The Firebrand Read Online Free Page B

repeat myself, Wyntoun, but in this case I am making an exception. Take your men this instant and get back to your ship.”
    A flash of temper crossed the Highlander’s expression.
    “Look at it.”
    Wyntoun’s anger quickly subsided as he glared at the hair the nun held up for him to see. He took it and, studying it in the light of the torch, frowned at the straight cut of the tresses’ ends. Hardly the look of hair that had been torn out.
    “In the abbey I have some documents and correspondence regarding Adrianne that I need to get for you...before you sail.”
    “I’ll meet you there.”
    “Nay!” The woman shook her head vehemently. “If you do not get back to your ship immediately, she’ll be arranging for your men to sail that vessel to sea without you...and with herself at the helm!”
     
    ***
     
    As the narrow door of the shipmaster’s cabin opened, the tiny windows at the stern of the ship swung wide. Wyntoun crossed the cabin, pulled them shut, and latched them before turning to his man.
    “She’s aboard, Wyn...just as you said.”
    The Highlander turned and gave a satisfied nod to Alan.
    “And you left her in hiding?”
    “We did. Not an alarm raised. We did not even touch the wet clothes she must have tucked into a coil of rope on deck when she first climbed aboard. She’s a game one...I’ll give her that.”
    “You’re having her hiding place watched.”
    “Aye, she’s in one of the empty water barrels...Coll heard her moving about inside. And we’re keeping an eye on her.” Alan closed the door behind him. Muffled shouts from above deck told Wyntoun that the crew was readying the ship to set sail.
    “How did she get out here? Swim?”
    “Aye. She must have.”
    Wyntoun hung his sword belt on a peg across the cabin. “Any word from the abbess?”
    “They tell me she still insists on coming aboard, rather than giving Ian whatever ‘tis she has of the Englishwoman.”
    The knight’s green eyes couldn’t hide his satisfaction as he reached into a traveling bag he’d dropped on the cabin bunk. Removing a folded parchment, he carried the letter to where Alan had seated himself at a small worktable by the narrow cabin door.
    “I had my doubts, Wyn. But it all worked out well.” Alan picked up the letter and glanced at the contents. “You were right in not mentioning to the abbess the real reason behind taking the Englishwoman from Barra.”
    “The less anyone knows, the better.”
    “When do you intend to tell the lass?” Alan folded the letter again and put it back on the desk. “Or rather, how long are you planning to let her hide in that barrel?”
    “For as long as she wishes. ‘Tis much easier to keep her there in her barrel than anyplace else on this ship.”
    "Surely, she's wet to the bone."
    "Once we set sail, we'll lure her out."
    “So far, everything she’s done has played right into your hand.”
    “And we have to make sure that all her future moves, as well, work to our advantage...until we reach Duart Castle.”
    “Are you going to send word to her sisters?”
    “Not just yet.” Wyntoun crouched beside the worktable and slid open a secret panel on the side of the desk. With a satisfied glance at his cousin, he placed the letter in the chamber and slid the panel closed again. “Of course, everything I plan is subject to change, depending on the contents of these precious documents our aunt is entrusting me with on behalf of the Percy lass.”
    “I believe she’s here.”
    Alan had no sooner come to his feet when there was a knock. At Wyntoun’s command Ian, one of MacNeil warriors, pushed open the door and stepped back, letting the abbess squeeze by him before following her in.
    “Well!” The nun’s critical eye took in the neatly arranged furnishings of the cabin. “I have to give you credit, Wyntoun. Your sense of order even shows in this wee closet you call home for a few days of the year. Put that chest here, Ian.”
    As the warrior placed a small