The Sinner (7 page)

H
elp! Someone help me!” The cry came through the dense fog.

“It’s a woman,” Glynis said, leaning forward and grabbing Alex’s knee.

“Aye.” He had known it was a female from the start. The question was, what kind?

Alex wasn’t a superstitious man—for a Highlander—but every story he’d ever heard about selkies came back to him as he rowed closer. A selkie was a sea creature who was known to take the form of a beautiful woman and lure sailors to their deaths. In nearly all the stories, selkies appeared to men when a dense fog lay over the water.

“Help me!”

In front of him, the black shape of a rock emerged out of the mist.

“I can see her!” Glynis stood in the boat, pointing. “She’s clinging to that rock.”

Alex saw the outline of the upper half of a figure with long flowing hair above the water line. Her legs—or tail—were beneath the water.

“Hold on,” he called out. “We’re coming for ye.”

“She’s just there!” Glynis said.

“Get in the back of the boat.” Knowing Glynis was not the sort to follow orders without an explanation, he added, “I need ye to keep the boat steady while I pull her in.”

But if Alex saw a tail, he was dropping this creature back into the sea.

He brought the boat up next to the rock. When he leaned out to lift her, she kept her arms wrapped around the rock. Ach, this was no selkie. The poor thing was shaking like a newborn lamb.

“Ye can let go now,” he said, using the same soft tone he would use with a riled horse. “I’ve got ye.”

Only two feet of the rock remained above water, and the tide was still coming in. Another hour or two, and she’d have nothing left to hold on to. How long had she been here, clinging to it as the water rose around her? No wonder she was afraid to let go.

“Don’t worry, lass,” he said. “You’re safe now.”

“Alex?” the woman asked in a hoarse voice. “Is that you?”

God in Heaven, the woman clinging to the rock was Catherine Campbell.

“Aye, it’s me,” he said. “Put your arms around my neck. I promise I won’t drop ye.”

Catherine’s skirts were heavy with water as he lifted her into the boat. Moving quickly, he loosened his plaid and wrapped it around them both, then he set to rubbing her back and limbs to get her blood moving. She was so cold her teeth were chattering.

Glynis found a blanket and draped it around Catherine’s shoulders.

“What happened, Catherine?” Alex asked. “How did ye get out here?”

“Sh-sh-aggy did it.” Her teeth chattered as she spoke. “He-he brought me out here and left me.”

“Are ye saying Shaggy meant for ye to drown?”

She nodded against his chest.

The saints have mercy!
Alex had seen a good deal of violence in his life, and he knew of instances when men murdered wives or lovers in a rage. But the cold ruthlessness of this shocked him. Shaggy had wanted his wife to watch the water rise for hours, knowing all the while that she would drown in the end.

“We’ve got to go to shore and get a fire going for her,” he said to Glynis. “Then we’ll need to get her to her family.”

“What do ye want me to do?” Glynis asked. “I can row.”

Thank God Glynis wasn’t the sort of woman to lose her head in a crisis.

“I’ll row,” he said. “Just keep her as warm as ye can.”

A second woman had asked for his help.

Glynis tried to lift Catherine Campbell to the back of the boat as Alex took up the oars, but the woman slid from her arms like an eel. When Glynis tried again, Catherine wrapped her arms around Alex’s waist from behind and clung to him, just as she had to the rock.

“It’s all right. Just tuck my plaid around her,” Alex said. “My body will give off plenty of heat while I row.”

As he rowed, Alex calmed Lady Catherine with a steady, low murmur, as if he were soothing a babe in his arms. Glynis felt useless.

She bit her lip against her own disappointment. After what Lady Catherine had suffered, it was small of her to think about how her own plans were ruined. Alex would insist upon seeing Catherine safely to her brother’s castle, as well he should, and Glynis would never make it to Edinburgh.

The Campbell chieftain would send word to Glynis’s father. And she would go home in worse shame than before.

“The fog is lifting, and the wind is picking up,” Alex said to Glynis after a while. “We can put the sail up now, and we’ll be on the Campbell side of the loch in no time.”

