Chapter 15

15

N ow that she felt a little more sure of Murdoch, Keira felt a bit safer in calling a meeting of the rebels in their hideout underneath the tavern. As she entered the secret room, a round of subdued applause went up. They could never make too much noise because of the bar in the tavern above, but Keira was subjected to so many hugs that she felt her ribs might break.

At last, she calmed the meeting down and they went over and over their strategy until everyone was absolutely sure about their positions and the part they had to play in the robbery.

"I know you have done this before," Keira announced, "but this time is very, very important, and we must be able to act out our parts perfectly because there is no room for mistakes. And this time, please, if anyone does not feel that he is able to go on with this, then please say so now, and we will not think any less of you. We have no room for those of you who are not completely committed."

She looked around at all the men, but no one moved.

Adaira, who was standing beside her, looked around proudly. "Well done," she said softly, smiling. "You are all heroes, at least in my eyes. I am so proud of you. It is time we put the laird in his place."

"Aye, milady," Alastair Brewster said solidly. "He cannae treat us like this forever."

"No," Keira agreed, "he cannot. Now we must finish this gathering and get to bed. We have a heavy night ahead of us tomorrow. And I am sure I do not have to remind you that no news of this must leak out. Not a word. Good luck, lads."

Surprisingly, as she lay in the darkness just before the carriage and the wagons appeared that night, Keira's thoughts were not about the coming day's exploits but about the kiss she had shared with Murdoch. It had opened her eyes to possibilities she had never contemplated before and posed a thousand questions. She had had no idea that a kiss could thrill her whole body that way, awakening sensations she had never thought possible. Murdoch had not touched her inappropriately, but she was beginning to wish he had!

He had said he was worried about her, and that in itself was astonishing. Murdoch hardly knew her, and she had not expected a man as tough as he was to have any such finer feelings. She hoped that she did not see him tonight, that they did not come face-to-face and hurt each other, or worse still, have to choose between her or her father. Would his duty come first? Of course it would. He was not in love with her, and he owed her nothing.

She put the disturbing thoughts out of her mind and listened. There were carriage wheels approaching in the distance, coming closer and closer, sounding louder and louder still. They could see the gleam of lanterns and the gloss of the horses' backs, but they waited until the carriages and wagons had come abreast of them before they made their move, twenty-five of them charging out of the woods on all sides.

Their usual strategy was a straightforward attack, but this time Keira did something different. Her men circled around the wagon to force it to stop, and she was just about to jump onto its footboard and climb through the window to trap the earl when she saw that there was no one there. She could see nothing, in fact, and she drew back, puzzled.

In the confusion of saving herself and her men, she did not stop to wonder where the earl was. The castle guards had begun to appear all around them and were beginning to attack the rebels. While she was engaged in a battle with a soldier, Keira caught glimpses of men being toppled from their horses. Some were trampled into the dirt and some managed to escape, and she noticed with satisfaction that the guards were not having it all their own way. She disposed of the man she was fighting with by stabbing him in the thigh with her dagger and kicking him off his horse.

She turned around and began to engage another man in battle, but this one proved to be more skillful than the last. He swept her sword out of her hand with one swipe of his own. Presently, she found herself leaning back in the saddle to avoid the swipe of a dagger in her face, clinging on with her thighs as Diamond reared up, pawing the air.

Just as she thought she was going to be unseated, her horse's feet touched the ground again, but she was off balance and the other rider leaned in for the kill, his dagger aiming for her heart. Keira tried to swing Diamond around, but it was impossible in the midst of the mêlée, and she looked around hopelessly for an escape just as the sword came swinging toward her.

In the last moments of her life she saw her mother's face, smiling, with her arms open wide and reaching out for her daughter. "Come," she said softly. "Come and rest beside me in heaven, and we can be together forever, my sweetheart." Keira felt herself smiling and almost succumbed to the temptation of reaching out to her beloved mother, but it was not to be.

Salvation came out of nowhere in the form of a large man with golden hair astride a dark grey stallion. He barrelled into her attacker and fell to the ground, but Keira did not stay around long enough to find out who her savior was.

She forced herself out through the battle and back to the carriage, then briefly looked through the window. There was still no one there, and Keira felt a blaze of anger sweep over her. What kind of game was the laird playing?

She glanced back to see Murdoch riding toward her.

"Go!" he cried. "Get out of here before he finds you, Keira!"

"It was you!" she cried, wheeling her horse around to face him. "You saved me." She looked at him, puzzled.

Murdoch glanced over his shoulder to see two of his own men galloping toward them. Both of them had their eyes on Keira, but at the last minute Murdoch positioned his horse in front of her and stood his ground as the two guards looked at him questioningly.

