Chapter 30
When they reached Edinburgh, Thane announced he’d go directly to Catriona’s home.
“You can catch up later,” he told his friends.
“Like hell,” Calan retorted. “We’re all going.”
The others agreed, and Kai was hailing a carriage before Thane could respond.
He looked to Tacita, who had just stepped onto the dock. “Go,” she said simply. “I’m quite capable of hailing my own ride.” Indeed, one of the men unloading the ship overheard and immediately offered to track a carriage down for the lady once her luggage was secured.
“There, see?” She put a hand on Thane’s arm. “Just go find our Cat and stay with her. I’m sure all will be well. I’ll be along shortly.”
He nodded, grateful for the woman’s endless understanding.
Kai shouted that the driver was waiting and they all piled in.
The ride didn’t take long, but it felt like ages to Thane. He was jumpy and tense, dogged by the feeling that he was wasting time, that when he got there it would be too late.
He had no reason to feel that way. Probably, when they arrived, Cat would lean out a window, perfectly beautiful and perfectly angry, and tell him to go to hell.
God, let that be what happens, he thought.
As soon as the carriage jolted to a stop, Thane got out and hurried up the steps to the house. Everything was closed up, the ground floor windows shuttered and the knocker removed from the door. He knocked anyway, pounding on the heavy wood.
There was no answer.
“I’ll head around back,” said Kai, already moving.
“There’s a side garden with doors into one of the rooms,” Calan recalled. “I’ll try to get in that way.”
“Are we going to be taken for thieves?” Struan asked.
“If we must.” Thane had to get inside. He pounded on the door again. “Catriona Ross! Open up!”
Duncan looked back at the street. “We’re going to be noticed, and the neighbors won’t like it.”
Struan leaned past Thane and put his hand on the doorknob. It turned easily, the door inching inward.
“Oh.” Thane felt like an idiot.
Struan clapped a hand to his back. “Never hurts to check.” He pushed the door open all the way and stepped inside.
Thane and Duncan followed, closing the door afterward. The men stood in the foyer, listening hard. It was entirely quiet, but the kind of quiet that felt wrong.
Struan raised his hand and gestured silently to indicate that he was going to move toward the dining room. Thane nodded, gesturing back that he intended to go the other way, toward the back study. Duncan pointed to the stairs going up.
Why the hell did this feel like they were in enemy territory? They’d reverted to the wordless communication they’d learned during the war, but this was a house in Edinburgh, for Christ’s sake.
It wasn’t as if Cat were going to drop boiling oil on him. Well, maybe him. But not the others.
But even as Thane moved through the foyer, he felt watched. He moved down the hall to the little study, intending to open the glass doors for Calan to be able to enter without smashing the panes.
He was just in time, for he saw Calan on the other side holding a rock, ready to throw it at the glass. Thane hurried to the door and unlocked it with the key that lay on the desk nearby.
Calan gave him a grin as he slipped in. “You’re taking all the fun out of this.”
“I’m sure Cat prefers her doors unbroken.”
Calan sighed, but kept the rock in his grip. “Is she here?”
“If she is, she’s being very quiet,” Thane told him. “But she has to be here. Where else—”
At that moment, a gunshot rang through the house. Both men went still for a moment, then Thane muttered, “Upstairs. Duncan’s up there.”
They charged to the door and headed back for the foyer and the main staircase. Struan was already near the top and gestured that Thane could advance. Nonetheless, Thane pressed himself against the wall and kept his eyes up as he moved up the steps, Calan close behind.
At the top of the stairs, they saw Duncan, clutching his shoulder with one hand. He glanced at them, and said, “I’m fine. He’s over there.”
Thane looked, and saw a man leaning out from a doorway, holding a gun in one hand. “Everyone stop! If anyone moves, I’ll shoot the bastard again.”
So this was Cat’s attacker, the man who had shot at her multiple times, poisoned her dog, and wanted to take all her inheritance. He looked familiar somehow.
“You don’t want Duncan dead,” Thane yelled. “He’s no one to you. Let him leave the house.”
“Not likely! He’s seen me, so he’ll have to be killed. You all as well now. Should have let the lass alone!”
“Where is she?” Thane called.
The man gave an ugly laugh. “Gone.”
Duncan frowned, making a show of sounding dense. “Gone from the house or gone—”
“Shut up! You should be bleeding to death!” the man yelled, his voice sounding almost panicked, despite him being the one with the gun.
He didn’t expect so many of us, Thane realized. He’s not sure he can take us all.
“Listen,” Calan called out, his tone deliberately calm and smooth. “You can’t spend the inheritance if you’re dead. Let’s come to some arrangement. We’re all reasonable men.”
