Page 43 of At the Highlander's Mercy
She had saved his life. He had no doubt of it. Though he did have misgivings over her being the target, she was correct that, had it hit them directly, there waslittle chance they would have survived. Her death alone would cause the Mathesons more trouble, but their deaths together by a MacLerie bolt could have ended this encounter—not happily for either clan, but without other lives being lost. His death? Well, the case could be made to Connor that retribution had been paid for Rob’s kidnapping of Lilidh and, with her safe return, the situation would have ended.
Lilidh quieted in his arms, so he eased himself away from her and lifted her face to his. The worry and fear in her eyes had not lessened, but the tears had.
‘I must go now,’ he said, waiting for her to relinquish her grasp on him. ‘I will return, Lilidh.’
‘Have a care, Rob,’ she whispered.
He kissed her and would have kept kissing her had she not stepped back from him. He walked to the door and lifted the latch. Before leaving, he warned her, ‘Speak to no one about what happened. Do not share our suspicions with anyone, Lilidh.’
At her nod, he left, pausing in the corridor to catch his breath. He’d faced death or danger many times before in his life, fighting with Connor or lately in
skirmishes with his clan, but never had he faced it in his own home. Pressing on the bandage and tightening the buckles of his jacket to keep the pressure on his side, he made his way down to the yard where his men waited on his orders.
* * *
Several hours passed as his men searched the nearby forest for any indication that a MacLerie force or spies had arrived on his lands. Finding none, he secured thegates and set more soldiers to watch from along the walls and the gates. Dougal, along with Symon, had been sent out earlier along with others to patrol the village and farms and would not return until the morrow.
Had Symon been behind this attack? Dougal would never have let him return without sending word to Rob, so he doubted he had sent the bolt flying. But that did not mean he did not arrange for it to be done.
He had been walking the battlements each night since the day Lilidh had been brought here—at first alone and then more recently with her. Anyone who lived in the keep would have seen them there. Before going inside, he examined the battlements from the ground and then from the wall that encircled the keep and yard.
If he was right, a MacLerie did not shoot the bolt at all.
Deciding to prove or disprove his suspicion before sharing it with Tomas or Dougal, Rob called for a bow from one of the guards, nocked an arrow and took aim at the battlements. Waiting until the guards moved out of his range, he then let the arrow fly. It hit nearly the same spot where he’d stood earlier.
A MacLerie had not shot at him—a Matheson had.
Worse, the shot had been taken from on top of his own walls.
Rob returned the bow without saying a word to anyone. They had a traitor in their midst. He called the commanders of those who guarded the walls together and asked about who had been on duty earlier. By the time he discovered who it was, he also learned that the man had gone out to search the forest and not returned.
No one could say they knew the man. He’d arrived in the last days, when the farmers and villagers had, spoken to few and served on the wall this night for the first time. Since, by Rob’s own orders, all able-bodied men would work where and as they could to help protect the keep, he had no doubt that this man slipped in with the others and waited to carry out his purpose. And then he left, possibly before even knowing if he’d been successful in his attempt.
He doubled the number of guards on the wall and ordered them repositioned, so that every man would be in view of others and no hiding places were possible. Then Rob ordered the entire keep searched for any man who could not be vouched for by two others. Returning to his chambers, he understood that there was little chance of finding an accomplice now.
And more than that bothered him. A traitor might be known to all of them and be hiding in plain sight of all of them. Worse, would the first one leave without knowing if he’d been successful unless there was someone else waiting to try again? Or was his true intention not to kill Rob and Lilidh, but only scare them?
Rob sent word to all the elders that they would meet on the morrow and then he climbed the stair to his chambers. Between the wound, hitting his head and then spending hours searching in the forest and the keep, exhaustion built within him. A few hours’ rest and he would face all the final tasks needed before the
MacLeries arrived. And he had no doubt that their arrival would come soon.
Chapter Eighteen
The fire was banked and the room silent when he opened the door. Moving as quietly as he could across the unfamiliar chamber, he found his way to the bed and began to undress. Lilidh lay unmoving, on the side she favoured, facing the hearth.
The wound stung now in spite of the bandage and that it had stopped bleeding some time ago. The metal bolt had luckily skidded across his rib and not penetrated deeply, so he would face mostly this nuisance pain. It was not large enough to cause him to worry about long-lasting effects. He pulled his shirt over his head, hissing against the sudden pull. Dropping his plaid, he realised he’d not barred the door, or put his sword and dagger by the bed.
Rob reached the door and lifted the wooden bar into place. Other nights, he’d not felt the need to use it, but now, well, now was different. He reached for his sword and dagger, left in his belt and scabbard, when she spoke.
‘Do you need those with the door barred?’ she asked.
He watched as she slipped from the bed and walked across the chamber, her limp much less pronounced than it had been just days ago. The shift she wore hid few of her curves as she passed by the hearth and in front of a lantern left lit there.
‘Yes. Tonight I take no chances,’ he replied, pulling both blades free of their scabbards and walking to the bedside. Positioning them where he could reach them quickly, the sword on the floor, the dagger beneath the mattress, he turned back to her.
‘Do you have a lump on your head from your fall?’ she asked. ‘You seemed to wake quickly enough, but I do not think Beathas had time to thoroughly examine the rest of you.’
He must be losing his mind or be so exhausted that he heard something very suggestive in the tone of her voice. When she walked towards him and began touching the bandage, his body reacted on its own to her soft probing caresses. Rob took in and let out a breath before answering.
