Page 43 of Highland Guard

The pounding on the door made Harcourt curse. He was enjoying the warmth and peace of lying naked with Annys. His body was pleasantly sated and he could savor the feel of her soft curves without the press of a frantic need. He had even been ready to enjoy that pleasure for a second time.

Just as he opened his mouth to order the one banging on the door to leave, a small, soft hand covered his mouth. He looked at Annys and she shook her head. He muttered another curse when she slipped out of bed and began to dress. Knowing there would be no returning to their lovemaking, he got up and started to dress as well. He comforted himself with the knowledge that, now that her resistance had ended, there would be other times they could enjoy.

“M’lady?” Joan called from the other side of the door.

“Just a moment, Joan,” Annys called back.

Annys struggled to bury all sense of embarrassment as she hurried to dress. Not only had Joan made it very clear that she thought Annys should take Harcourt as a lover, she was a widow, a mother, and five and twenty. She had earned the right to do as she pleased. Glancing back at a now-dressed Harcourt who was tidying the rumpled covers on the bed, she nearly blushed. There was no question that she had been pleased, she thought, and then went to let Joan in.

“What is it, Joan?” she asked as the woman stood before her, wringing her hands.

“Biddy has been found,” Joan said.

“Alive?”

Joan shook her head. “Nay, they found her hanging from a tree a few miles from here.”

“I was afraid that was what she would find when she ran. I ken who let her out but I still cannae understand how she found a way out of here. She must have gone to a great deal of trouble to get out without being seen and all she found was death.” Annys shook her head. “Is she being brought in now?”

“Nay, they want Sir Harcourt to come meet with them where she is. Said they want to be certain there is naught there to lead them to that bastard causing all this trouble.” Joan glanced at Harcourt. “If ye move fast there may still be enough light to find something.”

Using every drop of willpower she had, Annys stopped herself from blushing. She had not realized how late in the day, or night, it was. She narrowed her eyes when she saw the hint of a smile curve Joan’s mouth. Joan clearly could not wait to start her crowing.

“Ye are verra certain that no one saw her leaving here or e’en running away from here?” Annys asked, attempting to distract Joan from what she was seeing.

“I think the men on the walls are looking for someone trying to get in. Might nay be looking for someone using the shadows and all to get away from Glencullaich. And when ye think of how often she slipped in and out of the keep with none kenning what she was doing, weel, she obviously had one skill.”

“We shall have to make a verra thorough search for the place she used to slip out of the keep this time when the light allows for it.”

“Ye ken she willingly ran to her death, dinnae ye?” Harcourt asked the two women in a quiet voice.

Annys lowered her head and sighed, but Joan nodded and said, “I ken it. She courted it the first time she fed our David that poison. S’truth, I heard ye warned her about exactly that. Aye, e’en that other prisoner warned her. She was facing a hanging and none of us wanted a part in it e’en though we kenned it was weel deserved.”

“So ye came to tell Sir Harcourt that he must go to his men?” asked Annys.

“Aye, and that the evening meal is being served. Didnae think ye wanted to miss that.” Joan nudged Harcourt toward the door. “Go on with ye. I need to tidy m’lady’s hair so she doesnae look like she just crawled out of bed.”

Harcourt heard Annys’s outraged protest as Joan closed the door behind him.

“Joan, ye presume too much,” said Annys, trying to sound as haughty as possible even as she allowed the woman to push her into a seat and begin to fix her hair.

“Are ye going to try to tell me that I am wrong?” When Annys said nothing, Joan nodded. “Didnae think so. Ye ne’er did like to lie.”

“It wasnae right,” Annys mumbled, guilt sneaking back into her heart to replace the lingering warmth of passion. It was clear that her moment of making a firm decision had not been the epiphany she had thought it to be, but merely a momentary change of mind.

“Huh. I would have thought that one weel skilled in the loving of a lass.”

Annys laughed but the burst of good humor faded quickly. “Och, nay doubt. I suspicion he didnae spend many nights alone whilst we were apart. Truth tell, he said as much.”

“Weel, ye were still another mon’s wife.”

“I ken it. I leap from pleased to guilty, from wishing he would stay to wanting him to leave, and from thinking of how he spent those years we were apart and hating every woman he has e’er bedded. ’Tis a madness. I dinnae like it.”

Finishing with her hair, Joan moved to stand in front of Annys. “Ye are just a lass in love. ’Tis a madness of a kind. Always has been. Always will be. I suffered the like for my mon, Nial, whilst I had him, God rest his sweet soul. It eases.”

“Mayhap, but what happens if that love isnae returned?”

“Ye think he doesnae care for you?”