Amanda Scott (40 page)

“Near St. Giles,” Fife said resentfully.

The abbot looked at Rob. “Might that person testify against her ladyship?”

“You have my word that he will not.”

“Then, by God, I’ll find ten others who will,” Fife growled.

The abbot regarded him sternly. “You give yourself away with such statements, my son. You have no charge, and no crime. I suggest you go home.”

One of Fife’s men crept up to him and whispered in his ear, whereupon the earl turned without another word and strode from the chamber.

“Mercy,” Adela said, staring. “I did not think he would go so quietly.”

“Doubtless, he has seen the error of his ways,” the abbot said.

“More likely, his man told him Henry and his lads are in the kirkyard,” Rob said with a grin. “Also, his own men learned that his charges are untrue. His
friend
the chevalier suffered no attack from anyone but Fife, who is behind all of this, as well as the attack on me near Lestalric. So, I think we have blunted his sword.”

“Are we safe then?” Adela asked doubtfully.

“As safe as one ever can be from a vengeful prince,” he said. “We have won this skirmish, however. I’m sorry we delayed your service, my lord abbot.”

“You must beware, my son,” the abbot said. “The Earl of Fife is no great warrior, but he is sly and ever dangerous.”

“I’m hoping only that he’ll take enough time deciding what to do next to give us enough to do what we must to protect ourselves,” Rob said. “I know you must proceed now with your service, but thank you. We won’t forget your help.”

“Nor will Holyrood forget Lestalric,” the abbot said warmly.

Outside, they met Henry in the yard with a large force of his men waiting patiently nearby, far enough away to be out of earshot. They saw no sign of Fife.

“What became of de Gredin?” Rob asked Henry.

He grinned. “He should be aboard my ship by now. He took the precaution of sending a messenger to Fife, saying he thought it best to avoid meeting him.”

“I still don’t trust that man, Henry.”

“My lads will keep an eye on him.” Henry nodded toward the abbey kirk. “I trust everything went well inside.”

“Well enough,” Rob said, briefly describing the episode.

When he had finished, Adela said, “What
will
you two do about the Stone?”

“We’ll have to think about that,” Rob said.

“I could take it to Orkney,” Henry suggested as Rob put Adela on her horse.

“Sakes, Henry, they already suspect that you have the treasure. I’d not be surprised if Fife organized an attack on Orkney to search for it.”

“He’d be declaring war on the King of Norway if he did,” Henry said.

“He might not think about Norway,” Rob said. “However, there is someone else in the Isles powerful enough and honest enough for us to trust with it.”

“The Lord of the Isles?” Adela guessed, watching Rob mount his horse.

“Nay, lass,” he said. “Donald may be honest. I’ve no cause to think he is not, but he is the present King’s grandson and Fife’s nephew. I’d not trust him to keep it secret from them. But Ranald of the Isles is one of the most honest men in Scotland. Furthermore”—he glanced at Henry—“he is a member of what the good abbot called an organization of outstanding soldiers who proved their loyalty at Bannockburn.”

Henry nodded. “He is, indeed, and ’tis a good notion. But how can we do it?”

“We’ve time enough to ponder that,” Rob said. “Although Fife suspects I may know something about the Stone, without support from other powerful nobles, he cannot raise an army against me, especially since it won’t take me long now to increase and organize my own men-at-arms at Lestalric. It would be different, of course, if his grace had a royal army at his command as English kings do.”

“Aye,” Henry agreed, “because Fife would soon take command of that army, as he has of so many other things.”

“But the King of Scots has to persuade his nobles to provide the men for any army he requires,” Adela said.

“He does, indeed,” Rob said. “But although that means we can leave the Stone where it is for now, with the Sinclairs guarding it, I’m concerned about the threat of another English invasion. I’d like to see that bit of Scotland’s history well away from any path they might take to look for it.”

Henry nodded. “We’ll give it more thought, then. Are you riding with me?” he added as he turned his horse toward Holyrood’s gates.

“Aye,” Rob said. “Partway, at least.”

Surprised, Adela said, “But is Henry not riding to Leith?”

