Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Lindsey lay in a
dreamy slumber, neither wide awake nor quite asleep. A restlessness
trembled through her. Jamie’s kiss had disturbed her far more than
she cared to admit, even to herself.
There was something so unsettling about this
giant of a man who had burst in upon her calm, well-ordered life.
He was a contradiction. How could a man known as the Heartless
MacDonald, who was known to be ruthless in battle, show such
tenderness when he held her? Yet beneath that tenderness she sensed
a very carefully banked tension, as though he held his emotions in
tight control when he was with her. She shivered. Aye, he was not a
tender man. And, she reminded herself, she must never forget that
he had used her to get to her family.
How odd that her father had trusted him
almost from the beginning. Even her brothers, usually suspicious of
strangers, had begun to warm to him. She was puzzled by her own
behavior. Never before had she allowed a man to take such liberties
with her. She should have plunged her dirk into his heart.
With a sigh she touched a finger to her lips
and felt the familiar tingle. The mere thought of Jamie MacDonald
brought a rush of heat through her veins.
Beside her she heard the faint snap of a
twig. In her dreamlike state she imagined that the man whose kiss
had her so unsettled was returning for another taste of her lips.
With her mouth curved into a smile she opened her eyes. The smile
became a gasp of horror as she saw a hideously ugly man with one
eye covered by a bloody patch reaching for her.
Before she could scream a hand covered her
mouth. She struggled to evade him, but he had the advantage of
strength and surprise. By the time she was fully awake and
fighting, a rough cloak was pulled over her head, muffling her
cries.
A second pair of hands reached for her and
she was tossed crudely over the back of a waiting horse. As the
animal raced across the uneven terrain, she was jostled like a sack
of grain.
* * *
In the predawn darkness Jamie sat up,
wondering what had disturbed his slumber. He thought he had heard,
in the mists of sleep, the half-strangled cry of a morning bird.
Rubbing his eyes, his gaze scanned the circle of sleeping figures
around the fire. Nothing seemed amiss.
He paused a moment to study the plaid that
covered Lindsey. As he stared he felt his throat go dry. There was
something wrong with the mound where Lindsey lay. It did not move.
It was as still as death.
Getting to his feet he spanned the distance
between them and knelt beside the plaid. Lifting it, he saw that
several blankets had been mounded beneath to give the illusion of a
sleeping body. He let out a shout that had the entire company
struggling to their feet and reaching for their weapons.
“Lindsey is gone.” Jamie stood, unaware that
her plaid was still clutched in a death grip in his hand.
“Gone? Where?” Murray Gordon was the first on
his feet.
“I know not. I heard something, a cry
perhaps. And when I checked, Lindsey’s blanket was empty.”
Neal sat up, rubbing his sleepy eyes, then
glanced at the empty place next to him. “Ian MacPherson is also
gone. He was sleeping here beside me.”
There was a sudden hush among the assembled.
Jamie’s hand clenched into a fist at his side. Why had he not
voiced his concern earlier? He had sensed that the man was not what
he appeared to be.
Murray exploded with a furious oath. “If the
lout has harmed our Lindsey...”
“Mayhap they have just slipped away for a
moment together,” Donald said with a hint of a smile coloring his
tone. “It is what I would do if I were MacPherson. My sister is,
after all, not hard to look at.” He turned to Jamie. “Lindsey will
have one more reason to dislike you, Jamie MacDonald, if you have
embarrassed her by alerting all of us to her little tryst.”
“Nay. This is no lovers’ stroll in the
moonlight. ’Twas made to look as though she was still here with us,
to keep us from missing her until her captor had made good his
escape.” Jamie glanced beyond the handsome young man to where old
Douglas Gordon stood alone. The older man’s face revealed his inner
turmoil. It was he, after all, who had insisted upon bringing the
lass along on this dangerous journey.
“Aye. I agree with Jamie MacDonald,” Douglas
said. “This is no lovers’ tryst. Our Lindsey is not like other
women. She would ne’er go off with a stranger. Especially the likes
of Ian MacPherson.”
Jamie felt his face flush for a moment at the
thought of what he and Lindsey had shared just hours ago in the
moonlight.
“Then where has she gone?” Robbie’s eyes
widened with sudden fear. The poet was unaccountably lost for
words.
“Who would want to hurt her?”
His words brought fear to everyone in camp. A
fear that sliced like a razor.
“I know not. But this much I know.” Jamie’s
eyes blazed. His voice was low with fury. “I will find him. And
when I do, he will pay with his life.”
