected trouble an’ wanted to be able to plead yer case in person with the Lord Advocate if that was so needed, as indeed it is.’

‘How do you know all this?’ asked Robert smoothing one of her wayward curls behind her ear.

Jessie thrilled to his touch, but answered his question nonetheless. ‘After you were taken, I decided to travel back to Lochrose to ask yer father fer help. We met along the road to Port-na-Craig, an’ I journeyed the rest o’ the way here in his carriage. I stayed at yer family’s townhouse in Auldgate Square last night.’

Robert’s eyes narrowed with concern. ‘And where did Simon stay? He’s here in Edinburgh attempting to orchestrate my demise no doubt.’

‘Yer father ordered him away as soon as we arrived,’ she replied. ‘He was intending to secure lodgings at the White Horse Inn.’

‘Hmm, I’m sure my dear brother will be lurking somewhere close to gloat over my misfortune,’ said Robert with a cynical twist to his smile. Turning his back on the guard outside and Janet, who had by this time, retreated a discrete distance to the shadow of the doorway, he suddenly pulled her back into the circle of his arms and buried his face in her hair. ‘You should go, my love,’ he murmured. ‘You’ve lingered long enough in this dreadful place.’

‘There’s no place I’d rather be right now,’ she whispered, turning her face upwards, willing him to kiss her. She didn’t care that Janet and the guard waited nearby.

And it seemed Robert didn’t either. She saw the smile in his eyes in the moment before he lowered his head to take her willing mouth in his.

Who’d have thought heaven could be found in a gaol cell?
She sighed into him, willingly parting her lips as his tongue gently explored her mouth with slow, deep, tantalising strokes. She cradled his jaw, rough with bristles, then wound her hands into his dark hair, pulling him closer, wanting this bittersweet kiss full of promise and yearning to go on and on, to never end; all the while praying that this would not be their last kiss.

But too soon, Robert gently untangled her hands from his hair and broke the contact of their mouths. Like her, he was slightly breathless. And smiling.

The guard pointedly cleared his throat. ‘Time’s up, I’m afraid, Lochrose,’ he called.

Jessie felt herself blushing. She reluctantly stepped away from Robert but he did not release her hands.

‘Goodbye, my beloved,’ he murmured then kissed her fingertips.

‘Do no’ say goodbye, Robert.’ Jessie put a finger to his lips. ‘I couldna bear it, if this was goodbye. You will be pardoned. I’m certain of it.’ With great effort, she withdrew from Robert’s embrace and moved toward the door. When she turned to look at him one last time, he smiled. And then the guard swung the cell door shut.

The resounding clang seemed as final as any death knell.

Janet touched her arm. ‘Come on, miss.’

Jessie followed the girl along the corridor to where her uncle waited to escort them out. Catching sight of the Mercat Cross again, Jessie paused, an unbidden image of Robert kneeling before the executioner’s block appearing in her mind. Pain lanced through her heart and tears stung her eyes. Robert couldn’t die. She did not think she could bear it.

And then she realised with heart stopping certainty that she was in love with this man.
Completely.

No matter that they had only spent a few days together. She knew she was in love with him as surely as night follows day. She decided then and there to do whatever was within her power to save Robert from a traitor’s death, even if that meant pleading with the Lord Advocate himself. And before she returned to Strathburn House on the Canongate, she would visit St Giles and pray for Robert with all her heart and soul. It was the least she could do.

When Jessie returned to the townhouse in Auldgate Square, she found Lord Strathburn had already been busy making arrangements to meet with the Lord Advocate.

‘Two o’clock this afternoon, Jessie my dear, that’s when we’ll get this all sorted out,’ he announced with a smile when she entered the drawing room.

To her surprise, the earl looked remarkably well, despite the long and exhausting journey from Lochrose. Indeed, ever since Robert’s return, it appeared to her that a great burden had been lifted from the old man’s shoulders. There was now a twinkle in his eyes and a healthy colour in his face.

Although it was puzzling in the extreme that Lord Strathburn did not seem the least bit concerned his son was incarcerated, awaiting trial for treason. She wondered at his absolute certainty that everything would work out.

‘So, I hear you have been to visit Robert,’ he said, gesturing for her to take a seat opposite him before the fire. ‘You were very brave to go there, my child. How did you find him? I trust that young Janet’s uncle, Angus McDonald, is looking after him adequately.’

Jessie nodded, impressed by Lord Strathburn’s intelligence. ‘He seems well enough, my lord.’ Her brow suddenly furrowed with concern. ‘But I believe he is worried that he willna be so easily pardoned. As am I.’

Lord Strathburn smiled reassuringly. ‘Lord Arniston and I are very good friends. He will be sure to secure a pardon from the king. And while we wait for that, I am sure he will release Robert into my custody. By this evening he will be with us, just you wait and see.’

‘Oh yes, I can hardly wait.’ Lady Strathburn’s voice dripped with sarcasm as she glided into the room.

Jessie immediately rose to her feet and bobbed a small curtsy as the countess installed herself in the wing chair beside her husband. As Lady Strathburn smoothed the skirts of her jade green silk gown, Jessie was reminded of a deadly snake, poising itself to strike. Sure enough, she did not have to wait long for one of the countess’s venomous comments.

Fixing her cool green gaze on Jessie, her thin lips twisted into what could only be described as a cruel smile. ‘I’m looking forward to Robert’s return almost as much as your marriage to my stepson, Miss Munroe. A Jacobite and the factor’s daughter. Won’t that be the social event of the season?’

Jessie felt heat creep into her cheeks as she hovered by her own chair, uncertain whether to stay or go after such a condescending remark. Humiliation warred with anger inside her. She was already highly aware that she was marrying above her station but she didn’t appreciate being addressed in such a contemptuous fashion. And she especially didn’t want to hear Robert being slighted.

Lord Strathburn glared at his wife. ‘Now see here—’

‘My dearest husband,’ Lady Strathburn cut in, seemingly unconcerned by the earl’s anger, ‘when will you allow our other son to return home, seeing as you unceremoniously cast him out into the streets last night?’

Lord Strathburn rose to his feet and looked down upon his wife. His eyes had narrowed to thin slits. ‘When hell freezes over as far as I’m concerned,’ he grated out, his voice shaking with scarcely concealed anger. ‘After all the lies and betrayal, not to mention his dissolute ways, Simon will be lucky to even get an allowance off me. And I’ll thank you to remember just who funds your extravagant ways also,
my lady
.’ The earl flicked the hem of his wife’s skirts with his walking stick.