Free Amanda Scott by Prince of Danger Page A

to sweep us right into Loch Alsh if we don’t take care, but the wind is blowing as hard today as it did yesterday, and from the north, which will help.”
    “But won’t they just follow us?” he asked.
    “Matthias’s boat is beached near the narrows, so we should be able to get on the water without anyone noticing. They might see us and give chase, but they won’t have horses on Skye, and we will. We’ll also have his grace’s kinsmen to protect us.”
    “Aye, but . . .”
    “Faith, sir, those men cannot expect to continue riding all over the place unchallenged, particularly on Skye or on Macleod and Mackenzie lands. They’ll draw more attention than they can possibly want as soon as they leave Chalamine, and if only two are lying in wait for us there, they’ll not risk angering my father.”
    He frowned, then nodded. “We’ll do as you suggest, lass. Ian, mayhap you can describe exactly where to find your coble. We don’t want to leave Lady Adela alone here whilst you take us there.”
    Adela looked mutinous. “I’d be safe. No one would dare harm me.”
    Michael’s frown deepened, making Isobel instantly recall the look that had reminded her so unnervingly of Hector Reaganach in a temper.
    She gritted her teeth and strove to control her impatience as she said, “Adela, everything that we’ve said is true. We’re all in danger. Those men think Mich—”
    “It may be better if she goes with us,” Michael interjected. “Or, perchance she’d not mind going with Ian to Eilean Donan. I’m thinking she looks a lot like you, Lady Isobel, and if the ones who’ve seen us should recognize her as your sister—”
    “But, as you said, we’ve no horses here,” Isobel pointed out. “Adela would have to walk all that way and back again to Chalamine.”
    “Now, lass, you cannot think Mackenzie would make her walk back,” he said with a smile. “She’d be safe there and would be more likely to pass watchers there unchallenged than any she meets returning to Chalamine from here.”
    “It is still too far. Moreover, my father is going to think his daughters are all deserting him,” Isobel added with a wry smile.
    “She is right about that, sir,” Adela said, clearly having not considered Macleod. Isobel noted, too, that her sister had unconsciously addressed Michael more formally, just as she herself had instinctively done from the start.
    “Father will be angry,” Adela added unhappily.
    “He’ll be angrier if anyone harms you,” Michael said.
    A whistle sounded in the distance, and Ian turned alertly. “That be me dad wi’ the beasts,” he said, adding with a look at the sun, “He’s come afore his time.”
    Isobel’s gaze met Michael’s.
    “Matthias is trustworthy,” she said. “I have known him all my life.”
    “I, too,” Adela said, clearly relieved. “Matthias will know what to do, and I doubt that he will approve of your going off anywhere with this man, Isobel.”
    Isobel sighed, knowing that Adela was probably right.
    A few minutes later, they saw the flock, two dogs dashing and wheeling along its flanks, and the wiry shepherd with them. He waved to Ian, who ran to meet him. Leaving the boy with sheep and dogs, Matthias strode toward them.
    To Isobel’s astonishment, he did not seem surprised to see his visitors. “Bless us, my lady, I’m that glad t’ see ye safe,” he said, casting a curious glance at Adela and a more searching one at Michael.
    “Sakes, Matthias, how could you know I was in danger?”
    His pale blue eyes twinkled under bushy, grizzled brows. “Ye’ve lived here and about all your life, so ye shouldna ha’ to ask that question. I met a lad walking up from the glen as I were coming down from high pasture. He said he’d heard strangers be seeking Macleod’s daughter and another stranger in the glens. The only one o’ Macleod’s daughters as goes about by herself these days be yourself, m’lady, and I thought ye might ha’ come here t’ me