She shuffled a little farther back out of sight.
“If Duncan MacKenzie or any of his warriors arrive, we leave, immediately. I cannae see him giving up his chase, no’ after we set fire to Inverarish.”
“Aye, Captain. I’ll keep a watch out.” Hood still pulled low, Gavin’s man walked toward the screened table in the darkened corner not far from the front door.
“Gavin, is that ye?” A barmaid flounced toward Gavin, set a tray of tankards down on the corner table and with her lush breasts nearly spilling free from her green kirtle’s low neckline, her hips swinging wide, she brushed her chest against Gavin’s chest.
“Effie, my sweet. Just the lass I was after.” Gavin shoved the wench into the darkened niche under the stairwell.
Giggling, Effie hooked a finger in his belt. “’Tis been far too long since your last visit.”
“Aye, and I’ve a great desire to spend some time with you this night.” He grabbed her breasts and squeezed them. “You’ve a ripe handful here that needs plucking.”
“Ye know the way to my chamber.”
“Aye, I do.” With a leer, he scooped the lass up, tossed her over his shoulder then clomped down the gloomy corridor, one hand sliding under the lass’s skirts. He pinched her bottom and Effie giggled anew.
Drat it. She needed to catch Gavin alone if she wished to compel him, that’s if her voice remained strong enough to do so. She’d successfully compelled Duncan this morning, so hopefully she’d have no issue with raising a hypnotic tone with Gavin.
The wench’s chamber door banged shut and she heaved to her feet, brushed her skirts and snuck down the passageway in their wake.
Outside the lass’s door, she gripped the knob as thumping sounded within. More giggles and a man’s deep growl echoed toward her.
“Ella, wait.” Ethan stepped out of the shadows behind her, his wet hair plastered to his head and his blue gaze alert. Water dripped from his shirtsleeves and glistened on top of the bits of steel studded within his brown leather vest.
“Ethan, where did you come from?” Gasping, she bounded into his arms and hot tears surged forth. Clinging to him, she whispered raggedly, “I’ve been searching for you for nigh on a sennight, almost caught up with you on Raasay.”
“I knew you’d find me sooner or later. I’ve been having a difficult time keeping Gavin from causing complete mayhem. Has your chest illness cleared and your voice returned? You’re still whispering.” He hugged her just as tightly in return.
“I’m on the mend. My voice is still gaining in strength, but this morn, for the first time since I fell ill, I successfully compelled a man and I intend to do so again now, with Gavin, or at least as soon as he tires of the wench.
“I tried to halt Gavin at Inverarish. He certainly would have set fire to far more homes if I had no’ been there, although he does no’ listen to me, no’ one word. I cannae turn him from his current path.” He drew her deeper into the shadows of the nook he’d been hiding within, one she’d missed in her hurry to get to Gavin. With a watchful eye, he kept both her and the passageway within his sight. “We need to get Gavin back to Dunscaith and ensure his chief is made aware of all he’s done.”
“I agree, and I’ll aid you however I can.”
“Did you sail here alone? I saw our skiff out on the beach and knew to look for you.”
“I’m alone, and how did you get past me? I didnae see you come in through the front door.”
“I snuck in that way.” He gestured farther down the passageway to a side door leading outside, one barely visible in the gloomy dark. “I’m aware Duncan MacKenzie hunts Gavin. He’s been sailing hard on our heels since I infiltrated Gavin’s band of men.”
“On Raasay, I accepted aid from Duncan, sailed with him last eve until I left him behind this morn. He’s most certainly after Gavin, is determined to halt him and make him pay for his strikes against him. I fear with his life as well.”
“Why would you accept aid from Duncan?” Her brother frowned and she wasn’t surprised.
“I have feelings for him, like that which arise between soul bound mates.”
“What?” Shock washed across Ethan’s face then the emotion suddenly cleared. “Wait. In truth that actually makes sense. You two had quite the conversation at William’s inn and after you told me all about it, I did wonder if mayhap something more lay between the two of you.”
“You truly wondered that? You should have said something.”
“I could hardly get a word in edgewise. You wouldnae stop rattling on about him the entire journey home. You also seemed fixated on him in the days that followed afore you took ill. You even mumbled his name during your sleep.” He crooked a brow. “You awoke me doing so.”
“I had no idea.”
“If you two are in fact soul bound, then that must mean he holds fae blood.”
“Aye, although he denies it.”