The Highlander's Warrior Bride (7 page)

Now his life was on the line. Not that he minded. Ronan would have gone up against a hundred men to save Julianna. The thing was, he thought he deserved to know what her place was. Who she was.

And if she refused to tell him, he would get the answers from Wallace or Robert the Bruce. Ronan gritted his teeth. Wallace had promised him answers. But how could he be sure it wasn’t simply a ploy to have him find Julianna? Ronan was one of the best at retrieving missing people, protecting people. His guess as to why they’d sent him out alone.

“Come now,” he said to Lil Lass as he remounted his horse. They needed to keep on her trail.

Not knowing what exactly Julianna’s stamina was, he didn’t want to stop now. Most likely she’d run through the night. The woman had to know Robert would send someone out after her. Being aware of that, she would most likely go as far as she possibly could without collapsing.

Was it
conceivable that she’d gained all her strength back so quickly? He’d only just retrieved her for the first time a week before.

Ronan growled as he urged Saint into motion
and tossed Lil Lass another hunk of dried venison jerky. She swallowed it in one bite and then put her nose to the ground. Walking in a circle, the dog finally continued to the left. Off the path they’d been headed on before.

Had
Julianna lost her way?

Ronan shook his head. She wasn’t lost, because she couldn’t have any idea where she was going
in the end. He had a pretty good inclination she was going after Ross. That meant she had to find his old camp and track him from there. A spot she could easily find tonight.

Ronan would have
bet a pouch full of silver that was where she was headed.

With renewed confidence, he urged Saint into a trot. They’d be there within an hour.

As predicted, they happened upon the spot where Ronan had first saved her. Half the tents were still standing. Others had come loose and hung from makeshift poles like dejected white flags, waving in the light winter breeze. The bodies had been removed by his men and buried. But the place was still scattered with remnants from camp. All the weapons were gone. Provisions taken. Tools, however, remained behind. A few blankets here and there, pots, a pair of boots, what looked like a whittled horse.

’Twas eerie and rather sad. Just looking at the abandoned camp one could assume those who’d occupied
it left rather quickly.

Lil Lass sniffed around, stopping several times in certain spots, particularly outside of the tent Ronan had found Julianna in before.

He froze. Panic seized him. Was it possible that Lil Lass had taken up Julianna’s scent from a couple weeks ago? No, no, no. God, let that not be the case.

Ronan dismounted, left Saint idle, and proceeded to whip back the fabric on the tents, allowing the moonlight to stream inside.

No Julianna. Lil Lass, sniffed around the edges of camp, again stopping and turning, appearing confused. Julianna’s scent was everywhere. But she herself was not.

Ronan prayed she’d not met with foul play. That the scents were confusing because some were old and some were new. Had the lass gotten spooked and decided to take up the night somewhere else? That would be the smartest thing since the camp was exposed and she
, only one person, could not take on a band of men. Or an army.

The other possibility was that she’d simply continued on. Caught the scent of Ross and moved forward.

“Ballocks,” Ronan muttered under his breath. He stopped in the middle of the camp, hands on his hips and huffed a breath.

’Twould appear that tracking Lady Julianna would be a lot harder then he’d originally contemplated.

Lil Lass sat beside him, the heat of her body seeping onto his exposed flesh between his boots and the end of his plaid. He’d much rather have the heat of Julianna’s body against his.

Patting the dog, he led her to the outskirts of the camp, hoping she’d pick up Julianna’s scent going in another direction. But Lil Lass, continued to stop on the edge of the woods, then circled back into the camp.

The trail was dead.

Julianna
was not here, and hadn’t been. Somehow the hound had been misled.

Well, he wasn’t going to get anywhere else tonight. He
’d get a few hours of rest before day break, and then start anew.

A subtle shift in the wind had Lil Lass lifting her nose. And with it, Ronan too. He listened keenly. Could have sworn he’d heard something.
Fabric scraping. Not the usual sounds he’d become accustomed to. Or the tents. This was different. He doubled back behind the tents and when he was well hidden, he looked up to the trees.

“Got ye,” he whispered.

There perched high above camp, was the most beautiful, dangerous sight he’d ever seen. Julianna—a knife poised ready to strike in her hand.

Chapter Seven

W
hat the devil was he doing here?

Julianna heard someone approaching. She’d not however in a million years believe
d it would be Ronan. She frowned down at him, contemplated throwing her knife. In the moonlight she was easily able to see her target and would not miss. Even if he did hide behind the tent. Was it possible he’d heard her when she shifted her position? The sound was slight, but to a trained warrior, it would have been noticeable. Moving couldn’t be helped, her foot had started to fall asleep.

If the wind stopped, she could land a blow to his chest.

Then again, did she really want him dead? Her weapon was newly oiled in poisonous mushroom juices. With a deep, annoyed sigh, she sheathed the knife at her side and watched.