"Are ye takin' her in, Captain?" he asked, then he looked at her more closely. "Mistress McTavish!"

The other guard drew up beside him. "Look at the way she is dressed, Mick," he growled. "She is one o' them!"

"Withdraw that remark at once, Thomson," Murdoch said, his voice quivering with rage. "She is not one of them."

Both of the guards stared at him, mystified.

" I am one of them." Murdoch's voice was grim, but the two guards refused to believe him.

Mick McCall laughed. "Very funny, Captain, but this is no' a game."

"No, it is not," Keira said firmly. "Captain Holmes?—"

"I am their leader, and I was taking Mistress McTavish with me so that she could spend some time in our company. We wanted to talk to her about her father." He glared at the two men.

Keira caught his arm, ready to remonstrate with her, but he shook it off and faced the two guards.

"Take me," he said. "I am responsible for this."

"Ye have been helpin' this scum?" Mick McCall asked, his voice high with disbelief.

"Yes," Murdoch replied firmly. "I have."

"So every time they got away fae us, it was because o' ye?" Blair Thomson asked.

He took a step closer to Murdoch, who did not back away. He was six inches taller than the other man and stared down into his eyes until Thomson looked away.

He looked at Mick McCall, his fellow guard, then they both looked at Keira.

"Did he hurt ye, Mistress McTavish?" McCall asked anxiously.

Keira shook her head. "What are you going to do with him?"

"Dungeon," Mick McCall answered. "Then the laird will likely have somethin' tae say tae him."

"I always looked up tae ye," Blair Thomson said contemptuously. "I even wanted tae be ye sometimes because the ladies liked ye so much."

"An' now we find ye are a stinkin' traitor!" Mick snarled. "Oh, I wouldnae like tae be in yer shoes once the laird gets started on ye!" His voice was filled with evil relish, and his lip curled upward in scorn. "I dinnae think yer face will be so pretty once he has finished wi' ye!"

"Come on, you." Blair pushed Murdoch's shoulder, then turned to Keira once more. "Are ye sure he has no' harmed ye, mistress?"

He looked worried. No doubt he and his fellow guard would be punished if any harm came to his daughter.

"I am fine," she repeated, "but I hate to see people treated violently, so please do not manhandle him."

The young man looked at Keira admiringly. "You are a good woman, mistress," he observed. "But why are ye out in the dark?"

Keira drew herself up to her full height and tried to assume an indignant expression while shifting from foot to foot as though she was nervous.

"That is my business," she said haughtily. "Not yours."

The two men looked at each other and came to their own conclusions. Of course the young woman had been enjoying a lovers' tryst, and her father did not know about it.

Keira watched as Murdoch's hands were bound behind his back and the two guards began to punch and kick him as they walked away to join the other prisoners. The fighting had stopped, and the rebels were being roughly tied together to walk back to the castle while the wounded and the dead were heaped in a cart. The dead would be buried with no ceremony in a communal grave in unconsecrated ground, while the wounded would be imprisoned with their fellow bandits and left to fend for themselves.

Keira felt her heart crack with pain as she watched Murdoch being led into the crowd of rebels, many of whom she knew well. He was tied to the rest, but not before the other guards gave him a good beating with their hands, feet, and the butts of their swords. She had half expected to see one of them stabbing him, but they were well-trained; Murdoch would be a source of vital information. She thought she saw him looking back at her once, but she could not be sure.

Murdoch submitted to all of the abuse since there was no way he could fight back, but even as the blows rained down on him, he was glad that he had saved Keira. He did not think the laird would execute him, at least not yet. He had too many questions to answer first. His interrogation would be brutal and painful, he knew, but he would endure it for as long as he could. Then, if the situation became too bad, he would kill himself. If that was what he had to do to keep Keira safe, then he would do it.

Keira turned and made her way back to the castle, hoping that no one else had seen her. If the two guards told the laird of her presence, she would simply deny it and tell him they must be mistaken. Adaira would swear she had been with her playing chess. Who would contradict the laird's daughter and his wife?

When she reached her bedchamber, Moira was waiting to strip her, wash her, and help her into bed. While she was doing so, Keira related the story of the ambush and Murdoch's changing sides to favor the rebels' cause.

"I have no idea why he did it, Moira," she said, with a baffled frown. "He seemed so firmly on the side of my father."

Moira was plaiting Keira's hair neatly as she listened, and when she had finished she turned her mistress around to look at her.

"I dae," she stated, her voice firm. "He cares for ye, Keira. An' dinnae tell me he doesnae. I have watched him an' listened tae him when he passes me, an' if he is no' a man in love, then I have never seen one."