“How does that help us?”
“She told me even she had trouble telling them apart. She seemed to hint that the brother had raped her, that he might be Alasdair’s father, no’ her husband, the laird. I dinna think she kens for sure. If Alasdair is no’ the legitimate heir, yet she canna stop him, if she allows him…” Caitrin faltered and took a breath. “What I’m trying to say is perhaps none of the others will speak against him either. Even someone as important to the clan as the healer may no’ be safe from his anger.”
“There’s no’ a soul in this keep as important to me as ye are.”
“But ye willna stand by while innocents are harmed, even for me. I ken ye too well, Jamie Lathan.” She spun out of his embrace and began to pace. “What if we arrange to be discovered together?” She pointed. “Here, in this bed.”
“Likely yer da would kill me before MacGregor had a chance to. And MacGregor might still take ye to wife then spend years punishing ye.”
Caitrin sat abruptly, as if her knees had given way beneath her. “I so desperately wanted to talk to ye, I hadn’t thought of that. I’d better get back to my chamber.”
“Can ye go in the dark?” If someone discovered her, she would not be able to explain being on this floor of the keep at this hour. For a moment, Jamie considered escorting her, but that would only make things worse. Being caught alone led to questions, but being caught together would provide answers they did not wish to make known. “’Tis better ye are no’ seen.”
“I got here in the dark, so aye. I’ll be quiet as a mouse, I promise.” Caitrin stood and moved to the door, but turned back before she opened it. “Kiss me good night, Jamie. I would have yer scent in my nose and yer taste in my mouth to keep me company the rest of this night.”
Jamie’s heart squeezed in his chest as he took her in his arms. “Would that I could be with ye, but our time will come.” He kissed her softly then more firmly as she pressed against him. “Ach, Caitrin. Ye ken my heart. Will ye be my wife? If we can?Whenwe can.”
“I will. ’Tis what I’ve wanted since I first saw ye, all those years ago. But for now, I must leave ye.”
Her insistence did her credit, as much as Jamie appreciated, yet despaired of the impulse that had brought her to him in the middle of the night. She could not be caught here. They both knew it.
As silently as she’d promised, she slipped out the door into the dark hallway.
Jamie waited by the opening, listening for any sound that meant trouble, but the only whisper in the night was his own breathing.
Chapter Fifteen
One of Jamie’s comments kept echoing in Caitrin’s head as she made her way toward her chamber. If only she could prove the MacGregor was negotiating in bad faith. What if she could find proof her da would accept? Proof even Toran would accept. She paused on the stairs, then filled with resolve, made her way to MacGregor’s solar rather than back to her chamber.
The hall outside the solar was empty and dark. Caitrin listened at the door, but heard no movement inside. She slipped in and stood still and silent, in case someone was in the chamber.
Starlight glimmered through the large windows along with the light of a waxing moon, not yet visible on this side of the keep. A banked fire still glowed in the hearth.
The moonlight gave her enough illumination to read some of the papers on MacGregor’s desk. Most seemed to be correspondence or the sort of paperwork typical in the management of a large estate. But near the bottom of the pile, she found the proof she believed Jamie looked for. The proof that her father’s fears were well-founded.
One document contained lists of the resources available to MacGregor’s neighbors—crops, cattle, mining, and so forth, in great detail. At the very bottom of the pile, a large map depicted what must be battle plans, with the disposition of MacGregor’s forces against his neighbors marked in detail, down to the numbers of archers, pikemen and mounted warriors. She wanted to laugh out loud and dance around the room that it existed, but she dared not.
Here was proof MacGregor would never sign the Lathan treaty. He intended to conquer his neighbors and absorb their lands into his holdings, including, she noted with a heavy heart, Fletcher. A minimum of forces were annotated there, probably because he expected to take control of her home through marriage to her. Her da was right to be concerned. But with the Lathans and their allies, he would not need to sacrifice her to save Fletcher.
She couldn’t find any indication of MacGregor’s timetable, but she suspected he’d started gathering information on his neighbors soon after the Scots’ defeat at Flodden, and knew if he planned to take advantage of the chaos and lack of leadership at Court since the death of James IV, he was running out of time.
She glanced toward the window, trying to judge how many hours of darkness were left. Did she have time to take these documents to Jamie and return them here before the keep began stirring? Before MacGregor arose and came here to work? She must try. If she left them behind, he might put them away where she would never find them again, and Jamie would still not have seen the proof he needed.
Or could she copy them? She found some blank pages, pen and ink. She quickly decided if she only copied the most important of the neighbor’s resources rather than trying to recreate the entire document, she’d finish sooner. The map would be much harder to reproduce, but she’d do as much as she could and then secrete her copies in her clothes until she could give them to Jamie.
She bent to work.
She had nearly finished when a slight sound alerted her to her peril. With a start, she glanced toward the window. The sky had begun to lighten toward dawn. A chill swept over her. She dared not be caught with her copies, and she’d lingered too late to be certain of reaching her chamber undiscovered. Where could she hide them?
She blew the last of the ink dry and rolled the pages together, and then she returned MacGregor’s pages to their places in the pile on his desk. It would mean her death if he caught her with this handiwork on her person. Her clothing might disguise the rolls, but any sound they made would give her away. Glancing around she noticed the upper of two small tapestries partially covered the one below it. If the lower one hung from loops, she could slip her rolled pages inside. She lifted the lower corner of the upper tapestry and sighed in relief. The lower tapestry hung from a rod threaded through several loops, with plenty of room for the documents she needed to hide. She slipped them in place and let the upper tapestry fall back over them. Perfect. They would not be easy to recover, but not impossible either, especially if she could return here when the MacGregor and his men were out of the keep, hunting.
Now to return to her chamber. She reached the hallway door just as it swung open and Alasdair MacGregor walked in. She froze, heart in her throat for one long moment as they stared at each other. Standing right in front of him, in his way, she had nowhere to hide, so she tried boldness instead.
“Good morrow, Alasdair. I woke up early and decided to see if I could watch the moon set. Ye must agree, the light is so lovely. And my chamber faces the wrong way.”
MacGregor closed the door, shutting her in the solar with him. Caitrin suddenly recalled the stinging pain of the back of his hand to her face. She took one cautious step away from him.
“Indeed? Why my solar? There are other windows that give out on the same view.”
