The Campbell Trilogy Read online

  “I would have, but I only learned of your survival when news of the banns reached me near Balquhidder. By then it was too late to stop the marriage. Seamus has been trying to tell you ever since you arrived at Rothesay, but you are rarely alone and it’s too dangerous to make our survival known.”

  “How did you evade capture with Seamus and the others?”

  “I had nothing to do with that. Brian and I arrived only yesterday. The rest of my men are still in the Lomond Hills, but Seamus came to Bute to tell you of our survival. Brian’s injury is the only reason I’ve risked bringing him here.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “The fool lad wouldn’t listen. I told him to stay out of the fighting, that he wasn’t old enough, but he’s as stubborn and proud as Malcolm and wouldn’t listen. He reinjured his head in the fighting.”

  “What fighting?” She was almost too scared to ask. If her brothers were fighting in MacGregor country, that could only mean they’d allied themselves once again with the proscribed men.

  Niall looked at her skeptically. “You don’t know?”

  She shook her head.

  “Alasdair MacGregor was hanged and quartered with eleven of his men a few days ago—including six men who’d surrendered as hostages and had no trial—at Market Cross in Edinburgh. More are scheduled to be executed in the next week.”

  Caitrina shook her head, dumbstruck. “No. You’re wrong. Jamie negotiated the MacGregor’s surrender under the explicit agreement that he would be taken to England. It was one of the reasons for our marriage—a sign of good faith, if you will. Argyll promised to take him to England.”

  Niall’s lips curled. “He did. Argyll took the MacGregor to the border, set him down outside the carriage so that his feet could touch the ground, and then returned him to Edinburgh for trial. Argyll kept his promise—fulfilling the terms, but not the intent of the agreement. Thanks to your husband’s clever negotiating, Alasdair MacGregor is dead.”

  No. It isn’t possible. Jamie wouldn’t have deceived her so. He wouldn’t have tricked her into marrying him, intending all along that the MacGregor should die … would he? Had he something to do with this? She felt a flicker of uncertainty that she quickly tamped down. No. Not the man she knew. He wasn’t simply Argyll’s strong arm, he was a good man. “If what you say is true, my husband knew nothing about this.”

  “I can assure you it’s true. There have been risings from Callander to Glenorchy to Rannoch Moor in retaliation for the treachery of Argyll. Your husband is a hunted man.”

  A chill swept over her.

  Niall looked at her as if seeing her for the first time and not recognizing her. He swore. “You care for him.”

  Heat crawled up her cheeks in silent affirmation.

  “God, Caiti, don’t you know what kind of man he is?”

  Her eyes flew to his. “I do. He’s nothing like what they say.”

  “You could wring more compassion from stone,” Niall said flatly. “The Henchman is ruthless in achieving Argyll’s pursuit of Campbell domination.”

  Caitrina stuck up her chin. “You don’t know him like I do.”

  Niall laughed, and it wasn’t pleasant. “You’re a fool, Caiti Rose.”

  Caitrina stiffened at the insult. This wasn’t how it should be. Her brothers had returned to her from the dead, and they were arguing. “What can I do to help Brian?”

  It was clear their conversation had upset Niall as well, and he was grateful for the temporary change of subject. “He needs more care than I have knowledge for. He needs a healer. Can you bring one?”

  “Here?” she said, aghast. “You can’t mean for him to stay here?” He should be with her at Rothesay.

  Niall’s mouth fell in a hard line. “What else would you have me do? He would not last the trip to Eire again. Nowhere else is safe.”

  They are outlaws. Just like the doomed MacGregors they’d tried to protect. But it didn’t have to be that way. “Let me tell Jamie when he returns. He can help. You are my brothers. You are chief by right. Perhaps he can get pardons—”

  “You must be mad. Do you honestly think he wouldn’t throw us right in the dungeon?”

  “He released Seamus and the others, didn’t he?”

  “Because they had no claim to the land. He’s a Campbell; he’ll not willingly relinquish Ascog. And he need not look for an excuse. I’m an outlaw, Caiti.”

  “You don’t need to be. What happened to Father, the attack on Ascog … Jamie never meant that to happen. I think if he knew the truth, we could trust him to be fair.”

  “You’d trust him with my life? With Brian’s life?”

  Caitrina bit her lip, ashamed for the shadow of doubt that crept into her consciousness. Niall’s news about the MacGregor’s death had shaken her but not changed her belief in her husband. She trusted him. “I do.”

  Niall paused and regarded her thoughtfully. “What if you’re wrong?”

  Caitrina met his gaze and swallowed hard. “I’m not wrong.”

  “Well, I can’t trust him. Not yet, at least. You must promise to keep our presence here a secret, Caiti.”

  “But—”

  “I’ll leave here right now,” he warned.

  “No! Brian can’t be moved.”

  “Aye, it’s dangerous, but no more dangerous than relying on the Henchman’s sense of justice.”

  Caitrina was torn. Loyalty to her husband warred with loyalty to her brothers—brothers she’d thought lost to her forever. She couldn’t lose them again so soon. And she couldn’t deny that news of the MacGregor’s death had stunned her. What if Niall was right? Had his feelings blinded her to Jamie’s dark side? No. But she would give her brother what he wanted—for a while. “Very well. But you will see when Jamie returns that he is not responsible for Argyll’s treachery. You will see that he is a just man.” If she knew anything, she knew that. Jamie was a voice of reason in the all too fractious disagreements between clans.

  Niall looked at her as if she were sadly deluded, but he agreed. They turned their attention to Brian and bringing a healer to him as soon as possible. Caitrina would come to visit when she could, but she knew that she would have to be careful. If her disappearance was noticed, she could lead Jamie’s men right to her brother. Once Jamie returned, it would be even more difficult.

  For now she would see them when she could, content in the knowledge that part of her family had been returned to her. But in the back of her mind was the recognition that if he ever found out about her deception, Jamie would be furious and she’d be risking the fragile life she’d built out of ash.

  Chapter 17

  The contents of Argyll’s missive haunted Jamie on the journey from Rothesay to Dunoon:

  “The deed is done. The Arrow of Glen Lyon hanged for his crimes in Edinburgh three days past.”

  Alasdair MacGregor dead in Edinburgh? What the hell had happened?

  The MacGregor chief was supposed to be in London. Jamie had given his word to that effect. He could think of only one explanation: Argyll had reneged on his promise to conduct Alasdair MacGregor to England. And if he’d done so, he’d blackened Jamie’s name in the process and unleashed a maelstrom of violence, giving the outlaws a martyr and even greater reason to rise in rebellion. Jamie didn’t want to think his cousin so rash, but when it came to the MacGregors …

  Damn.

  He stormed up the stairs to the keep. Tired and dirty from riding all day, not to mention in considerable pain from his shoulder, Jamie didn’t stop to rest or wash but headed straight for the laird’s solar. Not bothering to knock or announce himself, he pulled open the door and strode right in.

  The most powerful man in the Highlands sat behind a large wooden table surrounded by a retinue of about a dozen guardsmen, all poring over documents and maps. The Earl of Argyll glanced up, his sharp Gallic features frowning at the interruption. Seeing Jamie’s dark expression, however, he quickly waved the other men out, bidding them take their piles of