Page 68 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Chapter Four
Alex crept outof the storage chamber off the kitchen, making sure he avoided any of the servants who yet toiled there. Brodie followed behind him, his sure steps and presence giving Alex more confidence in this plan than he felt right now. Even knowing the others waited outside the gates to help their escape did not help.
Making their way from here up to Isabel’s tower room was not a sure thing and filled with any number of dangers and challenges. He cleared his thoughts of all but one—his wife needed him.
As Lara described, most of those living here in the keep were at their rest and few awake. Due to the arrogance of The MacLeod, few guards stood watch here within his hall or anywhere but the doors leading in or out. Alex and Brodie silently strode along the dark-shadowed walls and up steps until they reached her chamber.
No guard stood there waiting for them.
’Twas either a very good or very bad thing. Only opening the door would reveal the truth. Alex offered up a quick prayer in case the Almighty was listening and lifted the latch. Easing the door open, he heard Brodie behind him, waiting and prepared for whatever lay behind it. Dagger in hand, Isabel stood just inside, her eyes blazing and her body ready to fight, like an avenging angel.
His avenging angel.
“Isabel,” he whispered as he and Brodie entered and closed the door behind them. “Isabel.”
She dropped the dagger and ran into his open arms. Alex held her, just held her, feeling the breaths entering and leaving her body and letting her heat warm him. He slid his hands up, tangling his fingers into the mass of long, blond curls to draw her head back, and stared at her face.
“Are you well, lass?” he asked. He searched her features and noticed the dark circles beneath her green eyes and the paleness of her skin. “I heard what your father did to you.”
“Now that you have returned, it matters not,” she whispered before lifting her mouth to his.
Alex accepted and took possession of her lips, slanting just so that she opened to his tongue. He tasted her and suckled her tongue when she offered it to him. She had been crying for the saltiness of tears lay on her lips. But mostly, she tasted like... home.
“Alex,” Brodie growled. “We have no time for this.”
Alex pulled away from Isabel and nodded. Glancing behind her, next to the bed on the floor, he saw a woman and a man, trussed up like suckling pigs ready for the roast. They did not move at all and barely breathed. Alex smiled at his wife.
“You did well,” he said. “How long have they been asleep?” The potion Lara had passed to Isabel would make them sleep like the dead for hours and hours, she had promised.
“Nigh on two hours,” she said. “I am afraid my tying skills may not keep them thus.” Isabel nodded at the guard. “He is so heavy that I feared I would never move him there.”
Brodie walked by Alex and crouched next to the two, tugging at the bonds and gags Isabel had placed. He stood and shrugged.
“They’ll do just fine, lady.” Brodie nodded at the door. “We should go. Now.”
Alex grabbed the leather satchel at her feet and tossed it to Brodie. As he picked up the cloak there on the bed, he noticed that she wore the same gown she had worn when they spoke their vows. Plain, it would garner no attention from anyone seeing it. After he wrapped the cloak around her shoulders, he gathered her in close. Though she tried to hide the pain, he saw it in the tightness around her eyes and mouth.
“I should have been here,” he whispered, easing his hold and pressing his lips against her forehead. “I should have stopped it.”
She slid her hand into his and squeezed it. “You are here now.” Brodie lifted the latch and checked the corridor outside.
“Come.”
Alex supported Isabel during the fast-paced run from her chamber, down the stairs and through the long corridors back to the kitchen. She struggled to keep up with their long-legged strides, but never complained or slowed. They reached the kitchen and the storage chamber where he and Brodie had hidden and crept back inside it.
“Why are we stopping here?” Isabel asked, taking in deep breaths as she spoke.
“We will go out as we came in,” Brodie explained. “At first light when the gates open.”
“I can show you another way out.”
Alex glanced at Brodie. They’d planned to hide her in the same wagon they’d used to get into the castle yard and leave as soon as the gates opened in the morn, rousing little suspicion or concern. But every moment they remained here raised the possibility of being discovered. Or that the potion would wear off sooner than expected.
Alex smiled and nodded at his wife. He trusted her to ken a better way. “Show us.”
She could notstop touching him. Now that he was here, Isabel held on to his hand or his arm. In her confusion and pain after the whipping, she had thought of him and him alone. It would be a long time before she would convince herself to loosen her hold on him. Or to stop staring into the blue depths of his eyes. Or to lose the need to kiss him.
“This way,” she said, nodding to Brodie to open the door.
