Chapter 28 #3
Struan nodded. “Day and a half, if the weather turns.”
“Do you want to really be involved with this? It’s not your fight,” Thane told him. Struan, more than any of them, would be fully justified in staying away from the city, where too many people tended to look at him…or avoid looking at him.
Struan shrugged. “I have to go back to Edinburgh anyway. Why not rescue someone while I’m there?”
Thane almost laughed. “You would, wouldn’t you?”
“We won’t beat her,” said Duncan. “But we can shorten the time that she’s unprotected. Come on. Let’s return to Kinlochlie and pack.”
As the others headed off, Thane remained rooted to the spot for a moment, just thinking how lucky he was to have friends who kept their heads. And who were willing to fight battles that weren’t theirs, over and over.
* * * *
On the ship, the sailors handled everything, so all Thane could do was pace the deck and worry about Cat.
Calan came up to him as the sun was setting over the headland to the west. “You shouldn’t be up here all night. If for no other reason than that if you fall overboard, you’ll be cranky about that as well.”
“I’m not cranky.”
“You’re the definition of cranky. This lass has you so enchanted you can’t think of anything else.”
“She’s impossible to ignore.”
“You keep pretending that she irritates you. Just stop, man. It’s obvious that you’re mad about her.”
“Look, the fact is that we…well…”
Calan rolled his eyes. “How old are you? So you bedded her, but you can’t actually say you bedded her?”
“I can’t say that because I wasn’t supposed to do it! I didn’t intend for it to happen.”
“Oh, it was an accident? Just rolled into bed and—surprise!—it was her bed?”
“No.”
“Aye, didn’t think so.”
“This situation isn’t simple.”
“Why not? The objective doesn’t change. You still need to get her back.”
“But even if I find her, she won’t listen to me, because she hates me. The reason she left is because she’s angry. At me.”
“Well, that’s your problem. But we’ll help you get to her.”
“You can’t tell the others about…the sleeping with Cat part.”
Calan laughed. “If they don’t already know, they’re idiots.”
“What do you mean?”
“From the night you met, you looked like you planned to toss her into a bed the first chance you got.”
“I did not.”
“You did. Not blaming you. She’d catch any man’s eye.”
“Like yours?”
“Of course,” Calan admitted. “But I doubt she would have been interested in anything I could offer. She needs someone more serious than me. Like you. Didn’t expect things to go quite as far as they did, but…”
“Well, if you thought all that, why did you let me near her?”
Calan shrugged. “Because it was funny to watch you squirm.”
“Kai and Duncan think this too?”
“Duncan’s not blind, but he probably decided it wasn’t his problem. Kai honestly might not have realized what’s going on. That boy is going to need some serious education, and soon.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t try to say anything, like, MacPhearson, don’t lust after Brodie’s sister while you’re supposed to be protecting her.”
“Sounds like you already told yourself the same thing. But what would have been the point of warning you off? You wouldn’t have listened.” Calan put a hand on his shoulder. “Anyway, we have to get to her before someone else does.”
Calan left, but Thane lingered on deck, watching the night take over. For a moment, he didn’t realize someone had joined him. Kai’s slender form and silent demeanor was easy to miss.
“I hope we find her,” Kai said quietly.
“Me too.” What else could he say? It was the only thought in his head: finding Cat, keeping her alive.
“What are you going to say when you see her?” Kai asked then.
Thane shook his head. He had about a thousand things to say, and also none. Besides, Cat wouldn’t want to hear any of them. “Depends on where and when we find her, I suppose.”
“Are you going to tell her you love her?”
“What?” Thane swiveled to regard his friend. Kai obviously did notice what was going on. Or had Calan blabbed to him so fast?
“Well, you do,” Kai went on. “Don’t you?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think you do.”
“What the hell do you know about it? You know about as much about love as a monk in a cloister.”
Kai nodded, not the least offended by this characterization. “Aye, I’ve never been in love. Maybe I never will be. But it seems like the sort of thing that you shouldn’t hide.”
“Maybe in a perfect world,” Thane said with a snort. “And that’s not this one.”
“No. That’s what Miss Ross was saying too—I mean back in Edinburgh, when we first met her. About how she wanted to make an imperfect society better.”
“For women.”
“Making it better for women probably makes it better for everyone,” said Kai. “The world is half women. They really ought to get more say about what it looks like.”
“Fine, then you can join her stupid ladies’ league when you get there.”
“Think they’d let me?”
“I think they’d eat you up like a piece of meat.”
Kai looked intrigued by that. Then he said, “Come below deck and get some rest. We should be there midday tomorrow. You’ll want to be ready for anything.”