Chapter 9 #3
Kai frowned. “Aye, we could split our forces. One or two of us could escort her and her aunt somewhere safe, while the others remain here and continue the search for the shooter.”
“Who’s on what detail?” Duncan asked. “I’m better at nosing around, I think. So’s Kai. And Calan is a good man to have on hand if we need to get answers from someone who doesn’t want to talk.”
“Struan would be an excellent choice to escort the ladies,” Kai said. “Along with you, Thane, since you’re already familiar with them.”
“But where do we escort them?” Thane asked. That was the difficult question. Where in the world would Catriona be safe?
The men discussed possible options, whittling them down, discarding one after the other due to various weaknesses or complications.
Thane didn’t like the final option, and he knew Catriona would like it even less.
Just then, Catriona walked into the room, with Tacita close by. Cat had changed into a grey dress, and maybe that was why her skin looked a bit more healthy and pink. Then again, the doctor did say he gave her a dram of spirits, so maybe that explained the color.
“Gentlemen,” she said, sitting down on the chair with the hideous pillow. “Thank you for your patience. I am now willing to concede that someone is trying to kill me.”
There was an apology in her tone, and even a little humor. Thane couldn’t help but admire it, though he was still furious at her decision to go to the park in the first place.
“We’re glad you’re not dead,” Kai said brightly.
“As am I. My actions today were unbelievably foolish,” Cat went on, her eyes flicking to Thane. “I…I didn’t want to believe the truth.”
“It’s not an easy truth, Miss Ross,” Duncan said.
“Whether it is or not, I should have listened to you all. I am sorry.”
“You didn’t listen before,” said Thane. “So perhaps you’ll listen now. If you want to keep on living.”
* * * *
Cat gave Thane a wary look. She didn’t care for ultimatums, but he did have a point. “I’ll listen to what you have to say.”
“Very sensible,” Tacita approved from her perch on her favorite chair by the fireplace. She’d been horrified to see Cat’s wound earlier, though she’d calmed down since thanks to a splash of whisky in her tea, courtesy of the housekeeper.
Cat tried hard to hide her discomfort from the bandaged wound. The doctor assured her it was minor and she’d recover completely and quickly. But it burned now, throbbing painfully despite the hearty dose of medicinal brandy she’d drunk down herself.
“Are you all right, Miss Ross?” Duncan asked, evidently not fooled.
She nodded. “Aye. Well, let’s have it done so you don’t have to linger here all night.” Not to mention that people might start to talk if four unmarried men were in Cat’s home for hours on end. The one was bad enough! “What do you think of my situation now that I’ve made a bigger mess of it all?”
Kai waved a hand, dismissing the notion that she was at fault. Calan said, “Trust us, Miss Ross, we have no wish to make your life more difficult.”
Thane, she noted, said nothing.
Cat urged them on. “Clearly, you have something particular to tell me. Pray be blunt if necessary. We seem to have left convention by the wayside long ago.”
“Well said.” Calan nodded.
“So what is the plan? Oh, I know. I change my name and wear Brodie’s old clothes, enrolling in one of the medical schools to learn how to be a surgeon, so I can stitch up my next bullet hole myself.” She was being sarcastic, but she suspected that the real plan would somehow be more ridiculous.
“Nothing so drastic, Miss Ross,” Kai assured her. “We discarded several ideas simply because they would raise too many eyebrows around town. We don’t want your attacker to know that he’s being sought by us.”
Cat breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad to hear it. So what ideas weren’t discarded?”
“Only one,” Calan said, though his handsome expression looked anything but pleased.
“One? Dear Lord, it had better be genius.”
“It’ll be unexpected,” Kai said.
Cat gripped the arm of her chair, mentally bracing herself. “Tell me.”
Duncan said, “We’ve got to get you out of Edinburgh, to a location where it’s easier to control who’s coming and going.”
“Oh, that’s very sensible,” she agreed, relaxing. “My family has a house near Cardross on the river Clyde where we typically go in summer. I’ll simply arrange to go earlier, and—”
“No, that won’t do,” Thane interjected. “We have to assume that the person trying to kill you is aware of all the houses your family owns, and could easily pursue you there. Or worse, that he’s already got a plan for how to kill you at that house, which he might have visited beforehand.”
“Then where can I go? Rent a house? You make it sound like this madman has some way of tricking me into renting his own house!”
“Thought of that,” Kai said, nodding, as if pleased she caught on to this insane idea.
“The only locations we can trust are ones we control,” Thane said.
Cat’s jaw almost dropped to the floor. “One of your houses? Whose?” She looked at the men in turn, wondering which of them was going to produce a cottage out of nowhere.
They all looked to Thane, who ground out, “Mine.”