My Brave Highlander(98)

Her delicate tongue flicked against his, spiking his lust, making him groan. He tugged her tighter against his body, against his hard shaft. Damn, how he wanted her, right here and now. The cold wouldn't matter, but he couldn't do it. No lady wanted to be taken roughly against an icy stone wall with her legs exposed to the wintry wind.

Simply imagining her naked thighs spread, himself lodged between, made his shaft jolt with powerful arousal. He moaned. Her mouth was better than any honeyed treat he'd ever tasted.

Something whizzed past the back of his head, the air off it wafting against his hair. Alarm shrieking through him, he rolled with Isobel to the stone floor of the battlement. She ended up on top but he quickly put her behind him.

What the devil was that?

An arrow bounced off the wall.

"Iosa is Muire Mhàthair." Some bastard was shooting at him? Damnation. Either of them could've been killed. "Stay down!"

Cautiously, he rose and scanned the roof. They were still alone. Had to be someone on the ground. How had they known he'd be up here? He peered over the edge of the rampart in the direction the arrow had been shot from—the west. He saw no one on the ground below. Where had the bastard gone?

His gaze drifted further along, to the wall enclosing the church. A figure disappeared behind a tall Celtic cross gravestone. Someone was trying to murder him from within the churchyard? What manner of evil lurked here? It couldn't be McMurdo. He was still in the dungeon—at least he had been an hour ago. Surely he hadn't escaped since then. No alarm had been sounded.

Narrowing his eyes, Dirk watched and waited. He saw no more evidence of the dark-clothed figure.

Isobel crawled across the roof toward him. "Do you see anyone?"

"Aye, but I couldn't see who it was." Gloaming was growing duskier by the second.

He was certain, whoever it was, Maighread had hired him. Who knew how many men she'd hired to dispatch him?

"Come. Let's go back inside."

Staying crouched, they moved toward the door. He opened it and helped her through. They descended to the castle's top floor.

"I'd like for you to stay in your bedchamber until I come get you," he said in a hushed tone. "I'm going to take some men and try to catch whoever shot at us. I'll post a guard at your door."

"Do you truly feel that's necessary?" she whispered.

"Aye. Now that Maighread knows we've… been intimate, she might use you to bring me down."

***

"Why are you wearing armor?" Rebbie asked Dirk quietly when he appeared in the great hall.

Dirk's gaze scanned those present. Though several eyed him with curiosity, none seemed hostile or suspicious. "Why do you think?" Dirk muttered aside, making sure no one was near enough to hear. "Someone is trying to kill me again."

Rebbie gave a dark frown. "What happened?"

"On the ramparts moments ago, an arrow flew past my head. A man was hiding in the graveyard. Some bastard Maighread hired, without doubt. Or maybe it was Haldane. I'm getting the men together to do a search. McMurdo should still be in the dungeon. If he is, the witch has hired someone else. If he's somehow escaped, I'm going after him. I won't be so lenient this time."

"I need my armor too, then." Rebbie's hand flexed on his sword hilt at his side.

"Aye. And we'll wear our helms too."

"There you are," someone said behind him.

Dirk turned to find Aiden looking worried and glancing over his shoulder.

"What is it?" Dirk asked.

"I've been searching all over for you," he whispered. "We have to talk in private."

"We'll go into the library. You go first and we'll be right in." That way if Maighread had a spy in the great hall, it wouldn't appear Aiden and Dirk were together. He didn't want Maighread to know Aiden was helping him. That might put him in danger. Not that he truly believed Maighread would harm her own son, but if she thought Aiden was betraying her, she might decide Haldane was the one she would put in as chief.

A few minutes later, Dirk and Rebbie found Aiden pacing in the library.

"What is it, lad?" Dirk asked after they entered and closed the door.

"'Tis Mother. I heard her whispering to Haldane. She told him to go to the tavern in the village and meet with a man with light hair and a beard."

"She didn't say his name?"

Aiden shook his head. "Nay. If she did, I didn't hear it."

"To what purpose? Is this someone she's hiring to assassinate me?"

"That's what it sounded like. Haldane is to take him a bag of silver."

Dirk muttered a string of Gaelic curses. "You stay here, Aiden. I'll take the men and see what's going on at the tavern."

Moments later, Dirk, Rebbie, Keegan, Erskine and five other clansmen rode away from Dunnakeil along the frozen mud trail. Gloaming had quickly descended to night. The chill wind blew low clouds rapidly beneath the moon, creating moments of meager light mixed with darkness. Although it was difficult to see clearly, Dirk scanned the hills and mountains around them, as did the other men.