“There’s a lass,” Muirne said encouragingly.
“Let’s start here,” Isabail said. “Give me that broom.”
Chapter 4
Aiden strode across the inner close toward the central fire pit. Every weary face he passed tightened the knot in his gut. His people deserved better. Bringing Isabail Macintosh here was an additional risk to their welfare, and the weight of that decision sat heavily on his shoulders. He’d done his best to obscure their trail, but if luck went against him and the earl’s men succeeded in tracking her here... By all that was holy, why couldn’t the woman simply have given him the names?
The group gathered in front of the central fire parted to let him pass, and Aiden stopped abruptly. In their midst was a lovely redheaded woman—a woman he had last seen in the market square at Duthes. Ana Bisset. The healer who had been tried and convicted of killing John Grant, the earl of Lochurkie. Isabail’s brother.
“Bloody hell,” he said. “What isshedoing here?”
Niall flung an arm around the woman’s shoulders and tucked her close—a protective stance that said far more than his next words did. “Hold off, brother. She’s no more guilty of killing the justiciar than you are. We’re all victims of the same plot.”
Aiden grimaced. “By God, I never thought to see the day when you’d be gulled by a beautiful woman.”
“She aided me at great personal risk,” Niall argued.
“To prevent you from apprising the constable of her dubious history, no doubt.” How dare Niall bring a murderess home to live among his kin? “She cannot stay.”
The woman slipped out of Niall’s embrace. She smiled sadly at his brother. “I feared as much. This isn’t meant to be, Niall. I’ll find my own way.”
“You’ll go nowhere. Not without me.” Then his brother turned to him. “Do you trust me?”
“You, aye. Her, nay.”
“If you trust me, then you must trust my judgment. I know this woman through and through. She is no murderess. She stays, or I go. It’s as simple as that.”
Aiden ignored Niall’s threat. “Why are you so sure she’s not capable of murder? Beneath many a sweet lamb hide beats the heart of a wolf.”
“Because she saved my life, not once, but twice. When it would have been easier to simply let me die,” Niall said quietly. “She could have walked away, with none the wiser about her past. Instead she cured me and, in so doing, drew the attention of the constable.”
The woman met Aiden’s gaze easily, no hint of guile. Was it possible? Had she been falsely accused of killing the earl, just as he’d been falsely accused of killing the king’s courier? It seemed a stretch. Or perhaps he was just angry because she’d managed to further tarnish his honor? When Niall had rescued Aiden from Lochurkie’s dungeon, he’d rescued this woman, too. Unfortunately, in so doing, he’d linked the murder of Earl Lochurkie to Aiden. He’d been accused of masterminding all of it—the murder of the king’s courier, the theft of the queen’s necklace, and the murder of the earl.
Which, of course, led to the loss of Dunstoras and the outlawing of all MacCurrans.
Damn the man in black. If his objective had been to torment the clan MacCurran, the wretch had certainly been successful.
Aiden favored Niall with a long, hard stare. His brother could be quite stubborn when he chose. If he said he’d leave with the lass, then he’d leave. “Fine. She can stay. But any hint of trouble, and you’ll both feel the weight of my boot on your arse. Now, come. We have much to discuss.”
His half brother nodded and followed him.
As they toured the camp, inspecting the defenses, Aiden said, “Tell me the whole tale of your adventure. Leave nothing out.”
Niall proceeded to share a madcap tale involving a fire, a traitor, and a harried race for freedom. “Great mystery still surrounds the theft of the queen’s necklace, but Baron Duthes is not the man in black. I know that much. He was unaware of the necklace’s history. I believe his seneschal knows more, but I was unable to query the man while I was there, and I cannot easily return to do so now. Our best hope lies with the merchant.”
“Then we’ll pray he is swiftly found.”
Niall nodded. “What of the Lochurkie lass? I trust you had good reason to kidnap her? The earl’s men will expend considerable effort to look for her.”
“It was a risky decision,” Aiden acknowledged “But she knows the name of the man in black, and she’ll give it to me or face my wrath.”
Niall shrugged. “Well, you’d best work quickly. MacPherson has stepped up his patrols this past sennight, reaching farther and farther up the glen. It’s only a matter of time before they find us.”
“And only a few short days before the king announces a new lord of Dunstoras.”
His brother grimaced. “I hope to God it’s not MacPherson. The man is a layabout. Not once has he been spied sharpening his skills in the lists or even walking the ramparts. He sits in the castle and eats. Nothing more. Dunstoras deserves better.”
Aiden glared at the other man. “None but a MacCurran will rule Dunstoras. If necessary, we’ll retake the keep by force.”
