Page 84 of Hold Fast

“Aye,” Rabbie said without hesitation.

“Then you will keep practicing, aye?” Ewan said. “Nae because I plan to put you in harm’s way, but should the need arise, I need you ready to protect all that we hold dear.”

Rabbie nodded, wiping his mouth with the grimy back of his hand. He took the dipper from Angus and drank, his throat bobbing, before he picked up his sword and walked back to the training circle. Ewan watched as Rabbie flung himself at Angus with more strength and ferocity than before. Angus grunted as Rabbie’s blunted sword came down hard at the juncture of his shoulder and neck.

“Goddamnit, Rabbie,” he shouted, but Rabbie backed away from him, his sword gripped tightly in his hands, his eyes bright with determination. David looked at the scene pensively as Angus advanced on Rabbie, forcing him to move swiftly out of the way.

“Perhaps he never had stakes to imagine,” David said quietly.

Ewan clenched his jaw tightly. Rabbie’s eyes were wild, his hair sticking out at odd ends around his head. He looked possessed as he circled, waiting for Angus’s attack, and Ewan knew he was picturing Una with a baby in arms, Fenella and Fiona in danger, Catriona, the other servants, the pups and horses and sheep. He was imagining himself as the last defense between them and doom.

There was commotion at the gate, and Ewan saw one of his men rushing through the portcullis, making his way into the bailey with great speed. He spotted Ewan and David against the building and hurried toward them.

“M’laird,” the man panted.

“What news?” Ewan asked quietly, beckoning the man close.

“Cameron scouts in the woods,” he said, breathless but quiet. “We saw two of them, but they slipped us.”

“You are certain it was Cameron men?”

“Aye, m’laird,” he replied. “One of them tore their plaid getting away.” He handed a scrap of wool to Ewan, the Cameron tartan clearly visible.

“You dinnae think—” David said, breaking off abruptly.

“I dinnae ken,” Ewan answered. “A few scouts at the border isnae so unusual.”

“But they were nae at the border, m’laird,” the man said, his breath returning to him. “They were within sight of the keep.”

Ewan’s blood ran icy cold. It was unspeakably bold to send men that far into an enemy’s territory. A laird wouldn’t dare try it unless he wanted to send a message.

“Tell the men on the wall to look sharp,” he said and the man nodded, rushing away to see it done.

“Cameron’s up to something,” David said, and Ewan nodded, watching as Rabbie advanced on Angus, his innocence being shaved away with every slash of his sword. It made Ewan want to weep. Nothing was safe from a man like Cameron. Not Una. Not his clan. Not even his brother’s gentle heart.

CHAPTER35

The sun was bright and a light breeze blew down from the mountains as Una lay on her back in the grass beside the loch. The clouds in the sky cast fast-moving shadows on the grass around her, dappling the land in various shades of light and dark green, and she closed her eyes, watching the play of light and shadow against her lids.

She stretched like a cat, reaching her arms as far above her head as she could, relishing the pull in her shoulders and ribs as she did. She’d been busy. The sickness that had come upon her so suddenly at the beginning of her pregnancy had finally abated.

Greer lazed beside her in the grass, her month-old puppies flopped around her. Una lifted one hand to the rounding of her belly and the other to scratch behind Greer’s silky ear. She heard a horse approach and cracked an eye open enough to see that it was Calman. She sighed. So much for peace. Ewan would be furious. She’d slipped her guard and gone to the loch alone, which was strictly against his orders.

For the past month, she had been forbidden to leave the walls of the keep without a guard. That rule had extended to Catriona as well, but Una knew that was only to prevent a mutiny on her part. But no matter how many times she asked him to explain why, he always dodged the question.

Ewan brought Calman to a stop and dismounted. The horse ducked his huge head and nudged at Una’s face, nibbling at her hair. She laughed, taking his velvet nose between her hands and stroking it.

“Dinnae eat my hair, precious boy,” she said. “There is plenty of grass for you.”

Calman snorted happily and then began munching at the grass a few feet away from her, his large body blocking the sun. Ewan crouched down next to her.

“Una,” he said, his voice tight. “You promised you wouldnae leave the keep alone.”

“I am nae alone,” she replied, her eyes closed again. She didn’t want to see his disapproval. “Greer is with me and nine other dogs. And now you’re here. And Calman.”

Hearing his name, the horse nickered happily.

“Una,” Ewan said with an exasperated sigh. “You ken good and well what I mean.”