He had to find her. He found tracks in front of the house. Whoever took her had made no attempt to cover them, which meant either her abductor was unskilled…or he wanted to be followed. Given his boldness in riding up to the house to take her and his success in doing so, Rory assumed it was the latter.
He mounted Curan and followed the trail as fast as he could without losing it.
Who would use Sybil to lure him? This was not another clan dispute over territory. Nay, threatening a man’s wife was a vengeful act by someone who knew him well. Someone who wanted to rip out his heart.
All reports told him Hector remained in Gairloch. But the cold fear in his gut told him Hector was here.
And he had Sybil.
Rory spurred Curan into a gallop. He did not need to follow the trail anymore. He knew where it led. Hector had taken Sybil to the waterfall where Rory’s mother died.
When he heard the roar of the falls over the wind and rain, he prayed hard that Hector wanted a confrontation and that he had not led Rory here just to find Sybil’s broken body on the rocks at the bottom of the falls.
He left Curan out of sight and sprinted the last few yards through the brush on foot. His breath caught when he saw his beloved standing with her back to the falls. The rock ledge beneath her feet was slippery with rain.
Sybil glanced to the side to where he was hidden in the brush and seemed to look right at him through the hair whipping around her face. It was only for an instant, then she turned her gaze away.
“How long are ye going to keep me standing here, Hector?” she shouted over the noise of the storm and the falls.
His clever wife had seen him and was letting him know his uncle was here. She was also prodding Hector to speak and reveal where he was hiding.
“My legs are tired,” she said. “I’m sitting!”
“You’ll stand if ye don’t want to be pushed off.” Hector’s voice came from about five yards to Rory’s right.
Sybil ignored the command and lowered herself to the rock. That was a wise move, as she was less likely to slip or to be knocked over the edge in a scuffle, but Rory intended to keep the fight as far from her as possible.
“I said stand up!” Hector shouted.
Sybil used a Gaelic phrase advising him he could have sexual relations with himself. “If ye want to push me off, what are ye waiting for?”
Ach, his wife was bold and full of courage. While she drew Hector’s attention, Rory pulled the dirk from his boot and skirted through the brush toward his uncle. As soon as he caught sight of Hector’s plaid, he launched himself at his uncle. But Hector had not survived so many battles without having sharp instincts. At the last moment, he leaped to the side, and Rory’s dirk sliced Hector’s arm instead of his heart.
Rory rolled as he hit the ground and sprang to his feet, ready to fight. But the sight before him made him break out in a cold sweat. Hector held Sybil at the edge of the ledge with a dirk at her throat.
“It seems fitting for ye to lose the woman ye love the way I lost your mother,” Hector said.
“Did ye murder my mother?” Rory asked as he inched closer. “Did ye push her over these falls?”
“I didn’t kill her,” Hector said. “I loved that woman.”
“Loved her?” Sybil shouted. “Agnes left a letter. I know what ye did to her. I know!”
Sybil was trying to give Rory his chance.
“Agnes wouldn’t have ye, would she?” Sybil said. “So ye raped her!”
Rory controlled his rage with an effort and crept closer.
“She should have given herself to me,” Hector said. “She was supposed to be mine. Even after she chose my brother over me, I wanted her. I waited for her for years!”
“Ye drove her to her death,” Sybil said. “Dying was the only way she had of getting away from you and protecting her son.”
“I tried to save her,” Hector said.
“She warned ye what she’d do if ye came back, but ye didn’t believe her,” she said. “Ye couldn’t believe she hated ye that much.”
Sybil shot a glance at Rory, but they were so close to the edge that Rory was afraid that if he threw the blade now, Hector would take her over the edge with him.
