Highland Savage. Hannah Howell

eyes as he looked at her and no beguiling smile curved his sensuous mouth. When she realized she was staring at his slightly full bottom lip, thinking of how she would like to nibble on it, she gave herself a mental slap and scowled at him.

      “Why are ye still here?” she demanded, accepting the bowl of rabbit stew William served her and refusing to acknowledge, even to herself, that she would have been devastated if Lucas had left while she had been indulging in self-pity and grief.

      Lucas scowled right back at her and helped himself to a bowl of stew. It annoyed him that upon seeing the faint evidence that Katerina had been crying, he had immediately wanted to take her into his arms and comfort her. If her guilt and shame troubled her it was none of his concern.

      “It appears that ye and I have the same goal this time,” he replied. “We both want Ranald dead.”

      Katerina inwardly winced at that blunt truth. She loathed the fact that she wanted a man dead, but could not deny that, in many ways, she did. The only way to be safe from Ranald was to bury the man. Ranald was not the sort of man to meekly accept any loss and, when she won the battle against Agnes, Ranald lost. The man liked the power he now wielded far too much to give it up without at least seeking revenge upon the ones who took that power away from him.

      “True. If there is to be peace in Dunlochan again then Ranald must be slain.”

      “Because he betrayed you? Who does he obey now?”

      “The same one he has always obeyed—Agnes. ’Tis because of her and all of her plots that Dunlochan is now under siege and we must hide inside this hill.”

      “Ye expect me to believe that Agnes has kept ye and your men running and hiding for a year? That lass hasnae the wit to do that. The only thing that lass can think about is men and gowns.”

      “Agnes rules Ranald and the two of them are cunning and cruel.” Katerina shook her head. “I suspect my father thought as ye do, that Agnes was naught more than a witless girl whose only thoughts were for teasing and luring men and spending too much of his coin on gowns. To be certain, Agnes does spend far too much of her time pondering such useless things, but she is also cold and cruel. There is a hard, cold viciousness in Agnes that she hides weel from the men she seeks to enthrall. Her husband was bewitched for a while but he finally saw her for what she truly is. Sadly, it took the death of a maid he had flirted with to open his eyes.”

      “He saw Agnes kill a maid?”

      “Nay, but he had nay doubt it was her doing. He hadnae e’en been unfaithful, had just exchanged a few smiles with the maid and a jest or two, but it cost the poor lass her life. I think Agnes had Ranald do it, that she and Ranald were already lovers. So did her husband Robbie. Robbie left soon after and hasnae been back since. Agnes has been hunting him, but I dinnae think it is for a loving reunion. Nay, she wants Robbie dead.”

      “Because the men your father chose as advisors dinnae approve of him?”

      “Ye and William had a nice wee talk whilst I was gone, didnae ye.”

      Lucas found himself almost smiling at the look Katerina gave William, a look that cried the man a traitor. He quickly pushed aside that feeling. Katerina had always been able to make him smile, but Lucas now felt that was one reason he had never seen a hint of warning concerning her betrayal of him.

      “He told me what he believes, aye,” Lucas drawled.

      That hurt, but Katerina just turned her scowl back on him. “Nay, they dinnae approve of Robbie. My father didnae, either. Robbie isnae a bad mon, but he isnae exactly what a father would want for his daughter. He is poor, a wee bit feckless, and a mon who would much rather talk or buy himself out of trouble than pick up a sword. I think their judgment harsh. There is good in Robbie and I believe he would have made Agnes a verra good husband if she had actually been interested in having one.”

      “Aye,” agreed William, “but, mayhap, nay such a good laird for Dunlochan. Robbie didnae really want to be one, either. Far too much work for the lad.”

      “True.” Katerina smiled briefly. “Far too much work. Unfortunately Robbie’s lack of ambition is one reason Agnes now wants to be a widow. I e’en think she might be considering making Ranald her next husband.”

      “And the council would approve of such a mon?” Lucas asked in surprise.

      “They might,” replied Katerina, “but I am nay sure why. Fear, mayhap. They have to ken that Ranald would nay hesitate to kill them or their families if they tried to stop him from grasping the laird’s seat. ’Tis easy to say aye or nay to a lass’s choice of husband when the mon is no true threat to ye, isnae it.”

      “True. So why doesnae Agnes just claim that her husband is dead?”

      “Because the council would require proof of it, if only the word of someone they dinnae recognize as one of Agnes’s minions. The fact that Ranald hasnae been able to rid the area of those treacherous masked reivers,” Katerina exchanged a fleeting grin with William, “has also made Agnes hesitate, I think. Ranald hasnae really proved his worth to her yet.”

      “Except in her bedchamber,” William muttered.

      “From what little I ken of it all, Robbie also proved his worth there but it didnae keep Agnes faithful to him nor has it made her hesitate in wanting him dead now.” Katerina frowned as she thought over the whole situation with Agnes and Ranald for a moment. “I think Agnes is hoping she can wed with Ranald and grab hold of Dunlochan ere the council can make its objections heard.”

      “Then silence them so that their objections can ne’er be heard?” Lucas asked.

      “Something like that. Although it wouldnae be easy, for they are weel born men and have important friends and kinsmen.”

      It was almost impossible for Lucas to believe the fair-haired, giggling Agnes could be capable of such cold cunning. He had not spent much time with the woman, had actually done his best to avoid her, but he had seen no hint of such a cold, vicious nature. Then again, he had never suspected such a nature in Katerina and that blindness had nearly cost him his life. Or, he was utterly wrong in what he thought had happened that long ago day by the loch, a soft, coaxing voice whispered in his mind. Lucas ruthlessly silenced that voice. No one had yet shown him any reason to believe Katerina was innocent, that she was, perhaps, as much a victim as he had been.

      “Are the others coming here tonight, William?” Katerina asked her cousin.

      “Nay, not until much later,” William replied. “Ranald is taking longer and longer to give up the hunt when he pursues us and we dinnae want him finding our bolt-hole.”

      Katerina nodded, grateful for such caution, yet deeply disturbed by the need for it. Ranald was becoming far more tenacious than he had ever been in the beginning of this battle. The man’s determination to put an end to their forays against him had grown with each defeat he had suffered at their hands. Katerina did not need to hear the man’s threats and curses to know that Ranald wanted them all dead. Agnes undoubtedly had the same desire. The danger for her and her men, even their allies, grew each time they rode out yet Katerina knew there was no choice. The battle for Dunlochan had not been won yet. Katerina was growing fearful that it could never be won.

      As she took the men’s now empty bowls to clean them, Katerina thought about the last year. It had been one long, hard, continuous battle, first to survive Ranald’s attempt to murder her, and then to try and regain all that had been stolen from her by the endlessly greedy Agnes. An anger born of the grief she had felt over Lucas had sustained her, but now she knew Lucas had not died and she felt weary of it all.

      “If everyone thinks ye are dead, why hasnae Agnes just grabbed hold of Dunlochan?” asked Lucas when Katerina returned to the hearth bringing a full wineskin with her.

      “She has,” Katerina replied. “She and Ranald. Only the council my father chose ere he died stops Agnes from openly declaring herself laird of it all and doing everything a laird can. The council uses the fact that our father didnae approve of Robbie as