“Where Iain?”
“I am sure he will be back soon.” Emily looked at Mrs. O’Neal. “How far does the sound of a shot carry?”
“A long way in this valley but it all depends on the wind, where the men are, and how much noise they are making.”
Emily sat down on the steps and held Neddy close. She knew it would be impossible to get the boy to stay inside without them. Neddy might not be suffering much from grief but he evidently still suffered from fears bred by the attack that had killed his parents. There was a sudden burst of shooting and she prayed the gates held firm.
* * *
Iain stretched and rubbed at his lower back. He was not sure how well the fence would work or if it would prove no more than a mild blockade quickly overcome. Taking off his hat he ran his hand through his hair and hoped he had not taken a loan for nothing. Although Daniel had seen to it the loan papers were written up fairly and just how Iain wanted them, he had lost all trust in that bank. Unfortunately, it was the only one around.
The faint sound of a gunshot caught his attention and he looked at Matthew, who stood beside him. “Did ye just hear a shot?”
Matthew frowned. “I am hearing a lot of shooting. I think it is coming from over there.”
Looking in the direction Matthew was pointing, Iain realized it was their home. “Damn it, it is coming from the house.” He slapped his hat back on and ran for his horse, Matthew right behind him and calling for all their brothers to come.
Iain did not wait for his brothers but mounted his horse and rode hard for the house. He could think of no one who would attack them so he had to wonder if this was some of the men who had attacked Emily’s family. If the women had gotten the gates closed there would be time to reach them.
He reined in at the top of a small rise and stared down at the five men trying to break through his gates. It surprised him a little that the two women had managed to shut them and even to secure the huge gates but he was grateful that they had found the strength. Undoubtedly, they had found it because their children were inside those gates.
Matthew drew up beside him and pulled his rifle from the saddle holster. “Ye think they are after Emily and the boy?”
“Aye, but how the hell did they trail them here?”
“Something to do with the men in town that chased her and Robbie? Must have been one man who peeled off from the others or never even left with them, so we were not able to make sure he never talked. It would be easy to find out who she came to town with, and then find us.”
“We need to get inside those walls without exposing the women,” Iain said quietly. For a short while they sat silently, noticing that none of the men trying to break through the gates bothered to look behind him. Whoever Emily’s enemy was, he wasted no time trying to find skilled men. “We need to get to the back way in without alerting these idiots.”
They finally decided to go two at a time; the last ones to go would be the last three. Iain waited tensely as Lachlan and Robbie rode off, getting into the trees to the east of the house so that they could circle around to the back of the wall unseen. Iain wished that at some time in the future, not long, they could have a house safe enough to leave the gates open. He was growing tired of always fortifying the places they lived in.
Shaking his head for he considered it a poor time to spend even a moment on wishing, he looked down at the pocket watch he had gotten from his father. When five minutes had passed, he signaled Duncan and Geordie to go. After the last five minutes had passed he, Matthew, and Nigel made their way around through the trees. They left their horses secured beside their brothers’ and crept toward the house. Robbie opened the back door for them and they hurried in. The women and the children were all huddled in the kitchen away from the windows and doors. Iain nodded and led his brothers all to the front.
“I will go up on the walls and see what is there and how many of them there are now,” Iain said.
“No need. They just broke the bar and are coming in the gates,” said Matthew. “Knew it should have been a bit longer and thicker.”
Iain swore and hurried to one of the windows in the parlor. The six men were in the yard studying the house. They obviously did not know the women were no longer alone. Iain took careful aim and shot one. Even as the body hit the ground the gunfire started from both the men in the yard, desperately trying to find some cover and the men in the house.
The attackers fell fast but one ran. Despite their best efforts the man got back out the gates and mounted his horse. He was just racing for the hills when a shot came and he nearly flew out of his saddle. Iain could see just enough to realize the Powell brothers had come and grinned. There would be no news taken back to the one who had hired them. He was beginning to think that lack of news would not buy them much time though.
“Now we need some new windows,” said Lachlan as he walked in.
“Only three and not the whole window either. I haven’t looked upstairs yet, though,” added Matthew as he strolled in with his rifle over his shoulder.
“Not too high a price then.” Iain stood up from where he had been crouched by the window. “But ye are right, Matthew. Gates need a longer thicker bar. We shall also have to think of some way of making it so it can be barred without requiring the strength of two men. But, for now, we have a mess to clean up.”
The brothers all gathered in the hall and Iain looked toward the kitchen doors to find Emily peering out at them. “It is done. Are all of you all right?”
“We are. Just going to clean up.” He noticed that she paled a little but she said nothing, just nodded.
Emily watched the brothers leave and turned back into the kitchen. It was over, she thought, as Mrs. O’Neal shooed her children and Neddy out of the kitchen. No one had been hurt except the ones who had tried to hurt them. Emily knew she should feel relieved, perhaps even happy that they had prevailed, but she just felt cold.
The odd mood clung to her all through the preparation of the meal. She barely spoke during the meal although she carefully studied each of the brothers to reassure herself they were all hale. Iain kept giving her looks filled with concern but she ignored them. Emily knew she needed to be alone to shake off this strange mood. For now, she did only what she had to and spoke only when spoken to directly.
“What troubles you, dearie?” asked Mrs. O’Neal after the others left the table and she had begun to help with the cleanup.
“I brought killers to your home, to Iain’s home,” she answered.
