Part 9 (1/2)
”No, I mean the Prince.” The man brought the cup to his lips. He took a sip, then looked up at John. ”You speak the truth, Tavernier, I've never tasted anything so fine.”
John couldn't be happier and bowed his thanks, listening to the soft jingle coming from his pocket. ”There is plenty more.”
”This will suffice.”
John cast his eyes around the table at the others. They remained silent and stoic and none of them looked at him. Tucking the tray under his arm, he scratched his temple. ”You're not from here.”
Those cool gray eyes slid to him. ”Why do you say that?”
”Your speech, it has a peculiar sound to it. Like nothing I've heard before.”
”Tell me, old man.” The patron set down his cup and turned to look directly at him. ”Has a lady stopped here seeking food or shelter? She is my master's wife and has fled without a trace. She might have been alone. Perhaps donned in a nun's robes?”
”A nun? Traveling alone?” John chuckled softly and rested his hand on his belly, then stopped and quirked his brow. ”I saw no nun, but I did see hors.e.m.e.n. I didn't think anything about it at the time, men have been riding toward England for the past fortnight, but now that you mention a nun...”
”Yes?” The patron set down his drink slowly and narrowed his eyes on John.
”Well, the hors.e.m.e.n were riding the other way, toward the Abbey.”
The stranger rose to his feet and swooped toward him like a hawk that had just spotted its prey. ”Abbey? Where?”
John mopped his forehead with his sweaty palm. Something about the stranger had gone so terribly cold and threatening. Even the air seemed to pulse with foreboding around him. ”Old Courlochcraig in Ayrs.h.i.+re,” John said and darted his eyes toward the stairs. No need to fear, he rea.s.sured himself. He'd dealt with mercenaries before. He would serve them, tell them what they wanted, if he could, and then see them out the door.
The patron moved closer; his genial smile returned.
”You've been most helpful,” he said and turned to one of his men. ”Maarten, ride south and collect the rest of my men who left us at our last stop. Tell them their search is over and bring them with you to Ayrs.h.i.+re. I will meet you there.”
John was about to let himself breathe again when the patron stopped and set his gaze upward.
”Are there rooms above stairs?”
”Only mine, and I'm afraid I'm quite weary. If you wouldn't mind finis.h.i.+ng your...”
”You would not be untruthful to me, would you, my friend?” The patron slipped his arm around John's shoulder. His breath sluiced warm down John's neck. ”Not after I paid you so handsomely.”
”Of course not.”
”Who is in the room?”
”Only... only my wife, Millie, good sir.”
”I believe you,” the patron said gently against his ear.
John did not see the flash of the dagger that sank into his belly, but he felt it. His mouth opened when he looked down at the blood soaking through his ap.r.o.n and his gold spilling to the freshly swept floor. He wanted to scream. He thought he did. The patron was still close, watching him as John's last gurgled breath left his body.
Admiral Gilles yanked his dagger from the Tavernier's stomach and set his eyes on the stairs as the old man crumpled in a heap at his feet. Pus.h.i.+ng the body away with his boot, he ordered Hendrick to collect his gold and wait for him with the others outside while he searched the room above.
”Millie?” he called, turning the hilt of his dagger around in his fingers. ”Are you alone?”
”I don't think she understands the propensity for evil running through Gilles's veins.”
Asher stood with Rob and Colin by the banks of Loch Awe just south of Kildun Castle. Despite the laughter coming from the water's edge, or, it would seem, because of it, the captain raked his fingers through his hair.
Rob couldn't keep himself from smiling when Davina, crouched beside Finn while they washed their hands, splashed the lad in the face instead. She had changed much since he'd plucked her from the flames. In fact, it seemed the farther away they rode from England, the better her moods became, and his, as well. Her prayers were filled with thanks and every day her laughter rang out like music filling the meadows and glens as they rode through them. Rob loved the sound of it and the way it made her eyes dance. He would have liked to be the cause of her joy, but he had trouble giving himself over to meaningless pleasures like chasing grouse or hiding behind trees while she tried to find him. He wondered if her heart had been this light at St. Christopher's and if she had enchanted Asher's men with her graceful movements and the tinkling melody of her mirth the way she did with his. She seemed most alive, though, when she talked about the new king and his determination to stand for what he believed in-a topic Colin, at least, never grew weary of discussing with her late every night when they thought everyone else was asleep. Still, there were times when she spoke to no one, withdrawing into herself to a place that still haunted her eyes. ”She understands evil well enough, Asher,” Rob told the captain without severing his gaze from Davina. ”I think she still dreams of the ma.s.sacre at St. Christopher's.”
”No, she is forgetting. She doesn't know him.”
”And ye do?” Rob asked, turning to him. He almost wished Asher had remained uninterested in him. The man fretted like a woman with a dozen bairns and no way to feed them. And for some reason, which Rob suspected had to do with Asher making Davina happy, he was trying his hardest to make friends with Rob.
”I know enough,” Edward said. ”The man is called 'de Duivel,' for mercy's sake.”
”My faither was called the same thing fer many years. Now there's a man ye should fear.”
”b.l.o.o.d.y right,” Colin agreed, then shouted to Davina. ”Look out behind ye!”
She screamed with laughter when Will, sneaking up behind her, s.n.a.t.c.hed her up in his arms and held her over the water.
”I swear on my sword I'm goin' to beat him senseless one of these days,” Rob growled, halfheartedly.
”A single strike ought to do it.” Colin smirked and winked at him before he too was lured away by the laughter coming from the loch.
”By the way”-Edward cast his anxious gaze around the spa.r.s.e tree line behind them-”you are aware that we're on Campbell land, are you not? They don't take kindly to Highlanders.”
Rob ground his jaw and prayed for patience. ”My mother is a Campbell, dinna' fear. We will be safe here tonight.”
But the captain wasn't listening. ”G.o.d protect us,” he muttered, looking suitably horrified at Colin tackling Finn. ”I fear this noise will alert the dead.”
Rob was about to turn and ask him how in b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l he had attained the rank of captain when he feared a man so much that the sound of laughter could make him tremble in his boots, but Davina broke away from her captor and came rus.h.i.+ng toward him, capturing his attention instead.
Instinctively, Rob opened his arms to her, pleased that she sought protection from him rather than Asher. He caught her up in one arm and with the other stretched out before him, palm open, stopped Will, who had been in hot pursuit, dead in his tracks. His cousin went down like a felled tree, clutching his nose, blood already seeping through his fingers.
Immediately, Rob bent to help him. He hadn't meant to hit him in the face, but Will ran straight into his hand. ”Och, h.e.l.l, is it broken?” he asked as he hauled his cousin to his feet.
Still clamped in his other arm, Davina wriggled to be free then gave his chest a firm slap. ”How could you do that to him?”
Rob angled his head at her, surprised by the flash of anger in her blue eyes.
”He was only having some sport with me!”
If she was trying to make him feel worse than he already did, she should have said anything but that.
She shoved his arm off her and went directly to Will. ”Oh, you poor thing,” she cooed like a wife whose husband had just returned from battle. ”Sit back down and keep your head tilted forward.”
Rob rolled his eyes heavenward. h.e.l.l, 'twas just a b.l.o.o.d.y nose. Will had received worse than that training with him. When he looked at Davina again, she was glaring at him. Her cheeks were flushed, her nostrils flared, and her damp hair fell in wild disarray around her shoulders. h.e.l.l, she was bonnie.
”What is the matter with you?” she charged. ”All you do is frown at everyone. You never just enjoy yourself. Why, you're no fun at all!”