Lord Keeper (22 page)

Though her heart skipped a beat, her reply was instantaneous, “I would imagine the men I came with.” She sipped more wine.

“Those few men would stand no chance against our numbers.”

Victoria tilted her head to one side just as she’d rehearsed in her mind. “You think they are the only ones?”

“How many more lurk about in the forest beyond my camp?” he asked, clearly not surprised.

She shrugged. “I did not ask.” And she hadn’t. There had been no need. She knew full well Thomas would not come unmatched.

“I believe it would be worth the fight.”

Victoria gasped.

“Never fear,” he said. “I am not quite ready to die. But I have to wonder,” Edwin studied her, “with your husband dead—” He halted at her intake of breath. “You cannot believe he still lives?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“If they wanted him dead they would have killed him while he slept in the meadow they captured him in.”

“Sleeping was he?” Edwin grunted. “Still, that they wanted to draw out the pleasure of their revenge does not mean they meant for him to live long.”

“Will you help me or not?” she demanded.

“What would induce me to help him?”

“It is not him you would be helping, but me.”

“You may see it that way, but I do not.”

“Edwin,” Victoria leaned forward, “out of the goodness of your heart should suffice.”

He raised a brow. “I recall you telling me I had no heart.”

“Yet you insisted I was wrong.”

“Nay. I said I was not my brother.”

“It is the same,” she persisted.

“Hardly.” He regarded her. “Does his life mean so much to you?”

“Aye.” More than she had realized until even this moment.

“Then you would do anything within your power to redeem him?”

At last, the words she had expected. “I would.”

“What do you expect of me?”

Victoria sat her goblet on the ground. “We must discover where they have taken him.”

He nodded. “My visit to Fauldun Castle will be well known.”

“Exactly.”

“They will assume I hold a grudge. How am I to have come by the information that they have him?”

Victoria straightened. Now for the part of the plan she had kept to herself. “If they believed you had rescued me from my lord—”

“They would believe I had come to settle the score.” Edwin finished the sentence for her. “They would also believe you were coming home with me.”

I know, she thought.

“And,” Edwin said, his eyes never wavering from her, “it would be the truth.”

That, she knew, as well.

* * *

Victoria’s pulse leapt when Liam and Thomas reined their horses away from Edwin in the lead and positioned themselves on either side of her gelding. Since yesterday, when the plan for Iain’s rescue had been made, she managed to avoid being alone with the two of them. Now, the company was nearing the boundary of MacPherson land, and the two men had clearly decided discretion be damned. Although Liam had cared nothing for discretion when she informed him and Thomas of her decision to go with Edwin to meet David Robertson.

“You are his wife,” Liam had shouted. “He would not allow you to come for him, and he certainly would not leave you with only this cur to defend you.” He pointed at Edwin, then added, “Neither will I.”

Victoria could deal with Liam well enough, but it was the glare he sent Edwin’s way that frightened her.

“If you were any sort of man you would not involve her in this,” Liam said to Edwin.

“My lord,” she said, “they must believe I have chosen to return to England with Edwin.” When Liam didn’t answer, Victoria saw no other alternative. “You have no choice in the matter.” Though that hadn’t been wholly true; he could have chosen to fight. He might still.

“All seems a might easy,” Liam said.

“Aye,” Thomas said. “A might easy, indeed. Would you not agree, my lady?”

“Have you another plan that will lead us to my lord?” she asked coldly. Other than a low snort from Liam, silence followed. “Then I am going.”

“Aye,” Thomas said again.

“And you shall return,” Liam added.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thomas reach toward her. With Liam to her right, she had nowhere to go when Thomas’s fingers closed around the bridle of her horse. The slow canter was broken when he pulled back on the bridle. The horse whinnied.

Thomas leaned forward and whispered, “With or without Iain.”

He released his hold on the horse and, before Edwin glanced over his shoulder, urged his horse forward. Victoria didn’t miss the final look Liam shot her as he followed Thomas. She prayed to God that Iain was freed, as much for his life as for the fact that Thomas and Liam would surely chase after her if he wasn’t. An unexpected thought arose. What would she do if Iain came for her?