“Reasonable? You kidnapped the girl I was trying to kill! What’s your game? I won’t stand—” The man’s rant ended with a surprised grunt, and then the sound of a body sliding to the floor.
Thane leaned forward and saw the man crumpled near the doorway, clutching his chest. Kai stood behind the man, a large kitchen knife in his hand.
“Where the hell did you come from?” Thane asked.
“Servants’ stairs up from the kitchen,” Kai responded, breathing hard. “It’s at the end of the hall, and you all kept his attention away from my angle. I decided it was worth the risk. He’s still alive,” he added with a tinge of relief.
“I’ll get him downstairs,” said Struan, swinging his arms. “We can tie him up in the kitchen until the law hauls him off—”
Another shot cracked the air, and all the men ducked.
Thane was shoved aside by the injured man, who used the distraction to grab his gun from the floor, jump up, and flee.
“He didn’t just shoot now,” Kai said in confusion.
“There’s two of them with guns! Stay down,” Duncan ordered.
Thane slid over to use a toppled table as better cover. Another shot whistled past him.
“They’re pinning us down here,” Thane said.
Duncan touched Kai’s arm. “Where’s the servants’ stairs?”
Kai pointed. “Last door on the left.”
“I’m going to circle around,” Duncan said, and was off before they could protest.
To cover Duncan, Struan grabbed a vase off the table and hurled it toward the shooter. They all heard it shatter, the sound followed by an oddly high-pitched yelp of surprise.
“Was that him?” Struan muttered.
“Let’s find out.” Calan lunged forward, intending to go after the fleeing figure.
“Wait.” Struan put his arm out. “We go together.”
They stormed into the room, and found a figure in the corner, aiming a gun at them.
“Careful,” he warned them. “I’ve reloaded.”
“I’m sure you have,” Kai said, putting his hands out in a calming motion. “But just consider that a murder charge will mean you’ll be declared a criminal and you’ll never see the money you fought for.”
“I’m not giving up now,” the man snarled. “And anyway, why should I listen to you? You’re on her side.”
“We’re on Brodie’s side,” Struan said.
“Ah, Brodie Ross.” The man’s smile turned cruel. “Sad loss. So young. So determined to serve, even when he wasn’t asked.”
“What do you know about Brodie Ross?” Kai asked, frowning.
“Enough. After all, I’m his heir.”
“You’re not.”
The man glowered at them all. “I should be!”
“I understand how you feel,” said Thane.
“I don’t think you do.” The man laughed and hurled the oil lamp toward the corner, where the carpet touched the wall under a window. The carpet and the draperies, soaked in oil, caught instantly.
Struan yelled something Thane couldn’t catch, and then two more shots were fired. Thane dropped to the floor defensively, but looked up when Kai called out that the man had run out.
“He used the fire as a distraction!” Thane was annoyed at himself for not seeing it. “We need to find Cat. Now.”
“Fire’s spreading,” Kai said, as if noting the approach of carriage. “We need to locate Miss Ross and get her outside. We have perhaps five minutes.”
The flames jumped to the next drape.
“Or less,” Kai corrected.
“Come on, room to room,” Thane said.
The others moved, but Struan stood there, unmoving, horror written on his face.
Hell. Thane realized that the fire was not just a present danger to Struan, the way it was to him and the others. Struan was being sent back in time to the war, when another fire blazed up around him and nearly killed him.
“Go!” he shouted to Struan. “Get the hell out of here! Get outside and organize a fire brigade!”
Nothing from Struan, just that wide-eyed, terrorized stillness.
“I’ve got him.” That was Kai who spoke. Somehow the smaller man maneuvered Struan around and got him walking toward the entrance. He looked over his shoulder to Thane. “I’ll handle the situation outside. Just go find her!”
Thane nodded, then looked back to where the conflagration was already taking over the room.
“Calan, clear all these rooms. I’m going to her bedroom.” He pointed to the door, thinking she was most likely there. People retreated to where they felt safe, and for most women, that would be the one room they could call their own. Cat had told him that.
But she wasn’t there. He flung open the door and looked in on an empty room with an unmade, and uninhabited, bed.
“Damn.” Where the hell was she?
A shot streamed past him, and Thane spun around. The other gunman! Except…it wasn’t a man.
“Miss Fairchild?” he said, recognizing the blonde woman.
“Mrs,” she corrected with a sneer. “You never thought to look for a woman, did you?”
Thane silently admitted they had not. “So you’re a full partner in your husband’s scheme?” he guessed.
“Of course. A wife should be a helpmeet to her husband.”
“And of course, it’s rather a lot of money.”
“Don’t be vulgar. It’s about what’s right. My husband, Thomas, should have been announced the heir!”