“Aye, sweetheart,” Rob said with a smile. “And we are going home.”

Epilogue

Not far from Leith Harbor, six weeks later

O
ver there,” Rob said, pointing toward a series of rock formations that overlooked the Firth of Forth. “Behind that outcropping is a shelf where we’ll be out of the wind, with a patch of grass beyond it where our horses can graze.”

The shelf was wide enough for comfort. And at the rear, the sloping rock was pleasant to lean against, as Rob remembered from many excursions there as a lad. It had been his secret place, the place he had gone to be alone. He had liked the privacy, and watching for boats. It seemed right to share it with his lass now.

With a sheer drop to the waves below and a sunny blue sky above, dotted with drifting puffy clouds, when they sat and leaned back, it felt as if they were warmly suspended in a world of their own between the sea and the sky.

“Do you like it here, sweetheart?” he asked.

“Aye, it’s very pleasant,” Adela said. “But I feel guilty coming out here like this, Rob. They may arrive at any moment, and we should be there to greet them.”

“You’ve thought of nothing but their comfort for a fortnight,” he said. “Thanks to Henry’s man of affairs, and my own colossal efforts, we now have our own steward, bail-lie, and a decent security force. Moreover, Fife is safely in the Borders, pretending to be helping the Douglas keep the English out of Scotland. And,” he added as a clincher, “we know Tam Geddes was not stealing from us. Henry’s man said my father just managed his income badly.”

“We’ll manage better,” she said.

“Aye, because I was fortunate enough to marry a lass who knows exactly what she is doing in running a large household even when I do not. And although I’ve had more training as a warrior than as a farmer or man of affairs, I am rapidly learning what I need to know. So I have earned a peaceful afternoon with my wife.”

“But what of our guests!”

“Our guests will be astonished at all we have accomplished.”

“The countess is never astonished.”

“Aye, well, that’s true. And I warrant Lady Clendenen will have all manner of suggestions to make for improving the castle.”

“Sorcha will, too. Do you truly think she and Hugo will reach Leith today?”

“He said they would.”

“They won’t know about the Stone. Will you tell them?”

“I think we must. We’ve so many related secrets together now that keeping all the bits separate would be impossible. Moreover, we must seek help from other Templars to move it.”

“Fife will be watching Henry’s ships, will he not?”

“Aye, but we’ll find a way,” he said confidently.

“Hugo won’t know to look for us here. Should we not go to the harbor?”

“Nay, sweetheart. We’ll have had our fill of company by suppertime, I warrant, and they all mean to stay with us for a fortnight. I want an hour with my wife now. And I want her to relax and forget all of her duties, save one.”

She smiled. “And that one would be what, sir?”

“To honor her husband, and cherish him.”

“I do,” she said softly. “You know I do.”

He sighed. “I remember that you told Fife you cared deeply for me.”

“And you knew I meant that, too,” she said.

“Did I?” He pretended to ponder the matter. “As I recall, you were a bit peevish with me at the time.”

“You deserved that I should be.”

“Perhaps, but now I deserve cherishing.”

“Very well,” she said, relaxing against him. “I won’t mind feeling the sun and the breeze on my face for a short time. I think I’ll just close my eyes.”

She was silent, and he leaned back, too, feeling comfortably warm and enjoying the lazy flight of gulls overhead. When he turned to look at her, her eyes were still closed, her lips slightly parted. She looked deeply contented.

The sun had brightened the natural color in her cheeks, and her upper lip showed tiny beads of perspiration. She breathed evenly, deeply, her soft breasts rising and falling, enticingly near.

She looked innocently childlike one minute and seductive the next.

He felt overwhelming hunger for her, but something more, and he knew at last what it was that she satisfied in him. He had thought he just needed someone to care about, a family of his own. But it was more than that. He had needed love, both to give and to savor.

He raised himself on one elbow. The pain from his injury was long gone, and he looked his fill at her, watching the faint pulse in her throat until his gaze drifted back again to her soft breasts. He leaned closer, his lips nearly touching hers.

Her eyes opened, and she gazed back at him.

“You didn’t jump,” he said quietly.

