Graham heard Callum’s footfalls and turned to see where his friend was going, but Callum was already gone.
Callum charged down the stairs, taking three and four at a time. Let Graham think what he would of him, Callum was going to make Kate hate him.
When she came into his sight, his lips hardened into a tight line across his face, and his eyes glittered like a winter’s night.
Kate stepped back when she saw him, then returned her attention to Jamie and motioned with her sword to continue practicing. But six feet, three inches of brawny male moving swiftly toward her was difficult to ignore. She bit her lip and almost lost a finger when Jamie swung at her.
Callum snatched Jamie’s sword from his hand and shoved him away, all in one fluid motion. He rounded on Kate, a giant warrior with the cold promise of death in his gaze. “Ready yerself, Kate, or there will be one less Campbell in Scotland.”
“Callum, I . . .” She began to tell him that she did not want to practice with him. She was frightened by his rage. But he swung, and the thunderclash of his blade against hers near knocked her off her feet.
At first Kate could only stare at him, in stunned disbelief that he would strike her with such force. Then he lifted his sword over his head, gripping the hilt with both hands, and she knew he was going to kill her if she did not fight back. She forced herself to stop thinking like a woman and act as a warrior. She parried another bone-crunching blow. Leaping backward, she braced her legs for his oncoming assault. Completely on the defense, she managed to block three more swings.
Just a few moments later she was gasping for breath, her hair damp with sweat and her muscles burning and quivering with spent strength. Even the McColls had not exhausted her this quickly. Then it was over. One hammering clash that rattled her teeth, and then one more that sent her heavy blade careening to the ground.
Callum advanced one step and pointed the tip of his flashing claymore at her throat. “How does it feel to be so close to death, Kate?” With the metal cold against her throat, he moved his body closer to hers and leaned down until his their noses almost touched. When he spoke, his voice lowered to a bear’s growl. “Remember this day and the fear that suffocates ye. Ye might believe yer ready to face death fer noble reasons, but when the time comes, nothin’ will matter but yer life. Remember this and dinna be a fool.”
Kate closed her eyes, unable to breathe. He clutched her heart in his hand as he had promised. Why didn’t he just kill her and be done with it? Was he so cruel that he would torture and tease her first? Nae, she had seen him comfort his sister. She saw the terrible pain in his eyes when he became Maggie’s beast. He wasn’t any of the things so many people believed him to be. He was proud and possessive, a defiant rebel who had given his clan a home and kept their name alive. He was a man who had become a monster to protect what he loved.
“Love is the noblest cause of all, Callum MacGregor,” she said as defiantly as he spoke his name.
He shook his head at her. The flash of emotion that colored his eyes absorbed most of the hard edge in his voice. “Nae, ’tis poison to us both.”
He walked away, pleading with God that she could hate him. If she couldn’t, he would butcher any who punished her—and everyone else, until he drowned in their blood and ceased to exist altogether.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
KATE WATCHED HIM walk away. Every muscle in her body convulsed with the need to go after him. But she did not dare move. He had made his feelings for her more than clear. She could not bear to suffer them again.
She hugged herself to drive out the chill of a coming storm and swept her gaze across the wild moorlands and jagged mountain ridges swathed in mist. She had thought it beautiful here when she first arrived. But now Camlochlin felt harsh and infinitely lonely. It was a land as battle-scarred and unforgiving as her MacGregor. She would never touch him. Finally, she surrendered. She wanted to go home. She wanted her brother.
She scanned the surrounding hills. Was Robert close? Or at the other end of the Earth?
She was going to be taken back to Kildun, but Robert would not be there. She knew with her whole heart that her brother was searching for her. She had been so preoccupied living in her new pretend kingdom that she had not thought about what would happen if he found her. Now the reality of it beat against her heart. If he came here, Callum would surely kill him. He had promised not to harm her brother, but Callum’s hatred for her clan was too strong. He could scarcely stop himself from killing her. Robert would not fare any better if he found her on her way back to the Stewarts’. Chivalry would dictate that he fight for her honor. He might be able to kill one of Callum’s men, but he would fall swiftly after that. Kate did not want her brother or any of Callum’s men to die.
There was only one way to stop it.
Robert Campbell gritted his teeth as each bone-crunching blow Kevin Menzie delivered to Roderick Cameron resounded off the keep walls. One more and Robert would put a stop to it. He cut his gaze to his uncle standing a few inches away. The man was grinning!
“The Devil was here,” Kevin spat, clutching the laird’s plaid in his fists. “Ye’ll tell us where he went, or we’ll put fire to the whole fokin’ village.”
“I have no’ seen him,” Cameron said for the fourth time, blood dripping from his mouth and nose.
“He killed seven of my kinsmen!” Kevin lifted his fist to strike him again.
The blow was halted in midair by Robert’s hand. “Cease this!” he shouted.
Kevin spun around, ready to strike him instead, but the murderous glint in Robert’s eyes gave him pause. Then he smiled. “Or what? What will ye do? Go back to Glen Orchy and rut yer sheep. Ye have no stomach fer violence.”
Robert’s scorching gaze was unflinching. “Touch me and find out.”
“Nephew.” his uncle’s voice dipped with mocking iciness as he took a step forward. Robert did not look at Duncan while he spoke, but at the Cameron laird. What honor was there in tying an old warrior to a chair and beating him senseless? “This man hinders us from finding your sister. Why do you seek to protect him? Allow Kevin to finish his questions so that we can save Katherine before the Devil kills her, if he hasn’t done so already.”
Robert caught the subtle look the Cameron gave him beneath his swollen eyelid. Kate was not dead. “I wish to speak to the chieftain alone.”
“Nae,” Duncan refused.
Now Robert turned to look at him. “Aye, or I will set my steed toward England and bring this matter to Cromwell, as it should have been done from the beginning.”
