Highland Savage (4 page)

“Agnes rules Ranald and the two of them are cunning and cruel.” Katerina shook her head. “I suspect my father thought as ye do, that Agnes was naught more than a witless girl whose only thoughts were for teasing and luring men and spending too much of his coin on gowns. To be certain, Agnes does spend far too much of her time pondering such useless things, but she is also cold and cruel. There is a hard, cold viciousness in Agnes that she hides weel from the men she seeks to enthrall. Her husband was bewitched for a while but he finally saw her for what she truly is. Sadly, it took the death of a maid he had flirted with to open his eyes.”

“He saw Agnes kill a maid?”

“Nay, but he had nay doubt it was her doing. He hadnae e’en been unfaithful, had just exchanged a few smiles with the maid and a jest or two, but it cost the poor lass her life. I think Agnes had Ranald do it, that she and Ranald were already lovers. So did her husband Robbie. Robbie left soon after and hasnae been back since. Agnes has been hunting him, but I dinnae think it is for a loving reunion. Nay, she wants Robbie dead.”

“Because the men your father chose as advisors dinnae approve of him?”

“Ye and William had a nice wee talk whilst I was gone, didnae ye.”

Lucas found himself almost smiling at the look Katerina gave William, a look that cried the man a traitor. He quickly pushed aside that feeling. Katerina had always been able to make him smile, but Lucas now felt that was one reason he had never seen a hint of warning concerning her betrayal of him.

“He told me what
he
believes, aye,” Lucas drawled.

That hurt, but Katerina just turned her scowl back on him. “Nay, they dinnae approve of Robbie. My father didnae, either. Robbie isnae a bad mon, but he isnae exactly what a father would want for his daughter. He is poor, a wee bit feckless, and a mon who would much rather talk or buy himself out of trouble than pick up a sword. I think their judgment harsh. There is good in Robbie and I believe he would have made Agnes a verra good husband if she had actually been interested in having one.”

“Aye,” agreed William, “but, mayhap, nay such a good laird for Dunlochan. Robbie didnae really want to be one, either. Far too much work for the lad.”

True.” Katerina smiled briefly. “Far too much work. Unfortunately Robbie’s lack of ambition is one reason Agnes now wants to be a widow. I e’en think she might be considering making Ranald her next husband.”

“And the council would approve of such a mon?” Lucas asked in surprise.

“They might,” replied Katerina, “but I am nay sure why. Fear, mayhap. They have to ken that Ranald would nay hesitate to kill them or their families if they tried to stop him from grasping the laird’s seat. ’Tis easy to say aye or nay to a lass’s choice of husband when the mon is no true threat to ye, isnae it.”

“True. So why doesnae Agnes just claim that her husband is dead?”

“Because the council would require proof of it, if only the word of someone they dinnae recognize as one of Agnes’s minions. The fact that Ranald hasnae been able to rid the area of those treacherous masked reivers,” Katerina exchanged a fleeting grin with William, “has also made Agnes hesitate, I think. Ranald hasnae really proved his worth to her yet.”

“Except in her bedchamber,” William muttered.

“From what little I ken of it all, Robbie also proved his worth there but it didnae keep Agnes faithful to him nor has it made her hesitate in wanting him dead now.” Katerina frowned as she thought over the whole situation with Agnes and Ranald for a moment. “I think Agnes is hoping she can wed with Ranald and grab hold of Dunlochan ere the council can make its objections heard.”

“Then silence them so that their objections can ne’er be heard?” Lucas asked.

“Something like that. Although it wouldnae be easy, for they are weel born men and have important friends and kinsmen.”

It was almost impossible for Lucas to believe the fair-haired, giggling Agnes could be capable of such cold cunning. He had not spent much time with the woman, had actually done his best to avoid her, but he had seen no hint of such a cold, vicious nature. Then again, he had never suspected such a nature in Katerina and that blindness had nearly cost him his life. Or, he was utterly wrong in what he thought had happened that long ago day by the loch, a soft, coaxing voice whispered in his mind. Lucas ruthlessly silenced that voice. No one had yet shown him any reason to believe Katerina was innocent, that she was, perhaps, as much a victim as he had been.

