The Ranger Read online

  “I’m not,” she said. “I trust you.”

  Arthur’s chest tightened to a burn. He wanted to warn her not to—that he didn’t deserve it, that he would only hurt her, that she gave her heart too easily, too blindly—but instead he nodded, and they started back toward camp.

  He led her up the path from the burn. When they reached the edge of camp, she gave him a sidelong look out of the corner of her eye. “My uncle looked as if he recognized you.”

  The observation caught him completely off guard. Something for which she seemed to have a particular talent. His step faltered. Not much, but he feared she’d noticed.

  “Are you sure it was your uncle? It was dark. I couldn’t see him clearly behind the nasal helm, and he was much closer to me.”

  Her nose wrinkled, the adorableness of the movement at odds with the threat she posed.

  “I haven’t seen him in a number of years, but I’m fairly certain it was him. His eyes are”—she shivered—“unforgettable.” If he’d hoped to distract her from her original question, it didn’t work. “But he seemed to recognize you.”

  “Did he?” he shrugged. “We may have crossed paths once before.”

  She didn’t say anything for a moment. But unfortunately, she did not allow the subject to drop. “So you don’t know him?”

  He fought the instinctive flare of alarm. “Not personally.”

  “He seemed upset to see you.”

  The rapid fire of his heartbeat belied his outward calm. She was dangerously perceptive and treading too damned close to the truth.

  “Upset? From what I know of Lachlan MacRuairi he’s an evil, foul-tempered bast—” He stopped himself, remembering his audience. “He was probably angry that I’d killed so many of his men.”

  She seemed to accept his explanation, but her next question told him she was not satisfied. “Why did they retreat?”

  He swore to himself, the flare of alarm growing louder. “As I said, your brother’s men had broken through. They were outnumbered.”

  She frowned. “It didn’t seem that way. It seemed like they were winning.”

  He forced a wry smile to his mouth. “Your brother was in danger,” he reminded her. “I think you were distracted.”

  She looked up at him and gave him a half-smile. “Perhaps you are right. I was focused on my brother. I’ve yet to thank you for what you did.” A shadow crossed her face. “If you hadn’t stopped that man—”

  “Don’t think about it, Anna; it’s over.”

  She nodded and gave him another sidelong glance. “Nevertheless I am grateful. Alan is, too, even if he has an odd way of showing it.”

  MacDougall was making no secret of his interest. Arthur had felt his eyes on them the entire time. He met his gaze and knew the “discussion” of the day before was not finished. “He has a right to his anger, Anna. What I did was wrong. All I can do is promise that it will never happen again.”

  Her sharp intake of breath was like a stab to his chest. She looked shocked. Bewildered. As if she’d been expecting something else. “But—”

  “They’re waiting for us,” he said to cut her off, indicating the men readying the horses. He couldn’t take another conversation like yesterday’s. “It’s time to go.”

  He spoke the words to himself as much as to her.

  Blind spot. Weak spot. No matter what he called it, his feelings where Anna was concerned had become a liability.

  He’d let her get too close, and now his cover and his mission were hanging by a thread. Time was running out.

  Eighteen

  Two uneventful days later Anna rode through the gate of Dunstaffnage Castle. One of the guardsmen had ridden ahead, so they were expected. She could tell by the barely concealed anger on her father’s face that he knew their journey had ended in failure.

  She’d hoped for a good night of sleep before having to face her father’s questions, but the lateness of the hour did not forestall their report. She and Alan barely had time to wash the dirt from their hands and eat a small meal before they were ushered into the lord’s solar.

  He stood in the middle of the room with his hands clasped behind his back, the important members of his meinie flanked behind him. From their universally grim expressions, Anna felt as if she’d just walked into a burial cairn. As no one was seated, she and Alan came to an awkward stop before him. She felt not unlike a child called to answer for some egregious prank gone wrong.

  The door had barely closed behind them before her father spoke. Attacked, really. “Ross refused.”

  It wasn’t a question. Hearing the accusation in his voice, she wanted to explain, but it was not her place.

  Alan answered for them. “Aye. Ross’s response to our request for an alliance was the same as before. He said Bruce would be marching toward him as well, and he couldn’t spare any more men.”

  “But what about the betrothal? Did that not change his mind?”

  Anna felt the men’s eyes on her, sending a flood of heat to her cheeks. She kept her eyes downcast, not wanting her father to see her shame. Whether it would have made a difference or not, she’d failed in the task he’d set before her. She couldn’t bear to see his disappointment.

  “There is no betrothal,” Alan explained. “It was agreed they did not suit.”

  She hoped she was the only one to detect Alan’s carefully worded response.

  “You mean he did not forgive you for refusing him the first time,” her father snapped at her.

  She ventured a glance in his direction, seeing the fury on his face. Her heart lurched. It wasn’t good for him to be so upset. She wanted to say something but knew he’d be even more furious to be treated like an invalid before his men.

  Anna didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to lie to him, but neither could she tell him the truth.

  “I …” she stumbled.

  “Well,” her father said impatiently. “I thought you were going to persuade him.”

  Her cheeks burned with shame. “I tried, but I’m afraid he, um, sensed that my feelings might have been engaged elsewhere.”

  “What do you mean, ‘engaged elsewhere’?” Her father’s eyes narrowed, piercing like arrows. He knew there was something she wasn’t telling him. “Campbell,” he said flatly, answering his own question. He swore, his gaze unrelenting. “And how would he sense this? What did you do?”

  She’d never seen her father so angry with her. For the first time, Anna was frightened by his rage. That she deserved it made it no less devastating.

  What could she say?

  Thankfully, Alan took pity on her. “The betrothal would not have mattered. Ross had already made up his mind. I’m afraid you have not heard the worst of it.”

  Anna braced herself for her father’s reaction. She feared it could throw him into another fit of apoplexy.

  Alan apparently decided that the truth was better not measured, but given in one unpleasant dose. “Ross is considering submission.”

  Her father didn’t say a word. But like a slow-moving wave on the horizon careening toward shore, she watched the anger build to a frightening crescendo ready to crash. His fists clenched at his side, his face turned beet red, veins bulging at his brow, and his eyes blazed like the pits of hellfire.

  She took a step toward him, but Alan put his hand out to stop her. He shook his head in warning.

  When her father finally spoke, it was to utter a string of curses that would have put her mother on her knees doing penance for his blasphemous soul for weeks. He stormed around the small solar like a lion in a cage—even his men stood back and gave him plenty of room to rampage.

  “Ross is a bloody fool,” he blasted angrily. “Bruce will never forgive him for what he’s done to the women. His sister and the countess were hung in a cage, for God’s sake. If he submits, he is signing his own writ of execution.” He paused long enough to bang the side of his fist on the table. “How can he think of bowing to that traitorous murderer? He cut down my kins