“ ’Tis a goodly climb to the top, and cannot be done safely with a horse,” she said to Colum, as she tried to make sense of the apprehension that struck her like a heavy rock to her chest. “The horses probably got loose from their reins.” One horse she recognized as the dragoon captain’s horse Ruark had stolen the night he had pulled her from the river. The horse was Jack’s favorite.
She started to ride forward, but Colum grabbed her arm. “Those two lads know enough to hobble the horses, my lady.”
Her mare danced sideways. Rose had to reach down to calm the horse. Her glance went to the pine trees that disappeared into the low-hanging misty sky. And she knew something was wrong.
Colum eased his sword from the scabbard, then they heard a slow ominous hiss. An arrow flew past. “Go back now,” she heard him say. “Go!”
The first arrow missed them both, hissing past Rose’s head. The second and third hit Colum directly in the ribs, another somewhere else, she could not see. Her horse reared up, saving her life as a fifth arrow struck the mare in the throat. The horse screamed and faltered and went down in a flurry of hooves. Rose hit the ground hard; searing pain exploded in her head, driving her momentarily into unconsciousness.
When she stirred and tried to push up on her elbow, she saw Colum unmoving a few yards away, blood pooling around his head. She called his name. She struggled to pull her leg from beneath the fallen mare. “Colum!”
A pair of heavy black boots appeared where she leaned her hand against the ground. She looked up.
Geddes Graham!
She had not seen him or thought about him since she had held a blade to his bollocks and demanded Jack’s coin returned. He could not be here.
“Milady Countess,” he mocked as he squatted beside her, “ye ain’t so big now without my knife in yer hand, are ye?”
She glared up at him through a tangle of hair. “What have youdone?!”
Had Geddes killed the boys, too? Rage filled her and gave her strength.
From behind her, brutal hands dragged her to her feet. She cried out with the pain, then faced Geddes, that traitorous carnivore, with hissing fury, and kicked out at him, nearly striking him in the bollocks. Her foot hit his stomach instead.
“Bitch!” He backhanded her and split her lip. Only the rough hands gripping her kept her from falling.
Geddes gripped her hair, forcing her face back. “Yourdear da is payin’ us to see ye delivered to him. He did no’ tell us in what condition you had to be.”
Rose tried to hang on to consciousness. Her swollen mouth stumbled to form her next words. “Why would my father do this?”
Geddes laughed. “ ’Tain’t you Hereford wants, my thorny Rose.”
Chapter 24
Rose came awake in slow stages, aware of the rocking movement of the wagon, and felt sick and momentarily disoriented.
She turned on her side, attempted to see through the slats in the wagon, and saw that the sun had nearly set. A lazy twilight had settled over the sky. She saw two of Geddes’s henchmen trailing the wagon on horseback.
Ruark would know she was gone by now. She fell back and let her eyes adjust to the dark.
She lay atop smelly furs and blankets in a gaily painted trader wagon, filled with an assortment of wares. Pots and pans dangling from the roof clanked and rattled along with crockery, teacups. Nostrums and remedies jostled in their glass and tin containers, all neatly set in wooden brackets near the tailgate.
Though she was bound, Geddes had tied her hands in front of her this time, not at her back as he had all day yesterday, since she had worked up a few tears and pleaded for his mercy today. Geddes enjoyed her groveling.Bastard.
She was confident in her ability to outwit her captors, who seemed more nervous today and less attentive to her, and ignored her still tender and bruised mouth, nowchafed with rope burns as she had gnawed through much of the knot. But in her exhaustion, her mind touched on Colum, and her throat tightened as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think about him.
She was sure the boys had survived. Geddes had not bragged about finding anyone else at the falls, and he didn’t have time to search, taking the extra horses instead.
Jack must have seen Geddes in time, she realized. Jack would know him and was smart enough to take Jamie and hide. Ruark would have already found the boys safe. She knew even now Ruark was coming after her.
Ruark had been correct when he’d told her they were connected. She could feel his heartbeat inside her as he must feel hers.
Aye, he was coming for her.
Geddes Graham and her father would rue the day they had been born.
The clatter of dozens of horses alerted Rose. She knew Geddes sometimes left the group to scout ahead for a hidden place to camp. After a while, the wagon lumbered to a halt. She felt it dip, then heard footsteps in the dirt as someone walked to the tailgate. A bolt slid back on the thick wood, first on one side then the other. A creaking sounded. The door came down and the canvas covering slid back to reveal Lord Hereford. She could not sit straight for all the goods hanging above her. He took one look at her.
