A Fire Within (These Highland Hills, Book 3) (12 page)

His barb must have finally struck home. Caitlin paled and her
mouth clamped shut. Dar didn't waste further time. He wheeled
her around and, half dragging her, escorted her back to camp.

Kenneth took one look at them and sighed. "A pleasant outing
was had by all, wasn't it?"

"Hardly." Dar led Caitlin to where his friend had laid out her
breakfast. "Sit and eat. We leave in fifteen minutes, whether her
ladyship is done with her morning repast or not."

"Her ladyship, is it now?" The bard shook his head, then sat
and took up his slice of bread and cheese. "The tea's ready. Shall
I pour her a cup or will ye?"

"I'll take care of it." Dar walked to the fire, grabbed the small
pot with the edge of his plaid, and headed back to where Caitlin now sat. "Before I pour ye the cup of tea, though, I need yet word
ye'11 not immediately toss it back into my face."

She picked up the cup in front of her and held it out to him.
"Fear not, my braw warrior. I wouldn't waste a good cup of tea
on the likes of ye."

He made a disgusted sound and filled her cup, then poured
out his own. Turning next to his own meal, Dar ate in silence,
glaring at her all the while.

For the most part, Caitlin kept her gaze focused on her food.
From time to time, however, she glanced up and glowered back
at him. To add to his chagrin, from the corner of his eye, Dar saw
Kenneth fight the smile that kept creeping onto his face.

They were soon on the road. Compliments of last night's rain,
the mists were heavy that morn and the air thick with dampness.
It didn't take long before their clothing was coated with a light
dew. As the sun rose higher and higher into the sky, however, the
mists began slowly to dissipate.

Up ahead, Dar noted thin trails of smoke rising past the trees.
Relief filled him. They had finally come upon a village.

He turned in his saddle to look at Kenneth. "Since it would
appear far too suspicious to ride into the village with a bound
and verra disgruntled woman, not to mention she'd shriek to the
high heavens that we've abducted her, it's best ye go in alone and
obtain the provisions."

His friend laughed. "Aye, I can imagine it now if we brought
the lass along. What would ye like me to purchase?"

"Ideally, several days' worth of oat or barley bannocks already
baked, but, if not, the flour, lard, and other ingredients to make
them. Also, some smoked salmon or salted herring, two goodsized rounds of cheese, and a bit of butter. We've enough tea left
to make five or six more pots, and we are on the road, so the
meals must of necessity remain simple affairs."

Kenneth nodded. "I shouldn't be more than an hour."

"We'll await ye here under the shade of the trees. Just do what
ye must and be quick about it. The sooner we're gone from here,
the better."

"So, ye think I'm a shrieker, do ye?" Caitlin inquired as they
watched the bard ride away.

Dar glanced down at her. "I think ye're capable of whatever
it'd take to make yer escape. Though I'll admit I've yet to hear
ye shriek."

"The only shrieking I'll be doing is from joy when my brother
catches up with ye."

"And that keeps me awake at night, it does, sleepless with
worry.

"He's a braw warrior, my Niall is."

"And ye imagine I'm not?"

She tilted her head back to look at him. "Och, ye're braw
enough, I suppose. Leastwise from the looks of ye. But since I've
yet to see ye in any fight, man to man, that is, I really cannot say
what kind of a fighter ye are."

"If all goes as I hope," Dar said, chuckling, "t'e'll likely be
spared such a grisly sight."

Caitlin turned back to stare at the road ahead. "Ye mean the
grisly sight of ye being hacked to pieces, I assume?"

He laughed. "Och, lass, but ye never fail to amuse me. That
is, when ye're not driving me to the brink of aggravation."

"Well," she replied with a sniff, "I can't say as how ye do aught
for me but aggravate. But then, who'd find any pleasure in being
ripped from their home and family, and being subjected to all
ye've subjected me to so far?"

Immediately, Dar sobered. "Truly, lass, I wouldn't have done
it like I did, if I'd had any other choice."

"And why is yer brother so important in all this? Rumor has
it ye two haven't been the closest of friends since ... since even before his betrothed died. I'd wager ye're the last person he'd
expect to come to his rescue."

"Aye, that may well be." Dar hesitated. He really didn't care
to go into some long explanation about his clan's welfare. What
would Caitlin care, one way or another? "He's now clan chief,
of a clan proscribed and doomed to extinction to be sure, but
chief nonetheless," he said at last. "And, despite what the rest of
ye may hope and in spite of ye, we MacNaghtens are determined
to survive."

Caitlin turned to glance back at him. "Do ye imagine I wish
ye and yer clan dead?"

"Why not? Isn't there already a plan afoot to seize our lands
and make them part of Clan Campbell's?"

"Mayhap by the Earl ofArgyll, but not by Niall and our family.
My brother isn't the sort to covet the ancestral lands of another
clan. He believes in the commandment not to steal or covet one's
neighbor's goods."

"A good Christian, is he?"

"Aye, that he is," she snapped, an edge of defensiveness in her
voice. "Still, even a good Christian is permitted to bring evildoers to justice."

"Evildoers such as my brother?"

"Aye, and ye as well, now that ye've gone and taken me away!"
She flounced back around to gaze down the road. "Though I
imagine he might go a bit kinder with ye, as long as ye return
me unharmed, than he will with yer brother. Athe MacNaghten,
after all, was as actively involved in the MacNabs' slaughter as
was yer father. Indeed, rumor has it that it was yer brother who
instigated that horrific plan and all over some perceived affront
by a MacNab."

