Highland Savage Read Online Free PDF

Katerina’s plan to make sure I wasnae so bonnie any more and wouldnae find it so easy to play with a lassie’s heart.”
    “And ye would believe a mon like Ranald o’er Lady Katerina? Wheesht, I think the bastards kicked ye in the head one too many times for ’tis certain that your wits are sadly scattered.”
    “If Katerina was so innocent why didnae she send word to my clan about what had happened to me?”
    “And bring their wrath down upon the people of Dunlochan, most of whom had naught to do with it? She thought ye were dead and kenned that the Murray clan might seek blood to pay for the killing of ye. M’lady was fair surprised when nary a one of them came looking for ye.” William paused in his carving to look at Lucas more closely. “Just how did ye survive and get away?”
    “I can swim.”
    “Ah, the lass was that sure your leg had been broken.”
    “It was, but a mon can abide almost any pain if it means he doesnae drown. I crawled out of the water and kept right on crawling. Stopped only long enough to tend my wounds as best as I could and then headed home. There were good people along the way to give me aid.” Lucas shrugged, loath to think much about pain-filled days and nights, the terror of feeling so helpless, and all the travails of traveling unarmed and unable to even hunt for food. He also did not want to explain how his twin had found him because of a dream because too many people found that bond between twins a little hard to believe or tolerate. “I didnae notice Katerina looking for me either, and I would havebeen easy enough to track down and catch.”
    William shook his head. “She is right to say that ye ne’er truly kenned her. Did ye nay hear her say that they threw her in the loch as weel? Ah, I can see ye doubt the truth of it, but I will tell ye the tale anyway. They threw her in right after ye. Being that she is such a wee lass they were able to throw her farther than they did ye and she landed in the water, hitting only a few rocks when she went under. She nearly drowned. Kenning that she couldnae let the bastards see that she could swim and mayhap save herself, she swam beneath the water as much as she could and made her way to a sheltered cove. Poor lass was fair battered to death upon the rocks there ere she could get to shore. We found her two days later, weak and feverish. Calling for ye, she was, but, of course, that must have been her just wanting to make certain ye were dead.”
    Lucas just cocked one eyebrow, ignoring the man’s sarcasm and silently urging him to continue with his tale.
    “She sent us all out to look for ye,” William continued, “but we couldnae find ye. It was nigh on two months ere she was healed of her wounds and the fever that nearly killed her. S’truth, for three weeks nearly the only sensible things she uttered were orders to find ye and let everyone believe she was dead.”
    “Why play that game?”
    “Mayhap because someone obviously wants her dead?”
    The man’s continuing sarcasm truly grated on Lucas’s temper, but he fought to endure it. He was finally getting some answers. They might not be the right ones or even the truth, but he could decide on all that later. Right now he needed to know just what he had stumbled into.
    “Who does she think wants her dead?” Lucas asked William.
    “That bitch of a half-sister she was cursed with, Agnes. She wants it all, ye ken.”
    “All what?”
    “Did Lady Katerina nay tell ye about her father’s will, his dying wishes and commands?”
    “Nay, she didnae.”
    William sighed and shook his head. “Mayhap if she had ye wouldnae be so quick to think her guilty. The old laird, Katerina’s father, chose five men to act as a council after he died, to hold final approval of any mon chosen by her or her half-sister. If the men dinnae approve of the mon and the lass chooses to wed him anyway, she loses. All she gets is a wee bothy and a bit of land on the far western edges of Dunlochan