Page 19 of Highland Hearts

Cree nuzzled at her neck and whispered, “I love that you never hesitate to let me know that you want me.”

Dawn looked to the stairs.

Cree grinned, hurried off the bench, and scooped his wife up in his arms and headed to the stairs. “Now everyone will know not to disturb us.”

* * *

Dawn satin her husband’s solar the next morning listening to him talk with Sloan about Cavell.

“I know not what happened to Cavell but the scars of whatever horrors he has lived not only mar his once handsome face but also his once boastful nature,” Cree said. “His men wear worn garments and complain that he feeds the prisoners. It is obvious Cavell is in dire need of coins.”

“Why did he not come to you for help?” Sloan asked, shaking his head at the news.

“Pride, no doubt.”

“Or he believes he can get more coin this way,” Sloan suggested.

Dawn held up three fingers and shrugged.

“I wonder the same myself, wife,” Cree said. “Why give me three days when he appears in such dire need? There is something more to this abduction than we can see.”

Dawn nodded and raised three fingers again.

“I agree,” Cree said. “It has something to do with the three days he has offered me.”

“A three-day delay makes no sense,” Sloan said. “It gives you time to plan a possible attack and yet Cavell does not seem concerned about that.”

Dawn gestured as if counting and stacking coins on the table and shrugged.

“Aye, I intend to give him sufficient coin to help him and his men, though I will know what caused his terrible situation. Land is another matter. Land ownership brings power and influence with it and that I will not give away.”

“Cavell spent enough time with us for him to know that,” Sloan reminded. “Why would he ask for something he knows he has no chance of getting?”

“To get what he believes he will be able to successfully secure for himself and his men,” Cree said.

“More coin,” Sloan said.

But Cree wasn’t sure if he agreed.

After Sloan left the solar, Cree turned to his wife. “Any idea of what Cavell truly wants?”

Dawn gestured a question.

Cree shook his head. “You wonder if this is a mission for someone other than himself?” When she nodded, he asked, “Then why demand money and land if he is already being paid?” He shook his head and answered his own question. “He saw an advantage to the mission to gain more than what he is being paid.”

Dawn shrugged as if it was a possibility, then pointed to her husband and nodded, then tapped her chest and shrugged again.

“I know the man better than you so I should know?” he asked.

She nodded.

Cree wrinkled his brow. “So, if this is a mission for someone other than himself, he purposely took it to get to me?”

Dawn’s brow went up as she shrugged, suggesting it could very well be so.

“Why would he do that?” Cree’s question was more for himself than his wife, but, not surprisingly, she supplied the answer.

Trust, she mouthed.

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