* * *

Hooves approached in the night. Despite knowing the watch would allow no one save Edwin to get near their camp, Victoria tensed. Edwin broke from the trees and she glanced across the fire at Liam and Thomas when he came to a halt a few feet from them. She stood as Edwin dismounted.

“They agreed to ask Robertson for a meeting,” he said.

One of his men approached, but Edwin waved him off, flipping up the stirrup on his saddle to begin unbuckling the cinch himself.

“What of my lord?” Victoria asked.

“They would reveal nothing of where MacPherson is.”

Edwin pulled the saddle from his horse. He handed the saddle to the man who still stood nearby, then ran the palm of his hand along his horse’s neck and down its back.

Victoria exhaled. “We are no closer than we were this morning.”

“Calm yourself.” Edwin gave a final caress to his horse and tossed the reins to another man awaiting his command. “We expected no less.”

“He is right,” Thomas said. “They are not about to trust anyone so easily, especially an Englishman.” Thomas looked to Edwin. “You understand.”

Edwin angled his head in acknowledgment.

“And,” Thomas added, “it is not important they trust him, only that they think he is fool enough to meet them with naught but his own forces. The messengers will already have reported that the English lord rides with only fifty men.”

“You are sure they are so confident?” Victoria said.

“If they were not,” Liam interjected, “they would not have taken Iain to begin with.”

“What do they require of us now?” she asked.

“I was instructed to come to the same place tomorrow. If Robertson is agreeable, he will be there. If not…” Edwin shrugged.

“Did it seem they believed you wished to ransom him?”

Edwin strode to the fire. “The men I met with were curious.” He lowered himself to the ground.

“Your men will fight,” Victoria said. “You promised.”

“Aye,” he said. “Nothing has changed.”

He hadn’t looked at her for confirmation, yet Victoria knew he was reminding her of their bargain.

* * *

Morning grew late before Edwin’s men were given the order to break camp. Victoria sat astride her gelding watching Thomas and Edwin as they spoke just out of earshot. Liam drew his horse up alongside her, yet she kept her attention on the two men ahead of her.

“I do not intend to stand around and wait while my daughter-in-law rides into battle,” he said under his breath.

“Just as I do not intend to leave your son in the hands of those animals,” Victoria said.

“You are not leaving him there.”

“It is my deeds that must be undone.”

Leather creaked as Liam shifted in the saddle. “What do you mean?”

“Jillian.”

He frowned. “It is not your fault what they did to the lass.”

“Had I not taken her to Fauldun Castle, Iain would not now be at the mercy of David Robertson.”

“You cannot believe he would have had you leave the lass?”

She shook her head. “He was furious. It would seem he knew better than I.”

“I do not think you mean that.” Liam’s voice softened. “’Tis not in you to have left her there.”

“Nay?” She regarded him with a callous eye. “Mayhap there are some things better left alone.”

Liam regarded her in silence for a moment before saying, “Like you and Iain for example?”

Victoria yanked on the reins of her horse, wheeling away from him.

Two hours later they parted company. Although Victoria hung back from Edwin, Liam’s voice could be heard above the noise as orders were given and Highlanders separated from English.

“If one hair on her head is harmed, you will be looking over your shoulder at me,
Sassenach
.” Liam wheeled his horse around. In the next instant, he was beside Victoria. “You remember what I said, lass.” With that, he spurred his stallion to the Highlander side.

Thomas nudged his horse up alongside her. “You will also remember what I said?”

Victoria nodded.

“Oh, and, my lady,” he said, a cool smile on his face, “do not keep any secrets in the future.”

A jolt went through her.

“Liam may have been surprised when you announced you would be going with the earl, but I was not.”

“It was a logical course of action,” she replied.

“Mayhap. But your perception of logic may not coincide with your husband’s. It is dangerous to keep secrets.”

Victoria fixed a hard stare on him. “Indeed, sir, you know well enough the pitfalls of hiding something, do you not?”

