Highland Barbarian Part 60

Already the horrors of the past months were slipping from her. How good it was to be home. What a joy to be able to share with her sisters all that had happened since last they were together.

"And he loves you, too?"

"Aye."

"It is all so romantic." Brenna sighed.

"But I do not understand," Megan interrupted.

"He is a Highlander. A barbarian. And you are the MacAlpin."

"He is an educated, cultured gentleman," Meredith said. "And a trusted friend of the queen."

"If Brice Campbell loves you, why did he let you come alone to clear his good name?"

"Because now that everyone thinks him dead, he will no longer be hunted. If he shows himself, he will once again have to fear for his life."

"But he is the Highland Barbarian," Megan persisted. "He is the strongest, bravest man alive. All my life I have heard songs sung about him, legends whispered about him. If he is so fearless, why would he be afraid to be hunted?"

Meredith was growing weary of her sisters' questions. Brenna had wanted to know everything, from the moment she had been abducted at the altar, to the moment she climbed the wall of the MacAlpin Castle.

Megan, on the other hand, was only interested in the reasons why.

"Do you think he will come for you?" Brenna asked, stifling a yawn.

"Nay." Meredith was annoyed to feel tears spring to her eyes. She tried to blink them away but they continued until they clouded her vision.

"I begged him to stay where he would be safe."

"But if he loved you he would care more about your safety than his own."

Megan turned to study her oldest sister.

"Are you crying?" In consternation she turned to the middle sister.

"Brenna, I have never before seen Meredith cry."

Brenna, the most tenderhearted of the three, shot her youngest sister a warning look.

"Our Meredith is merely overwrought. It has been a long and difficult journey for her. She has a right to cry."

"I am not crying." Meredith wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and rolled to one side, pulling the linens over her head. With a sniff she said softly,

"Well, perhaps I am. It is just that I am so weary. You are correct.

It has been an arduous journey. But it is not yet over."

"What do you mean? You are home now." Brenna yanked the linens aside and peered at her sister.

Meredith sat up.

"I mean that on the morrow I must ride to Edinburgh and gain an audience with the queen before Gareth has a chance to have me declared dead."

"But that is not why you are crying," Megan said matter-of factly

"Nay." Meredith caught her youngest sister's hands.

"I am crying because I miss Brice. And I fear I will never see him again."

Megan's lips curved down into a frown, instantly hating the man who was the cause of Meredith's tears.

"If Brice Campbell truly loved you, he would want to know that you were safe."

"But I begged him not to follow me."

"Aye. But how can the man claim to love you and not know if you survived the journey from the Highlands to your home?"

Sixteen-year-old Brenna wrapped an arm about Meredith's shoulder and glared at her younger sister.

"Meredith has been through enough. We will not add to her burden." To Meredith she whispered,

"You must sleep now. On the morrow you will feel better about everything."

"Aye. It is sleep that I need."

Meredith kissed her sisters, then lay back against the cus.h.i.+ons and closed her eyes. But sleep would not come. Megan's questions echoed in her mind. It was true that she had begged Brice to remain where he was safe. And she truly thought that was what she wanted. But now the nagging thought slipped unbidden to her mind. Did Brice love her enough to risk his own life? Or had he already put her out of his mind, while he and his men filled their hours in the Highlands, rebuilding Kinloch House?

When at last she fell into a restless sleep, she was plagued with dark, sinister dreams, in which a stranger stalked her. At times the stranger had golden hair and tawny skin. She knew that he was truly evil. But at other times the stranger was someone more familiar to her. His hair was dark, burnished, his eyes compelling. There was about him an aura of danger as well, which she strove to ignore. But each time she ran to him he melted into the shadows and disappeared into the Highland mist.

Chapter Twenty-One

"You must not go to Edinburgh."

Meredith faced her two sisters. Though it was not yet dawn, the first hint of light could be seen on the horizon.

Over their protests she had pulled on her breeches and tunic and Rowena's heavy hooded cloak. While they begged and pleaded, she had insisted upon hurrying to the wooded place where she had left her horse.

Brenna was close to tears. Megan was indignant.

"Would you rather have me declared dead by the queen and have Brenna forced to wed Gareth MacKenzie?"

"Nay." Megan tried another tactic.

"But in Edinburgh you will have to face Gareth MacKenzie alone. If you stay here, we will call all the MacAlpins together and plot to kill him when he returns."

"I must stop Gareth from meeting with the queen. If she declares me dead, how do I prove that I am not?"

Megan shook her head in disgust. In the darkness her blond tresses were a sliver of light.

"Then if you must go, we must ride with you."