Douglas put a hand on Jamie’s sleeve.
“Lindsey is our kin, lad. We will go. And we will find her.”
Jamie lowered his head, unwilling to let the
older man see how strongly he felt about this matter. But he shook
his head firmly as he said, “Nay. ’Tis my fight as well. You are
here at my request. I am responsible for you. All of you.”
For a moment the old man studied him closely.
It was obvious that Jamie was as distraught as he over their loss.
“Murray, Donald,” their father called. “You two will ride with me
to the south and east. Robbie, Neal. You will ride with Jamie
MacDonald to the north and west.”
Jamie gave him a grateful nod.
To the remaining men Douglas said, “You will
comb the forest, leaving one man to stay with the wounded. In the
event that my daughter should elude her captor and return to this
place, you will send a rider to us at once.”
Jamie had little hope that one small female
like Lindsey could elude a man bent upon evil.
With their thoughts as dark as the sky, Jamie
and the Gordons were already saddling their mounts. Within minutes
they disappeared into the surrounding forest.
* * *
For the first few moments of her abduction,
Lindsey had been gripped by a paralyzing terror. Now, she
struggled, to catch her breath and calm her racing heart.
The heavy cloak pinned her arms to her sides
and completely covered her head and face. With her head hanging
over the horse in such an awkward fashion, she had no sense of
direction. The blood rushed to her head, leaving her dizzy, but
even under such difficult conditions, certain things became clear
to her. They were following the river. She could hear the roar of
the water and she could hear the horses’ hooves splash through the
shallows. There were at least two horsemen. They did not speak, but
she could make out an occasional muffled oath as one or the other
encountered a low-hanging branch.
These must be the highwaymen. In her mind’s
eye she could see the grim faces of the men who had attacked them
in the forest. These were desperate villains, who would snuff out a
life for the sake of a warm cloak or a precious jewel. These mere
men without family, without honor. Men who did unspeakable things
to the women they captured.
As they continued to ride, Lindsey struggled
to collect her thoughts. She could not allow herself to dwell on
the fear that gnawed at her. She must remain alert. When the
opportunity presented itself to escape, she must be ready.
* * *
Jamie studied the marks by the river’s edge,
then pulled himself into the saddle and signaled for Robbie and
Neal to follow.
“How can you be certain this is the way?”
Neal asked.
Jamie met the lad’s troubled look. “One horse
carries a heavy burden. Its prints sink more deeply into the mud.
I’ll wager that horse carries both Lindsey and her captor.”
“One horse,” Robbie said, turning toward
Jamie. “Are you saying there are more than one?”
“Aye. I count two. But if it is the
highwaymen we encountered earlier, they will be returning to an
encampment to join the others soon. If possible, we want to
intercept them before then.”
“Do you think they have already harmed my
sister?” the youngest lad asked.
“Nay.” Jamie’s reply was spoken quickly. Too
quickly. Though he told himself that it was meant merely to comfort
a troubled lad, he knew better. It was his own comfort he sought.
He could not allow himself to dwell upon the harm that would befall
Lindsey at the hands of those villains. “There is no time to harm
her, lad. First they must elude capture.”
He nudged his mount into a run, with the
others close behind him. As they followed a bend in the river, he
saw the prints where the two horses had crossed. On the far side,
he found more prints, indicating that they had entered the forest.
Jamie felt his hopes plummet. It would be much more difficult to
follow a trail in the gloom of the woods. And much easier for
Lindsey’s captors to hide.
He glanced into the trusting faces of Neal
and Robbie and vowed he would not let them down. Then he turned and
led the way into the thickly wooded forest.
* * *
Lindsey struggled to breathe. The coarse wool
that covered her head was choking her. Briars and branches snagged
her, ripping her tender flesh through her clothing as the horse
plunged onward.
Suddenly, with no warning, the horses came to
a halt. A chorus of harsh voices was raised in greeting. Hands
clutched at her, dragging her roughly from the saddle. The breath
was knocked from her lungs as she hit the ground. The cloak was
snatched from her, leaving her gown hiked above her knees. But as
she struggled to modestly arrange her skirts, someone tied a dirty
rag over her eyes. Her arms were twisted painfully behind her; her
wrists bound so tightly she cried out. Someone gave her a vicious
shove. She fell backward and lay very still, fighting the desire to
retch.
“So, lad. Ye did as ye promised.”
A hand touched her hair, sending an icy