Evina shook her head, and then reluctantly admitted, “I was upset that Cormag got hurt in me place.”
“Aye. I can imagine. I’d feel the same way and no amount o’ being assured ’twas no’ me fault would help,” Saidh murmured with understanding, and then said firmly, “We must do something about yer attacker.”
“Do no’ fret about it,” Geordie said, bending to lean between them to grab a mug and pitcher of ale off the table in front of them. Straightening, he began to pour himself a drink and added, “The men are no’ just searching the keep. They’ll be searching everywhere inside the outer wall of Maclean. They’ll find the bastard.”
Evina glanced to Saidh, unsurprised to see the doubt on her face as well, and when the woman turned that expression to her, she said, “I have thought of a way to trap the man if they don’t find him in the search.”
Saidh straightened and grinned. “Do tell.”
“Ah, hell,” Alick muttered behind them. “The women are thinking. Ye ken there’s always trouble when the women start in thinking.”
Ignoring him, Evina leaned toward Saidh and began to tell her what she’d come up with in her room.
Chapter 16
“Well?”
Conran glanced up at that barked question from the Maclean as he led his brothers and Donnan to the stairs of the keep. He spotted Evina’s father halfway up the steps, but before he could respond to the man’s question, a soldier shouted Donnan’s name. Conran glanced around just in time to see the big man break off from the group to head back across the bailey. He watched him head for the gates and then turned back to the old man he was approaching. Noting his questioning expression, Conran shook his head wearily and said, “We coordinated with Donnan and the soldiers and searched every square inch within the walls. We also questioned everyone we encountered and—” his mouth tightened with frustration “—nothing.” Pausing on the steps next to the Maclean, he asked, “Did ye have yer men search the keep?”
“Aye.” Fearghas sighed the word, as weary and disappointed as him. Conran wasn’t surprised when he said, “And they found nothing either.”
Nodding, Conran continued up the stairs, saying, “Then he must have a hidey-hole somewhere here. We’ll have to keep Evina guarded and come up with a trap to catch the bastard.”
“Aye,” the Maclean muttered, hobbling up the steps on his heels.
Conran had just reached the door to the keep when he heard shouting from the gate. Pausing, he turned to peer back to see what the ruckus was. His eyebrows rose when he saw that the gates were opening and the drawbridge being lowered. He’d ordered the gates closed and drawbridge drawn up when they’d started the search. He hadn’t wanted the confusion of people coming and going while they were conducting their search, and he’d forgotten to tell the men they could open both again. They were doing so now though, and he could see Donnan striding back across the bailey from that direction. Obviously, the men on the gate were who had called out to him, and Donnan had given them permission to open Maclean again to the outside world.
“Ah,” Aulay said as a good-sized retinue of riders rode into the bailey bearing the Drummond flag. “Niels is here.”
When the Maclean turned to him, a question in his eyes, Conran nodded firmly. “Send someone to fetch yer priest, m’laird, and we’ll hold the wedding. We might yet succeed at something today at least.”
Conran turned to grab the door handle again and added, “I’d best let Evina ken,” as he pulled the door open and rushed inside.
He expected her to still be up in her room, so had automatically headed to the stairs, but was only halfway to them when a burst of female laughter caught his ear. It was full, honest and uninhibited rather than the more subdued feminine chuckles most ladies allowed themselves. There were only two women Conran knew who laughed like that: Saidh and Evina. But Evina’s voice was a touch huskier than Saidh’s, and that was whose laughter he’d heard. Turning toward the table, he spotted her at once. All the women were there, enjoying a beverage and a laugh, but Evina sat with Saidh on one side of her, and her cousin Gavin on the other. Geordie and Alick stood behind her, chuckling too at whatever had amused everyone so, but their gazes were shifting around the great hall, aware and alert.
Conran paused a moment just to peer at Evina and enjoy the knowledge that she would soon be his wife—very soon. The idea was oddly startling. He’d known it was coming, had been working toward it and had gained her agreement just last night, yet some part of him must have doubted it would ever really come to pass, because he presently found himself almost staggered by the realization that it would indeed happen now that Niels had arrived. He would marry Evina, be her husband, claim her to wife. He would spend the rest of his life with this woman—making love, running Maclean with her, arguing, making up, having children and hopefully even, one day, grandchildren with Evina Maclean MacPherson, soon to be Buchanan.
And she’d agreed to it.
He stared at her silently as she laughed again and an odd ache began in his chest.
“Heartburn?”
Lowering the hand he’d been unconsciously rubbing his chest with, Conran glanced around at that question and smiled wryly when he saw that Donnan had entered the keep and joined him. “The others stayed to greet Niels and Edith, I presume?”
Donnan nodded solemnly. “They should be in shortly.”
Nodding, Conran glanced back to Evina as another burst of laughter filled the air.
“The Maclean hailed one of the lads and sent him to fetch the priest back to hold the ceremony just ere I entered,” Donnan announced as they watched the people at the table.
“Then I’d best warn her that Niels and Edith are here and the wedding will be held directly,” Conran murmured, but didn’t move. Instead, he stared at Evina’s laughing face and felt the ache in his chest begin again.
“Heartburn?” Donnan repeated, drawing his attention to the fact that he was rubbing his chest once more.
“Aye, heartburn,” he muttered, letting his hand drop, but knew that wasn’t his ailment. Somehow, he’d fallen in love with the wench. That was the only explanation for the panic he’d felt when he hadn’t found her at the table earlier, and had realized she was out and about with a killer after her. Never mind the way his heart had stopped when he’d seen the arrow narrowly miss her and hit the lad behind her. He’d wanted to cut his chest open and take her inside himself to keep her safe. And every time he looked at her, he was filled with longing and an ache that he knew would probably never go away. He loved the stubborn, reckless, beautiful woman, and nothing in his life had scared him more than that realization. It made him vulnerable. If he didn’t catch the man targeting Evina and the bastard succeeded in killing her . . . Conran didn’t think he could bear that. They had to catch him, he thought as he started for the head table and the women seated there.
“He didn’t?” Evina gasped the words with disbelief as he approached, stirring his curiosity.
“Aye. He did,” Saidh assured her, and then suddenly glanced around as if she’d noticed his approach out of the corner of her eye. Smiling when she saw him, she said, “And here he is now.”