Calling the dogs to heel, Reid stayed a distance back from the cliff edge and was finally able to turn north, following the coast and keeping the higher, boggy ground on his right. He kept his head down against the rain, and was thinking about finding some shelter and building a fire when Bo and Whitefoot suddenly sent out a warning ‘uff’.
Reid halted and took cover behind a tussocky hummock of grass. Calling the dogs to him, he looked out. Ahead of him, the headland he’d been tracking gave way to a wide, horse-shoe bay. And that bay was filled with people and ships. Several larger transports bobbed out in the deeper water, whilst smaller row-boats plied the choppy waters between, carrying men to shore.
Not just men, Reid realized. Warriors. The glint of weapons was visible even through the driving rain. He stared, trying to work out what he was looking at. This was an army. Why else would so many warriors be gathering in one place? And there was only one person he knew who could field this many men.
Laird Edwin Campbell.
Reid’s stomach tightened.Thiswas why Laird Campbell had been delayed all those weeks. Not because he was still gathering his army as he’d claimed, but because he’d been secretly using the rivers and sea to move his men here, north of Dun Calas, where they wouldn’t be detected.Thiswas what Laird Campbell had planned all along. No meeting of armies on a battlefield where both sides would be prepared. Oh no. Laird Campbell planned something else entirely: he meant to attack Dun Calas.
Which is where Reid had just taken Abigail.
Chapter 21
“Mama! Mama!” the littlegirl cried, lifting her arms towards Layla.
Layla obligingly lifted the little girl and settled her onto her lap. Abi still couldn’t believe Layla had a daughter—a daughter!—but the little girl was the image of her father with her dark hair and large brown eyes.
“The look on your face!” Layla laughed. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Abi swallowed. “There’s just so much for me to get used to. You’ve changed, Layla. You seem...happy. Content.”
“I won’t pretend it’s been easy. There is a lot I’ve missed terribly—you most of all. But being here, with Cinead and Maisie and all the friends I’ve made, it feels like home, Abi. Itishome.” She laughed again. “I know that must sound insane. Who would want to settle here and leave all the mod cons of our time behind?”
No, it didn’t sound insane, Abi thought. Not at all. It would have done when she’d first come here and she’d wanted to get home so bad that it hurt. But that had been before Reid.
Her heart squeezed painfully. Where was he now? Was he thinking about her as she was thinking about him?
Layla was watching her steadily. “I don’t think I’m the only one who’s changed, am I? I’ve never seen you look so hollow as when the guards brought you in and said you were looking for Reid. What is he to you, Abi?”
Abi met her friend’s gaze. “Everything,” she whispered. “I love him, Layla. I never meant to, I fought it and fought it and fought it, but I couldn’t hold it back.” She shook her head. “He’s not the man you think he is. Nor the man Cinead thinks he is.”
“And what man is that?”
“He told me of the strife between him and Cinead and the reason behind it. I know there is bad blood between them.”
“Bad blood?” Layla said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s an understatement. When I first came here, Cinead was thought to be the bastard son of the laird whilst Reid, his stepson, had been made the heir. After the truth came out about how his mother had concealed the fact that Cinead was the true heir, Cinead offered Reid a place here, do you know that? Offered him the chance to be Cinead’s right-hand-man. Reid declined. He left Dun Calas and became a mercenary, fighting for anyone who would pay him. And then what he did at the outpost...” She cut off, blinking against sudden tears.
