“In a peculiar way, your father’s rash actions are protecting Laird Dunn,” Brandon replied. “As long as he is locked in the dungeons and sentenced to an imminent execution, the true culprit will believe they are safe from discovery. If the culprit finds out what we know, they will seek to do to us what they did to dear William.”
“And if heisexecuted?” Heather’s words lodged in her throat; the very notion too hideous to bear.
Brandon took hold of her hand and squeezed it tight. “I will not allow it to come to that, Heather.” He dropped the honorific of “Lady,” as he often did when they were not in company. “That is why I have been away for the last four days. I have been investigating the truth of what happened to William, though the household believes I have been to visit a potential bride.”
“A bride? Would they believe such a ruse?” Heather was only thinking of Jemima, as it was well known that the lady’s maid and Brandon were fond of one another.
He smiled. “Of course, dear girl. I am the son of a merchant, do not forget, and though my heart might belong to someone else, they would all expect me to wed a lady of station.” He flashed a wink. “There is no other lady, in case you were worried.”
“Is there any other cause for… celebration?” she whispered, though it seemed an odd word for the predicament they were in.
Brandon gave a slight nod. “I spoke with the Baron of Belsay’s men. They were in an encampment beside us, which William would have had to travel through in order to reach the battlefield, at the hour in which he wassupposedto have gone there.” He hesitated. “They said they saw William, but he was not making his way toward the battlefield. He was heading west, and he was not going there willingly. He was being chased.”
Heather’s heart threatened to stop beating in her chest as she heard that revelation. With Owen to divert her mind, she had managed to set aside her grief, putting it in a dark box in her head where she did not have to dwell upon it to the point of consuming despair. Now, the lid of that box had been flung open, and a torrent of sorrow pummeled through her.
You must have been so afraid, William. You must have wondered what you had done wrong. Oh, my darling brother, what did they do to you?Tears welled in her eyes, tumbling over onto her cheeks where they meandered silently down. One trickled into her mouth, and she tasted the bitter salt of it.
“Who chased him?” she rasped, furious and defeated, all at once.
Brandon paused, as if he did not know whether to continue. “The Baron’s men said they saw the Gallagher crest, pinned to one of the pursuer’s cloaks. The rest were dressed in plain garments, presumably to disguise themselves.” He glanced toward the stable entrance, where the imposing, gray castle walls were visible. “It might have been a ruse, to make any witnesses think they were our men, but we cannot rule out the worst possibility.”
“That there is a wolf among us.” Heather completed the terrible thought, shivering with fear and rage that someone within her own home could have done such a thing. And might do the same to her, if she spoke out at the wrong moment. “My brother did say he thought his life was in peril, but I mistook it for nerves. This was before he departed for war.”
Brandon sighed uneasily. “He mentioned the same thing to me, and I also mistook it for anxiety. I cannot make amends for that, but I can bring him justice, and I will not make the mistake of having no witnesses.”
“What do you mean?” Heather frowned.
“I will continue to conduct my investigation here, but if anything should happen to me in the pursuit of the truth, I will tell you where you may find a letter. You must take that letter to your father and persuade him until he sees reason.” He paused. “I just hope it does not come to that.”
“As do I,” Heather murmured, “for the sake of everyone whose life now rests on our success.”
Having already lost a brother to this unknown killer, she refused to lose anyone else. Including herself.
8
“Ido not know how he intends to coax the culprit out, but I have faith in him,” Heather insisted, as she sat cross-legged in front of Owen’s cell for the fifth night. “He adored William as much as I did, and he will not rest until the real killer is found.”
Owen sighed, his arm trailing down between two bars. It was the closest he could get to touching her, for though she had edged nearer to him with every passing night, she continued to keep a polite distance. At least, until it came time for her to say farewell, when she put her arms through the bars and let him kiss her hands.
“I ken we’re nae perfect across the border, but I cannae fathom a clan who’d turn on one of their own like that. Aye, I ken it happens in plenty of clans, but it has never happened in mine,” he said grimly. “While I’m waitin’ for ye to visit, I’ll be prayin’ for a swift resolution, so me and Sawyer can return to Dunn Castle.”
Heather frowned, as if pained. “Do you think they know you have been captured?”
“I daenae think so, else they would’ve sent men to retrieve me,” Owen replied confidently, for he trusted his clan above everything and everyone else. “Either that, or they’re waitin’ for an opportunity. It wouldn’ae be wise for them to venture south, so soon after the battle at Dunbar. It disnae matter how worried they are, they ken nae to make foolish decisions.”
Tilting her head back to lengthen the elegant, enticing curve of her neck, Heather’s shoulders sagged. “I am so very sorry you have found yourself in this situation. If my brother were here, he would be appalled on your behalf.”
“If yer brother were here, I wouldn’ae be,” Owen countered, with a smile. “I’d be in me chambers, sinkin’ into a steamin’ bath to slough away the grime of war. Och, that’s one of the moments where I find me greatest peace—when I’m submerged in hot water, feelin’ me limbs loosen and me body sigh.”
Heather’s eyes bulged at the sound of his words, as her hand flew to her chest and her breaths sharpened to shallow pants. She fanned her face with her free hand, turning her gaze away, but there was nothing she could do to hide the pretty flush of pink that rose slowly upward.
“I… uh… brought you some bread and cheese,” she said hurriedly, dipping into a fold of her skirts to produce a small parcel of cloth. “I could not steal much, in case it was noticed, but I thought you would prefer it to whatever they are feedingyou.” She pushed the parcel through the bars, only to freeze as her hand grazed Owen’s.
He seized the opportunity to touch her once more, gently wrapping his fingers around her slender wrist. There, he circled his thumb in a tender caress, while his gaze urged hers to meet his.
“What… are you doing?” she breathed, staring at the motion of his thumb.
“It eases nerves and ye look mighty nervous,” he told her, though it was something of a white lie. Pressing a thumb to the pulse of life that throbbed under the wrist could ease nausea and anxiety, but not the top of the wrist.
