Highland Savage Read Online Free PDF Page A

her beautiful eyes to soften his heart and make him a fool. The important thing to find out now was just why she had saved him this time when a year ago she had tried to kill him.
    “I cannae believe ye would think I had anything to do with that attack upon you. What reason could I have had to do such a thing?”
    “The usual—jealousy.”
    “Jealousy? Ye think I would have a mon killed for that?”
    “Ye had made it verra clear but a few hours earlier that ye were furious about the way Agnes wouldnae leave me be, that ye believed I was welcoming her fawning attentions.”
    “I would ne’er have ye beaten and killed for that!”
    “Then what was your reason?”
    Katerina just stared at him, unable to understand how he could believe such things about her. Then the pain she felt over his suspicions turned to anger. She had grieved for this man. All the time she had wept until she was weak and ill, he had thought her the cause of his pain and near death, judgments reached without any proof.
    “Ye dinnae deserve this, but I will tell ye the truth this once. I had naught to dowith what happened to you. ’Twas Agnes’s order the men followed. They told me that if I stood silent, did not plead or weep or try anything to help you, they wouldnae kill ye. I did exactly as they asked because I wanted ye alive. Then they tossed ye over the cliff. Ere I had fully accepted the truth, that they had ne’er intended to let ye live, they threw me o’er after ye. Agnes didnae just want ye dead for spurning her, but me as weel.”
    “It appears ye recovered weel enough.”
    The way Katerina stared at him as if he was a complete stranger to her made Lucas uneasy. He had the unsettling feeling that he had just dealt her a heart-deep wound, but that made no sense. He had seen her, seen her standing there silent, dry-eyed, and unprotesting as he had been beaten and cut.
    “Mayhap it just went further than ye had planned for,” he began, abruptly silenced by the slashing movement she made with her hand.
    “And mayhap ye ne’er kenned me at all. Mayhap I have spent all these months grieving o’er the loss of something that ne’er truly existed.”
    Before he could respond and hurt her even more, Katerina walked out of the chamber, leaving him alone with the other man, who watched him as if he was a complete lunatic.

Chapter Three
    Lucas scowled at the man who sat across the fire from him. The only thing the man had said since Katerina had walked out was I am William and I think ye may be too witless to live . Although the insult stung, Lucas could only admire loyalty. This unrelenting silence, however, was becoming unendurable. Lucas had questions that needed answering and it was becoming obvious that Katerina was not soon to return to answer them.
    “Where did she go?” Lucas finally asked.
    “Away from ye,” William answered, not even glancing up from his carving.
    “I ken that weel enough, but where did that take her? Are there more rooms like this one?”
    “There are a lot of rooms down here. Some are a goodly size, some nay more than a niche in the rock. There are passages and hollows running throughout this hill, right up to the back of Dunlochan keep itself.”
    “’Tis one great bolt-hole.”
    “Aye, for the holy men who used to abide here and for those within the keep. I am thinking ’tis a mixture of what has always been here, what was natural, and hundreds of years of hard work. This land certainly gives a mon many a reason to want a secure place to hide for a wee while.”
    “True. So, why are ye hiding here now?”
    “Weel,” William briefly looked at him and the look in his dark eyes was not particularly friendly, “it certainly isnae because of ye or what ye think she did.”
    “Ye didnae see her that day, didnae see how still and calm she was as Ranald and his dogs beat, kicked, and cut me. They told me she had ordered it done. Ranald himself whispered it in my ear as he cut my face. Said it was