Soon, word will go all through the Keep that wee Lady Laurie MacColl is lost,Nora thought, heart hammering.Will Creighton ever forgive me for losin’ her?
She passed the woman selling hagstones. The old woman watched her inquisitively, gnarled old hands laced together. Had Margaret spoken to her yet? Nora took a step toward the woman, who lifted her eyebrows, almost as if she was waiting for a question to be asked.
Before she could speak, however, a commotion broke out in the crowd behind her. Nora spun around to see Creighton striding toward her. People jostled around him, scurrying to get out of his way and eyeing him nervously. He didn’t glance down at them or around himself. He just walked, jaw tight and set, eyes stern.
When his gaze fell on her, however, something softened in them, almost imperceptibly.
He isnae angry at me,Nora thought, hating herself for the relief that flooded through her. Not simply relief at not being blamed, but relief that he was here at all.
“Creighton,” she gasped, and rushed toward him. He held out his arms wordlessly, and without a second thought, Nora threw herself into them.
CHAPTER 23
He hadn’t expectedher to fling herself into his arms like that. Creighton blinked, almost thrown off balance. Nora’s arms tightened around his waist, her cheek pressed against the middle of his chest. He could feel the edge of her brow bone against him, firm and unyielding. His arms instinctively wrapped around her, pulling her close.
The crowd melted away. The cluster of MacCrimmon and MacColl soldiers faded away. It was only he and Nora, and that was all that mattered.
Abruptly, she pulled back, pink-faced, and the moment ended. The crowd returned, noise pressing in around them.
“Did Helena speak to ye?” Nora whispered.
He gave a tight nod. “Laurie is missin’.”
Nora paled further, pressing her lips together in a bloodless line. Anxiety wrote itself on every minute expression on her face.
“It’s me fault,” she whispered, voice cracking. “I… Me sister, she… I was speakin’ to her, and when I turned around, Laurie was gone.”
Creighton tightened his jaw until his teeth squeaked. He’d heard the rough details from his aunt, of course. Nora’s missing sister, alive and well and here at the market. A quiet spot in the gardens, Laurie wandering off. He could see it all playing out in his head. Nora and her sister would have been thrilled to see each other, delighted to the exclusion of all else. And if Laurie got bored…
“It’s nae yer fault,” he heard himself say.
Nora shook her head angrily, passing a hand over her face. “Whose fault could it be? I should have been watchin’ her. I… I told her to stay by the entrance, but children daenae do what they are told. I was a fool, so stupid…”
“Enough. We’ll achieve nothin’ by assignin’ blame. Our focus here must be to get Laurie back. She cannae have gone far.”
Nora nodded tightly. “I keep tellin’ meself that. That she cannae have gone far. I daenae understand why she would wander off in the first place. She’s a sensible lass.”
“Aye, but a sensible bairn is still a bairn. They get distracted. Wander off. This is me cousin’s keep, Nora. The safest place for her, besides me keep.”
Nora glanced up, meeting his eyes. “Do ye believe that? Are ye tryin’ to convince me, or yerself?”
Creighton swore he heard one of his teeth crack and forced himself to loosen his jaw. Tension and panic would get them nowhere. He met Nora’s eye briefly, then glanced away.
“Me aunt told me that ye have started a search already.”
“Aye, I sent a man to the gates, and he should be home soon. I… I daenae ken what else to do.”
She blinked a little at those words, clearly displeased to find them coming out of her own mouth. Well, that made sense. Nora was a healer. She was used to being in control. Used toknowing.
And now she doesnae ken where Laurie is. And nor do I.
A white-hot sensation prickled its way along Creighton’s skin. Not fear, not anger, but something that was in between, something that was both and neither at the same time.
I have to do somethin’. I have to take control.
If Laurie had been taken, it would have been political. It had to be. There could be no coincidences here. But why? Who?
At that moment, movement caught his eye. There was Hunter, forcing his way through the crowd, flanked by a handful of his soldiers. There was no sign of Aunt Helena. Creighton had told her to stay in the keep. She was slow and unsteady and would not be able to hurry through the crowds like the others. Besides, if Laurie happened to return to the keep, somebody would need to be there to meet her.