“Are the others coming here tonight, William?” Katerina asked her cousin.

“Nay, not until much later,” William replied. “Ranald is taking longer and longer to give up the hunt when he pursues us and we dinnae want him finding our bolt-hole.”

Katerina nodded, grateful for such caution, yet deeply disturbed by the need for it. Ranald was becoming far more tenacious than he had ever been in the beginning of this battle. The man’s determination to put an end to their forays against him had grown with each defeat he had suffered at their hands. Katerina did not need to hear the man’s threats and curses to know that Ranald wanted them all dead. Agnes undoubtedly had the same desire. The danger for her and her men, even their allies, grew each time they rode out yet Katerina knew there was no choice. The battle for Dunlochan had not been won yet. Katerina was growing fearful that it could never be won.

As she took the men’s now empty bowls to clean them, Katerina thought about the last year. It had been one long, hard, continuous battle, first to survive Ranald’s attempt to murder her, and then to try and regain all that had been stolen from her by the endlessly greedy Agnes. An anger born of the grief she had felt over Lucas had sustained her, but now she knew Lucas had not died and she felt weary of it all.

“If everyone thinks ye are dead, why hasnae Agnes just grabbed hold of Dunlochan?” asked Lucas when Katerina returned to the hearth bringing a full wineskin with her.

“She has,” Katerina replied. “She and Ranald. Only the council my father chose ere he died stops Agnes from openly declaring herself laird of it all and doing everything a laird can. The council uses the fact that our father didnae approve of Robbie as the reason they cannae declare her the laird. A woman cannae truly be a laird, can she, not in the eyes of most men, and they rule the world. Agnes needs the mon, a husband, to help her hold fast to her inheritance and wield the power she hungers for. E’en the king wouldnae take her side in this. So, a lot of power still rests in the council’s hands, although they dinnae really seem to use it to rid us of Ranald.”

“Mayhap they ken that, if they push too hard, they will sign their own death warrants.”

“I suspicion that is just what they think.”

“Then I think ye must needs do more than just irritate the mon as ye have been doing.”

“Ye dinnae ken anything about what we have been doing here.”

“Ye ride out to stop the mon from killing someone and to harass him and Agnes with thieving, aye?”

Katerina had the strong urge to hit Lucas with something very heavy. He had just reduced all their efforts to what sounded like a child’s game. She knew they were simply holding steady, simply staying alive and saving a few people here and there, but there was little else they could do until she got proof of Agnes and Ranald’s crimes.

“I need to prove that Agnes and Ranald are guilty of more than simply making life miserable for everyone. I need to prove they have blood on their hands. ’Tis no easy thing to do. At best I may yet catch them at something that will bestir the council to act.”

“Ye need to push harder. Ye strike and run and he chases. Ye need to make the mon bleed.”

Out of the corner of her eye she could see William nodding in agreement. “He could easily make us bleed,” she said. “’Tis something I must consider every step of the way.”

“There is that risk. Howbeit, unless ye push him hard and unrelentingly, he willnae make that mistake ye are waiting for. Ye need to lessen the number of men he has at his command and in a way that makes fewer and fewer men want to stand with him. Ye need to set him and Agnes against each other, e’en if it is only by making her openly question his competency. Ye need to corner the beast. Ye need to push his back hard against a wall and keep a blade at his throat.”

“Until he impales himself on it?”

“Aye.”

“How clever of ye. Weel, while ye make your fine plans, I believe I will make up a list of the supplies we need and go fetch them.”

“From where?”

“Why, straight from the lair of the beast. Where else?”

Lucas heard the word
fool
as clearly as if Katerina shouted it.

“I dinnae believe I asked ye to accompany me.”

