Ransom

and you to handpick the soldiers who'll ride with us into England.'

'We're attacking England?' Gideon asked, astonished.

'No,' Brodick answered. 'Though the thought of it warms my heart.'

He leaned back and then told Gideon what had happened and how Gillian had saved Alec Maitland. Gideon had trouble taking it all in. When Brodick finished, the soldier, shaking his head, whispered, 'Dear God, it's a miracle Alec survived.'

'His miracle was Gillian,' Brodick said. 'If it were not for her, Alec would be dead.'

'And no one would have known there was a traitor in our midst,' Ramsey pointed out.

'Who would do such a thing?' Gideon asked the question, then pounded his fist on the tabletop as he offered an answer. 'It must be a MacPherson because they are the only ones who would gain in this. There are many who would cheer your death, Laird, and all of them are under Proster's thumb. Though he's little more than a boy, he has gained their loyalty. They are rebels, pure and simple.'

'My mind is not so set as yours, and I will be certain before I act,' Ramsey said.

He raised his hand for silence as the squire came hurrying into the hall with a platter of bread and cheese. After the boy placed the food on the table, Ramsey ordered him to wait in the kitchens and then resumed the discussion. 'We must help Gillian find her sister. I have given her my word.'

'It's a certainty that the woman is a MacPherson?' Gideon asked, rubbing his jaw as he considered the matter.

'Yes,' Ramsey answered. 'Her name's Christen, and she's a few years older than Gillian.'

'The family surely changed her name in order to protect her,' Brodick interjected.

'Still, I'm hopeful that Brisbane and Otis will know who she is. Nothing escapes their notice.'

'I might be able to help,' Gideon said. 'My father also has a strong memory and knows most of the MacPhersons. He hates them, but he's civil to them,' he added. 'His sister married a MacPherson. She's dead now, but she was ill-treated by her husband, and my father will never forget that. Still, he would help you, Laird, if he can. If a family took a child in, then my father would most likely know about it. Now that he's feeling better, he detests being confined and this puzzle will help distract him. With your permission, Laird, I'll go to him as soon as possible.'

'Gideon's father broke his leg in a bad fall,' Ramsey explained to Brodick and Dylan. 'It's good news to hear that he's going to mend. For a time, we thought he wasn't going to make it, and Gideon rushed home to be by his side.'

'If he cannot walk again, he would rather die,' Gideon commented. 'But now there is a glimmer of hope. If you don't need me for a couple of days, I could leave now. I could be halfway there before darkness falls.'

'Yes,' Ramsey agreed. 'The sooner you speak to your father, the better. Brisbane and Otis will take days worrying about their duty to the MacPhersons, and you could be back with the information we need before those old men make up their minds to tell us the truth.'

'Christen might come forward on her own,' Dylan suggested.

Gideon started to stand up, then changed his mind. 'Laird, you said that we'll be riding into England, but where exactly will we be going?'

'We don't know… yet,' Ramsey admitted. 'Gillian hasn't given us the names of the Englishmen who held Alec captive and made the bargain with the traitor.'

Perplexed, Gideon asked, 'Why hasn't she told you, Laird?'

Brodick answered. 'She has it in her mind that if she tells us who the men are, then we'll attack, leaving her uncle vulnerable. She also worries that I'll force her to stay here.'

'But that is what you're going to do, isn't it?' Ramsey asked. 'You surely won't allow her to return to England.'

'It's complicated,' Brodick said. 'Gillian's headstrong.'

'Which is why you were drawn to her,' Ramsey pointed out.

Brodick shook his head. 'How can I demand her trust knowing all the while in my heart that I'm going to betray that trust? Hell, I don't know what to do. I don't like the idea of breaking my word to her, but the thought of her in such danger is unacceptable.'

'You're going to have to work this out with her and quickly. We need the names,' Ramsey said.

Gideon stood and bowed to his laird. 'With your permission, I'll take my leave now.'

'Give your father my good wishes for a full recovery.'

'I will,' he promised. He started toward the entrance, then turned. 'Laird, with all this news I forgot to ask…'

'Yes?'

'Do you still want the men to gather in the courtyard tonight? I'll have Anthony give the order,' he hastily added. 'But if you aren't going to announce your decision to marry Meggan, then may I ask why you wish to address your men? Perhaps I should stay.'

Ramsey realized then that an important detail had been left out of the telling. 'We have an advantage in finding the traitor,' he said. 'Gillian saw the man as he was riding toward her estates.'

'She saw him?' Gideon asked, astonished.

'Aye, she saw the bastard,' Dylan confirmed. 'From the description of where she was hiding, I'd say she was close enough to spit in his face, but the fool never knew she was there.'

'And that's why I want every man to come to the courtyard. Gillian will look at each one of them, and if the man is there, she'll spot him,' Ramsey said.

Gideon shook his head. 'And she'll recognize the traitor for a certainty?'

'Yes,' Ramsey said.

'Then she must be protected at all costs. If this man knows she can point him out, he'll surely try to silence her before-'

'She's well protected,' Dylan announced. 'We Buchanans aren't going to let anything happen to her. She belongs to us now.'

Gideon blinked. 'Lady Gillian belongs to the Buchanans?' he asked Ramsey, confused by Dylan's boast.

His laird nodded. 'Aye, she does. She just doesn't know it yet.'

Chapter Twenty

Ramsey's audience with Bridgid KirkConnell's mother, Leah, left a bitter taste in his mouth. When the woman had walked into the great hall, Ramsey's first impression of her was positive. Though in her middle years, Leah was still a striking woman. Aye, time had been kind to her. After listening to what she had to say, Ramsey's opinion of her radically changed, and by the time she left the hall, the sight of her sickened him.

He and Brodick had gone to the lake to wash and change into clean clothes, but as soon as he'd heard Leah's petition regarding her daughter, Ramsey felt the sudden need to wash again. Leah's perfidy blasphemed motherhood.

Brodick returned to the hall a few minutes after the encounter frowning, as was his usual inclination, because Gillian was still talking to Brisbane and Otis. He was anxious to hear what news they'd given her. There was also the fact that he wanted her by his side, an admission that made his frown intensify, for even he realized he was acting like an infatuated boy.

He found Ramsey slumped in a chair, his head bowed as though in prayer.

When his friend looked up and Brodick saw his sour expression, he asked, 'What ails you? You look like you've swallowed lye.'

'I feel as though I have,' Ramsey admitted. 'I just finished an audience with Bridgid KirkConnell's mother, Leah.'

'I take it the meeting didn't go well.'

'The woman is foul,' Ramsey muttered. 'How in God's name am I going to tell Bridgid that her own mother…'

'What?'