Kathleen E. Woodiwiss(272)

They entered the forest, and the path was one Shanna knew. It led to Ruark’s cabin in the high valley. Of course Sir Gaylord could not know that the place where he thought to take his refuge was the least safe of all.

They were well into the woods and had begun to climb when Gaylord slowed and, dropping back beside her, loosened the gag and snatched it away. Shanna spat to rid her mouth of the taste of sweaty linen.

“Scream if it suits you, my dear. As loud and as long as you wish,” Gaylord chortled. “There is no one to hear you now. Moreover, I would not hide your beauty any longer than necessary.”

“Enjoy yourself, my lord.” Shanna gave him a calm, almost gentle smile. “Your end is approaching apace. I carry Ruark’s child, and he will hunt you down. He has killed before, men such as yourself who tried to take me from him.”

Gaylord stared at her in surprise then laughed with a wheezing snort. “So you bear his child. Do you think that matters aught to me? Believe what you will, madam, but be careful. I have felt the sting of your arrogance oft enough. Turn your mind to the consideration of my temper, and you may yet see this through without undue pain. There is no one behind us. They cannot know which way we’ve come.”

“Ruark will come.” Shanna still managed the same assured smile.

“Ruark!” Gaylord snorted.

He urged his horse ahead and tried to drag the mare at a faster pace, Shanna sat back and with her knees commanded Jezebel to halt. It was a struggle as they passed along the trail, but it diverted Shanna’s mind from her own thoughts and fears.



The major rose to his feet and asked almost angrily, “And how do you know it was Sir Billingsham who killed your wife?”

Jamie Conners suddenly became nervous. “Well, I—”

Clamping his mouth shut, the Scotsman would speak no more, only shuffled his feet and twisted his hat as the major pressed him for an answer. Through the whole of it, Jamie cast quick, apprehensive glances toward Ruark, until Ruark realized that he himself was the reason the man would not speak. “Speak freely, man,” Ruark urged. “We have waited long enough already. I will make no charge against you, and I think the major will agree that what you have to say will set to rest a greater crime, one which you, as well, would see justice meet.”

“Well,” Jamie began slowly. “The wife and I, we had this little thing. She made bold with the men and got them to the room then slipped a potion in the drink she gave them. Whilst the men were asleeping, we—ah—helped ourselves. Just a little purse, a bit of a bauble.” He hastened to assert, “We never hurt no one. We—”

“But how do you know it was Sir Gaylord?” the major questioned sternly.

“I’m coming to that. Ye see, we got this bloke here,” he nodded to Ruark, “and he passes out on her bed. I took his purse and she a few other things to put in her safe box. Saving up a bit to go back to Scotland, we was, and we almost had it. Now the whole lot of it is gone. ‘Tweren’t enough he beat her to death, but he took our hard-earned savings, too.” The Scotsman seemed blissfully naïve as to propriety.

Ruark drew out the ring and showed it to him. “Do you remember this?”

Jamie stared at him and finally answered reluctantly. “Aye, she took it from ye. On a little chain thing round yer neck, it were. And she thought it pretty. She had nothing like that of her own. Good lass, she was. Sturdy and loyal.” He sniffed loudly and rubbed his nose on the back of his hand. “Miss the girl, I do. Ain’t never found another like her.”

“About Sir Gaylord?” the major reminded him roughly.

“I’m gettin‘ to that!” the man chafed. “It’s comin’! Be a little patient. Well, this bloke is on the bed, and we gots his things, and we put them away. Then there comes a knocking on the door. Now I can’t be seen there, ‘cause she’s got this other thing where she’s pressing a couple of fine gentlemen for some money, saying the babe was theirs and threatening to go to their families. Sir Billingsham was one of them. He raised a bit of a tiff when me girl said she’d tell his pa, that high lord. Well, Sir Billingsham was there at the door, wantin’ to talk to her. I slid down the gutter spout and sneaked around the front to take an ale or two in the common room while I waits on them. Then he comes out, puffing his big, floppy hat down, like he don’t want none to see him. I waits a wee bit. Then I goes and slips back to me girl’s room. And there was she, all bloody and dead, and there was Mister Ruark, still cold as a cod on the bed. Ain’t moved a muscle since I left, and she’d thrown a blanket over him, so the good Sir Gaylord wouldn’t know he was there. But that knight, he found the safe box, he did. I don’t think she had put it away. A small fortune, there was, and all I got was Mister Ruark’s purse.”