Caitlin shook her head in revulsion. "Attacking and murdering
over a third of a clan who has offered ye the hospitality of their
home. And at a feast, no less. For shame!"

Aye, there was indeed shame-deep and abiding shame-in
such a dastardly deed. Outlaw though he had already been a year
and a half ago, and far away when the act had been perpetrated,
Dar still burned with humiliation every time someone made
mention of the massacre.

It had been hard enough to hear of it the first time from Kenneth. Kenneth, as the clan bard, had been an unwitting participant. Unarmed and not well versed in battle techniques at any
rate, his cousin had barely escaped with his life.

"Aye, shameful it was," Dar replied, glancing down. "That's
one crime, however, ye can't lay at my feet. A broken man doesn't
get much opportunity to visit his family, much less join them for
meals with other clans."

"I know that." She sighed. "So why risk yet life for someone
who doesn't care a whit for ye or what happens to ye anymore?
As if banishment from a proscribed clan wasn't bad enough, now
ye've gone and directed even more attention on yerself, as well as
the ire of the entire Clan Campbell. Darach MacFarlane might
have been able to live out his life in some peace and safety. But
not Darach MacNaghten. Now"-she shook her head-"now
the pursuit and intent to capture and kill ye will never let up."

"Wouldn't ye do everything ye could to try and save yer clan?
Even at the verra risk of yer life?"

Caitlin sighed again. "Aye, I would. But leastwise my clan
would love me for it. I'm not so certain ye've aught to gain in
what ye're attempting to do."

How swiftly she cut to the heart of the matter, Dar thought.
And if only she knew how many times he had questioned his
sanity in attempting to carry out such a plan.

Dar released a long, slow breath. "It doesn't matter. As hard as
it may be for ye to believe, the MacNaghtens are still my family,
and I love them. Love them and will do aught it takes to save
them."

"Against a royal decree to the contrary? Against insurmountable odds?"

A deep, heavy sadness welled up and engulfed him. How could
he make Caitlin understand? The task ahead did indeed seem
impossible, but what choice was left one, when one loved like
he did? No choice whatsoever.

"Aye," Dar replied, his voice husky with emotion. "Against a
royal decree to the contrary and insurmountable odds. Until the
fire of retribution burns itself out or it finally consumes me."

With a sinking heart, two hours later Caitlin watched Kenneth
head directly south while they headed out on a more circuitous
southeasterly fashion. What she had dreaded most of all since
they had begun this journey had finally come about. She was
alone, once again, with Darach MacNaghten.

No matter how hard she tried, no matter her intentions to the
contrary, it seemed fate conspired against her. She wasn't meant,
it seemed, to flee her unsettled feelings for the big Highlander.
Whether she wished it or not, she was going to have to face-and
resolve-them all by herself.

Anne had encouraged her, that eve she had discovered Caitlin
and Darach in the storeroom, to change her ways because she felt
the need and not because someone else wished her to do so. But
change wasn't an easy thing for Caitlin, especially when it came
to the matter of her high emotions.

She had always wanted things her way. Though time and maturity had tempered those selfish desires into a more socially acceptable manner, most times Caitlin still managed to get everything
she really wanted. Most times, she still felt as if she controlled
her own fate.

She wasn't so certain, however, she really wanted to continue on
the path she had apparently been set on yesterday, when Darach had taken it into his head to abduct her. Caitlin feared what lay
ahead, and feared it greatly. Feared the battle that might well
evolve between familial loyalty and love, and the ever strengthening call of her heart.

How could a woman hate a man one instant, then in the next
feel so drawn to him? He was toying with her. He must be and
he, with his greater age and experience, knew how to manipulate
her like a puppet. Perhaps that was what frightened Caitlin most
of all. That Darach was in control and she wasn't.

But she was fooling herself, she realized with a sudden burst
of insight, if she imagined she had ever truly been in control
of anything. She had never been able to control life's tragedies,
much less stop them. She had never truly been the one driving her
disastrous romance with David Graham. And she most certainly
wasn't leading the events of her life since Darach MacNaghten
had entered it.

But if she had no real control over what happened, leastwise
not events that truly mattered such as what transpired with family,
friends, and the search for a true love, what did she have control over? Anne had encouraged her to surrender her life-and
will-to the Lord. To die to self so that she might be reborn to
the only existence that really counted-a life of faith and dedication to God and one's fellow man. The only existence, in the end,
that she really did have some control over. Yet, try as she might,
Caitlin remained uncertain how to accomplish that.

And Darach MacNaghten surely didn't seem the sort who
would be willing or able to teach her.

With a sigh, Caitlin settled back against his strong, solid form
and closed her eyes. It was indeed a surety that this man wouldn't
teach her of God. She doubted he even believed in a Creator,
much less a Savior. But he was quite capable, her woman's intuition warned her, and equally willing, to teach her of more
fleshly pursuits.

If the truth were told, such considerations excited her. She
burned for the dark, dangerous Highlander as much as she imagined Anne had burned for Niall. But at least Anne had chosen
wisely. Caitlin knew her desire for Darach wasn't wise, or even
right and good.

Then there was always the additional issue of where her true
loyalties should lie. Before, as an outlaw of some unfortunate
clan with a death warrant on its head, Darach had been of little
personal concern to Niall. Now, in taking his sister from Kilchurn to hold as hostage, Darach had become Niall's enemy.
And enemies, when they finally clashed, inevitably forced others
to take sides.

There seemed no way she could halt the inevitable, headlong
collision of these two men. It was yet another instance of her
inability to change the events of her life. Problem was, whoever
came out the victor, Caitlin feared the death of the other would
surely break her heart.