Prescribed for Love (16 page)

While searching the lists for Branan, Cat was also careful to avoid
Alasdair
. She
was relieved when she found the young guard
without coming in contact with the laird. “Branan, are you very busy? Do you think I could steal you away for a little while? I want to gather some of those berries Lainie told me about.”

“For ye Lady Cat—anything,” replied Branan.

“Nay, ye stay here, I will go with her.”
Of course
—of course
Alasdair
would be right here!
Catriona had not seen him when she
approached; he had
been well hidden behind
an
other ma
n.

“No, that’s
okay. I don’t want to bother you,” said Cat in an attempt to abort her efforts and
escape
from
Alasdair
’s company as
soon as possible
.

“Nay, ti
s nothing. How long can looking at a few berries take? Besides, I could use a small snack
,” responded
Alasdair
. Cat
tried to think of another excuse, but failed
.
Even though she would look like an idiot, she briefly contemplated fleeing.
However
, before she could run,
Alasdair
took her arm to guide her toward her previously desired
destination.
D
amn chivalry getting in the way of my cowardly
flight
!

Neither Catriona nor Alasdair spoke as they left for the berries—each was too deeply
immersed in
their own thoughts to notice the other’s silence.
The blaeberries appeared remarkably similar to blueberries
, only they did n
ot grow in
bunches. Curious, Cat
popped one in her mouth. The
y
pretty much t
asted like blueberries too—just
much more
flavorful. Worried
Alasdair
may have wanted to come
with her
to take advantage of their solitude, Cat immediately set to work gathering the fruit. “Are you going to stand there looking pretty, or are you going to help?” asked Cat. She hoped this sounded close enough to her normal teasing. She did not want
Alasdair
to suspect her frazzled state of mind.

“Aye, give me a bucket. But, I am nae pretty, I am handsome.”

“I think you need to work on your humbleness pretty-boy.”

“
I think ye meant to say handsome-man.”

“Pretty-boy, handsome-man,
whatever,
it doesn’t matter, just get
pickin’
,”
laughed
Cat as she gave him the larger pail. Even though she had wanted to avoid him, she still found her
self
amused with
their interaction
.
Relieved when
Alasdair
simply began to pick
beside her, Cat let herself relax.

When the buckets were nearly full,
Alasdair
asked, “Catriona, have ye been happy here?”
Uh oh, this sounds serious.

Deciding to
be
vague, Cat replied, “Everyone has been very kind.”

“That is nae an answer.”

“Well, yes, I have been happy enough. But, I would be happiest back home,” said Cat.

“Have ye thought about what ye will do if yer brother never comes looking for ye?” he asked.

Now Cat was really leery of the direction of this conversation. “If he had any clue about my whereabouts he would try and find me. But, you are right, I should probably start looking for a way to get home on my own.” Cat knew this was not what
Alasdair
meant, but decided to interpret his question the way she wanted.

“That isnae what I meant.” There was a long pause in which Cat solely directed her attention to the berries in front of her. She could not bring herself to make eye contact with the man. “
What I mean
t to say is
ye have a place here if ye want it.”

“That’s kind of you to say, but I could not stay as your guest here indefinitely. I would not want to be such a burden.”

“I dinnae mean as a guest.”
Oh shit, I hope he’s not asking what I think he’s asking.
“I mean ye could stay here as my wife.”

Abort, abort, abort!
This time Cat really did flee. She did not even grab the berries she had spent the last hour picking.
Gah, I should have never come out here with him!
Feeling trapped, Cat ran to her room. She needed that book to send her bask ASAP!

***

Keith was back at Cat’s apartment. Only this time he was taking her things out of
what was to be her new residence
. She
had been missing for almost three
months now. With no word on her whereabouts, the apartment complex wanted to relist her unit. Keith felt completely numb while packing her boxes in her truck. He just kept reliving her graduation day. He should have made her ride with him in the truck.

Keith grabbed the last box, once again the heaviest, filled with all of her books. As he lifted if into the back, the tape holding it together gave way, dumping books everyone. He was tempted t
o just leave them, but instead began
to pick them up and
then
throw them haphazardly into the back.
He thought he had finally picked up the last one, but then noticed one more book sitting precariously on the edge of a small ditch right outside of the surrounding woods. He rushed to grab the book before it fell, but moved a little too fast. The ground at the edge of the ditch was muddy, and his weight caused it to collapse—he rolled down the hill
just
as he grabbed the book.

