Page 100 of The Chieftain
“No need to decide that yet,” Lachlan said. “Do ye want me to tell Connor where ye are?”
“No.”
***
Lachlan’s heart was full as he sat next to the cot watching Ilysa’s sleeping face in the morning light. He was so grateful to her for saving his niece. He pushed a strand of red-gold hair away from her cheek. Asleep, she looked deceptively frail.
“She’s a tough one,” Lachlan said to his sister who had come to stand behind him. “For such a tiny lass, she has a lot of courage.”
Flora squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t let this one get away, Lachlan.”
“Her heart is elsewhere,” he said.
“Hearts change,” his sister said.
Not Ilysa’s. That was just one of the things he admired about her.
“Once ye put your mind to it, what lass could resist ye?”
He put his hand over his sister’s. “I’d best be off.”
The door to the cottage swung open, and Malcom entered. His face was haggard, and he looked as though he had traveled hard. When Flora embraced him, he eased her aside and looked at Lachlan.
“The MacLeods are coming.”
CHAPTER 40
Connor was torn between fear and jealousy, not knowing if Lachlan had kidnapped Ilysa or if she had she gone willingly.
After he found the two men he had assigned to guard Ilysa sound asleep in the hall and hauled them outside to question them, he had grilled the guards at the gate. They all told him the same story. Lachlan and Ilysa were both held in such regard that they were allowed to walk out of the castle with nary a question, despite Connor’s explicit command.
“I don’t know where she is,” Connor said for the hundredth time as he wore out the floor pacing. Alex had chosen to believe the obviously fabricated story about an ill child and was annoyingly unconcerned.
“Let’s work on a problem we can solve.” Alex stretched out his long legs and yawned. “I believe I can tell ye who your spy is.”
“Do ye claim ye have The Sight now?” Connor asked.
“Ach, ’tis a simple matter once I have the right information,” Alex said with an amused glint in his eye.
“I’m in no mood for games,” Connor said.
“We’re looking for a man, or a woman, who has a grudge against ye or something important to gain by helping Hugh,” Alex continued, undeterred. “Our culprit also must be ruthless enough to murder two innocent men of his clan to serve his purpose.”
Alex was right. There was always a reason people did what they did; it was just a matter of discovering what it was.
A knock on his door interrupted his contemplation of suspects. When Connor opened it, one of the men he had upbraided earlier for letting Lachlan and Ilysa leave was there.
“Thought you’d want to know that Lachlan’s returned.”
***
Lachlan was hauled up the stairs and into the chieftain’s private chamber. While Connor clenched his fists and looked ready to murder him, a long, lean, warrior sat with his feet propped up on Connor’s table. The visitor had the look of an ancient Viking except for the amusement in his sea-green eyes.
“What have you and Ilysa done? Betrayed us to the MacLeods or to Hugh?” Connor shouted at him, looking every inch the warrior chieftain. “How could you, a man who has been hailed as a hero of our clan, commit this egregious act? After I trusted ye enough to make ye my captain, this betrayal cuts deep.”
Lachlan felt himself sinking fast in a sea of disaster. Somehow, Connor had discovered his crime. But why did he mention Ilysa, as if she had been an accomplice in the attempted assassination?
“Tell me what I’m accused of,” Lachlan said, instinctively defending himself, though he was guilty as hell. “As for Ilysa, your imagination far exceeds mine if ye can conceive of her betraying the clan.”
