Highland Lover. Hannah Howell

and rubbing at the painful spot on the top of her head, certain she could feel a lump rising.

      “Gregor. And ye are?”

      “Alana.”

      “Just Alana?”

      “Just Gregor?”

      “I will tell ye my full name if ye tell me yours.”

      “Nay, I dinnae think so. Someone could be listening, hoping we will do just that.”

      “And ye dinnae trust me as far as ye can spit, do ye?”

      “Why should I? I dinnae ken who ye are. I cannae e’en see you.” She looked around and then wondered why she bothered since it was so dark she could not even see her own hand if she held it right in front of her face. “What did they put ye in here for?”

      Alana suddenly feared she had been confined with a true criminal, perhaps even a rapist or murderer. She smothered that brief surge of panic by sharply telling herself not to be such an idiot. The Gowans wanted to ransom her. Even they were not stupid enough to risk losing that purse by setting her too close to a truly dangerous man.

      “Ransom,” he replied.

      “Ah, me, too. Are they roaming about the country plucking up people like daisies?”

      Gregor chuckled and shook his head. “Only those who look as if they or their kinsmen might have a few coins weighting their purse. A mon was being ransomed e’en as they dragged me in. He was dressed fine, although his bonnie clothes were somewhat filthy from spending time in this hole. I was wearing my finest. I suspect your gown told them your kinsmen might have some coin. Did they kill your guards?”

      Alana felt a blush heat her cheeks. “Nay, I was alone. I got a little lost.”

      She was lying, Gregor thought. Either she was a very poor liar or the dark had made his senses keener, allowing him to hear the lie in her voice. “I hope your kinsmen punish the men weel for such carelessness.”

      Oh, someone would most certainly be punished, Alana thought. There was no doubt in her mind about that. This was one of those times when she wished her parents believed in beating a child. A few painful strikes of a rod would be far easier to endure than the lecture she would be given and, even worse, the confused disappointment her parents would reveal concerning her idiocy and disobedience.

      “How long have ye been down here?” she asked, hoping to divert his attention from how and why she had been caught.

      “Two days, I think. ’Tis difficult to know for certain. They gave me quite a few blankets, a privy bucket that they pull up and empty each day, and food and water twice a day. What troubles me is who will win this game of ye-stay-there-until-ye-tell-me-what-I-want-to-know. My clan isnae really poor, but they dinnae have coin to spare for a big ransom. Nay when they dinnae e’en ken what the money will be used for.”

      “Oh, didnae they tell ye?”

      “I was unconscious for most of the time it took to get to this keep and be tossed in here. All I have heard since then is the thrice-daily question about who am I. And I am assuming all these things happen daily, not just whene’er they feel inclined. There does seem to be a, weel, rhythm to it all. ’Tis how I decided I have been here for two days.” He thought back over the past few days, too much of it spent in the dark with his own thoughts. “If I judge it aright, this may actually be the end of the third day, for I fell unconscious again when they threw me in here. I woke up to someone bellowing that it was time to sup, got my food and water, and was told about the privy bucket and that blankets had been thrown down here.”

      “And ’tis night now. The moon was rising as we rode through the gates. So, three days in the dark. In a hole in the ground,” she murmured, shivering at the thought of having to endure the same. “What did ye do?”

      “Thought.”

      “Oh, dear. I think that would soon drive me quite mad.”

      “It isnae a pleasant interlude.”

      “It certainly isnae. I am nay too fond of the dark,” she added softly and jumped slightly when a long arm was somewhat awkwardly wrapped around her shoulders.

      “No one is, especially not the unrelenting dark of a place like this. So, ye were all alone when they caught ye. They didnae harm ye, did they?”

      The soft, gentle tone of his question made Alana realize what he meant by harm. It struck her as odd that not once had she feared rape, yet her disguise as a child was certainly not enough to save her from that. “Nay, they just grabbed me, cursed me a lot for being impudent, and tossed me over a saddle.”

      Gregor smiled. “Impudent, were ye?”

      “That is as good a word for it as any other. There I was, sitting quietly by a fire, cooking a rabbit I had been lucky enough to catch, and up ride five men who inform me that I am now their prisoner and that I had best tell them who I am so that they can send the ransom demand to my kinsmen. I told them that I had had a very upsetting day and the last thing I wished to deal with was smelly, hairy men telling me what to do, so they could just ride back to the rock they had crawled out from under. Or words to that effect,” she added quietly.

      In truth, she thought as she listened to Gregor chuckle, she had completely lost her temper. It was not something she often did and she suspected some of her family would have been astonished. The Gowans had been. All five men had stared at her as if a dormouse had suddenly leapt at their throats. It had been rather invigorating until the Gowans had realized they were being held in place by insults from someone they could snap in half.

      It was a little puzzling that she had not eluded capture. She was very fast, something often marveled at by her family, could run for a very long way without tiring, and could hide in the faintest of shadows. Yet mishap after mishap had plagued her as she had fled from the men, and they had barely raised a sweat in pursuing and capturing her. If she were a superstitious person, she would think some unseen hand of fate had been doing its best to make sure she was caught.

      “Did they tell ye why they are grabbing so many for ransom?” Gregor asked.

      “Oh, aye, they did.” Of course, one reason they had told her was because of all the things she had accused them of wanting the money for, such as useless debauchery, and not something they badly needed, like soap. “Defenses.”

      “What?”

      “They have decided that this hovel requires stronger defenses. That requires coin or some fine goods to barter with, neither of which they possess. I gather they have heard of some troubles not so far away and it has made them decide that they are too vulnerable. From what little I could see whilst hanging over Clyde’s saddle, this is a very old tower house, one that was either neglected or damaged once, or both. It appears to have been repaired enough to be livable, but I did glimpse many things either missing or in need of repair. From what Clyde’s wife said, this smallholding was her dowry.”

      “Ye spoke to his wife?”

      “Weel, nay. She was lecturing him from the moment he stepped inside all the way to the door leading down here. She doesnae approve of this. Told him that, since he has begun this folly, he had best do a verra good job of it and gather a veritable fortune, for they will need some formidable defenses to protect them from all the enemies he is making.”

      Alana knew she ought to move away from him. When he had first draped his arm around her, she had welcomed what she saw as a gesture intended to comfort her, perhaps even an attempt to ease the fear of the dark she had confessed to. He still had his arm around her and she had slowly edged closer to his warmth until she was now pressed hard up against his side.

      He was a very tall man. Probably a bit taller than her overgrown brothers, she mused. Judging from where her cheek rested so nicely, she barely reached his breastbone. Since she was five feet tall, that made him several inches over six feet. Huddled up against him as she was, she could feel the strength in his body despite what felt to be a lean build. Considering the fact that he had been