Page 1 of The Highlander's Twisted Deal
1
This is a mistake. A big one, at that. And maybe me last one, too.
Well, it was too late for that. Ava hurried grimly on, trying to move quickly but not too quickly—people remembered travelers who rushed as well as travelers who dawdled. There was a perfect speed at which to travel, and she’d better get it right.
She’d passed others on the road, of course. There was no avoiding the inquisitive looks thrown her way—anyone traveling alone got a second glance, especially in these parts.
Clan MacCarthy was a hotbed of crime and violence. People had been murdered in their beds, gone missing, and just about everyone had a tale about bandits.
It was worse than she remembered, too.
At Paisley’s suggestion, Ava was dressed as a man in breeches and boots and a long, muddy cloak to hide her form and cover up her face and tell-tale red hair. Paisley, her oldest friend, was the only one who knew the truth.
Or most of it, at least.
She was almost there.
Stepping off the road, Ava crossed a grassy knoll towards a tangle of trees and thick undergrowth, situated about half a mile up a steep, rocky hill. She could imagine the house already—the cozy little cottage, hidden among the woods, just the same as she’d left it.
Crawling through the undergrowth, Ava craned her neck, peering into the small, fenced-off garden. Herbs grew thickly there, herbs that she’d once carefully cultivated herself. She’d brought them from here to the healer’s hut outside Keep MacCarthy, although she worked hard not to think about her old home now. Too many memories.
A figure was stooped over in the garden, working among colorful flowerbeds that hadn’t been there when Ava left. The woman paused, sensing eyes on her, and glanced up. She was pretty, with a curtain of long black hair framing her pale face. Cool blue eyes scanned the undergrowth.
Better not push me luck.
Ava stood up. “Hello, Elsie. Just visiting.”
Elsie gave a stifled shriek, bouncing to her feet. “Ava, ye wretch! Ye nearly startled the life out of me. Come in, quickly, before anyone sees ye!”
Before she could protest further, Ava found herself hauled across the garden and bundled into the low-ceilinged cottage. The door was firmly closed behind them, and Elsie pulled the curtains across the windows.
Then, she turned to face Ava, her arms folded.
“Ye shouldnae keep coming back here,” Elsie said flatly.
Ava helped herself to an apple from a basket on the kitchen table. “Anyone would think ye arenae happy to see me, Elsie.”
Elsie rolled her eyes. “Of course, I am happy to see ye. Ye are like a sister to me—always have been. But if ye are caught…” she trailed off.
There was no need to specify. Laird Patrick MacCarthy ruled these lands, and he had never stopped searching for his father’s killer.
That is, Ava.
She should have been more careful.
Elsie bustled around the kitchen, preparing mint tea, and taking a pie out of the oven. “We werenae expecting ye,” she said over her shoulder, “or there’d be more food ready.”
“Where is Ma? Is she home?”
Elsie shook her head. “Out tending to some of the old folk. With ye gone, and the new healer up at the Keep, a brainless fool who only cares for money, there’s none but her to help us.”
Ava bit her lip, swallowing back the guilt. Niamh, her mother, was a midwife, and she was the one who made Ava want to be a healer herself.
Settling herself down at the kitchen table, Ava bit into her apple and tried not to think about what she’d lost.
“We miss ye,” Elsie said carefully, keeping her back to Ava. “Times are hard.”
The hairs on the back of Ava’s neck prickled. “What do ye mean, hard?”
