Page 64 of Hunting for a Highlander (Highland Brides 8)

Smiling, Brodie shrugged. “And she did in the end. Katie’s the one who came to fetch me with the news that ye were out o’ the keep and at the waterfall with Geordie.”

Dwyn stiffened at this news, her mouth tightening, and Brodie grinned, obviously recognizing her dismay and enjoying it.

“How else did ye think we came to be there waiting in the woods along the path at just the right time?” he asked with amusement.

Dwyn’s gaze narrowed on him grimly. “So ye killed Simon and . . .” Her words trailed off even before he started to shake his head. The timing for that didn’t seem right. Simon had been dead for hours when they’d found him. Brodie wouldn’t have waited there along the path for hours; it would have been too dangerous. He would have come for them at the waterfall, and got off Buchanan land and back home as quick as he could.

“If Simon is the man who was lying on the path, ’twas Katie who killed him,” Brodie said now. “She needed a horse to get to us since me men could no longer hide in the woods after two o’ me men were killed and the others chased off. I had to sit idly by and wait here for any news she could slip out to give us when she was supposed to be gathering flowers, or performing other duties.”

Mouth tightening, he admitted, “I was angry at her for killing the warrior when I heard what she’d done, but ’twas handy in the end,” he said dryly. “It was spying the body on the path that told us ye’d no’ yet returned to the keep from the waterfall. The body would have been gone otherwise. But ’twas late, nearly time fer the sup by the time we got to Buchanan, and we feared missing ye did we travel through the woods to the loch to get ye, so we waited in the trees fer yer return.”

Dwyn closed her eyes briefly, the panicked worry that she had to get away and get back to Buchanan before Katie poisoned or otherwise killed Aulay Buchanan rushing around inside her head. She couldn’t let Katie kill him; she liked Geordie’s brother Aulay. Aside from that though, Geordie loved him and would be crushed was he murdered on his account.

“So,” Brodie said. “Now ye ken I know ye’re no’ married. And all ye’ve managed to do with yer attempt to convince me ye are is anger me further. Because now that the priest kens ye do no’ want to marry me, I’ll have to bribe him with coin to get him to overlook that fact and get him to wed us. Something else I’ll have to punish ye for once we’re back at Innes.”

Dwyn wanted to think that the priest couldn’t be bought that way, but she wasn’t sure. She was sure he wouldn’t marry them though, if he was convinced she was already married. So she opened her eyes, and let her lips spread in a wide smile.

Brodie frowned, obviously knocked a bit off-kilter by her reaction to his threat.

Before he could speak, she said, “The thing I find most amusing is that ’tis the actions o’ both you and Katie that actually saw me wed to Geordie Buchanan.”

“What?” he squawked with disbelief.

“When me feet got sliced up by the glass ye say Katie is responsible for, I could no’ walk. Geordie is the one who carried me everywhere afterward for the next two days and nights, and that certainly pushed us closer together,” she told him, and explained, “It was the second day o’ his carrying me about that we ended up alone in the orchards so that me feet could dry out in the sun, and that is where he first almost made love to me. He carried me back inside and, although I did no’ ken it at the time, while his brother Rory tended me feet, Geordie went to Aulay and me father to have the marriage contracts drawn up.”

She let that sink in and then added, “That was when I was poisoned. A terribly unpleasant experience, by the by. I was very sick . . . and ’twas Geordie who tended me and held me while I retched through the night. We fell asleep together on his bed after one such round o’ retching, and I woke in the morning still in his arms.”

Brodie was starting to flush almost purple with his rage, but she continued. “O’ course, having slept through the better part o’ the day, Geordie knew we would no’ sleep that night. We’d be the only ones awake, and because he’s an honorable man, and because he did no’ think he could resist anticipating our wedding through that night, he got me father’s permission to handfast.” She met his gaze as she added, “So ye see, if no’ for Katie, I might no’ even have handfasted with Geordie.”

“The stupid bitch,” Brodie breathed furiously.

“Oh, it gets better, m’laird,” Dwyn assured him with amusement. “Because that night we knew we’d no’ sleep was the night we went to the loch where yer men tried to drag me off, then wounded Geordie before he could kill them both. And that is why I am now married. Because when I got him back to the keep, Father Archibald came to give him the sacraments o’ the dying, and Geordie asked him to marry us in case he died.” She allowed a moment for that to sink in and then announced, “We were married in his room, both o’ us in pain and bleeding, with me father, me sisters and his brothers Rory, Alick and Aulay and Aulay’s wife, Jetta, as witnesses.”

Meeting his gaze she said firmly, “I am married, m’laird. The wedding at Innes is merely to allow the rest o’ his family, and me people at Innes, to witness it and welcome their new laird, Geordie Buchanan.”

Sitting back, she shrugged. “So ye see, I should really thank both you and Katie. If no’ fer what she and yer men did, presumably under yer order, I’m no’ sure Geordie and I would be married now at all. We may no’ even have been betrothed.”

Judging by the fury building on Brodie’s face, Dwyn gathered the man finally believed she was married to Geordie. Now she just had to worry that he might kill her for it.

Chapter 17

“Oh, Geordie, me poor sweet man, I’m ever so glad to see ye awake and recovering.”

Geordie stiffened at those words as Katie hurried into the room, but forced himself to relax. Turning his head, he watched dispassionately as she rushed around to where he sat on the side of the bed with his feet in the rushes.

“Thank goodness I found ye and was able to get ye back here for Rory to heal,” the maid said as she placed the ewer and bowl on the bedside table. Turning to peer at him then, she shook her head unhappily. “Ye’re soaked in blood.”

“Most o’ it is Simon’s,” he pointed out, his voice even. “I’m sorry ye lost him, lass. I ken ye were lovers.”

Katie blinked, and toned down the smiling, replacing it with a sad moue. “Aye, well, I liked him well enough, but I did no’ love him. No’ like I do you.”

Geordie ignored that and lowered his head. “I loved him. He was like a brother to me.”

“Well . . .” Katie paused and was silent so long he almost raised his head, but then she said with practicality, “Fortunately, ye’ve six true brothers still alive and well. Here, let me help ye out o’ yer clothes so we can get ye cleaned up.”

Geordie caught her hands as she reached for the pin of his plaid, and squeezed firmly, barely keeping himself from breaking her fingers as he growled, “And Dwyn is gone. Taken by that bastard Brodie. He’s probably torturing and killing her as we speak.”

“Nonsense,” Katie snapped, trying to tug her hands free. “All he wants is to marry her. She’ll be fine. And ye’re better off without her. She was no’ right fer ye anyway. She could no’ make ye happy like I can.”

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