The Chevalier (14 page)

“Not much, sir. The Pretender is always a step ahead of us it would seem.”

“Surely, with the reward we’re offering, someone must be willing to come forward.”

The sergeant standing beside Wooding wiped his sweating brow with the back of his hand and then shook his head despondently. “Nay, sir. We’ve discovered that in the Highlands it’s tradition a host may never betray his guest. These people consider the Pretender a guest and none will inform on him, no matter what.”

Gareth sighed deeply. This was terrible news. “He must be getting a great deal of help to be eluding us this successfully. Did you see anything out of the ordinary or meet anyone that was in any way suspicious?”

The sergeant scratched his nose thoughtfully. “Only one person I found odd some days ago, but I don’t know that there would be any connection with the Young Pretender.” He turned to the young lieutenant. “You remember them, don’t you, sir?”

“Of course, but I don’t see any connection.”

“Let me be the judge,” Gareth urged impatiently.

The sergeant looked to the lieutenant who nodded that he should go on and speak. “Well, sir, there was this young noblewoman, French from her name, and she had two men with her, as well as a young lad, and a tall, ugly maid. I thought it odd that they were out there in the middle of nowhere, but we did let them pass. The men weren’t red-headed like the prince, and the lady was getting all upset about being stopped by us.”

Gareth had a terrible sick feeling in his stomach akin to nausea as a thought occurred to him. “Would you recall the woman’s name?”

The sergeant was thoughtful. “Well, sir, I can’t remember rightly, but it was French – of that, I’m certain.”

“Can you give me a description of the lady?”

The sergeant hesitated and Wooding took over the description. “Not too tall. Dark hair and very light, gray eyes. A rare beauty she was, especially next to that ugly maid of hers. I couldn’t see the maid’s face very well because she had the hood of a cloak pulled around her, but you could tell that she was tall and scrawny.”

Gareth dismissed the two men and stood staring out the window, lost in thought. The party they described could have been that of Charles Edward. He had an intuition about it. In fact, he was almost certain. Madeline had obviously led the Young Pretender to a point of safety. She was not the helpless creature she appeared to be at all. Why had he ever thought to trust her, to care about her? He’d even begun to feel guilty for seducing and misusing her. But she would use him if she could use him to help those damnable Scots.

Later, when Gareth had gone out of the castle to survey his men, Captain Morgan pointed out the two girls who were going picnicking. He noticed Madeline and her cousin carrying a heavy hamper between them. Madeline was dressed in white muslin, a plain shawl draped around her shoulders, her ebon hair worn pulled back and plaited in a thick braid with white ribbon as if she were just an innocent child like her young cousin. Why dress like that, he wondered? To make certain that the men did not see her as the desirable woman she really was? Why would the girls go hiking off to the woods for a picnic? She was up to something, he realized. She was just as treacherous as a woman could be, more so because she cultivated an angelic aura. He felt anger and outrage building within him.

“Captain Morgan, you’ve seen the two young ladies go off picnicking before?” he asked.

Morgan nodded, his watery blue eyes glistening in the sunlight. “They seem to love nature. I can’t imagine our English young ladies going off on their own that way unescorted, can you? But then these people are half savage, aren’t they?”

Gareth told Morgan that he would be gone for a while and to handle any problems that arose. Then he discreetly started off on foot to follow the two girls. He was careful to keep a distance, but he had an idea of where they might be headed and wanted to find out if he were right.

As it turned out, he was correct. He followed them to a cave and knew at once that this must be the place where MacCarnan was hiding. He had MacCarnan now, he thought triumphantly. All he had to do was go back and get his soldiers. As he quietly turned to make his way back toward the castle, four men came out of nowhere, descending on him with such ferocity that he was overcome and his weapons removed. He put up a good fight, but these men had the element of surprise and had sprung on him with the fierce manner of seasoned warriors.

Now here he was standing before Madeline and a man she had been kissing. The sight of her kissing the cinnamon-bearded stranger made him react with seething rage and he advanced even as the two men pushed him forward. He came toward the wounded chief in a menacing way and was soon shoved to his knees by a wild-looking giant with a claymore in his hand.

“I’ll deal with this
Sassenach
now!” snarled the giant, raising the claymore, and holding it above Gareth’s head with a two-handed grip.

Gareth braced himself, knowing that one swift stroke would sever his head from his body in seconds. Firelight danced crazily off the fine steel blade of the broadsword. He was afraid, yet oddly calm, prepared to accept what must be. He did not embrace death, but as a soldier, he must accept his fate.

