Page 39 of Highlander’s Sweet Poison

And they wanted Jillian blamed.

After searching the wood, they found two fallen tree trunks to use as a bridge over the trench, and Graeme crossed and cut down the doll, stuffing it into his satchel. “None of ye will breathe a word of this to anyone,” he ordered. “If someone means me harm, then we want them to think that ‘tis safe for them to try again.”

And mostly, he didn’t want rumors to start flying that someone was practicing witchcraft in the woods. It was unsafe enough for Jillian in the clan, but as he looked at the fear in some of his guards’ eyes, he wondered how long they would be able to keep quiet.

20

Graeme was surprised to see Tearloch waiting for him outside the keep. After they’d stopped by the storehouses, it was well past dark. Jillian should have been in the keep for hours and required no guard.

“A word, my laird,” Tearloch said quietly, and there was a hint of shame in his voice.

Graeme nodded and turned to his men. “Dismissed. Those who need dinner are welcome to the kitchens. The rest of ye, go home.”

The group disbanded, and when Tearloch was alone, he bowed his head. “I am sorry, Graeme, but I have failed ye.”

“In what way?” Graeme doubted that Tearloch did anything deliberately. He took his commander far too seriously.

“I was to keep an eye on Jillian when she left the keep, but after she was meeting with someone, I was called away. The messenger told me that there was a wagon accident with a broken child, and I hurried away, believing the child might be harmed. When I got there, I was told that there was a miscommunication and that it was a broken wheel and not a broken child. They pressed me to help them fix it, and when I returned, Jillian was gone.”

Graeme’s stomach tensed. It wasn’t possible that she had dug that trench herself. Still, it could have been dug yesterday, and the doll placed that morn to draw them in.

His wife was no witch, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t want him dead, although he could not figure out why.

“How long was she alone?”

“Long enough for yer brother-in-law to hunt her down. I believe that he schemed to pull me away. Clyde intervened and escorted her home. He returned afterward to tell me what happened.”

Relaxing, Graeme chastised himself for doubting Jillian for even a moment. Why would she want him dead? It was immediately replaced with rage. Alan was going too far now to get his wife alone. What had caused him to hate her so much?

“Yer duties are to yer clan and yer mistress,” Graeme told him. “A child’s life must always come first, but until we know just how far Alan might go to hurt my wife, we must be vigilant. I will start assigning two guards to her when she leaves.”

Tearloch snorted. “Good. She will hate that.”

“Be more vigilant in the future and go home to yer wife.”

The guard sighed and looked at the keep. “Perhaps I will join the others for dinner first, although I beg of ye not to tell Jillian.”

So now, not only was his guard warming toward Jillian, but he was starting to fear her. “If she thinks that ye should be with yer wife, then I would heed her.”

“I suppose.” Tearloch’s shoulders slumped. “There is one other thing that ye should know. There is one in this clan who was eager to see Jillian return, and she was eager to see him. They embraced.”

“Clyde?” There was no one that Graeme trusted more than his blacksmith. If he embraced his wife, it was no doubt out of comfort and nothing more.

“Nora and Baldie’s son. Art. They were friends when she was wed to Fulton.”

Art. That was someone Graeme didn’t think of much. He was a quiet lad, more suited to art than to war, and his mother was fiercely protective over him. “He isnae married?” The man would be in his early twenties.

“Nay. He hasnae courted anyone either.”

“Did ye say something to Jillian about it?”

“Aye. She said that he was one of the few men in this clan who was not swayed by her beauty, and she found it so refreshing that they developed a friendship.” Tearloch was filled with doubt.

“Ye think she was lying?”

“Not at all, but I dinnae know how one is to befriend a lass.”

At that, Graeme chuckled. Tearloch was clearly struggling with his marriage. “Go home, Tearloch. Bring yer wife some flowers and apologize for being gone all day. Then ask her how her day went.”