Highlander's Guardian (Highlander Heat #4)

“You’ll be careful?” She opened her eyes, slid her mask back into place as he did the same with his.

“Always.” He guided her down the trail and back inside to where Arthur waited next to her guardsman. Colin nodded at Arthur. “Take Annie back to her chamber.” To the guardsman, he said, “Ensure you collect Mistress MacLeod from her chamber in the morn. She’s no’ to roam Holyrood’s halls without a guard.”

She squeezed Colin’s fingers. “I promise to be careful.”

“And ’tis my job to ensure you do so. Take care, scamp.” He dipped his head and left. Weaving through the crowd, he disappeared, and well before she was ready to let him go.

“We too must leave.” Arthur took her elbow and steered her from the hall. “Let’s find your maid.”

They passed a stream of servants carrying trays with goblets of wine to be raised at midnight to celebrate the unmasking. Picking up her pace, she hurried to her room, only her maid wasn’t there as she should have been. “Mayhap she’s in Elizabeth’s chamber.”

“I’ll go and check.” Arthur left and returned moments later shaking his head. “Where else could she be?”

“There’s a possibility she got called away to aid the palace staff.”

“Then I’ll have to deliver the ale myself. I’m running out of time to find another maid who might deliver it for me.” He picked up the tray holding the pitcher and tankards from her side table.

“Will they accept it from you?”

“I can all but try.”

“Arthur, nay. Allow me to deliver it. I’ll change into my simplest gown. I have a plain white mask I could exchange for this one.” She wouldn’t be the cause of Colin, Arthur, or his men getting caught. “I willnae be recognizable, and no one will guess the maid was me.”

“That’s—”

“Surely ’tis best for the guards to slumber rather than for you and Colin to take the tower by force. Turn around.” He did and she removed the gold-plumed headdress from her wig then slipped behind the screen and changed into a navy kirtle with a knotted belt. She tossed a black and gray plaid over her shoulders and in the looking glass, placed the new mask over her face. “All right. What do you think?”

Arthur turned and studied her. He slowly nodded. “You do look like one of the maids, although Colin will kill me if he discovers I involved you and no’ a servant.”

“I’ll be in and out in no time, and he none the wiser.” She raced past him before he could change his mind. “Come.”

He mumbled as he joined her, clearly not liking what he’d had to agree to.

Around the perimeter of the bailey, they crept until they reached the circular tower. Four guardsmen walked out the door, and she and Arthur slunk into a darkened corner along the midnight-shrouded stone wall.

“That’ll be the change of the guards,” Arthur whispered in her ear. “Tell the new guardsman you’ve brought a celebratory drink. That the Captain of the Guard requested it from the kitchens. Set the tray down and leave, immediately. I dinnae want you in there any longer than the time it takes for you to do that. Are we clear?”

“Very, but what if they dinnae partake of the ale?”

“That’s no concern of yours. In and out. Make it quick.” He glanced across the bailey toward the stables where something within the shadows caught his eye. Three men crept toward them. “Damn. ’Tis Colin with Ian and Murdock. Go now, lass, afore the captain arrives.”

She draped her shawl over her head, took the tray from his hands and walked into the tower. The first pull of air into her lungs had her gasping for breath. The air was so rotten, her stomach heaved. Ignoring the stench as best she could, she stepped up to the barred door. Goodness, how on earth did Colin expect to get through here if not by ensuring the guards’ compliance first?

“Excuse me,” she called out. “I bring refreshments.”

A warrior in a padded leather war coat scraped the steel door open and leered at her through stringy black hair. Behind him, a single candle-lit lantern hooked on the wall cast an eerie glow over the blackened gray-stone. “What do ye want, lass?”

“The Captain of the Guard sent me with ale. He thought you too might like to celebrate the king’s masquerade.”

“Over there will be fine.” He jerked his head toward the table near the stairwell.

“And the other guardsmen?” No matter what Arthur had instructed, she couldn’t leave without ensuring the guards had all been served. Colin’s life could well depend on it.

“Above-stairs.” He closed the barred door and turned the lock with a loud clunk, enclosing her inside with him. “I’m right thirsty. Pour me a tankard.”

“Could you call the others? The captain insisted you all partake.” She set the tray down with a rattle, poured him a mug and handed it across.