Page 55 of The Highlander's Twisted Deal
Duncan shrugged.
Holding his breath, Callum turned the handle. The door opened, and he peered nervously inside. “Ava?” he called. “Ava, it’s me. I… I need to talk to ye.”
He stepped inside. The room was empty. The bed was neatly made, the water still in the jug beside the empty basin, the fire cold and dead.
Not only was she not here, but she also hadn’t been here all night. She must have left after Callum came to see her. The pouch of coins was over in the corner of the room, the bag broken open, gold coins scattered all over the floor. They winked accusingly at him.
“What are ye doing?” came a sharp voice, none too respectful for talking to a laird.
Flinching, Callum turned around and came face to face with Ava’s friend, Elsie. The woman had her arms folded tightly across her chest, her lips pressed together, and she did not seem pleased to see him, not at all.
He swallowed, suddenly conscious that he was rifling around in a lady’s private bedroom in her absence. “I came to speak to Ava,” he said, almost apologetically. “It’s important. I need to speak to her as soon as I can. I thought she’d be here.”
Elsie sniffed. “Well, she’s nae. Ye are lucky Niamh isnae here—she’s gone down to the healer’s chamber. She’s got a few choice words she wants to share with ye.”
Ava had almost certainly told her mother and friend about what had happened. Callum avoided the woman’s defiant, direct stare. No doubt she knew how he’d hurt her friend and wanted to brain him with the poker.
A fair response.
“To be frank, I owe her an apology,” Callum admitted. “A big one. There are things we need to discuss if she’s willing. Is she with ye?”
Elsie frowned. “She’s nae. She’s… she’s nae here at all.”
A prickle ran down his spine. “What do ye mean she’s nae here?”
Elsie shifted, seeming uncomfortable. “She left the Keep early this morning. The storm had died down just before dawn, and she left as the sun was coming up.”
Callum felt sick again, even though he’d emptied his stomach into a bowl thoroughly only a moment before and cleaned his teeth and freshened his breath as best he could afterwards.
“She left?” he repeated faintly.
Elsie nodded, looking somewhat worried. “She insisted on going alone. She didnae take a horse from the stables, as she said it wasnae far.”
He ran a hand through his hair, trying to breathe. “Where… where did she go?”
“Keep MacLennan.”
“KeepMacLennan? Why?”
“Her friend lives there. She is taking the main road, so she wouldnae make it before dark, but if a kindly cart driver offers her a ride…” Elsie trailed off, chewing her lip nervously.
Callum swallowed back a sudden, acrid taste of dread in his mouth. It tasted like bile.
“Thank ye, Elsie. Thank ye for telling me. I… I must go.”
He pushed past her without another word, past Duncan, who was waiting at the end of the corridor, and didn’t stop running until he reached the stables in the courtyard.
* * *
Keep McAdair and Keep MacLennan were reasonably close together, as their lands bordered each other, with MacCarthy land at the bottom of the map. In good weather, somebody traveling by horse or by cart could make the trip in one day. A traveler on foot would take longer and would need to spend at least one night camping in the forest. However, the road between them was wide and well-traveled, and it was likely that she would be offered a ride.
Callum did not let Duncan come with him. Duncan wanted to come, of course, but with Moira still out in the countryside and Marcus still in his rooms, somebody needed to manage the Keep.
“I’ll be back tomorrow, as early as I can,” Callum said firmly. “If Ava’s willing to travel back, we’ll journey through the dark and get back before dawn.”
Duncan chewed the inside of his cheek, obviously nervous. “Take a few soldiers, please, Callum.”
“They’ll only slow me down. I cannae let her go, Duncan. I cannae. I was stupid, unbelievably stupid, and I must fix it before it’s too late.”
