"Will she die?"
"I hope not. He has taken her to a new place and even I do not know where she is."
"How have you heard this?"
"Blair took her to his brother's home and I agreed it was a good place to hide her. It was my mistake, Kevin. After they fled, his brother came to tell me."
Kevin poured both of them a goblet of wine. "Who among your people knows the English?"
"Some have taken English wives, but I do not know who would betray me. The question is who knew Blair had Charlet? I have searched my mind and I can think of no one."
"The mistake is not yours, 'tis mine. I took Charlet out through one of the hidden doors and gave her to Blair. No one saw me, I am sure of it. But then we had to explain her absence to the clan. Several hours later, we made it look like Charlet was sent away in the opposite direction. I suspect when Blair was gone too, the traitor guessed he had her." Kevin took a swallow of wine and sat down at the table. "I made a greater mistake when I first brought her here."
"I remember, but we had to ask the other clans if they were missing a baby. The MacGreagors would have been suspicious had we not made inquiries."
"Aye, but we made it easy for the Englishman to inquire about a baby found sixteen years ago. I should choke the King of England. This is his mess, not ours." Kevin finally smiled at his old friend. "Some of it has been quiet entertaining, I must admit. Sit and share my wine. I have much to tell you and you cannot guess how complicated this has become."
*
The rain stopped by the time Blair woke up and he quickly glanced around to make sure they were not in any danger. Then he noticed Bridget was on her side with her back to him and was using his arm for a pillow. He remembered when she did it and loved having her so close. She trusted him and she was not afraid of him, but it didn't mean she had any feelings for him. She was probably just cold and wasn't aware of what she was doing. He warned himself one more time not to fall in love with her, but he feared it was becoming too late.
She was cold, her arm hurt and her eyes were wide open. But she liked being close to him. His body was warm and strong, and her strength, she felt, was dwindling by the minute. Somebody actually wanted to kill her and she was upset enough to cry. She was tired of being on a horse, she needed a real bath and it didn't look like they would eat much that day.