Highland Savage. Hannah Howell

eyes alight with welcome and happiness. Memories of their time together, the warmth of her kisses, and the softness of her skin swept over him. And it was all a lie, he thought, abruptly banishing every trace of pleasure he felt over the sight of her standing there alive and well and pretending she was glad to see him.

      “They told me ye were dead,” he said.

      Something cold and hard in his voice halted Katerina’s rush to hold him in her arms. For just a moment she had seen joy, wonder, and heated welcome in his beautiful silvery-blue eyes, but that was all gone now. Now Lucas looked distant, cold, and even angry. She began to feel increasingly uneasy. This reunion was not going as she had imagined it would.

      “Aye, but those bastards didnae succeed in killing me, either,” she said.

      “And why would they e’en want to? Ye refused to pay them for a job weel done, did ye?”

      “A job weel done? Ye think I ordered them to beat ye?”

      Lucas shrugged. “Ye certainly seemed to be enjoying the show.”

      “They caught me as they caught you. They told me that if I stood there and said naught, did naught, they wouldnae kill you.” The scornful noise he made cut her deeply.

      “Ye made nary a whisper of protest e’en as they threw me o’er the cliff.”

      “I was too shocked! By the time I realized they truly meant to kill ye, it was too late to do anything, e’en protest. Ye were gone.”

      There was a catch in her husky voice that sliced through his fury and that made Lucas even angrier. He would not weaken again, would not allow the tears welling in her beautiful eyes to soften his heart and make him a fool. The important thing to find out now was just why she had saved him this time when a year ago she had tried to kill him.

      “I cannae believe ye would think I had anything to do with that attack upon you. What reason could I have had to do such a thing?”

      “The usual—jealousy.”

      “Jealousy? Ye think I would have a mon killed for that?”

      “Ye had made it verra clear but a few hours earlier that ye were furious about the way Agnes wouldnae leave me be, that ye believed I was welcoming her fawning attentions.”

      “I would ne’er have ye beaten and killed for that!”

      “Then what was your reason?”

      Katerina just stared at him, unable to understand how he could believe such things about her. Then the pain she felt over his suspicions turned to anger. She had grieved for this man. All the time she had wept until she was weak and ill, he had thought her the cause of his pain and near death, judgments reached without any proof.

      “Ye dinnae deserve this, but I will tell ye the truth this once. I had naught to do with what happened to you. ’Twas Agnes’s order the men followed. They told me that if I stood silent, did not plead or weep or try anything to help you, they wouldnae kill ye. I did exactly as they asked because I wanted ye alive. Then they tossed ye over the cliff. Ere I had fully accepted the truth, that they had ne’er intended to let ye live, they threw me o’er after ye. Agnes didnae just want ye dead for spurning her, but me as weel.”

      “It appears ye recovered weel enough.”

      The way Katerina stared at him as if he was a complete stranger to her made Lucas uneasy. He had the unsettling feeling that he had just dealt her a heart-deep wound, but that made no sense. He had seen her, seen her standing there silent, dry-eyed, and un-protesting as he had been beaten and cut.

      “Mayhap it just went further than ye had planned for,” he began, abruptly silenced by the slashing movement she made with her hand.

      “And mayhap ye ne’er kenned me at all. Mayhap I have spent all these months grieving o’er the loss of something that ne’er truly existed.”

      Before he could respond and hurt her even more, Katerina walked out of the chamber, leaving him alone with the other man, who watched him as if he was a complete lunatic.

      Chapter Three

      Lucas scowled at the man who sat across the fire from him. The only thing the man had said since Katerina had walked out was I am William and I think ye may be too witless to live. Although the insult stung, Lucas could only admire loyalty. This unrelenting silence, however, was becoming unendurable. Lucas had questions that needed answering and it was becoming obvious that Katerina was not soon to return to answer them.

      “Where did she go?” Lucas finally asked.

      “Away from ye,” William answered, not even glancing up from his carving.

      “I ken that weel enough, but where did that take her? Are there more rooms like this one?”

      “There are a lot of rooms down here. Some are a goodly size, some nay more than a niche in the rock. There are passages and hollows running throughout this hill, right up to the back of Dunlochan keep itself.”

      “’Tis one great bolt-hole.”

      “Aye, for the holy men who used to abide here and for those within the keep. I am thinking ’tis a mixture of what has always been here, what was natural, and hundreds of years of hard work. This land certainly gives a mon many a reason to want a secure place to hide for a wee while.”

      “True. So, why are ye hiding here now?”

      “Weel,” William briefly looked at him and the look in his dark eyes was not particularly friendly, “it certainly isnae because of ye or what ye think she did.”

      “Ye didnae see her that day, didnae see how still and calm she was as Ranald and his dogs beat, kicked, and cut me. They told me she had ordered it done. Ranald himself whispered it in my ear as he cut my face. Said it was Katerina’s plan to make sure I wasnae so bonnie any more and wouldnae find it so easy to play with a lassie’s heart.”

      “And ye would believe a mon like Ranald o’er Lady Katerina? Wheesht, I think the bastards kicked ye in the head one too many times for ’tis certain that your wits are sadly scattered.”

      “If Katerina was so innocent why didnae she send word to my clan about what had happened to me?”

      “And bring their wrath down upon the people of Dunlochan, most of whom had naught to do with it? She thought ye were dead and kenned that the Murray clan might seek blood to pay for the killing of ye. M’lady was fair surprised when nary a one of them came looking for ye.” William paused in his carving to look at Lucas more closely. “Just how did ye survive and get away?”

      “I can swim.”

      “Ah, the lass was that sure your leg had been broken.”

      “It was, but a mon can abide almost any pain if it means he doesnae drown. I crawled out of the water and kept right on crawling. Stopped only long enough to tend my wounds as best as I could and then headed home. There were good people along the way to give me aid.” Lucas shrugged, loath to think much about pain-filled days and nights, the terror of feeling so helpless, and all the travails of traveling unarmed and unable to even hunt for food. He also did not want to explain how his twin had found him because of a dream because too many people found that bond between twins a little hard to believe or tolerate. “I didnae notice Katerina looking for me either, and I would have been easy enough to track down and catch.”

      William shook his head. “She is right to say that ye ne’er truly kenned her. Did ye nay hear her say that they threw her in the loch as weel? Ah, I can see ye doubt the truth of it, but I will tell ye the tale anyway. They threw her in right after ye. Being that she is such a wee lass they were able to throw her farther than they did ye and she landed in the water, hitting only a few rocks when she went under. She nearly drowned. Kenning that she couldnae let the bastards see that she could swim and mayhap save herself, she swam beneath the water as much as she could and made her way to a sheltered cove. Poor lass was fair battered to death upon the rocks there ere