Highland Vow Read Online Free PDF Page A

do ye, my braw knight?” She took careful note of the fact that he had not yet released her, but was moving his strong, long-fingered hands over her upper arms in an idle but telling caress.
    “I do. ’Tis why it took me near to an hour to come and fetch you,” he replied.
    “An hour?” Elspeth muttered, unable to hide her surprise.
    “I had to tend to a few matters that will ease our escape ere I could come here.”
    “I meant no criticism, Sir Cormac. ’Twas just a wee bit disappointing to me to realize I had spent so long wallowing in my misery. I hadnae thought myself such a weakling.” She frowned when he chuckled. “Ye find my despair amusing?”
    “Nay, lass, merely the indication that ye might e’er consider yourself weak.” He took her by the hand and tugged her off the bed. “Ye have ne’er been weak. Nay, not e’en as a wee, muck-smeared bairn of nine.”
    Elspeth flushed a little with pleasure over his remarks even though they were spoken in a jesting tone. “What is your plan?”
    “Ye are to wrap yourself in this cloak and we will walk out of here.” He handed her a long, heavy woolen cloak he had set on the bed before trying to wake her.
    “That is your plan?” she asked as she donned the cloak.
    “Simple is oftentimes the best,” he said as he opened the door and dragged her unconcious guard inside.
    Elspeth watched as he tied and gagged the man, then tucked him into the bed, pulling the covers up so that only a bit of the man’s black hair showed over the blankets. “I dinnae think that will fool them for verra long.”
    “Long enough for us to escape these walls.”
    “Are ye truly meaning to just walk out of here with me?”
    Cormac tugged the hood of the cape over her head, pulling it forward until it covered her hair and shaded her face. “If any ask what I am about, I shall simply say I am taking my wee cousin Mary for a ride.”
    “Do ye really have a wee cousin Mary?”
    “Aye, and she is here. She is betrothed to Sir Colin’s nephew John. I brought her here for her wedding. She stays to her rooms, only coming out to dine in the great hall. The next meal isnae for several hours, so this ruse should work.”
    As he led her out of the room, then shut and barred the door, she asked, “Would it nay be better to creep away, to keep to the shadows? Mayhap ye ken of a bolt-hole to use.”
    “All that would be best but then we couldnae take my horse.”
    Elspeth started to say something, then quickly closed her mouth. His plan was fraught with the chance of failure, but she had none at all. He was also right in thinking it best to take his horse. They would not get very far on foot.
    “Do we take your cousin’s horse as weel? Or mine?”
    “I fear my cousin doesnae have a horse.” He grimaced. “She is a timid lass and willnae ride alone. She travels only in a cart or sharing a saddle with another. All here ken it, too. If I suddenly set Mary on a horse ’twould rouse suspicion. To take your horse would also rouse suspicion. I fear we will have to ride two to a saddle.”
    “Riding is better than walking. Faster.”
    “Aye, and now I must ask ye to hush.”
    “Your cousin Mary doesnae talk either?”
    He smiled faintly. “Nay much, although she and John seem to have a lot to say to each other when they arenae both trying to hide from Sir Colin. Nay, I think ye must remain silent because of your voice.”
    “Something is wrong with my voice?”
    “’Tis too distinctive,” he replied, but could see by the look on her face that she did not really understand. “Trust me,” he said and tugged her hood more closely around her face.
    Elspeth nodded and quelled the urge to talk to him. She threaded her fingers through his, savoring the simple act of holding his hand as they crept through the halls of Duncaillie. It was the only good thing about their walk through the keep, Elspeth thought as she tensely worried about a cry of discovery at every turning. Walking to the