Lucas lifted his gaze from watching Katerina’s hips sway as she walked and almost smiled. The lad’s clothes she wore could not disguise her almost voluptuous curves. She might be small in stature, almost a foot shorter than his six feet plus, but she was all woman. He had resented the desire he still felt for her at first but no longer. Any man would desire Katerina. It was only a man’s natural inclination he suffered from, he told himself firmly. Perhaps if he ceased accusing her of trying to kill him, they could revisit that passion they had shared for far too brief a time. He would, of course, make sure she was not armed when they indulged themselves.

“Ye cannae go into the lion’s den alone,” he said, “and William has to wait for the others to return.” He thought about how Ranald was searching for the reivers, searching hard enough to keep the rest of Katerina’s men from seeking the shelter of the caves. “Are ye sure this is a good time to go into the keep and steal some food?”

“Ranald would ne’er think to look for us right inside the keep.”

“But if someone sees—” He barely stopped himself from walking into her when she abruptly stopped and whirled around to glare at him.

“Listen, Sir Murray, I and my men have done fine without your aid for a year.” Katerina knew she was spitting her words out from between tightly gritted teeth, but there was no chance that she could conceal her anger from him this time. “We thank ye for deciding to join with us, to contribute your great strength and fighting skills, but I dinnae believe any of us declared ye the leader of us all. So, mayhap ye could keep your opinions to yourself.”

Lucas had the inane thought that Katerina was lovely when she was angry, and then quickly shook it out of his head. “Ye havenae won, have ye?”

“We havenae lost, either.”

“And ye are content to let this battle continue to drag on like this? To continue to nip at Ranald and flee his retribution until ye destroy Dunlochan?”

Katerina desperately wanted to hit him—repeatedly. Instead of her anger causing the man to back down, he pummeled her with hard questions. Worse, his questions revealed that he could clearly see all that was wrong with the fight she was locked into. It
was
destroying Dunlochan. A quick, decisive win was desperately needed, but she could not see any way to get one, not without causing far more bloodshed than she could stomach. She ruefully admitted to herself that, if Lucas gave her that much-needed decisive victory, a part of her would be eternally grateful. Another part of her, one ruled quite firmly by her pride, would undoubtedly want to inflict some severe, painful injury upon him.

“We are doing our best to stop Ranald from destroying Dunlochan and benefiting from it.” She turned away from him and started on her way again. “When this fight is over he and Agnes will have nothing, mayhap not e’en their lives, but I will hold Dunlochan and my men will still be alive.”

“’Tis admirable that ye dinnae wish the men who fight with ye to suffer or die, but no battle can be completely bloodless. Nay, not if it is to be won.”

That was a hard cold truth she had no wish to study too closely. The men who rode with her were her people, her kinsmen, and her friends. Several times, as she had tended to wounds received during a raid, she had seriously considered giving it all up. The
burden of keeping her men alive and trying to rid Dunlochan of men like Ranald often grew so heavy Katerina felt crushed by it. The only thing that kept her struggling onward was the certainty that Agnes and Ranald would never let her rest. They would never trust her to simply accept her meager inheritance, accept all her losses, or accept their attempt to kill her. They would never believe that she would simply live peacefully on the little piece of land and the small cottage her father had left to the loser in the battle for the rule over Dunlochan. They would kill her and anyone foolish enough to stand with her.

And why that thought should suddenly make her so afraid for Lucas, Katerina did not know. The man did not deserve her concern. He was obviously one of those men who believed that, if anything went wrong in his life, it had to be the fault of some woman. She was surprised she had not seen that in him until now, but suspected his fine looks and her desire for him had hidden a lot of his faults from her.

“I fully intend to win this battle, Sir Murray,
and
without turning the land red with the blood of my kinsmen or friends,” she said, once she was sure he would not hear any of her own lack of confidence in her voice. “Mayhap we have just been testing Ranald’s strengths and the skill of his hirelings ere we make our final strike against him.”

