Ravished by a Highlander (10 page)

Against the candlelight, her eyes gleamed with mischief, and her mouth was wide with a smile so bonnie Rob had no trouble
understanding why God had chosen her as His own. What had caused this change in her? Had God heard her prayers and lifted
her grief? Rob had thought he might never see her smile, never hear her laughter. But here it was, as unexpected as the summer
rain and just as refreshing.

“Had I known how sensitive Highlanders were, I would have held my tongue.”

He smiled. “As sharp as it is, lass, I fear ’twould have cut through yer lips.”

Davina looked pleasantly surprised. Rob realized an instant later that it was part of the sting when she sweetly said, “You’re
not as thick-skulled as I first thought.”

Narrowing his eyes on her, he shook his head. “Och, lass, ye’re as ruthless as Mairi.”

“Your sister,” Davina said, resting her arm on the back of the pew and giving him her full attention. “The one who cannot
keep silent else she would have found a husband by now?”

Rob nodded, a bit surprised that she remembered their talk of Mairi so clearly. “She is venomous.”

“But you love her.”

“Aye, I love her.

Her smile turned wistful. “Tell me about your family,” she asked, tucking her hand under her chin and getting more comfortable
for the tale.

An hour later Davina knew more about the MacGregors of Skye than they probably did. She enjoyed hearing about Maggie the most,
which pleased Rob, since his aunt held a special place in his heart. When he told her how his father had saved his mother
from the MacColls and then carried her home to Camlochlin, she sighed with delight, making Rob want to prove to her that he
was as valiant as his sire.

“Those were dangerous times fer my parents. My mother is a Campbell, and—”

“A Campbell?” Davina cut him off, that wary glint returning to her eyes. “Then the Earl of Argyll is your kin. Why did you
not tell me this sooner?”

“Because I dinna’ consider him kin,” Rob explained in a quiet voice. “My Uncle Robert was the eleventh Earl, but he was killed
almost a decade ago by the Fergussons. He died childless and the title went to Archibald. I dinna’ know the exiled earl, nor
do I want to. Ye have nothin’ to fear from me, Davina. I swear it.”

She nodded, but didn’t look entirely convinced. “But your uncle was a Protestant. All Campbells strongly oppose royal authority
and legitimate succession—especially when succession to the throne involves a Catholic monarch.”

“And what does that have to do with ye?”

“Nothing,” she hastened to tell him. “It has nothing to do with me, save that I support my king and his beliefs. Your family
does not support the Protestants, do they?”

“Nae,” Rob assured her, curious of her keen knowledge of things no other lass he knew would care one whit about. “We are Catholic.”

Her taut features relaxed a bit. “That is good to know.”

Why, he wanted to ask her? Why was it good to know? And what had driven her to learn so much about the workings of the kingdom—and
the beliefs of the men who controlled it? Was it her faith, under the threat of becoming a crime, or her new king that fanned
the passion in her eyes when she spoke of either one? But he did not ask. It no longer mattered to Rob
why
men were out to kill her, only that they were. He would make certain they did not succeed.

“You’re brooding again.”

He blinked, realizing when his brows relaxed that he was. Well, he had his reasons, and looking at her was one of them.

“’Tis God.”

She gave him a startled, questioning look, tilting her head to follow him as he rose to his feet. “What do you mean?”

Rob glanced at the huge cross at the altar, then at the veil covering her glorious mantle. “He has chosen a most pathetic
man to look after ye.”

R
ob stepped out of the church and into the Abbess. He knew by her rigid posture and cool regard that she was angry. He looked
around for Will, suspecting that his cousin was the cause. Rob hadn’t missed the way the young novice Elaine had blushed and
then granted Will her most radiant smile this morn while he was chopping wood.

