Page 85 of Desire of a Highlander

“Which lands?”

Elodie stared into her drink. She knew instinctively that Alana wouldn’t be put off by the vague explanations that had sufficed in the Steading. She was watching her with the intensity of a predator watching its prey. She knew without knowing how that it would be extremely dangerous to let this woman learn the truth about her. She thought furiously, trying to come up with a lie that would suffice.

“I’d rather not say because I’m trying to forget them.”

Alana waited. Elodie let out a long sigh. “My father arranged a marriage. To a man three times my age.” She was surprised at how easily the lie tripped off her tongue. “I refused.”

Alana raised one elegant eyebrow. “So ye ran?”

“Yes.”

“And somehow found yerself at the Steading?”

“That’s right. I was lucky.”

Alana said nothing, just watched Elodie with a disconcertingly direct stare. “I hear Ronan Campbell is an excellent blacksmith.”

Elodie blinked at this sudden change of subject. She examined Alana’s words, trying to find some hidden meaning or some way in which answering might be dangerous. But she couldn’t find any. “Yes,” she answered. “He is.”

Alana nodded as if this answer satisfied her. She began asking innocent-seeming questions about the life of the Steading and the conversation drifted elsewhere. Or seemed to. Alana had an unnerving habit of asking apparently harmless questions before suddenly circling back.

“So yer father arranged yer marriage?”

“Yes.”

“What was yer intended husband’s name?”

The question caught Elodie off guard and she hesitated for a fraction of a second before blurting the first name that came into her head. “Malcom MacAskill.”

The lie was obvious. Alana noticed. Of course she did. A faint smile tugged at her lips but instead of pressing further, she simply nodded.

“I see.” She rose smoothly to her feet. “I hope ye sleep well.” Then she walked away into the darkness without another word.

Elodie watched her go, feeling like she had failed some sort of test, even though she had no idea what that test was.

The hours crawled past. The camp grew quieter. Men stretched out beneath blankets. Her guard yawned and shifted against his tree. Elodie watched him from the corner of her eye whilst pretending not to. Slowly, his eyelids drooped. His head nodded once. Twice. Then finally, his chin settled onto his chest.

She waited another full minute. A soft snore sounded from his direction. Elodie rose very slowly to her feet, groaning inwardly at the pains in her legs from sitting still for so long. She tried not to make a sound but even the slight rustling of the grass as she rose felt deafening. Once on her feet she froze, staring at her guard.

He made no movement. Another snore drifted through the darkness. Elodie took one careful step. Then another. Her heart was thundering in her chest now and any moment she expected to feel a hand on her shoulder or a shout for her to stop. But nothing came.

Creeping through the dark, she reached the nearest wagon and ducked down behind it. She had to fight the urge to bolt, to give into her terror and flee into the dark. But she knew that would be a mistake. Running would attract attention and get her caught. Instead, she forced herself to creep slowly, carefully, from shadow to shadow.

She ducked behind a tree and looked around, trying to get her bearings. She was beyond the firelight now and it took a while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they did, she realized she’d reached the perimeter of the camp. She also realized that it was guarded.

She spotted eight men positioned around the camp, all awake and alert unlike her own guard. She’d never make it through unseen.

Voices drifted through the darkness and she recognized Henry Murdoch’s deep tones. Keeping low, she edged toward the voices, near the campfire in the middle of camp. Lord and Lady Murdoch stood beside the fire with a rough map spread across a barrel.

“Campbell will come,” Henry was saying. “Ye know he will.”

“And afterwards?” Alana asked.

Henry smiled. “Afterwards we take what we’ve earned.”

Alana tapped the map and then nodded. “Bryce Campbell first. Like we agreed. I want to watch that bastard die slowly for what he did to us.”

Elodie was shocked by the coldness in her voice.