Page 7 of My Brave Highlander

"Nay, I know not where Master MacLeod is," Isobel said, hoping her voice was steady enough to make the lie convincing.

The servant gave a brief bow and continued along the corridor.

"I knew someone would soon notice the knave missing from the great hall and come looking for him," Isobel whispered to her maid as she led the way down the narrow turnpike back stairs.

"I'm praying he believed you, m'lady," Beitris said. "And that he doesn't look into your chamber."

They emerged in the overheated kitchen on the ground floor. The sweating servants working there were too busy to notice them… until one pushed a platter of sliced bread into Beitris's hands. "Make yourself useful and take that to the hall," she ordered in a grouchy tone.

"Aye."

The kitchen servant went back to her chores.

Beitris turned slowly, then set the empty platter on the worktable opposite. She dragged Isobel hastily toward the exit.

"Where did the bread go?" Isobel whispered, hoping to pilfer it for their next meal.

"Shh." Beitris opened the door. Once outside in the blustery air, she said, "In my arisaid. We'll need food, will we not?"

"Ah. A wise move." Thank goodness they wouldn't have to starve, at least not for a while. Chills raced down Isobel's spine just the same. Was it fear or the nippy wind?

Even if they managed to slip past the guards… what then? She knew naught about this part of the Highlands near Assynt. Indeed, a wee village lay south of here, not too far away. But would it be safe to stop there?

She tried to recall the path her brother and his party had taken when they brought Isobel and her maid here a fortnight ago. She only remembered a few villages here and there, several isolated crofts, and many tall, rugged mountains, interspersed with moors, fields and lochs. Beautiful but forbidding, especially with winter approaching.

Isobel prayed they could find enough crofters willing to give them a warm place to sleep each night until they reached Dornie. She remembered her brother Cyrus saying 'twas over a hundred miles and difficult travel by land. But if they had enough coins to pay the fare, they could take a galley part of the way, as they had on the journey here. The port at Ullapool was not so far, perhaps twenty-five miles.

Outside in the brisk air, full night had fallen. The sparkling frosted grass crunched beneath her leather slippers as they descended a sloping knoll on the small island where the castle sat. They proceeded across the stone paved courtyard and carefully toward the gate. Isobel pulled the plaid of her arisaid more securely over her head like a cowl to conceal the upper part of her face. The guard could not recognize her as a lady or his chief's future bride, else he'd detain her for a certainty.

Isobel held her breath, but the guard barely gave her bulky, ratty clothing a second glance before he opened the gate. Thankfully, he viewed two maids traveling back to the village as nothing unusual. Isobel breathed a sigh of relief as she and Beitris proceeded through and across the narrow bridge over a small arm of the loch.

A hard gust of icy north wind whipped at their clothing.

"Walk faster. We must hurry," Isobel said, tugging her maid along the muddy trail. "They could find him at any moment and give chase."

"Oh, m'lady, 'tis growing colder and the wind harsher. We must find a place to spend the night afore long."

"Aye, we will."

"I'm glad you're certain of that. I'm not."

Isobel always believed things would turn out well. She'd gotten that outlook from her mother. But in the end, things had not turned out well for her mother when she'd died of a fever six years ago. Isobel's throat closed and the wind near froze the tears welling in her eyes.

Sometimes she would imagine that she heard her mother's encouraging words, the same words she'd often spoken when Isobel was a young lass. Her mother had always wanted the best for her. She'd believed Isobel would have a good life with a man she loved. Isobel had not seen this come to pass as of yet… and she was five-and-twenty. At times she was uncertain whether it would ever happen. But she refused to give up hope.

She would settle for no less than a husband who treated her well. 'Twas not too much to ask. Of course, this carried over to the man's clan as well. The MacLeod was not the husband for her. He might be a decent man, but his brother was not. Her brother, Cyrus, would simply have to renegotiate and find a more agreeable clan for her to marry into.

Though she knew it was near impossible, Isobel still yearned for the same things she'd dreamed of as a young lass… what her parents had, a love match. Her brother scoffed at that, but her father before him had not. Of course, most chiefs' daughters or sisters were married off to whoever would benefit the clan most. She'd endured an unsuitable match with her first husband. Thankfully, he hadn't been a mean or evil man. He had been tolerable, despite his advanced age.

She had met her current betrothed, Torrin, once. He was younger than her first husband, at least—around thirty summers—and much better looking, but he didn't appeal to her greatly. He had an arrogant, cocky way about him. The MacLeod had glanced at her, then ignored her. Now, she knew why. As Nolan had said, he was devoted to another woman and had been for years. Obviously, she was a woman beneath his station that the clan discouraged him from marrying.

In this case, being ignored by one's husband might be a good thing. But that left another problem—the husband's brother who did not ignore her. And now she'd almost killed the bastard, so there was no going back to Munrick. Nolan would surely kill her if he ever laid eyes on her again.

As Isobel and Beitris rounded the bend, the bitter scent of peat smoke from the village became stronger. Dim firelight showed through the cracks between shutters in a couple of the cottages.

"Thank the heavens! My feet are near frozen," Beitris said.

"We can't stay here tonight," Isobel whispered despite the stray droplets of rain that spattered against the plaid covering her head. "This is the first place Nolan and the guards will look for us. The villagers will surely turn us over to them with nary a qualm."