Highland Master Read Online Free PDF

was that shot an accident. Might a Comyn have had cause to shoot a stranger here on any other account?”
    Resting her oars again, she shifted enough on her seat this time to look at him without getting a crick in her neck. “We have not agreed that the archer was a Comyn,” she said. Her tone, she hoped, had been matter-of-fact, but his eyes had narrowed. Hastily, she added, “He could as easily have been a poacher who missed his shot as an archer performing some great feat of archery.”
    She could feel her cheeks burning and turned back to her rowing, fearing that he had noticed her increased color and hoping he would not quiz her about it.
    He said evenly, “Such a bowshot in the open may be easy for most archers. But one from the distance and with the concealment necessary to prevent my seeing the archer is not. And whilst we have
not
determined that the shooter was a Comyn,
you
have not yet said whether some Comyn or other might think that he had cause.”
    “One cannot know
what
such a man may think,” she replied. “Earlier, you mentioned the noisy jay. I thought he’d got noisy because of your mishap, but—”
    “Jays are noisy by habit,” he interjected.
    “They are, aye,” she agreed. “But they are also noisy when predators invade their territory. The squirrels were noisy, too. Also, the ravens.”
    “Ravens?”
    She nodded. “They must have scented fresh blood,just as Boreas did, and hoped to feast on whatever they found.”
    “We can forget the ravens, since there was no blood before the arrow struck me. But someone else
was
in those woods. If you did not see anyone…”
    “I did not see or
hear
anyone,” she said when he paused. “We were upwind of you, sir, and thus, too, of whoever shot you. Boreas scented naught until the breeze dropped, and we found you shortly after that.”
    “Wolf dogs do catch scent on the air,” he said thoughtfully. “Surely, though, if a stranger had been nearby, he’d have caught wind of him then, too.”
    “One would think so,” she agreed. “But it did take some time to reach you. And the ravens had got louder. Mayhap the man who shot you took advantage of their racket to run away, or mayhap the stronger scent of blood hid his scent from Boreas. In any event, we do not know who it was.”
    “Nay,” he said. “Nor do we know why he shot me.”
    Catriona glanced over her shoulder and saw with relief that they were nearing the island. The castle’s stone curtain wall rose from just above the high-water mark on the gentle slope. The heavy gate stood ajar.
    Everyone would know by now that she was bringing a stranger home. Had her father and brothers been there, they would be waiting at the landing. As it was, their welcoming committee consisted of two stalwart men-at-arms and one grinning boy.

    Eyeing the two men-at-arms who approached from the gateway, Fin wondered if he had been foolhardy to accept the lass’s invitation. Belated memory of Clan Chattan’smotto, “Touch not the cat but with a glove,” suggested that he
was
a fool.
    But he had had no other choice.
    His orders had been to persuade the Mackintosh to accept a role that the man might be reluctant to play. And the Mackintosh was on the island.
    However, accepting hospitality at Rothiemurchus still presented sufficient difficulty to give Fin’s conscience another twinge.
    In truth, no actual law forbade dispatching one’s erstwhile host
after
having accepted his hospitality… as long as one waited until one was no longer under the man’s roof. Moreover, if he were to decide now against staying, he would stir the lady Catriona’s curiosity if not her outright distrust. As to his honor…
    That half-thought had only to enter his mind to produce a mental image of his powerful, exceedingly volatile master that made him speedily collect his wits. Whatever his personal dilemma was, he had a duty to execute, and simply put, the Mackintosh was here. All other concerns must surrender to that