Highland Savage Read Free Page A

that arrogance Ranald found so irritating. Lucas was a little concerned that he would fail at that. It seemed his heart was beating so hard and fast that he could actually hear it. Telling himself he was imagining things, he readied himself to win and, failing that, to take as many of these men with him as he could. This time, killing him was going to cost them dearly.

Chapter Two
    “He is alive?!”
    Katerina stared at young Thomas, certain she had misheard him, that his breathlessness had garbled his words. Lucas could not be alive. He had been bleeding and broken when Ranald and his men had thrown him off the cliff. The fall would only have added to his already serious injuries. Just before they had tossed her off as well she had caught a fleeting glimpse of Lucas’s limp body being dragged off the rocky shores by the rough, wind-tossed waters of the loch. She had barely survived being tossed into those waters herself and she had not been beaten first. Even as she struggled to keep from drowning in those cold, dark waters, she had looked for Lucas and seen nothing.
    “The mon has those same eyes, m’lady,” Thomas said. “Aye, and e’en the same voice. I recall both verra clearly, although he didnae seem to remember me. It has to be him.”
    “Weel, ye have grown a fair bit in the last year,” she muttered, still fighting her shock.
    “Did Sir Lucas nay tell us once that he has a twin?” asked William as he stepped up to stand close by Katerina’s side and place a comforting hand upon her shoulder.
    A wave of sharp disappointment swept through Katerina at her second-in-command’s words, but she just nodded in silent agreement with his recollection. “Aye, Cousin, he did. Artan was his twin’s name and Lucas said they were alike in looks, voice, and sword skill. This must be Lucas’s twin. His family has finally come to find him or to seek revenge.”
    “But, m’lady, did ye nay tell us that Ranald and his dogs had cut Sir Lucas’s face?” asked Thomas.
    “Aye,” Katerina whispered, unable to halt the searing memories of that day from flooding her mind.
    “Weel, this mon has a scar upon his face and he also limps a wee bit, as if his leg is a wee bit stiff.”
    “It could still be his twin brother.” That both men would suffer such similar wounds was too great a coincidence to be plausible, but Katerina was afraid to let herself hope that Lucas had survived and had returned to her.
    “Ranald and his dogs believe it is Sir Lucas and they mean to be certain that he dies this time.”
    ’Then, whoe’er this mon may be, ’tis best if we pull him free of this trouble ere those curs kill him. We can sort out this puzzle of who he is later. Thomas, ye best spread the word that we are riding so that all is ready for us.”
    Pushing aside the fierce, tangled emotions raging through her, Katerina selected six of her men to ride with her. They all donned their long, black cloaks, wrapped a wide strip of dark blue linen over their mouths and noses to better hide their faces, secured their hoods over their heads, and mounted their waiting horses. This was not what they had planned to do when they had gathered this night, but Ranald and his men could not be allowed to murder another man.
    As she led her men on a swift race toward the village, Katerina fought to kill the hope young Thomas’s words had stirred in her heart. She had done her best to kill all hope when Lucas’s body had not even washed up onto the rocky shores of the loch so that she could give him a proper burial. It had taken a long, wretched time to silence allthe questions that had kept her from fully accepting his loss, ones such as why his family had never come searching for him. Those unanswered and long ignored questions were all creeping back into her mind now and she struggled to silence them again. All that should matter to her right now was that Ranald and his men were about to kill again and she had sworn on her father’s soul