After Glynis helped him raise the boat’s small sail, Alex gathered Lady Catherine in his lap and sat with one arm around her and one guiding the boat.

“Catherine, if ye feel well enough to talk,” Alex said, “can ye tell us why Shaggy left ye on that rock?”

“He wanted to be rid of me without earning the wrath of my brothers,” she said. “He wanted me dead, without blood on his hands.”

“Who else was involved?” Alex asked.

“Shaggy rowed me out to the rock himself—he didn’t want to risk any loose tongues,” Catherine said, anger strengthening her voice. “While he had me trussed like a pig for roasting, he took considerable pleasure in telling me how the water would creep up until I’d have no rock to hold on to.”

Glynis thought Lady Catherine sounded sufficiently recovered to sit on her own. Catherine did not, however, remove herself from Alex’s lap.

“Shame I didn’t succeed in poisoning him,” Catherine said. “I tried twice, but Shaggy is a tough old bird.”

Glynis exchanged glances with Alex, but he showed no surprise at this remarkable confession.

“The poison did no more than make him ill for a day or two,” Catherine said. “I tell ye, it was verra disappointing.”

Alex cleared his throat. “I take it he planned to inform your brothers that ye met with an accident.”

“Aye, and he’d have a few hundred men to say he was fighting the MacIains at Mingary Castle the day I disappeared,” Catherine said, her voice hard with bitterness. “Shaggy will pay for this. My brothers will see to it.”

They were finally drawing near the far shore, where several fishermen were at the water’s edge readying their boats for the morning’s fishing.

“They should be Campbells,” Alex said. “You two stay in the boat while I talk with them.”

Glynis took one of the oars and held it against the bottom of the loch to steady the boat while Alex climbed out. As he and the fisherman spoke in murmured voices, Glynis felt the eyes of the men on her and Lady Catherine.

“Catherine, these fishermen are your clansmen,” Alex said when he returned to them. “We can rest here at their camp before starting the journey to Inveraray Castle.”

Glynis wondered how many days and miles they would have to walk to reach the Campbell fortress, and her spirits sank lower.

The fishermen seemed in awe of their chieftain’s sister and took pains to make them comfortable. After providing them with food and blankets and stoking the fire, they left the three of them to rest and took their boats out to fish.

Glynis was so tired after being awake all night on the water that she fell asleep almost before her head touched the ground. When she woke, it was near dusk, and the fishermen were back. Alex was sitting next to her, whittling a stick with his dirk. She sat up and looked around her. Lady Catherine stood several yards away surrounded by several men who had just arrived.

“Who are they?” she asked Alex.

“The fishermen felt their chieftain’s sister needed Campbell warriors to escort her home,” Alex said, with his eyes on the men. “They fetched these.”

The Campbell warriors scowled at Alex when Catherine left them to sit next to him.

“These men will see ye safely to Inveraray Castle,” Alex said. “But save your story about what Shaggy did for your brothers’ ears alone.”

Catherine slid her hand through Alex’s arm. “I want you to take me there.”

“Glynis and I must be on our way to Edinburgh in the morning,” Alex said.

Relief flooded through Glynis. He would take her to her mother’s family after all.

“Why are ye traveling with her?” Catherine glanced sideways at Glynis as if she were mud stuck on her shoes.

“I’m taking Glynis to her mother’s relations, nothing more,” he said. “We don’t want her father to hear of it, so don’t tell the men who we are.”

“Surely your trip can wait,” Catherine said, sounding her usual haughty self.

“I must meet someone in Edinburgh before the end of the month.” Alex gave Catherine a smile that would melt a witch’s heart. “Come, Catherine, ye know damned well no one on Campbell lands would dare harm a hair on your pretty head.”

Ach, the man could charm the wings off a fairy. Glynis was disgusted with them both.

“I’ll forgive ye if ye promise to visit on your return,” Catherine said, taking his arm again.

“I’ll do that,” Alex said.

“My brothers will want to reward ye for saving me.” Catherine tilted her head and looked at Alex from under her dark lashes. “And I’ll want to reward ye as well.”