Lucas snorted, his disbelief clear to hear in the rude sound. He could tell by the way Katerina clenched her small hands into tight, white-knuckled fists dial she was furious, but when she just continued to walk, he decided it was safe to ignore her anger. It was undoubtedly foolish of him to join Katerina’s small army, but since he was now part of it, he was eager for the battle to be won. Katerina was very skilled at slapping Ranald swiftly and sharply, but she had yet to succeed in knocking the man down. Her men had to be as eager to put an end to the battle as he was, yet Lucas suspected few complained openly, so the plans never changed. It was past time they did so.

What angered him at the moment was
what
fed his eagerness to get Katerina to heed him and start fighting Ranald,
really
fighting the man. Lucas’s own deep need to make Ranald pay for beating him and trying to kill him was definitely part of his eagerness, but not all of it. He had to face the fact that he did not like Katerina constantly putting her life at risk, and that angered him. Part of his reason for returning to Dunlochan was to make her suffer for her part in what had happened to him. It hardly made sense to then start worrying that she might get hurt. A desire for her that he could not kill had obviously rattled his wits.

“Where does Ranald hide when he isnae chasing ye or grinding the people of Dunlochan under his boot?” he asked even as he noticed that the passage they traveled in was beginning to slowly wind upward. He struggled not to think too much on how deep in the earth they were.

“With Agnes, of course,” Katerina replied after sternly telling herself it would be childish to ignore the man when he had asked a very reasonable question.

“They openly commit adultery?”

“Weel, they arenae rolling about in the heather for all to see, but they arenae really secretive. Agnes declares herself a widow e’en though near everyone about here kens verra weel that her husband fled her side. They also ken that no one has actually brought word that the mon is dead.”

“And no one acts against her or Ranald for sinning so openly?”

“Wheesht, dinnae ye sound so verra pious,” Katerina murmured, casting a fleeting glance at Lucas over her shoulder.

“My family frowns upon such a thing, true enough, but I was speaking of ones like the men on that council, or the women who consider themselves the righteous ones. Every village has some of those and they dinnae abide anything that e’en hints at sin.”

“Ah, aye,
those
women. Nay, few here speak on the matter aloud. The fear Ranald likes to breed in people has spread wide and settled in deep and hard. There are many who see Agnes as being just as bad, just as dangerous, as Ranald. So, nay, naught is said and naught is done, e’en when Agnes turns her lustful gaze upon another mon, and then another, and then—”

“I believe I understand. Although I am a wee bit surprised that Agnes would dare to be unfaithful to Ranald. It could prove verra dangerous.”

“Oh, he doesnae like it, but he can have no power in Dunlochan without her. He isnae faithful to her, either. Ne’er was. Ranald feels it his right to take any woman he wants. I worry about Annie at the alehouse. Ranald wants her, but, so far, he has not taken her as he has others.”

Although Katerina did not say the word
rape
, Lucas had no trouble understanding that that was what she meant. He had a deep loathing for men who brutalized women. It was just another reason to make very certain that Ranald did not escape justice. Lucas was a little surprised that Agnes had anything to do with the man, but he was beginning to realize he had misjudged the woman. For reasons he could not understand he believed most of what Katerina said about her half-sister. The only thing he doubted was that Agnes could be as cunning as Katerina believed her to be. The few times he had dealt with the woman he had certainly not gained any sense that there was much intelligence behind Agnes’s big blue eyes.

The insidious thought that some of Katerina’s anger at Agnes might be due to the fact that the woman was bedding Ranald slipped into Lucas’s mind and he inwardly cringed. Despite all he suspected Katerina of, he found that hard to believe. The ugly surge of jealousy that gripped him at the thought of Katerina and Ranald together surprised and dismayed him. Lucas did not want to care who Katerina gave her favors to.

A soft noise yanked him from his dark thoughts. Instinct ruling him, Lucas grabbed Katerina by the arm, yanked her back, and shoved her between him and the rocky side of the passage, even as he drew his sword. Someone was moving stealthily toward them down the passageway. Katerina and her men had been safe within all the caverns and passages for a full year, but it only took one mistake to steal that safety away. The man who came into view a moment later was tall, almost too thin, and looked as alarmed as Lucas had briefly felt. Lucas did nothing to stop the man from drawing his sword.