The fact of the matter was, seeing him made her heart race. Her fingers even shook a
little. She hated admitting she was a little excited to see him.

Oddly enough, he was alone, save for the horse and the hound. Julianna
had not seen Ronan with a dog before and guessed it must have been borrowed. Scenting her out. The dog had done a good job. Julianna headed this way for two reasons—one she hoped if they did send the dogs after her, they would give up when they reached here, guessing the dogs had come back to the place she’d been held captive. The second reason was it was easiest to track Ross from this point.

It’d been awhile since she’d tracked a man. A year or more. The past several months she’d been cooped up inside Eilean Donan. Even the name was starting to make her claustrophobic. Stuck on
that island, nowhere to go. Bairn-sitting Robert.

Julianna wasn’t going back now. Not with Ronan. She had a job to do. She’d see it done or else she’d be labeled a failure, and just might go insane in the process.

Ronan seemed to lose interest in the camp. He mounted his horse, whistled to the dog and took off in the opposite direction he’d come. Thank the Saints. He’d probably assumed she’d never been here, or at the very least that she was no longer.

Julianna counted to six hundred and then climbed down. With a solid ten minutes of Ronan being gone, she was confident he wouldn’t come back looking for her. Although she wouldn’t consider herself the best tree-climber, she was also not the worst.

It’d been a hobby of hers when she was a child. A way to hide from her instructors or from the other children who jeered at her. However unfortunate it was that she’d come by the skill, she was pleased to have maintained the talent.

To the right of the camp was a gully. Steep in parts, but not so much in others, she’d led her horse down into it to keep him safe. Knowing there were people looking for her—as far she knew Ronan could just be ahead of the party—it wasn’t safe for her to stay here any longer.

Making haste, Julianna half slid, half ran down the hill, using all of her concentration on her steps not to trip or fall. A few well-placed roots and saplings helped her along the way. By the time she reached the bottom, she was no worse for wear. Brave munched peacefully on whatever it was he found beneath the pile of leaves. Grass perhaps.

She gripped his reins and glanced around. Getting down was easier with the horse. Climbing by herself had been difficult, it would be eve
n harder leading a large animal.

“Come now, Brave,” she said softly. “Time to fly again.”

Her horse nodded his head and took steps to follow as she led him toward the incline. Glancing up, she wished she’d thought of a better place to hide the beast. Nevertheless, she wasn’t one to give up.

With an encouraging word to the animal, she began to climb. Brave didn’t appear to have any issues with the ascent. His hooves found sturdy placement at each move. They’d made it halfway when a sound from above made her stop dead still.

“Shh…boy,” she whispered to the horse, rubbing his mane. Brave’s flesh shuddered beneath her touch and he side-stepped to find better footing. He wasn’t exactly in a good spot to stand still. They needed to keep moving.

Straining her ears, and peering up to the top of the rise, Julianna tried to decipher the noise. A shuffling. Like walking, but she couldn’t figure out if it was one person, more than one, or just an animal. A sheer whistle had her shuddering. A call to someone.

Then voices.

And she didn’t recognize them.

Not Ronan.

Saints!

Perhaps it would be better to go back down into the ravine and walk a ways until they found a better spot to climb.

She couldn’t wait until those above decided to look over the hill. The moon shined too bright tonight to make them invisible and with the horse on shaky ground, she would easily be overcome.

Julianna listened a few moments longer. There was the sounds of metal clinking, shuffling, talking and a few more whistles. Enough to tell her that those above were settling in, not leaving. At least she was down here and not still stuck in the tree. That would put her in even more danger. She may have climbed a tree to hide earlier, but she’d no plans to stay up there the rest of the night. The discipline to remain unmoving would be draining enough, not to mention keeping herself perched precariously throughout the night without falling asleep. Already, exhaustion seeped in. She’d barely recovered from her last ordeal. Leaving when she did to go after Ross was not the best of her decisions, but one she’d made nevertheless. There was no other time that she could do it. No other way.

T
hank goodness Ronan had already left. She’d never forgive herself for running off to capture Ross if Ronan was the cost.

Not that she cared for the man. Much.

She just didn’t want him to be a casualty in her operation.

Brave appeared to sense her hesitation, probably felt the vibration of her worry through the reins. He nudged her with his nose, and Julianna gave him a gentle pet. Every moment that passed standing here put them further in danger. It was only a matter of time before Brave made a noise, or one of the camp settlers chose to peer over the ravine out of sheer curiosity.

The question was, how could she get out of here quietly? What was the safest path?

Obviously she needed more practice with stealth, and so did Brave. It’d been too long since they’d last traveled out to do so. A fact she would need to remedy when they
returned. A long talk was overdue with Robert. Julianna understood her duty to him, to Scotland, but in turn, Robert needed to appreciate the need for her to keep up with her training.

The warrior inside her was close to being tamped down and Julianna could not let that happen.
Another reason why marrying was out of the question.

