Free Highland Savage by Hannah Howell Page B

accepted a little more wine from Patrick.
    “Stay here.”
    “Here? For how long?”
    Katerina tried not to grimace, knowing Annie would not like her answer. “I fear I dinnae ken. Ranald willnae give up wanting to get his hands on ye and Thomas. Weel,Thomas is the one he sought, but ye heard how he began to plot pulling ye into his grasp as weel, aye?”
    Annie shivered in obvious distaste. “Aye, I did and it fair turned my insides to ice.”
    “So, I fear ye and Thomas must now hide away with us until Ranald is no longer a threat.”
    “Just what do ye need to defeat that cur and Lady Agnes?”
    “Proof of their crimes. That is what is proving so hard to get hold of. I need clear, hard proof to show the council.”
    Annie muttered something that sounded very much like a curse. “Old fools, the lot of them. They ken what she is and what she and Ranald have done and still do. They ken the crimes that unholy pair has committed. I think their hesitation has naught to do with what fulfills your da’s wishes. Nay, I think they sit back and let this bloody game continue because they dinnae want to give up the power they hold as guardians of Dunlochan.” She blushed when she realized everyone was staring at her. “Pardon. I was disrespectful.”
    “Nay, ye just put the hard truth into words, something the rest of us have hesitated to do.” Katerina took Annie by the hand. “Come, I will show ye where ye can sleep. Thomas can share with ye or stay here with the men.”
    “I should like to stay with the men, of course,” said Thomas.
    Katerina hid her smile as she led Annie away. A quick glance at Annie revealed that woman was doing the same. When she reached the small chamber she had chosen for Annie, Katerina helped the woman set up a pallet to sleep on and hang a blanket over the door. With both of them working it did not take long to make the small stone chamber relatively comfortable and a lot less like the cave it was.
    “’Twill be strange to live under a hill like the fairies,” said Annie as she looked around, “although ’tis finer than my wee niche at the inn.” She smiled at Katerina. “’Tis wondrous that Sir Lucas still lives, is it not? Ye must be so happy to have him back.”
    “Weel, I am glad that Ranald didnae kill him. ’Twould be verra fine indeed if Sir Lucas didnae think I had a hand in it all, however.” She inwardly cursed her loose tongue and shrugged when Annie stared at her in shock before giving the woman a succinct account of what had happened a year ago.
    “He thinks ye tried to kill him?” When Katerina nodded, Annie began to look very angry and shook her head. “Men can be such blind, stubborn fools. I am sorry, m’lady. I had thought—” She shook her head again.
    “Ah, weel, so had I. It appears we were both wrong.”
    “Ye will soon prove to him that he is a fool to think such a thing. Aye, ye will soon make him choke on his foolish suspicions.”
    “’Tis a pleasant thought.”
    “But ye dinnae ken what to do after that, do ye?”
    “Nay, I dinnae. But I suspicion I will think of something. Get some rest, Annie.”
    “I willnae be a burden, m’lady. I cannae fight, but I can surely find work to do to help ye. I can cook and clean.”
    “Such help will be greatly appreciated. Good sleep, Annie.”
    “Good sleep to ye, m’lady, and my thanks for saving me and Thomas.”
    “Ye and Thomas have both been a help to us, although ye didnae really ken it. I couldnae have lived with myself if I had left ye to Ranald’s untender mercies.”
    Katerina left Annie to seek her own bed, her whole body aching with weariness. She had just reached the opening to her chamber when Lucas stepped into her path. There was a look in his silvery-blue eyes that made her insides clench with need and that angered her. She scowled at him as he neatly pinned her between his hard body and the stone wall.
    Katerina did not need to feel the thick ridge of his shaft pressing against her