Dis
oriented
from the fall, Keith stayed l
ying on his back for a few moments. As
he stood
, something
shiny
caught his eye.
Oh my g
od! It’s Cat’s graduation cap!
He ran over to grab it. T
hinking
she may have fallen down here
Keith
ran
further into the woods
, looking for any additional
signs of Cat.
In a crazed manner
he continued his search
,
paying
attention
to neither the time, nor the direction.

Keith only stopped when he
heard a noise ahead that greatly distu
rbed him. I
t sounded like there were men fighting
just a few feet ahead of him
. Concerned
they
may somehow have been involved in Cat’s disappearance, he advanced slowly.
But, as he came upon their location, he was only able to see the back of a man running away, leaving an injured ma
n on the ground.
He rushed to the man’s side, but it was too late.

***

Of all of the possible reactions
Alasdair
had envisioned, he had not expected Catriona to simply run away
at his offer
. While he had not seriously considered marriage before
his conversation with Ailsa, Catriona’s
rejection still hurt. He tried to tell himself that she was not really rejecting
him;
she just did not
yet
want to
consider she may never go home
. Wanting to better explain his reasoning, he began to go after Catriona, but stopped short when he saw Niall racing toward him.

The man pulled his destrier to a quick halt
. “Laird, Cailen was killed while out with one of the patrols.”

“Did ye kill the man that did it?” asked
Alasdair
. He was livid
someone had dared
such a
vicious assault
.

“Nay, but we hav
e him with us. He says he isnae
a Cameron. I thought ye would like to
question
him.”

“Aye. Where is he?”

“I rode ahead to find ye
so ye could
greet the party on their way into the keep.”
Alasdair
took
Niall’s
suggestion
,
leaving the guard as he sprinted in the direction of the castle
.

***

Now Cat was truly panicked. She could not find the book anywhere! She always kept it in the same spot, and the only other people who were ever in here would never steal it. It was not as if the book would just disappear.

“Go fuck yourself!”
The yelled expletive floated in through the window
causing Cat to freeze in her tracks
.
Oh my god
, it can’t be.
Pray
ing she was wrong,
she ran to the window
hoping
disprove her fear. Just inside th
e castle walls was a man bound and kneeling before Alasdair, who appeared to
be
questioning
the newcomer in a rat
her violent manner. The
man
was not wearing a kilt like most of the men
surrounding
him
; instead, he wore a pair of pants suspiciously similar to blue jeans
. Catriona ran faster than she ever had in her life.

Catriona
’s
feet did not even seem to touch the stone beneath
her
as she
flew down the stairs;
she pushed
anyone in her path out of the way. Reaching the landing, she hiked her skirt up and
sprinted to the gathering of
men. She was
forced to manhandle
her way through to the center. She arrived just as
Alasdair
was once again pulling back his
arm to deliver another
fer
ocious blow
. She threw herself
in front of the fist,
successfully
misdirect
ing
most of the
strike
by using her arms as a shield. “
Alasdair
stop!”

“What are ye doing woman? I could have killed
ye!” roared
Alasdair
. “Now move
!”

“NO!”

“Get out of
the
way
!”

“
Alasdair
listen to me. I don’t know what
happened, but I do know who this man is. This is Keith!” This sentence managed to break through
Alasdair
’s rage
, finally causing him to quit his assault
.

“Yer brother?”

“Yes.”

“It doesnae matter. He killed Cailen and I need to find out
why.
”

“Cailen’s dead?” asked Cat, completely shocked. She had never really interacted with the old man once she came back, but she never would have wanted this for the man.

“Aye.”

“Keith would never kill anybody. Did you even see him do it?” she asked.

“Nay, Niall found him over Cailen’s body.”

Cat’s gaze searched out Niall’s, but did not find it. “Finding Keith there doesn’t mean he killed him. Where is Niall. Let’s ask him what he saw.”

“Are ye questioning me lass?”

“Of course I’m questioning you! I find you beat
ing the crap out of my brother—
whom I t
hought I might never see again—based
on some bogus charges with no proof, and you expect me to just sit back and let you dole out the punishment? Sorry
Mac
,
that
just
ai
n’t
my style.”

“He killed one of my men!”

“You don’t know that. Why don’t we wait for Niall to tell us what happened? Look, there he is now!”

“NIALL!” roared
Alasdair
.

“Aye?” asked the man
, running to his laird’s side
.

“Ye said this man killed Cailen, is this true?”

“Aye
,” said Niall.

“But did you actually see it?”
asked Catriona.

“Well, nay, but he was standing over Cailen’s body when I found him.”