“’Tis only Patrick,” Katerina said, pushing at Lucas’s back and softly cursing when the man did not move an inch.

“
Only
Patrick?” the young man muttered and peered around Lucas to look at Katerina. “Are ye unharmed, m’lady?”

“Aside from being pressed right into the rock by this hulking brute, aye,” Katerina replied.

“One of your men, is he?” asked Lucas.

“Aye, one of mine,” Katerina answered. “Now, would ye please move? I cannae breathe.”

Lucas kept a close watch on Patrick all the while he slowly sheathed his sword. Patrick returned the compliment by keeping a close eye on Lucas as he did the same. The
man’s dark blue eyes held the same wariness Lucas felt It was only Katerina pushing hard at his back and cursing him softly that ended the silent weighing of strengths and weaknesses between him and Patrick. Lucas wondered why the man’s tall, fair-haired handsomeness should irritate him so much.

A heartbeat later he knew exactly why when Patrick smiled at Katerina. Worse, Katerina smiled back at Patrick. The feelings stirring to life inside of Lucas carried the strong taint of jealousy and the very last thing he wanted was to feel possessive toward Katerina. The fact that he had felt the same way only moments ago told him he might be losing that battle. Lucas struggled to fix his mind on the fight against Ranald and Agnes and only that.

“’Tis good to see that ye have returned safely. And unharmed?” asked Katerina.

“Quite unharmed,” replied Patrick, and then he cast a quick look at Lucas. “It appears Sir Murray wasnae quite dead yet.”

Katerina laughed and shook her head. “Nay, not yet. He is thinking he will join us in our fight against Ranald.”

“Nay
thinking
” said Lucas, “but
planning
to. As I have said, I too want Ranald dead.”

Seeing how Katerina winced at that blunt statement, Patrick patted her on the arm. “It has to be done, m’lady. Ye ken it weel e’en if we do all avoid saying so bluntly. Who else has returned?”

“None that we saw. Ye are the first. William waits in the hall for the others.”

“And what are ye about to do? Ye are nay thinking of going out and looking for any of the others, are ye? If they are staying away ’tis because it is still too dangerous to come here, the risk of being seen and captured too high.”

“Nay, I dinnae plan to venture outside. I go to gather us some much-needed supplies, that is all, so ye may cease bristling and go join William.”

The moment Patrick left, Katerina started on her way again. She desperately needed to put some distance between herself and Lucas. Despite the roughness of his actions in his efforts to protect her, she had been deeply stirred by the feel of his body pressed so close to hers. Even the hard, cold stone wall against her back had not cooled the sudden rush of heat in her veins. It was sad, she decided, when a woman could be aroused by being pressed hard against rock by a man who thought her capable of brutally murdering him just because she was jealous.

Suddenly, it did not seem such a good idea to accept Lucas as her lover. The feelings she had for him were still so fierce, ran so bone deep, Katerina knew she would be risking a great deal of pain. She should not have forgotten how she had felt when she had believed he was dead. It had torn her apart, left a gaping wound where her heart should be, and it had been many long months before she had been able to push some of that pain aside. If Lucas and she became lovers and he continued to believe she had had some part in the attack upon him, then they would just be using each other to scratch an itch. She might find that acceptable, despite the punishment her pride would have to endure, but she now suspected that would not last long and she would soon be wallowing in her own pain again. Lucas, on the other hand, could simply walk away at any time.

And, yet, what choice did she have? She thought as she eased open the door to the storerooms deep beneath Dunlochan keep. Despite wanting to do violence to the man for his insulting accusations, Katerina knew she would not be able to resist another taste of
the desire that had always flared between them. She inwardly shrugged. She had survived all attempts to kill her; she had survived thinking the only man she had ever loved had died and left her alone; she would survive the fact that the man she loved and desired was a blind idiot who might just use her and walk away. If they did become lovers, she would try to gather up as many heated memories as she could and then stand dry of eye as he walked away. It was all she could do to salvage her pride. That was one thing she would not allow Lucas Murray to destroy.