“Nay, not with you,” she murmured. “Never with you. I love you so.”

“I know,” he said. “I feel it every day.”

“And you?”

“I think I fell in love with you when I first saw you at Orkney,” he said.

“You did not.”

“Well, if it wasn’t that first moment, I did when I heard you’d doused Hugo with a basinful of water.”

“You jest, sir, but love is serious business.”

“Is it, sweetheart? I own, I had thought never to know much about love.”

“Aye, well, you know now, and there must be no more secrets between us.”

“No more,” he said.

“I have a one of my own to tell you,” she said.

His heart swelled within him, for he did not have to ask what she meant. “A child, lass? Art certain?”

“Nearly so,” she said. “My maid is certain, in any event.”

“Then it must be so,” he said, kissing her lightly.

The minute his lips touched hers, his body took fire, and he was lost. He wasted no further time. His hands moved swiftly to unlace and unhook, and her hands were as eager as his.

Her arms slid around him and held him tight before she relaxed back against the slope and he opened her bodice and unlaced her shift to feast on those soft breasts of hers. He imagined a child suckling them.

Her nipples were hard, the skin of her breasts like silk. He savored them, kissing and sucking them, stroking her until he ached for her.

Adela watched him, stroking his hair as he eased down-ward to kiss and fondle her breasts, enjoying the sensations his lips and fingers ignited through her body as it began to respond to him. Briefly, then, her thoughts shifted to Ardelve.

Whether he had died naturally or not, they did not know, but she was glad she could remember him fondly and with a certainty that if he could see them from where he was, he would cheer her marriage to Rob. He had been a good man, and she had cared for him. But loving Rob as she did, she knew she had been a fool to think she could be happy marrying for no more than kindness and comfort.

Looking out at the water, she saw a distant boat and asked him if he thought people on it might see them. He didn’t answer, but he smiled and stroked her belly, his hands moving tantalizingly lower. Then he moved her skirts out of his way and stroked her between her thighs, and all thought of anything else ceased.

She’d murmured something about passing boats, but he paid no heed. And when she responded, arching to meet him, emitting endearing little cries as she did, and clearly having no more concern for boats or anything but him, he touched her where he knew she was most sensitive, stimulating her more and more until she found release. Then he slowed his pace, wanting to savor their time together in that peaceful place for as long as he could.

He pulled her close and began kissing her again, his hands moving over her delicious body at will, gently at first, then more possessively, his mind forming pictures of what the babe she carried might look like.

Would it be a boy that looked like him, or a wee beautiful lassie like herself?

His contrary imagination produced a wee lassie waving a sword in one hand and a dirk in the other, making him chuckle.

“Why do you laugh?” she murmured.

He told her, and she shook her head at him. “The others will surely be there by now,” she said with a sigh. “We should go soon.”

“Your mind should be on your husband, madam. Kiss me, and do it properly, or I shall have to punish you. As I remember, you once admitted being ticklish.”

She laughed and obeyed him with every sign of willingness. When his body leaped to life again, he decided Hugo and the others, even the countess, could wait another hour … or two.

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed
Knight’s Treasure.
Historic mysteries have fascinated me for many years, and finding an opportunity to connect two of them in one story provided an intriguing challenge.

Sir Robert Logan of Lestalric is a fictional character. Although I based much of his history on that of the first Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, I found not the slightest suggestion that that gentleman was a Knight Templar. However, with regard to the earlier Logan brothers who accompanied Sir James Douglas and Sir William Sinclair when they attempted to carry the Bruce’s heart to the Holy Land, and shared their fate, the likelihood that they shared Sinclair’s Templar connection is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Research for this book included topics that ranged from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (for the lingering effects of Adela’s abduction and subsequent loss of her husband) to learning that during the fourteenth century most people considered knighthood to be of greater value than nobility (which basically meant only that the person owned land).

Details about fourteenth-century Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle, and Holyrood Abbey come from a variety of sources, but one of the most fascinating was Elizabeth Ewan’s
Townlife
(sic)
in Fourteenth-Century Scotland
(Edinburgh, 1990).