“No!” Madeline screamed. Her pale eyes were wild with fear. “You must not! Please, Andrew. Do not kill him!”

“Hold!” the chief called out, raising himself unsteadily on one elbow. “Let him be. It’s not our way to murder an unarmed man in such a manner. Only in battle is there honor in taking the Englishman’s life.”

The giant spat on the ground. “The man’s our sworn enemy, Andrew. We canno’ let him go. You canno’ travel yet either. You’re too weak. I say we kill him now and be done with it.”

“Nay! We will not,” the chief replied. “I am in charge here. Am I no’ the MacCarnan? Am I not your laird? I say he lives. Secure him well that he may not escape us. We’ll keep him with us until we are well away from here. Who are you, mon?”

Gareth looked at Madeline who bit her pink lower lip and did not speak. She would, of course, tell them the truth eventually, he reasoned. There was no point in trying to lie, nor had he any intention of begging them to spare his life.

“Colonel Gareth Eriksen,” he replied in his deep, resonant voice. He felt pain from the blows he’d received but he kept his bleeding head unbowed before his enemies.

There was an exclamation.

“It’s the Viking,” a wiry man said in a voice that almost sounded awestruck, and in spite of his awkward situation, Gareth was mildly amused.

“You can see that we know of ye. You’re a ruthless one, they say. You ne’er give up. Well, I’m no weakling either you’ll find.”

The ugly giant shook his head vehemently. “‘Tis a mistake you’re makin’, Andrew. Too soft, ye be. Too long ye suckled at your mother’s tits. Allow this man to live and you’ll be regrettin’ it. Look at him! He’s already thinkin’ of ways to escape us.”

“He’ll ne’er escape til we be ready to release him.”

Gareth turned a cold, hard eye on Madeline as the Highland warriors dragged him to a dark corner of the cave. Inside himself, he raged at the girl who he deemed a conniving bitch, his anger beyond all reason or logic. But the worst of his fury was turned against himself, for ever lowering his defenses and allowing her entry inside the fortress of his heart.

 
Thirteen

“What will you do with him?” Madeline asked, her face pale, lower lip trembling.

“He’ll be our prisoner until we’re well out of here. I’ll not be hung as a traitor by the English.”

Andrew turned to Gareth. “They say you’re a brave soldier and that your men respect you. We’ll do you no harm. Unlike your people, we’re not butchers.”

But Gareth wasn’t accepting what her cousin said. It took the same four men to subdue him, and finally the giant, Fergus, rendered Gareth unconscious with a hard blow to the jaw.

“Is he all right?” she asked with a wavering voice.

“He’ll be fine, lassie,” Andrew reassured her.

“There was no other way to get the bonds on him,” Fergus said. “The mon has the strength of a demon.”

She remained in the cave, waiting for Gareth to regain consciousness, unable to bring herself to leave until she knew for certain that he would truly be all right. As he began to moan softly, she brought a cloth and some water to wash the blood from his face.

When his eyes opened, Gareth at first looked puzzled. Then a flicker of memory came into those glittering sapphire eyes and he seemed to recall the circumstances which brought him into his current situation.

“Untie me,” he demanded of her in a soft, urgent voice.

She shook her head. “I cannot do it. They won’t hurt you. Andrew promised.”

“The promise of a barbarian? And what’s that worth?” He sounded bitter and cynical.

“At least as much as yours,” she countered, pressing his bruised face a little too gingerly with the cloth. “My cousin is a man of honor.”

“Careful!” he said, squirming from the pain.

“You’ve nothing to fear.”

“As if I could trust you!” he spat out angrily.

She stared at him in surprise. “You think I betrayed you in some way?”

“Didn’t you? You knew I followed you here and you told them.” He spat the accusation at her.

“I did no such thing! I never dreamed that you’d follow us. Why would I? And why did you follow us anyway?” she eyed him suspiciously.

“I thought you might be coming to your cousin.”

“How clever you are,” she said.

“Not near clever enough.”

Her heart hurt; she felt a deep sense of regret and disappointment. He obviously held a very low opinion of her.

Andrew joined them at that moment. “Madeline, I think we might try a bit of a ploy. Tell my mother what has happened. Ask her what she thinks about telling the English soldiers that we hold Eriksen. We could promise to return him if they leave here.”

“They have orders, MacCarnan. If I die, the next man in line will take command, and so forth. It will never end until you’re taken into custody or dead. I’m a worthless hostage to you.” Gareth’s voice was quiet and tightly controlled.

“We’ll see,” her cousin said.