Glancing up at the moon, she marveled at its brightness, its shape, wondered if there were any castles up there, someone staring down at her and speculating the same thing. A breeze tunneled through the gully and stirred the leaves around her feet. With the wind blowing, the noises of their moving would be harder to hear. She tugged on Brave’s reins
and pulled him carefully back down the hill, stopping and going with the blowing wind.

They made it down to the bottom without anyone sending up the alarm. For a moment, Julianna considered mounting the horse and riding him until she found a safer place to climb, but realized that it would most likely be safer for her to lead him a
ways.

The wind picked up, rustling the trees and sending eerie whistles through the air. Every little noise had her jumping, an exercise in keeping her calm. Her nerves were frayed. She concentrated on keeping her breathing steady, slowing her heart. Remaining in control and not letting her imagination get the better of her. She truly was rusty when it came to sneaking about in the dark. A fact she
detested admitting to herself.

Putting some distance between herself and the camp, Julianna began to feel more at ease. It would be best to get a
s far away as she could and then find a place for her and Brave to rest until morning. Her bones were starting to ache, her muscles to shake. If they didn’t find a place soon, they would risk capture, for she’d surely collapse.

Julianna
stole a moment to pull the wineskin of water from the saddle and took a long drink. The water helped a little, invigorating her to keep moving. The gully ended up being a lot longer than she’d estimated. And good thing too, it put her further away from the men who’d taken up residence in Ross’ old camp.

Who could they have been?

Wouldn’t it be just her luck they were actually Ross men? Julianna shook her head. Nay, they wouldn’t come back. Not when they knew the Bruce’s men would be after them. That would be the most idiotic thing they could do. Then again, perhaps knowing that, they decided the Bruce camp would not come looking for them there.

She debated leaving Brave here to graze and doubling back to check for sure. A bad idea, truly.

A shallow incline was on the right just a few yards ahead. Julianna increased her pace and began to climb. Brave had no problems gaining his footing. Moments later they reached the top. Staying still, Julianna took in her surroundings. They’d surfaced in the woods. Pine trees surrounded her, making it harder to see, their thick needles blocking the sky and the light of the moon. Closing her eyes, she listened carefully, zeroing in on each sound, becoming accustomed to it. A light breeze blew with a subtle whistle. Pine needles ruffled, pine cones knocked. A few small animals scurried. A larger one--’haps a deer, picked its way carefully through the woods. The crunch not big enough to be a human—at least she hoped. An owl or two hooted. In the distance, she heard the faint sound of a wolf howling.

The men at the camp were quiet, or least quiet enough
that their sound didn’t carry on the wind. They’d not lit a fire, for she didn’t catch the scent of smoke in the breeze.

Brave pawed the ground, dipped his head to
burrow within the leaves for a bite of sweet grass.

Julianna opened her eyes, adjust
ing to the darkness of the woods, letting the little light that seeped through highlight the tree trunks and branches, leaves on the ground. A swift breeze blew, broken up by the trees it felt like it was coming at her from all angles. She tugged her cloak tighter, made herself believe she was warmer than she was.

They were east of the camp, and the most likely direction that Ross had run. A village was a few miles through these woods.
Kinterloch she believed it was called. A small holding previously ruled by Ross. A wooden keep was there, kept by his cousin. The soil was rich there. Crops aplenty in the spring. They even held a small market Julianna had been to a few times. As good a spot as any for Ross to seek shelter. No one would know of his treachery yet, and his cousin would most likely offer him shelter. Another reason why Julianna herself could not do the same. She could, however, find a place to hide near the village until morning and then sneak inside to see if Ross and his men were there. With the right fabrics—which she had—blending in was easy. If she made herself as unappealing as possible, men were not likely to pay attention.

’Twas an easy task. She often combed dirt through her hair to tame the
red and gold. Smudged a bit on her cheeks to give the appearance of not having bathed in a while. Kept her nails nice and dirty. And the clothes. Her plaid was dull, worn. No one ever took interest.

In fact, even at Eilean Donan, when she’d
given full care to her appearance and gown on a few occasions to look nice, only one man had taken notice.

Ronan.

Because he noticed her, she noticed him. Hmm…Not necessarily true. She’d noticed him the moment he crossed over the bridge. The way he sat his horse with superior strength and power. The way he could be serious with his men and then pass a look toward her that was both heated and mischievous at the same time. Every time he looked at her, a spark set off inside.

A spark that just now was making itself known. Why did he have to invade her
thoughts? Take over as though he had a place there? Like she wanted him there.

Julianna gritted her teeth and took a tentative step forward. A branch cracked beneath her foot and she stilled, her entire body on alert for any sounds she’d not already become acquainted with.

There was nothing but the familiar, and so she took another step, tugging Brave along with her. They’d walked about five feet when the air changed. Became charged. Sensing her unease, Brave flicked his tail, perked his ears. He heard something as well.