Sutherland tilted his head to contemplate her. “Why are ye asking?”
She shrugged. She had no idea why she was asking, other than maybe needing to know if it was MacGregor. “I’m a Campbell. It directly affects me. The droving is thinning his herds, and it will make it difficult for him to provide food over the winter. The loss of the fields means he can’t feed what animals he has left. To me it seems like a deliberate sabotage.”
“I don’t know who set the fire, but my guess is that it’s MacGregor stealing the cattle. It seems like something he would do,” he said.
“It’s so pointless when ye think about what we’re facing with the English. We should work together.”
Sutherland nodded. “I agree. Most of us are working together, but MacGregor has always been a lone wolf, doing what’s best for himself. He thinks like a Highlander of old, when droving was a way to get back at an enemy.”
Cait looked toward the corner where the trapdoor was open and the chair askew, where six people were huddled beneath the floor, scared and running for their lives.
“The Highland of old is gone,” she whispered.
Chapter 8
The next day Cait had just finished serving her visitors lunch and was bringing the bowls and mugs into the kitchen when she spied Black Cat sitting by the front door, looking at it intently. Her heart began to hammer and the dishes rattled in her hand. She quickly put them down. “Someone’s coming,” she called down the stairs as quietly as possible.
The man at the bottom of the steps nodded even as his face paled. He shushed the others, and Cait quickly closed the trapdoor and pushed the chair over it.
Taking a quick glance around to make sure everything looked in place, she opened the door to find Halloway and his two men dismounting.
Halloway grinned and waved at her. Cait smiled and waved back, but her heart was thundering and she had to breathe deeply to control it.
“How’s yer back?” she asked as they approached. She remained in the doorway, hoping they wouldn’t ask to enter.
Halloway grimaced. “It still pains me, but yer poultice helps.”
“Did ye come for more?”
“No. We were patrolling and stopped to check on you.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m fine. Truly I am.”
“Ye’re all alone out here,” Halloway said hesitantly.
What was it with these men who thought they should protect her? “I like it that way.”
Halloway looked down at the toe of his boot, then back up at her. “There were men here the other time we came by. You didn’t seem comfortable with them.”
“That was Iain Campbell, chief of clan Campbell, and his commander, who was hurt.”
“You don’t like him, the chief.”
“I like him well enough.” She was surprised to discover that she was telling the truth. Her anger was not nearly as intense as it had been at one time.
Halloway shot a pointed glance at the two men behind him. Immediately, they moved to the edge of the woods. Cait kept her eye on them and wished them all away.
Halloway had first arrived at her cottage much like Campbell had, with an injured man.
She’d patched up the soldier, and while she was doing so, Halloway had complained of his bad back, and she’d given him a poultice. During his periodic visits, she’d learned that he was the fifth child of minor gentry with no prospects but the priesthood or the military. He liked the military well enough but missed England. He wasn’t comfortable with the fighting but didn’t mind the patrolling. He preferred keeping the peace rather than destroying it.
Against her will, she’d grown to like him. He was open and honest and kind, and his initial shyness had endeared him to her. She wouldn’t necessarily call him a friend, but neither was he an enemy.
Their conversations had never gone past the superficial. She’d never told him about John or Christina. He’d never asked about a husband or family, and he’d never stayed longer than half an hour.
He took a step closer, and it took everything inside Cait not to step back. Black Cat wound around her ankles, his soft fur tickling her.
“I know we don’t know each other well, and I’m English and you’re Scottish.” He laughed nervously and glanced back at the other soldiers. “I like you, Cait, and I worry about you all alone out here.”