Madeline saw that Andrew’s face had grown paler and he looked very weak. Gently, she helped him to lie down. He pressed his cheek to hers and kissed her affectionately on the lips. She felt Gareth’s accusing eyes upon her and could hardly breathe as if a granite weight were pressed against her chest.

“Someday, there will be a time for us. I promise ye that, my bonnie lass.” Andrew’s smile was warm as the sun on a summer’s day.

“Rest now,” she said. “Grow strong that you may leave this place.”

His hand held hers until he finally slept. Turning away from Andrew, she saw Gareth’s eyes coldly watching her. His expression was so closed she hardly knew what he was thinking. The extent of the control he could exercise over his emotions truly amazed her. It also frightened her. He gave away nothing.

“Come here,” he said in a voice that was deadly calm. His hooded eyes possessed her own the way a cobra would mesmerize its victim.

She did not want to move; yet her legs seemed to carry her of their own volition.

“Tell my men where I am,” he said quietly. “Help me escape from here.”

“I cannot do that and you know it!”

“I know nothing of the sort. If you care about me at all than you must help me escape.”

She shook her head. “I do care, but what you ask is impossible.”

“Talk softly. They are paying no attention to us at the moment, but if you raise your voice again, you’ll alert them.”

She pressed a compress against his face and then to his lips which were also badly battered. His lips kissed her fingertips, sending queer little quivers through her belly and heat through her blood.

“Help me,” he whispered. “You must.” He began sucking on her fingertips.

She quickly pulled her hand away. He tried to take her hand back, but his own were too tightly bound with leather thongs.

“Moisten my lips; they are sorely dry.”

She brought her hand to him again, holding the wet cloth to his mouth, and as she did so, his tongue licked seductively along the inside of her palms. She began to shiver. At that moment, Fergus came between them, lifting Madeline away.

“The lass must leave now, so let her be.”

Madeline was grateful for the interference. Elizabeth, who had said virtually nothing until now, eyed Madeline with uncertainty.

“You won’t help him, will you?”

“As a matter of honor, I cannot, no matter what.”

The girl nodded her head, seemingly satisfied with the answer. Madeline did not turn back to look at Gareth, but she could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. If he hated her now, she decided, it could not be helped. Whatever feelings she might have for him was not as important as seeing to the safety of Andrew and the other Highlanders with him. For Gareth, this would only be a temporary inconvenience; for her cousin, it was a matter of life and death.

Elizabeth told Anne what had happened at the cave as soon as they returned to the manor. Anne was thoughtful for a time. Finally she spoke to them.

“Madeline must not go back to the cave. It would be a mistake. In fact, neither one of you should go, lest some other of the Colonel’s men think to follow. Two days hence, I’ll send our Jenny out there with a basket and she’ll act as messenger. She can provide us with news from Andrew which will give us some idea as to helping him.” Anne’s face took on a worried expression. “I do not like this business at all. It is bad that the Englishman is now being held by Andrew.”

The following day, Captain Morgan came by asking if they had seen Gareth. He particularly questioned Madeline. She handled it as best she could. Wretchedly, she told the hawk-faced Englishman that she had not seen Gareth.

“Didn’t he follow after you yesterday?” the Captain demanded.

“I would not know if that were so,” she said. “I did not see him.”

“I will accept your answer for the time being, but rest assured I shall have more questions for you if the Colonel does not soon return. Please remain in your house until I say otherwise. No more of your little jaunts in the woods.”

As soon as the Captain left, Madeline went to Anne and related the conversation. Her cousin looked concerned, lines furrowing her brow.

“We’ll send Jenny on the morrow. The sooner Andrew can make good his escape the better. What troubles me most is that once he’s free, the Englishman may decide to retaliate against you.”

“I cannot believe he would do that,” Madeline protested.

“He was very angry,” Elizabeth said. “His eyes blazed with fury.”

“The English are a heartless lot,” Anne warned.

Madeline could only shrug. “I only did what was right. He would have done the same. I have no regrets.”

“Let’s hope ye ne’er will,” Anne said, an ominous ring to her voice.

♥ ♥ ♥

Gareth listened carefully when the men talked, but it was hard to understand much that they were saying; their language was Gaelic and he knew nothing of it. They had treated him surprisingly well, better than he had expected. He studied Andrew MacCarnan thoughtfully and liked what he saw. The man was nearly as tall as he was. There was a look about him that Gareth recognized; the look of a fierce warrior, a man to be reckoned with in battle. He was the sort that Gareth would like to have fought beside rather than against. He watched MacCarnan with his men and conceded that he was a natural leader, but unlike Gareth, the Highlander acted on instinct and emotion rather than carefully thought out planning.

