Page 57 of Highland Guard

Harcourt showed the man the door, realizing that it was cleverly situated at the far back of the stables and blocked from sight by worktables and old blankets. “How long have ye worked here, Dunnie?”

“Near all my life, sir. My da was the stable master before me though. He died nay so long after the old laird did.”

“Ah, and obviously held fast to this secret, taking it to the grave with him.”

“Is it a bolt-hole?”

“In a way. David liked the lassies but his parents were verra strict and pious.”

Dunnie nodded. “Ye think he met with the lassies in here?”

“Nay, too great a chance of being caught. There has to be another door.”

It took all three of them an hour to find the hidden way out of the stables. Just before they were about to give up, Harcourt carefully walked in a straight line from the door he had come through to the opposite side of the stable. It was not easy due to a vast array of obstacles from buckets to tools but the last and largest obstacle was an ill-tempered gelding in a stall who quickly revealed why he was called Biter.

Dunnie managed to get the animal moved into another stall without injury so the three of them could work to clear away the straw covering the floor. In the far corner was a hatch in the floor. Harcourt had to scrape out years of debris from around the edges before he could open it. Beneath it was a set of worn stone steps, not steep but definitely leading down and toward the wall the stable had been built against.

“This wasnae built by David,” he said. “Torch, Geordie.” As the man worked to relight the one they had brought with them, Harcourt carefully studied the sloping, narrow steps. “This is verra old.”

“Weel, Glencullaich is verra old,” said Dunnie. “There has been something on this place e’en before folk began to keep records. But dinnae ken why this is here.” He shrugged. “Though stories told let one ken that the lot who lived here back in that time wasnae always made up of good men. Looks to me that, if ye follow that, ye will end up in the burn.”

Dunnie proved right. With a grumbling Geordie leading the way with torch in hand, they followed the sloping tunnel all the way down to a small cave on the banks of the burn. Not certain if anyone was watching the keep from this side, Harcourt stood at the back of the cave with the two men. It was big enough to stable a horse, he realized and shook his head. David must have found an ancient bolt-hole and used it to enjoy a few secret trysts. Few of the men on the walls watched this side of the keep for the bank of the burn was high, solid stone, and the tall walls of the keep were built nearly to the edge of the banks. It was going to be difficult to secure but he knew it would be the height of foolishness to destroy it. As they returned to the stables he decided to confer with the others. For now, simply replacing Biter in the stall would be good enough.

He wandered back through the tunnel leading into the cellars, Geordie right behind him. By the time he reached the great hall it was to catch Callum and Tamhas about to leave for the night. Harcourt hoped he was not about to ruin a fine night with a bonnie lass, especially when there was a battle on the horizon. Every man deserved what could be his last night in the arms of a woman. It was how he planned to spend his.

“Found another bolt-hole,” he announced and smiled at the way Callum swore.

“Where is this one?” Callum demanded. “And will it mean that I will have to wash again before going to see Peg?”

“Nay, washing will nay be required,” Harcourt assured him. “’Tis a verra weel-built, surprisingly clean tunnel from the cellars to the stables and from the stables down to the burn.” He handed Callum the keys. “It opens in the castle behind some old chests in the storage area opposite Geordie’s cell. That is the part that leads to the stables. In the stables, Dunnie can show ye where the second part is and ye will need him. The guard o’er that part is a mean beastie of a gelding called Biter.”

“Do ye wish it closed?”

“Nay as ye mean. I want it sealed against anyone entering from the outside, nay at least without sounding some alarum of some kind. Ye will understand when ye see it.” He pushed Geordie toward them. “Now that I think on it, just take him. He kens the way and then settle him with Nicolas. Geordie here is our new archer.”

Annys stepped into her bedchamber, her body aching from all the work she had done, but she was completely satisfied with, even proud of, all she had accomplished. Then she caught sight of the large bathing tub set near the fireplace, steam rising from the water, the soft lavender scent from her bathing herbs filling the air, and large drying clothes hung on a rack near enough to the fire to make them warm for when she was ready to use them. Someone had even set her best lace-trimmed night shift and robe at the end of the bed.

She did not think she could get her clothes off fast enough. Finally naked and a little surprised she had not torn something in her haste to shed the clothes, Annys stepped into the bathing tub, one large enough that she could submerge her body, covering it with the heated water and soothing the ache in what felt to be every muscle in her body. She rested her head against the lip of the tub, grateful to the kind person who had softened that edge with several folded-over drying clothes. A deep sigh of pleasure escaped her and she closed her eyes.

It was the scent of food that pulled her from her light sleep. Annys opened her eyes to find Harcourt kneeling by the tub, dipping a corner of the washrag into the pot of soap. When he started to wash her arm, she blushed, finally awake enough to be all too aware of her nudity, of being in her bath while a fully dressed Harcourt looked on. Then she told herself not to be so foolish. They were lovers now. She had no secrets from him.

“I am nay sure this is such a good idea,” she said when he nudged her forward so that he could wash her back.

“I would love to turn this into something more than a bath,” Harcourt said, smiling faintly. “And I suspect I will pay dearly for my good behavior, but I mean to gently tend to my woman tonight.”

“And I am your woman, am I?” She caught her breath at the warmth in the intense look he gave her.

“Aye, and I am inclined, verra strongly inclined, to keep ye as my woman for a verra long time.”

“That wouldnae be an easy thing to accomplish.”

“But one I am giving a great deal of thought to.”

“I am nay sure I can be naught but a lover ye visit now and again.”

“Not my plan. I dinnae want that, either.” He tugged her arms away from her breasts to wash them. “I want more than a lover, Annys. I want a partner, a wife, but there are things which must be sorted out and I am trying to give ye no promises until I ken for certain that I can keep every single one of them.”

“For now, ’tis enough to ken that ye want to.” She rose up enough to brush a kiss over his mouth. “Now, to keep us from misbehaving and allowing that food I smell to turn cold, tell me what ye did today.”