A flicker of surprise flashed across his face, then was gone. “Iain is not my husband,” he replied, a fine edge in his voice. “Our forces will be some ways behind, but someone will always be close at hand. If you need anything, you know what to do.”

“I have not forgotten.”

“Good. Our lives are in your hands.” She blinked, and he gave her a familiar smile. “If anything happens to you, it will not only be Liam who will seek recompense, and Edwin will not be the only one to pay. Iain is a fair man, but he is also a hard man.” With a final look, Thomas was gone.

* * *

When the sun began its descent into the west, Victoria started to worry in earnest. “What can be wrong?” she demanded of Edwin.

He looked up from where he sat on the ground. “It is no more than a ploy, Victoria.”

“You are sure?”

“An educated guess.” He glanced at the sun and said what she was thinking. “I do not think you wish to entertain any other theory.”

She was saved from a reply when one of his men appeared on horseback. Edwin stood.

“There are two men approaching from the north,” the man said.

“Good.” Edwin strode to where she stood. “Remember, if you act anything but the frightened and obedient female, the game is up.”

“Aye.”

“And please, whatever spirit possesses you, keep quiet.”

She started to open her mouth, but Edwin grasped her by the shoulders. “No matter what, keep silent. If you voice a single opinion, ask any question, it could mean the end of us all.” He released her, then, to her surprise, added as he pushed her aside, “No matter how many of your husband’s kinsmen prowl nearby.”

Edwin motioned for the men to place themselves between him and Victoria. He stepped forward in readiness for the strangers who entered their company. Victoria recognized the lead man as David Robertson and lowered her gaze.

“What have we here?” David asked in an exaggerated accent.

Edwin widened his stance, and Victoria recognized the shift in his manner from calculated to bored as he waited for David to finish his perusal of the group.

“I see you took back what was yours,” David said.

Victoria looked up to find him staring at her. Their eyes met, and her cheeks burned as his gaze traveled in languid motion down her body.

“You have finished your business,” he went on, giving Victoria a final study before turning to Edwin. “What do you want with me?”

“Not quite finished,” Edwin replied.

David swung his leg over his horse’s croup and stepped down. “You have what you came for, is that not enough?”

“Would it be for you?”

Robertson laughed. “Nay, I suppose not. But I do not see how that concerns me.”

“Gold is always a man’s business.”

Edwin’s tone was such that Victoria wondered if he cared at all about finding Iain.
Mayhap that was closer to the truth than he had let on.

David’s expression turned speculative. “What has gold to do with it?”

“Last I heard, it was still the best form of payment.”

Edwin reached for the pouch of gold one of his men held out for him. The money filled his hand for no more than an instant before a flick of his wrist sent the small pouch through the air. David caught it with one hand, regarded Edwin for a moment, then pulled the string and emptied the contents into his hand.

He turned a shrewd gaze on Edwin. “Fair amount of gold for one man’s life.”

“Too much?” Edwin asked.

David shoved the gold back into the pouch. “What makes you think I need this?”

Edwin raised a brow.

“What do you want?” Robertson demanded.

“I am certain that is obvious.”

Another toss, and the pouch flew through the air and was caught in the greedy hand of a Robertson warrior. David nodded. “You want the same thing I do.”

“We have a bargain, then?” Edwin asked when David stepped into his saddle.

“I will have to think on that one.”

Victoria gave a little cry when it appeared David would leave, but she was stayed from further action by Edwin’s warning glance.

“Is something bothering the lass?” David asked.

“She fears MacPherson will come for her,” Edwin answered so smoothly Victoria realized Edwin knew it to be the truth. “But I have assured her she need not worry on that account.”

“Aye,” David said. “She need never worry again.”

* * *

Victoria rode in the darkness surrounded by Edwin’s men, but felt little comfort by that fact considering they were surrounded by Robertson warriors. Though it seemed eons, she knew they had ridden no more than two hours. The clouds parted and moonlight lit the stark hills. Edwin looked her way, and the warning his eyes held squelched any desire to look over her shoulder for signs of those who followed.