“He must have got past ye on the stairs after pushing ye down them,” Aulay said quietly.
“Ye were pushed down the stairs?” Evina asked with dismay. All he’d said was he’d been pushed and taken a tumble; he hadn’t mentioned that the tumble was down the stairs in the passage. He was lucky he hadn’t broken his neck.
“I’m fine.” Patting her hand reassuringly, he turned to her father and added, “’Tis lucky I didn’t take ye down them with me . . . which I’ve been wondering about. Ye were in front of me on the stairs—how is it I didn’t knock ye down them?”
“Hmm?” Her father glanced to him with surprise, and then said, “Oh. Well, there are three shallow crevices spaced out in the inner wall between the top and bottom of the stairs. They’re just deep enough for a body to press into them to allow others to slip by. I was close to the first one when I heard ye falling behind me, and I pressed meself into it. I tried to catch ye as ye rolled by. I grabbed at ye, caught yer plaid, but . . .” He shook his head. “Yer plaid ripped, a strip tore free and ye kept going.”
“That’s how he got away,” Conran said into the silence that fell. “He must have pressed himself into one of the crevices while ye were helping me up down at the bottom. Without the torch to light the way, we must have walked right past him in the dark.”
“Damn,” her father growled with apparent surprise. “It ne’er occurred to me that he might ken about the crevices. But then, he should no’ have known about the passage either and he did.”
“Ye sent Donnan down to the clearing,” Evina pointed out. “If my attacker slipped past ye and continues down to the exit in the clearing . . .”
“Hopefully Donnan and the men will catch him,” the Maclean finished, and then he glanced toward the hidden entrance and narrowed his eyes. “Or he may be on his way back up, or simply hiding in the tunnel if he saw the area was flooded with men.”
“All the entrances to the bedchambers are locked now,” Conran pointed out. “If we position someone at the entrance behind the castle so he can’t leave, ye and I could ride down to the other entrance and enter that way. We could trap him and—”
“Ye aren’t doing anything o’ the kind,” Rory said firmly. “Ye’ve lost a good deal of blood with this injury, and I still have to remove the stone from yer head wound. I’m amazed ye’re yet sitting upright, but quite sure ye won’t be for long. Someone else will have to accompany Laird Maclean.”
“I’ll accompany ye, m’laird,” Aulay offered quietly, and when her father hesitated, he added with understanding, “Ye can even blindfold me for the ride out and until we get inside the actual tunnel if ‘twould make ye feel better.”
Evina’s eyebrows rose at the offer. But then being a laird with his own castle that probably had its own secret tunnels, Aulay would understand that they were secret for a reason. Still, she wasn’t surprised when her father sighed and shook his head. “Yer brother will soon be me son by marriage. It makes ye family. I guess I can trust ye with the secret. There’s no need for a blindfold.”
Aulay merely nodded his head solemnly in acknowledgment of the trust the man was showing him.
“Ye’ll need to pad yer saddle, Laird Maclean,” Rory announced, tossing aside the cloth he’d been pressing against Conran’s back to stop the bleeding, and picking up an already threaded needle. “Take a length of cloth, roll it up and shape it in a circle, and then set it between ye and the saddle so that it’s around the wound on yer arse and keeps it from hitting the saddle as ye ride.”
“Me arse is fine,” her father muttered, turning to head for the door.
Rory shrugged and turned to begin stitching up Conran’s back. “Ye’re the one who will suffer if ye do no’ listen to me.”
Her father muttered something uncomplimentary about healers being as bad as women, but Evina noticed that rather than heading for the stairs when he left her room, he turned toward his room. Hopefully to fetch a plaid to roll up as Rory had suggested, she thought, and then glanced to Conran when he suddenly squeezed her hand almost painfully.
“Sorry,” he muttered, through tightly ground teeth. There was no mistaking the expression on his face as anything but pain. Rory was sewing now. A lousy thing to have to suffer through, Evina knew, and rubbed Conran’s hand gently to distract him.
There was silence in the room for a minute, and then Saidh suddenly released a soft chuckle.
“What’s so funny, sister?” Conran asked grimly.
“I was just realizing that no’ one of us so far has managed a wedding where the bride, or groom, or both, weren’t healing from wounds, bruises or poisoning.”
“Hmm,” Rory murmured dryly. “Ye have all shown a distressing tendency to pursue rather adventurous courtships so far.”
“Ye make it sound like we each looked around for the most troublesome partner and chose them for that reason,” Saidh said with a scowl.
“Well, ye didn’t pack up and leave when arrows started flying and people started getting stabbed as any sensible person would do, did ye?” he pointed out.
Saidh opened her mouth, looking ready to scald him with a tongue lashing, but then snapped her mouth shut and shook her head before saying, “I hope finding the partner ye marry goes much more smoothly than everyone else’s has so far, Rory. But if it doesn’t, I hope I’m there to remind ye o’ yer words on this day.”
Rory paused briefly, concern flickering across his face, but then went back to sewing up Conran’s back without responding.
Saidh’s words had made Evina curious, however, and she decided she’d have to ask her what they were talking about later. It sounded like there might be an interesting story or two in there somewhere, she thought, and then glanced to the door as Tildy hurried into the room carrying a full tray.
“I passed the laird and Aulay Buchanan on the way up and they said ye were all up in m’lady’s room now, so I brought the food and drink here. But some o’ ye may want to go below. Laird and Lady Carmichael just arrived and Cook has the women serving the nooning meal a little early for them after their journey.”
“Murine and Dougall are here?” Saidh asked with excitement.
“Aye,” Tildy said heavily as she reached the table and set down the tray she carried. Shaking her head, she muttered, “I’m no’ sure where I’ll put them to sleep though. Every room is taken now.”
“Move Conran in here and give them his room,” Greer suggested. “That way we’ll only have to guard one room.”
“And I’ll only have to visit one room to tend them both,” Rory added, apparently liking the idea.
“And Conran can protect Evina if someone gets past the guard at the door,” Saidh put in.
Eyes wide, Evina glanced from person to person as they listed the reasons Conran should stay in her room with her, and then looked to Tildy, expecting her to refuse the idea. After all, she and Conran weren’t married yet and might never be. Evina still hadn’t made up her mind about that. But much to her amazement, the woman considered the suggestion and then nodded. “Aye. If we’re lucky Laird and Lady Drummond will arrive this afternoon and the priest can marry them at dinner. If no’, Lord Conran can sleep on a pallet on the floor, and I could always sleep in here as well to act as chaperone. Aye. A good idea,” she said with satisfaction, and bustled out of the room, apparently to arrange for Conran’s room to be prepared for his brother and sister-in-law.