“I need yer help.”
“Is someone injured?”
“I have eight refugees we were transporting, but the roads are full of English soldiers and ye’re the closest safe house. I can’t have them out and about in the middle of the day.”
“Certainly.” She mentally calculated her food supply. Eight was the most she was able to take; usually, Sutherland kept the number below that. Fortunately, she had the food Graham had sent over.
“I hate to do this to ye, lass, and I wouldn’t if things weren’t so dire.”
“Please, Brice, don’t apologize. I’m happy to help. Ye know that.”
“Thank ye, Cait. I can always count on ye. I’ll try to get them out by morning—”
“Nay. Leave them until tomorrow night. Those soldiers aren’t going away in a day.”
“Ye’re too good to me, Cait Campbell.” He pecked her cheek and rushed out the back door to get his refugees. They were all men, dirty and weary, with clothes that hadn’t been changed in days and bleak looks, as if they’d been hunted to the very corners of the earth.
Cait tried to be encouraging, but these men were beyond that. They needed a good hot meal and to sleep for days. No doubt they’d left their mothers and fathers and wives and children with no idea if they would ever see them again. Her heart went out to them as they silently filed down the narrow stairs to their temporary home.
She wished Iain could see these people who had lost all hope. Maybe then he would understand why she was so committed to helping in any way she could. Maybe he would stop harassing her about ending her activities with Sutherland’s Staran.
The last of the men disappeared down the steps, and Cait followed to give her speech about possible visitors and keeping quiet. They looked at her with blank eyes, and she had to wonder if her words even penetrated their numbness. How long had these poor men been on the run, and how much hope did they have left?
“They seem different from the others,” she said to Sutherland when they were upstairs again.
“They came to me yesterday after being on the run for weeks. They’d heard about my operation but were too scared to approach. They’ve been in hiding for so long, they’re more like wild animals.”
“Will this ever end?” she asked in a rare moment of defeat.
“Lately, it seems the ones who come to me are without spirit. They’re beaten men.”
“This has to stop,” she said quietly. “The English can’t keep hunting our men.”
“It won’t stop until all the Jacobites are either dead, gone, or converted to the English way of thinking.”
“This is so wrong. How can they come into our country and demand we change our ways?”
“They can and they did,” Sutherland said bitterly. “Are ye sure ye’ll be all right here tonight?”
She waved her hand in the air. “I’ll be fine. I’ll feed them, and hopefully, they will feel safe enough to sleep.”
Sutherland looked toward the corner where the trapdoor was now hidden. He seemed about to say something, then shook his head. “I best be going. Too much to do and not enough time to do it in.”
“Promise ye’ll no’ come back until tomorrow night. I’ll take good care of them in the meantime.”
“Tomorrow night, then.”
Sutherland disappeared into the trees, as stealthy and quick as any man she’d seen, and she went about preparing a big pot of stew and more bread. It seemed she was always making bread, and she mentally thanked Graham for providing her with the ingredients to make it. He had no idea what his contribution was going toward, and she would never tell him, but it was sorely appreciated.
Chapter 14
She’d just taken six loaves of bread out of the oven when Black Cat took up his position in front of the door and looked back at her.
Cait wiped her hands on her apron and shot a quick look toward the corner of her sitting room. Ever since Iain and Adair had arrived at her doorstep, she’d had a never-ending parade of visitors. For being so isolated, she was certainly busy entertaining people. She found she didn’t mind it so much.
She peeked out of the window and drew in a startled breath. It was Iain with five British soldiers. She had no time to warn her visitors, so she sent up a small prayer that they were all asleep.
Iain was the first to approach. “I apologize for the unexpected visit, Cait, but these gentlemen are investigating the murders of their fellow soldiers and thought you might know something, since the murders happened so close to your home.”
