Chapter 14
“Icanna believe we left him there. Alone in the darkness.” Catriona jerked her wrist out of Graham’s grasp, ran to the small fire next to the stone ledge, and hurried to douse it with handfuls of dirt and sand scraped up from the cave floor. Brushing her hands against her skirts, she rose from the task, worry and fear knotting her insides and making her heart pound. She whirled about and faced him. “How could ye leave your own brother? How could ye leave him behind?”
“'Twas what he wished and Alexander is no' afraid of the dark, m’lady.” Graham lit a fresh torch off of Sawny’s and scanned the cavernous room. “Are we well past that second trap ye spoke of, lad?”
“Aye,” Sawny replied. “We should be safe in this section of the cave but we best move to the back so our torchlight will be a sight dimmer and less apt to draw notice. 'Tis my hopes they willna smell the smoke of the doused fire.”
While her common sense knew Sawny was right, her heart screamed out a hearty, “Nay!” Catriona pulled away, heading back toward the passage they’d just passed through to reach the heart of the cave where they’d set up a camp. She would wait at the edge, in the darkness, until she saw Alexander safe. Then she’d guide him through the maze of passages to reach the more secure section of the cave.
A strong hand closed around her upper arm and pulled her back with a firm, gentle persistence. She jerked about and faced Magnus. “Let go of me, sir.”
“Nay, m’lady.” Magnus gave her a respectful nod then faced her toward the others and walked her back to join them by a determined steering of her arm. “If I allow anything ill to befall ye, Alexander will have me arse.” He nodded again with a faint smile. “Beg pardon, m'lady.”
A howling scream, strong at first then fading away, echoed back to them from the passages. A chill washed across Catriona’s flesh, standing every hair on end.
Still holding tight to her arm, Magnus gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Ne'er ye fret. That wasna Alexander.”
“How can ye know? How can ye be certain?”
“He doesna scream,” Graham interjected. “He curses, growls, rants and roars but I've ne'er heard him scream. Mam swore he was a bear in a past life.”
“Aye,” Magnus agreed. “Most definitely a bear.” He placed Catriona at the center of their group, the two men and two boys flanking her, as he positioned her against the wall.
Catriona wasn't stupid. She knew well enough that the only reason he’d placed her there was to prevent her from escaping them and going to Alexander.
“What do we do from here?” Sawny asked, excitement making his freckled face glow like a beacon in the torchlight. “When do we attack and reclaim our keep from that bastard?” He gave a sheepish jerk of one shoulder in Catriona's direction. “Beg your pardon, m’lady.”
“Aye,” young Tom chimed in. “We n-need to clear the k-keep of the chieftain’s vermin as well.”
“'Tis no' their fight, boys,” Catriona said as she hugged herself against the damp chill of the cave. “And we’ve no coin to pay them for battle.” She wasn’t trying to insult the men. They were mercenaries. Mercenaries were paid to fight. She had no money, no title, no land and her head ached with the effort of trying to think of a way to save her clan from Calum. But so far, she’d come up with nothing. She pulled in a deep, stubborn breath and released it. But she would think of something. She wouldna desert her people.
The thunderous sound of tumbling rocks and layers of loose shale falling reached them. Catriona closed her eyes and sent up a silent a prayer.Protect Alexander. Please. I beg ye. Protect him and keep him safe.
“Damn ye, Sawny. That last trap of yours came near to endin' me.”
“Alexander!” Catriona burst free of the group, raced across the room, and leapt into Alexander’s open arms. Arms tight around his neck and one leg wrapped around his middle like a brazen woman, she hugged him so hard she trembled. “I feared ye lost,” she whispered against his neck. “I was so afraid.”
One hand burdened with the torch, Alexander tightened his other arm around her, holding her as close and hard as she held him. “All is well, dear one. All is well.”
Catriona closed her eyes, soaking in the wondrous feel of him against the length of her body. His strength. His heat. With her face snuggled up against his neck, she inhaled, imprinting his delicious scent in her memory forever. She pressed a kiss to his throat, flicking her tongue to steal a shy taste of his salty-sweet flesh. Such behavior. Shame should fill her. Behaving like a low-born ill-mannered woman. She was a betrothed woman promised to another, but she didna care. Alexander was all that mattered.
“I’m so glad ye’re safe,” she said in a low tone meant just for him. With an embarrassed reluctance, she withdrew her leg from the unladylike position around his waist and stretched to put both feet to the floor.
Alexander kept his arm around her, his hand splayed against the small of her back and holding her close. He smiled down at her, his dark eyes smoldering with a fire that both excited and frightened her. “And now we’ll be seeing to your continued safety. I’ll no' risk losing ye again.”
Catriona swallowed hard against the excited fluttering of her heart. Now this was how a man should behave. She patted a hand to the center of his hard chest, straightening the buttoned seam of hisléinewith nervous tugs. “I dinna wish to lose ye again either.”
“Then let us make a plan.” Alexander pulled her to his side and walked with her across the room of the cave to where the others waited. “Chieftain Calum’s force is now less three men,” he said to Graham and Magnus.
“When do we attack?” Sawny asked.
Catriona’s heart went out to the boy, so intent on avenging his dear Murtagh. She wanted Murtagh avenged as well, but they had to go about it with great care. “Plan first. Then attack. And as I said earlier, this is no' their fight.”
“It is now, dearling.” Alexander hugged her closer, pride and so much more showing in his smile. “Catriona speaks with great wisdom.” He nodded to Graham and Magnus. “We need to return to our cave and regroup. Discover what the others have found.”
“'Tis broad daylight, brother,” Graham warned. “And we canna be certain that the horses have no' been found.”
“The way I see it, we’ve a bit a time,” Alexander said. “They willna send more men to search this area until they miss the three that now rest deep in the heart of the mountain.”