“Robert MacGregor, I do not pretend to know or understand the Highland way of life, if your mothers do not bother with teaching
their sons to…” Her sermon came to an abrupt halt when she spotted Davina exiting the dark church behind him. Her eyes went
from wide with surprise to glacial when she slid them back to Rob. She sized him up from his dusty skins around his calves
to his broad, plaid-draped shoulders, then pulled a small cloth from the folds of her sleeve and patted her cheek with it.
“You do understand that she is a daughter of the Lord, do you not?”

“I assure ye, I do.” Rob couldn’t help but glare right back at her, though he knew he should be repentant for the thoughts
which plagued him about Davina Montgomery.

“Mother”—Davina rushed forward to deny the Abbess’s obvious unspoken accusation—“we were merely speaking of…”

Colin’s shout from the bell tower put an end to the remainder of her words. “Rob, a rider approaches! I’m coming down!”

“Stay there!” Rob roared up at him.

The Abbess’s face went deathly pale as Rob drew his heavy claymore from its sheath. “Get inside,” he ordered over his shoulder
to Davina. When he turned back to the Abbess, his tone warned her not to argue. “Ye, too.” From the corner of his eye he saw
Will exiting the stable, securing his plaid around his waist. A moment later, Elaine emerged, adjusting her veil.

Thankfully, the Abbess didn’t see them. She was preoccupied with gaping at Rob and his sword. “You cannot mean to…. He may
need aid.”

“Ye’ll no’ give him entry.”

“It is my service to God to do so,” she argued, taking a step back when he pulled Davina forward, toward the Abbey doors.

“No’ today,” Rob said, pushing Davina inside. He nodded to Will, already on his way toward the gate, bow and arrow in hand.

“No!” the Abbess shouted but then fell silent, her hands clutched at the cross dangling from her neck as Will cocked his bow,
aimed, and let his arrow fly.

“Dear God, you killed him!” The Abbess sprang forward, searching the road beyond the gate for the dead visitor.

Knowing that Will had aimed at the rider’s feet and not his vital organs, Rob yanked her out of potential firing range and
pushed her against the stone outer wall with him.

“Hold your fire!”

At the sound of the rider’s voice, startled but strong, Rob flashed a smile at the Reverend Mother. “I was taught to question
a man before killin’ him. Most of the time.”

She blinked at him, relief and anger vying for preeminence within.

Rob didn’t wait to see which she would offer him. “State yer business here.” His voice boomed across the distance that separated
them from their possible enemy.

“I come on the king’s business,” the rider shouted back. “I am Captain Edward Asher of the Sixth Cavalry Royal division.”

Impossible. Rob released the Abbess and took a cautious step away from the wall to get a better look at the man. Across the
length of the gate, Will plucked another arrow from its quiver. Asher was dead. ’Twas a trap. Some of the Duke’s men from
St. Christopher’s must have followed them here. For a brief moment Rob enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing he’d been correct
to stay at the Abbey. But his brother was here, and so was Finn, waiting in the bell tower—at least, they’d better be. How
many men were out there? Mayhap, he and Will could kill ten or so before the soldiers reached the gate. But Colin would not
stay hidden for long.

Readying his claymore, Rob motioned to his cousin. They had to kill as many as they could before the lads arrived. He watched
Will pull his bowstring and take aim. This time, Will would not intentionally miss. They had all been trained well, but no
one could shoot as accurately or as quickly as Will.

A woman’s shout from behind him just before Will fired his arrow spun Rob on his heels. When he saw Davina running toward
the iron gate, his blood ran cold. Whoever was outside could shoot through the bars and kill her without even getting close.
Rob ran toward her, knowing that if the rider had a pistol or an arrow, he would never reach her in time.

“Edward!” she shouted again, ignoring Will to her left when he dropped his bow and lunged for her.

Rob reached her first and closing his arms around her, threw them both to the ground. Davina landed askew atop him. When she
tried, unsuccessfully, to break free of his hold, she looked down at him, every misgiving she’d felt from the start clearly
etched on her face.

“You lied to me.”

Rob opened his mouth to deny her charge, but another voice at the gate reached her ear first.

“Lady Montgomery! Thank God I have found you! MacGregor, is that you?”

