Highlander Unraveled (Highland Bound Book 6) Read Free Page A

to fail, a fact I used to be proud of but now found exceedingly irritating.
    “Keep him until morn.” If— nay, when —I found Emma, I was going to lay her out across the bed and make sweet, raw, love to her.
    Mayhap Emma had gone to the kitchens, hungry. She’d barely eaten any of her supper; too tired was she with caring for the bairn all by herself. I helped where I could, but I’d yet to grow breasts. That thought made me chuckle. I normally insisted she remain in our chamber to rest throughout the day, but I was certain she snuck around the castle while I was out with the men. Emma loved to be involved with the day-to-day things, and I admired her for it. But often, she let herself suffer rather than take the rest she deserved.
    With long, hurried strides, I made my way back down the corridor toward the stairs, taking them three at a time until I reached the bottom. The guards there leapt to alertness.
    “All is well, my laird,” one of them grumbled, wiping at his sleepy eyes.
    “What of my wife? Have ye seen Lady Emma?”
    “Not since yestermorn, my laird,” the second guard said, much more alert than the first.
    Yestermorn. So, she’d not come down the stairs. I regarded the men, puzzled. “’Haps ye fell asleep and missed her.”
    “Nay, my laird,” the alert guard responded. “I’ve been awake the whole time.”
    “As have I, my laird.” The second guard looked slightly worried that I wouldn’t believe him. “She’s not come this way. Shall we help ye to find her?”
    I frowned. She could have gone down the servant’s stair, but why would she do an odd thing like that?
    “Nay. Man your posts and if ye do see her, please ask her to wait for me in our chamber, and one of ye come to find me.”
    The guards nodded their agreement.
    I made my way toward the kitchens, finding it empty save for the sleeping form of a couple kitchen boys by the hearth. In an hour or so, Cook would wake and begin the days’ baking, and the lads would rise to help her.
    I cleared my throat, approaching the lads who leapt to their feet, swiping hands over their grimy faces, rubbing crust from their eyes.
    “Have ye seen Lady Emma?” I asked them, though I doubted either of them would have woken had she come inside, since they’d not even stirred when I entered the kitchens.
    “Nay, my laird,” they both said in unison.
    “Ballocks!” Where the hell was she? I scraped a hand through my hair, that one fear, that she’d disappeared niggling at the base of my skull, a fingernail scratching at an open wound.
    Rory had disappeared from the Highlands for five long years. Shona had gone back to the present to find Moira. They’d all returned. But that didn’t mean that Emma would, and even if she did, it might be years. I shook my head. Nay, nay, nay. She was here. I just hadn’t found her yet.
    I circled back to the servants’ stair, checking with the guard posted there who also hadn’t seen her, either. If none of the guards posted at the stairs had seen her come down, then ’haps she’d gone up?
    She liked to take walks on the battlements often, breathing in the fresh air, taking a few private moments to think.
    I took the stairs three at a time, once more, all the way to the top, but the door to the battlements was bolted. Was it possible she’d gone out and someone bolted it behind her?
    Doubtful, but possible.
    I unlocked the door and pushed it open, feeling the coolness of the summer night wash over my skin. This side of the castle was empty of guards at this time of night. Several others were stationed at key points, but since Emma liked it up here, and I sometimes joined her for privacy, this particular turret was often unmanned.
    And it was empty now.
    “Emma?” I called anyway, hoping she’d poke her head from some crevice I couldn’t see her behind.
    Guards on the other walls turned toward me, and I raised my arm in greeting. I’d have to question each one of them. Someone must have seen