When he himself acted on instinct, Gareth realized, he only had problems, as had happened when he followed Madeline without thinking through what he was doing first. She had bewitched him, this child-woman. He did not think clearly when he was near her, and that could only lead to suffering for him. It was important that he maintain an emotional distance from her; if he did not, then she would have power over him. He did not ever want that to happen again. He could not say why she had the effect she did upon him, but he was forced to acknowledge it, recognize that it did exist.

Even now, he felt angry and jealous that MacCarnan had kissed her. What did the man mean to the girl? She who seemed so innocent and gentle, was she just a jade like the rest? Hadn’t he always known that females were not to be trusted, especially aristocratic ladies. They would act as if they cared, but it was never true. They were always scheming, looking to sell themselves to the highest bidder. And if they did not do it, then their families arranged it for them. It was all one. Hadn’t he learned that bitter lesson yet? Must he always act the fool? He cursed himself silently, gnashing down on his back teeth.

It was afternoon now and the giant roused MacCarnan to check the bandages on his wounds. The two men conversed briefly and MacCarnan rose to his feet and approached Gareth.

“We’ll be leaving here soon,” MacCarnan told him.

“And what will you do with me?”

A shadow crossed the chieftain’s face. “We’ll have to leave you here. But don’t worry; we’ll be sending word back and you’ll be free soon enough. You won’t be catching us though; so don’t think it.”

“I’m not in a position to argue with you, but you have to understand that like you, I am a soldier. I have been given my duty and I won’t rest until I see it performed.”

“You’ll forgive me, Viking, if I don’t wish my head served up on a golden platter to your fat German king.” MacCarnan gave him a wry smile.

“I’m afraid only peers of the realm are given the privilege of beheading.”

“More’s the pity. I fancy hanging even less. I’ve a fondness for the current shape of my neck. You’ll not take me easily.”

“I didn’t expect to,” he replied grimly. “I have respect for your abilities, just as you have for mine. You might as well kill me now while you have the opportunity.”

“Is that what you would do?” MacCarnan’s eyes were bright and clear as emeralds.

“Let’s just say that it would be expedient.”

“I’m a man of honor, Viking, and I’ve given my word.”

“Tell me one thing, MacCarnan, what is Madeline de Marnay to you?”

The chief stared at him closely, narrowing his gaze. “What concern is that of yours?”

“I knew the young lady in London.” He viewed his foe steadily.

“She’s betrothed to me.” His gaze met and held with a steady challenge.

Gareth felt a pulse begin to throb in his left temple. Anger rose like bile through his vital organs, but he managed to keep his voice cool and calm.

“How long have you and the young lady been betrothed then?”

“Why always, mon. It was an understanding between our families. I believe that was the reason she came to the Highlands. I would marry her today if I could but for our troubles.”

So she was no better than any other woman he had ever known. Deceitful little bitch! She had made him believe that she cared for him and all the time, the evil-minded chit had planned on marrying her Highland cousin. It was all just a game with her, a wicked little game. Perhaps she had played the innocent with others as well. He wondered just how innocent she really was. Had she even been a virgin? She had certainly made him think that she was. He had to wonder now. He was so consumed with anger, so outraged with a sense of betrayal, that his head felt as if it would surely explode.

Several hours passed and a pretty young woman came with the basket that Gareth recognized as having previously been carried by Madeline and her young cousin. This girl had rosy cheeks and was considerably taller than Madeline. Her coppery braids hung well below her waist. She spoke with the men in Gaelic and flirted shamelessly with them. The wiry one called Robbie put his arm around her then gave her a pat on the backside and laughed.

After the men had eaten, MacCarnan brought her over to Gareth and spoke in English. “Jenny, this is our guest, Colonel Eriksen. Would you feed him for us? Mind now, make certain, you don’t untie him. He’s a dangerous and desperate fellow.”

Jenny gave MacCarnan a warm inviting smile. “Anything you ask of me, I’ll do,” she said enticingly, looking from MacCarnan to Gareth.

“Careful now with your suggestions,” MacCarnan said, “you know I’ll soon be a married man.”

Jenny let her lower lip form a pout. “I know it all too well.”

MacCarnan left them and Jenny sat down opposite Gareth. As the girl began to feed him, a Highlander entered the cave and spoke excitedly to the other men. They quickly rose, arming themselves with their weapons and left.