It was Asher. He wasn’t dead, and Davina’s eyes told Rob exactly what she thought of him. He hadn’t only lied to her, he’d
left her only friend to die alone in the ashes.

“Let me go,” she demanded coolly.

Rob did as she asked and gained his feet. Davina and the Abbess had already opened the gate by the time he reached them. He
watched in silence as Asher leaped from his horse and seemed about to drop to one knee before her. He might have if Davina
hadn’t pulled him into her arms.

The captain lived, but how? He’d barely had strength to hold up his sword when Rob had left him. Rob hadn’t looked for survivors
when he rode out of the courtyard with Davina. His only thought had been to get her away safely. He’d just assumed…

“Asher, I thought ye perished,” he said, not really knowing what else to say. An apology would not be enough.

The captain looked up from Davina’s tear-stained face. “I almost did, but not even death can keep me from her.” He smiled
at Rob before his face disappeared once again in the crook of Davina’s neck. Her hero had been returned to her, and Davina
clung to him as if he was all she needed to survive.

Rob did not smile back.

The joy of seeing Edward again was so overwhelming that Davina almost forgot about the man behind her. But she couldn’t forget.
Rob had lied to her. Although her wary heart resisted, she had come to like him. God help her, it was more than that. She
was attracted to him, beguiled by the bold confidence in his gaze and in his step, drawn to the passion he had for his family.
Not to mention the strange flutters he produced when he looked at her. And he looked at her often. Whether she was pulling
weeds in the garden or helping the Abbess prepare supper, his eyes were always on her—on her hair, her face, her waist. She’d
even caught him bending around his chair at the supper table to watch the sway of her hips while she served. As decadent as
it might be, she liked it.

But he’d let her believe Edward was dead. He had not told her that Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyll, was his relative. What
else had he been untruthful about? And why? Her mind raced with a thousand uncertainties and she clung to the only certain
thing she knew. Edward.

“We should get inside the Abbey,” Rob said, pulling on her sleeve. “He could have been followed.”

“Yes,” Edward agreed, looking over his shoulder. “They are but several days away.”

Davina looked up at him, her heart crashing in her chest. Rob stepped closer. “Who, and how many?”

“Admiral Gilles and roughly forty of his men from the Dutch fleet,” Edward said, turning back to Rob. “He isn’t certain the
lady is dead, and until he is—”

Rob hauled them both toward the Abbey and shouted up to Colin and Finn to keep their eyes open. Davina heard him barking orders
to Will to get his arse indoors as Edward ushered her and the Abbess inside.

The moment the doors were shut and bolted, Rob took command like a general on the battlefield. The Abbess was to collect her
most skilled healers and bring them to the Refectory where Captain Asher would be waiting for refreshment and to have his
wounds tended. In her happiness to see him, Davina hadn’t looked at his blood-stained clothes.

“Thank you for saving her,” Edward said, following Davina down the hall.

When Rob didn’t give a response, Davina turned to look at him. He was staring at her, and if he’d saved her with the intention
of causing her harm, it was nowhere in his steady gaze.

“I only wish that I could have done so myself.”

“Oh, Edward.” She stopped and clutched his hands in hers. “You’re alive,” she said, bringing his hands to her cheek. “That
is more than I could have ever hoped for. However did you manage to escape?”

“Aye,” Rob said, pausing behind them while they embraced yet again. “When I met ye, ye had barely a breath left in yer body.”

Was there a challenge in his voice? An accusation? Ridiculous, Davina thought, glaring at him over Edward’s shoulder. She
should be questioning
him
!

“I was thrown from my horse shortly after you left, MacGregor.” If Edward heard the suspicion in Rob’s grave tone, he took
no offense to it. Of course, he wouldn’t. Edward was no fool. Getting a better look at him now, Davina could see clearly that
he was in no condition to fight. Especially not with a man who stood at least two heads taller than he, a man who looked fit
and ready to face whatever army appeared at the gate with just himself and the skilled, watchful archer at his side.