Page 69 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

She shuddered with pleasure at the thought. Quiet and often silent, Gilchrist had revealed an animalistic side that she quite adored. She longed to have him back again. Maybe there was something more they could do together? Something else he could introduce her to?

She pulled on her shoes, lacing them up as fast as she possibly could, then crept to the doorway.

“Gilchrist?” she breathed out the words, worried a loud whisper might wake other soldiers.

There was no answer.

She stepped along the landing, trying to avoid places in the floor where it would creak beneath her feet. When she reached the staircase, she peered over the banister, staring down into the darkness below.

Something moved there. It was so dark, that at first, she thought it was her imagination, but the shadows were definitely moving. There was some sort of whispering sound too, then something moved out of sight.

She waited, with bated breath, listening for more sounds. There was the strike from a tinder box, as if someone was lighting a candle, then she saw the gentle orb from a single candlelight filtering into the hallway below.

Whoever had lit that candle was walking down the corridor below, far out of her vision. Determined to see what Gilchrist was doing, she tiptoed down the stairs.

Is he keeping more secrets? Surely there are nay secrets left between us now?

When she reached the bottom step, she placed her body close to the wall, peering around the corner at the long corridor. At the far end she saw two figures, one grasping a candle and a great shadowy mass. The other figure held the other side of the mass, under his arms.

Wait. It cannae be…

The candle shifted and that apricot-tinged light fell on what… dear gods, who they were carrying.

Gilchrist!

He was unconscious, being half dragged across the floor. There was a bloodstain on the shoulder of his white shirt, one so stark that it made Kyven gasp. She hid the sound beneath the palm of her hand.

Nay!

“Hurry!” one of the figures was snapping at the other.

“I cannae carry both the candle and him,” the other said childishly. “He is too heavy.”

“I dinnae care if we break both of our backs carrying him. We need tae get out of here before anyone sees us. Hurry, Larry.”

Larry?

Larry seemed to give up on the candle. He dropped it on a ledge nearby, the candlelight flickering and threatening to go out. Once it settled, the light fell upon the two figures again. The one struggling to pick up Gilchrist’s ankles was indeed Larry, and the other man, now straining to lift Gilchrist under his shoulders, was Laird Shay.

This cannae be happening!

Larry elbowed open the door of the barracks.

“Shh,” Shay snapped at him. “Dae ye want tae wake up the whole barracks? If we have an army on our backs, we’ll never get out of this castle with him.”

Kyven’s fear leapt within her stomach, making it knot tight. Not only had Laird Shay and Larry attacked Gilchrist, but they were trying to abduct him and take him somewhere far from the castle.

She waited, holding her breath impatiently, until they stepped out of the door, then she ran after them. She glanced back, thinking briefly of waking up the soldiers, even Aaden, to come and help, but she had no idea which room was Aaden’s and if she wasted time trying to find out, then Shay and Larry could carry Gilchrist out of the castle lands. Then, she might never be able to find what they had done with him.

Nay! I cannae lose him now.

Acting on instinct, Kyven ran down the corridor on the toes, trying not to make a sound. Peering out of the door, she saw Shay and Larry carrying Gilchrist across the lawns toward an open cart stalled at the bottom of the long track road which led up to the main courtyard of the castle. They tried to throw Gilchrist into the back, the two of them struggling under Gilchrist’s weight, for he was so much taller and broader than them. They clattered Gilchrist’s head against the cart loudly, neither of them caring if they caused him greater injury.

The thought of Gilchrist’s pain, of the blood, made Kyven act without thought.

She ran across the lawns toward them, pelting so fast that her lungs burned with the effort.

“Stop!” she screamed at them.