“We’ll leave as soon as the camp is quiet,” Alex said close to Glynis’s ear.

“I thought we were leaving in the morning.”

“I’d rather not be dragged off in the night to have my throat cut,” Alex said. “These men don’t follow Catherine’s orders, and they are mistrustful of strangers passing through their lands.”

Well, that was true of all Highlanders.

“In the meantime, I’ll encourage them to be cautious.”

Alex stood and, taking his time, met the eyes of every man around the fire. Then he whipped his claymore out so fast it was a blur. Glynis felt the tension of the men as they exchanged glances and silently debated which of them would take on this bold stranger. She prayed Alex knew what he was doing.

Alex swung his claymore through the fire several times, back and forth. At first he did it with both hands, and then he shifted the heavy blade from hand to hand as he sliced it through the fire in smooth, deadly arcs.

After this display, he stood in front of Glynis and said, “No one touches her.”

Glynis swallowed. She suddenly felt very warm. When Alex sat down next to her again, she could feel the power rolling off him.

He turned and spoke to her in a low, commanding voice. “You’ll sleep with me.”

T
hat was not how Glynis had imagined Alex would ask her to lie with him—not that she had imagined it, of course. But if she had, it would most definitely have involved kissing her as he had against the castle wall. His mouth hungry, his hands urgent. His voice rough with desire.

I must have ye, Glynis. I don’t want anyone but you.

Glynis shook her head to clear it. By all the saints, what was she thinking? Alex was not the sort of man who wanted only one woman. All the same, when Alex lay down behind her and pulled her against him, she let herself pretend, just for a moment, that he was whispering in her ear,
I want ye badly. Only you.

The arm around her held a dirk.

“I’ll wake ye when it’s time,” he said.

He thought she could sleep? Between waiting for the Campbells to slice her throat and having Alex’s body wrapped around hers, that seemed an unlikely prospect. She lay wide awake listening to Alex’s breathing as the others settled down around the campfire. Despite Catherine’s complaints, the Campbell warriors had insisted that she make her bed far from the “strangers.”

“They have two men keeping watch by the horses,” Alex whispered in her ear. “I’ll take them first and then come back for ye.”

Before Glynis could say no, he was gone without a sound. How would he subdue both guards? And even if he managed that, surely he would startle the horses and wake the other men.

What was she doing, waiting here to be murdered or worse?

She nearly shrieked when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Alex squatting beside her. How had he returned so quickly? He put his finger to his lips and motioned for her to come with him.

The snores and snorts of the sleeping men seemed unnaturally loud, as did every twig under her feet. With each step, she expected to hear a shout behind her. But the angels must have been watching over them, for none of the Campbell men awoke. When she and Alex were thirty yards from the camp, Glynis heard a horse’s neigh. In the darkness, she made out the outline of two horses. One of them nickered and trotted toward them.

“Ah, Buttercup, there’s a good horse,” Alex said in a low voice, as he rubbed the horse’s forelock. The other horse followed and nudged Alex with its nose. “Now, don’t be jealous, Rosebud.”

“Ye know these horses?” Glynis asked.

“We just met,” Alex said. “’Tis a long journey overland from here to Edinburgh so we’re borrowing them from the Campbells.”

“But if we steal their horses, they’ll be after us for sure.”

“We should hurry,” Alex said in a calm voice, as he rubbed the second horse. “Do ye know how to ride?”

The saints preserve her. “Aye, but—”

Without waiting for her to finish, he lifted her up onto the horse, which was already saddled, and handed her the reins. “We can talk on the way.”

“Which horse am I on?”

“I named that one Rosebud,” he said, as he swung up on the other one. “Be good to her.”

“I’ve never ridden in the dark before.”

“We’ll ride slowly,” Alex said as he moved his horse into the lead. “Just give Rosebud her head, and you’ll be fine.”

“What if the Campbells chase us?” she asked.

“Their first duty is to get their chieftain’s sister safely to Inveraray, so they probably won’t,” Alex said over his shoulder. “And I scattered the other horses.”

After what seemed like a couple of hours, Alex dismounted and led their horses across a creek. Then he lifted her down from her mount.

