His Highland Love (His Highland Heart Book 3) by Willa Blair

Author:Willa Blair
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Oliver Heber Books
Published: 2020-11-01T23:00:00+00:00

The next morning, he left the room to let her dress, then they rode onward along a good track used by drovers that ran from Stonehaven up to Aberdeen. When they reached the bluff above the smugglers’ bay, no ship waited. Catherine’s heart sank.

“By my reckoning, it would have left two days ago,” Cam admitted, still yawning after his night in the barn. “Though I hoped I was wrong.”

“What next, then?” Catherine asked. She expected Cam had passed a more peaceful night than she had. Knowing Kenneth lay mere feet from her, refusing to come to her, kept her tossing and turning. Kenneth had remained silent as she struggled to find sleep, and he did so now, apparently content for the moment to survey the pebbled beach below them.

“We might catch it at Aberdeen,” Cam replied with a frown, “or miss it entirely and have to hope a ship bound for the Highlands is in port.”

“Let’s go, then.” Kenneth turned his mount. Catherine followed and Cam brought up the rear. Their path took them inland, away from the coast for several miles, and the farther north they went, the worse the countryside looked.

“Can Domnhall have already gotten this far and burned Aberdeen to the ground as he threatened?” Kenneth wondered aloud. “Or will Mar’s men do it for him? They are doing more damage the farther they go.”

Catherine had to agree.

“As much as sailing home would be easier and safer, getting to a ship looks to be harder and not safe at all,” Kenneth complained. “Especially no’ for Cat. Too much destruction.”

“’Tis safer than cutting across war-torn countryside full of desperate people and two armies,” Cam argued.

Kenneth shook his head. “In the mountains, we can stay out of sight.”

When they found burned bodies at the next croft, Catherine had seen more than enough. Belly churning, she covered her mouth and choked out, “This is no’ good. We’re too exposed near the coast. I’m for turning inland right now.”

“With luck, we could be sailing by sunset,” Cam argued, his expression pinched. The smell must bother even him.

“Or wind up like them,” Catherine responded, hoping what she was feeling was prudence, and not that she was losing her nerve. They were still a long way from home. “We’ve had nay luck at finding a ship.” She made eye contact with each man, daring them to argue, then added, “Kenneth was right. We can take the narrower tracks through the mountains an army can no’ use. We can hide in the trees. That is how we should go.” She turned her mount and took off, forcing the men to follow.

Near sunset, they encountered men headed west, some injured, some hale, all glad to be alive. Kenneth’s mouth settled into a grim line when they learned from them the battle had already happened two days before, northeast of their present location, on the way to Aberdeen. Kenneth traded a look with Cam that said they might never have made Aberdeen at all. Though horrified

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