Rabbie laughed. “They can’t kill me. They’ve tried to hang me twice and I lived. I even survived when Davy fell on me. I cannot die.”
John dared a glance over his shoulder at the outlaw and saw madness in his eyes. He could smell blood and sweat, and the hand that held the dirk was shaking. His left arm hung at an unusual angle. “Don’t look at me!” Rabbie screeched. He pressed the dirk harder against John’s neck. “Were ye hunting for me?” Rabbie asked.
John forced a laugh and stared at the trees in front of him. “Me? No. I’m leaving Glen Iolair. They blamed me for hanging Davy MacKenzie. I barely escaped the noose myself.”
“Where will ye go?” Rabbie asked.
“There’s a ship in the bay.”
He heard Rabbie shift his feet. “A ship?”
“Aye. Shall I show you where it is?”
Rabbie laughed. “Do ye take me for a fool? Ye’ll lead old Rabbie into a trap. Nay, ye can just point before I cut your thr—”
Rabbie grunted, and the blade at John’s neck disappeared. John turned, saw an arm around the outlaw’s throat, and a dirk pressed under his ear. But the hands of his rescuer were long and slender, and there was lace on the cuffs of the sleeves. John felt his heart flip in his breast, just the way it did every time he saw her.
“Don’t move,” Gillian said to Rabbie, but she made the mistake of looking at John. Rabbie drove his elbow into her ribs and she let him go.
But John was ready. Rabbie ran straight into John’s fist and dropped to the ground, motionless.
John stepped over the outlaw and knelt next to Gillian. She gripped his collar as she caught her breath. “I’m all right. He just knocked the wind out of me.” She looked up at him, breathless indeed. “Oh, John. You’re safe!” She threw her arms around his neck, and he caught her, held her close, breathed her in. “I was so afraid. Papa said he was going to hang you.”
He pulled back. “Fia helped me escape. I had to find you. She told me Dair’s ship was in the bay, suggested that we—”
“Fia’s here?” She smiled and kissed him. “We can be on the ship before dark if we hurry, be away before they think to look for us—”
He clasped her shoulders gently. “Gilly, no.”
Her smile slipped away. “No?”
He stroked her hair back from her brow. “Not like this, love.”
He saw tears shimmering in her eyes. “Then how?”
“Your father will be worried about you. I’ll take you back, hope that he gives me a chance to explain.” He shut his eyes for a moment. “I want you, Gillian, with all my heart. I love you. I’d rather have your father on our side than spend our life looking over my shoulder for him. If we don’t do this right, he’ll never stop seeking revenge. And he’d be right. You’re very precious to him. He’d kill any man who dared to harm you, just like I would. I like your father, I think. At least I understand him.”
She shut her eyes. “You’re right. When Papa understands the truth—”
Rabbie Bain groaned and shifted on the ground, reaching for his dirk. Gillian rose to kick the blade away and put her foot on his wrist. The outlaw looked up at her and laughed like a loon. “You again.You.What kind of a lass are ye?”
“A fearsome one, a MacLeod,” she said.
Gillian looked at John calmly. “I’m sure Papa would like proof. The MacKenzies can identify Rabbie. Shall we take him back?”
“You can’t kill me. No one can. I can’t die,” Rabbie panted. “I can’t die.”
John grabbed hold of his ragged shirtfront and dragged him upright. “We’ll let Donal MacLeod decide that.” He hit Rabbie under the chin, knocked him out again with a single punch, and hoisted him over his shoulder.
Gillian smiled, took his hand, and led the way home.
* * *
Davy hobbled into the hall with Callum by his side and stood as straight as he could before Donal MacLeod. His throat felt like it was coated inside and out with burning pitch, but he stood his ground and wondered how was going to say what he needed to without words. Callum was swaying on his feet, his jaw bound tightly shut, and Davy held him upright. Cormag Robertson and Padraig Grant stood across the hall, their faces stubborn. Padraig winced when he saw Davy, which just made Davy mad. Ugly, was he? He glared at his rivals, but in his battered, voiceless condition the effect was lost. His MacKenzie clansmen clustered around him at once, standing at attention. There were others there as well, a tall Sinclair with a scarred face—Davy wondered if he’d look like that when he was healed. Several of the MacLeod’s daughters were present as well, their sympathetic glances all for Callum, but Gillian wasn’t among them.
Nor was John Erly present. A prickle of fear made Davy gasp. Had they hanged him already? Nay—this was supposed to be a trial.
He looked desperately for Fia Sinclair, but she wasn’t here either. He felt panic tighten his belly.