“We’ll sleep here, where we’ll be hidden by these bushes,” he said.

“Shouldn’t we get farther away?”

“We have a good lead on the Campbells, and they won’t be able to look for their horses until daylight,” Alex said. “Besides, it’s dangerous to ride in the dark.”

Dangerous to ride in the dark?
Glynis stood with her arms crossed while Alex rolled out two blankets.

“We must rest while we can,” he said, as he lay down on one of them. “We’ll need to be moving again at first light.”

Glynis lay down on the other blanket, facing him.

“Did ye sleep when the fishermen left us at their camp today?” she asked.

“Of course not.”

“How did ye do that with the horses?” she asked.

“I just have a way with horses,” he said in a fading voice. “I always have.”

Just like he had a way with women.

“Time to be on our way,” Alex said after they ate their cold breakfast in the predawn light.

He couldn’t understand why Glynis seemed surprised that he had collected the dried beef, cheese, and oatcakes from their boat before he got the horses last night. Did she want to go hungry?

He was anxious to put more distance between them and the Campbells. There had been no point in worrying her last night, but he was not as certain as he pretended that none of the Campbells would follow them.

Glynis rolled up the blankets and packed away the food while he saddled the horses.

“Traveling across other clans’ lands is dangerous with just two of us,” Alex said, as he lifted her onto Rosebud’s back. “I don’t want ye out of my sight, understand?”

Glynis fixed him with her serious gaze and nodded.

They rode steadily for hours. Though Alex saw no one behind them, twice he had to quickly pull their horses off the path to avoid meeting other travelers. Because of Glynis, he couldn’t take any risks.

To pass the time, he told her stories. Glynis liked the one about how Ian fell in love with his wife Sìleas best, judging by all the questions she asked.

“Ian left her for five years after they wed?” she asked.

“Ach, he didn’t take it well, being forced to say vows with a dirk at his back,” Alex said. “And he blamed Sìleas for it.”

“I’m glad their story ended happily,” Glynis said with a soft smile.

“Do ye need to stop and stretch your legs?” he asked, but she shook her head. “For a lass with a sour disposition, ye don’t complain much.”

“It’s my stepmother who says I’m sour.” Glynis heaved a sigh. “And it’s true I do complain when she expects me to sit indoors doing needlework for hours.”

“Well, ye are a fine traveling companion,” he told her. “Ye have several advantages over the ones I usually travel with.”

“I do?”

“For one thing, ye are prettier to look at than my cousins and Duncan,” he said. “And for another, ye haven’t heard all of my stories before.”

On the other hand, if he were traveling with one of them, he wouldn’t have to dive off the path like a frightened Lowlander every time a group of warriors was headed their way.

“Ye have a gift for storytelling,” Glynis said with a faint blush. “I wouldn’t mind if ye told them to me more than once.”

“You’ll regret those words,” he said, and laughed. “We have a long journey ahead of us, and I’ve only got three days of stories.” Of course, Alex had a good many more that he couldn’t tell her.

“Ye told me about Ian,” she said. “Will ye tell me about your friend Duncan next?”

Why did she want to know about Duncan?

“Duncan is a fierce warrior,” he said, after a moment. “I’ve never seen him beaten. Not once.”

“I liked him,” she said. “He seems… dependable.”

Alex stifled a groan. “Aye, Duncan is exceedingly dependable. He’s steady, never wavers. Decides what he wants and that’s that.”

All the things that Alex was not.

“There is a good deal of mystery about Duncan’s birth,” Alex said. “And some say a bit of magic.”

“Ye must tell me,” Glynis said, turning wide eyes on him.

“When Duncan’s mother was a lass of sixteen, she was stolen from the beach one day,” Alex said, settling into his story. “A year later, she was returned to the same beach with a babe in her arms. That babe was Duncan.”

“Who took her?”

“His mother never breathed a word—not about what happened, or where she’d been, or who the father of her child was.” Alex paused. “Eight years later, it all happened again.”

“And she still hasn’t told?” Glynis was leaning so far out of her saddle that he feared she might fall off her horse.

"She took her secret to the grave.”

As they rode and he told his stories, Alex scanned the green hills sprinkled with summer flowers. The Campbell men should have turned back by now, but there were plenty of other dangerous men who traveled this trail through the mountains.

“Who is it ye must meet in Edinburgh before the end of the month?”

Alex winced. He had hoped she wasn’t listening when he mentioned that to Catherine.

“Ah, I see this is a story ye don’t wish to tell me,” Glynis said, raising her eyebrows. “Of course, now it is the only one I wish to hear.”

Alex rubbed his neck. He did not want to discuss the Countess or her letter with Glynis MacNeil.

“So who would be waiting for Alex Bàn MacDonald in Edinburgh?” She tapped her finger on her chin—it was a very pretty chin. “Definitely a woman.”

This lass, who was usually so serious, was teasing him. Alex might have enjoyed it for the sparkle in her eyes, if she had chosen a different subject.

“This particular woman must have something special ye want,” Glynis said, narrowing her eyes. “Not the same ‘reward’ Lady Catherine was offering, since ye clearly don’t need to travel all the way to Edinburgh for that.”

“All right, I’ll tell ye.” The tale he told about Sabine was short since he left out the bedding parts.

“A countess,” Glynis said, and there was a harder edge to her wit now. “I suppose that is even more impressive than an earl’s daughter.”

Alex never pretended to be other than what he was. Most women liked him, and he never cared much one way or the other whether they approved of him. And yet, it rankled like hell to have Glynis MacNeil think ill of him.

Glynis’s legs were so stiff when they finally stopped for the night that she could hardly walk. And yet, the hours had flown by. Alex Bàn MacDonald had a magical quality about him that she suspected drew females from age three to threescore. It wasn’t just his looks—though they were very fine indeed. When he was talking with you, he had a way of making you feel as if there was no one else in the world he’d rather be with.

Glynis realized that she was following Alex around the camp like a puppy and stopped herself. While he took care of the horses, she gathered dry moss and twigs for a fire.

“You’re a helpful lass.” Alex handed her the rolled blankets and squatted down to start the fire.

Glynis looked down at the blankets in her arms. Last night, Alex had been exhausted after rowing most of the night before. But now, with Alex wide awake and charm flowing from him like honey, the placement of the blankets seemed to take on more importance. How far apart should she spread them? On opposite sides of the fire, or side by side?

“Ye must be tired.” The glow of the sunset touched Alex’s hair as he smiled up at her. “Sit down, lass.”

She dropped down on a rock. Holding the blankets to her chest, she looked about her to avoid looking at him. Alex had chosen a lovely spot next to a loch surrounded by hills.

“In the morning, I’ll catch us fish for breakfast,” he said as he handed her dried meat and another oatcake. “We’ll make a quick meal of it tonight and get to bed.”

The oatcake caught in her throat. He’d spoken as if both the meal and bed were activities they would share. Glynis took a big gulp from the flask of ale and told herself this was not a good time to remember how he’d kissed her against the castle wall.

And yet, now that the memory had come into her head, there was no removing it.

Alex tugged at the blankets in her lap, reminding her that she still had them. When he laid them out side by side, she took another swallow of the ale. Would she have the strength to resist him?

A new question fluttered across her mind.
Did she want to resist him?

Alex lay awake staring at the dark clouds moving against the darker sky and forced himself to think of his parents. Reliving their screaming battles in his head was his only hope for keeping his hands off the woman beside him.

His cock, however, didn’t want to listen to reason.

He knew damned well that Glynis did not want marriage any more than he did. And yet, she tried his will. Though she didn’t touch him, he could feel her leaning toward him in the darkness. Her desire vibrated through him. That made it damned difficult to keep his parents in his head.

Ye cannot have this woman. Ye cannot have this woman.
He chanted the words over and over to himself. He gave up on his parents and imagined swimming through icy cold water.

Then he and Glynis were naked in a warm loch, with her hair streaming around them in the water …

Alex shook his head. There were no warm lochs in Scotland. Ach, this journey to Edinburgh was going to kill him for certain.