Highland Savage by Hannah Howell Read Free Book Online

they will sign their own death warrants.”
    “I suspicion that is just what they think.”
    “Then I think ye must needs do more than just irritate the mon as ye have been doing.”
    “Ye dinnae ken anything about what we have been doing here.”
    “Ye ride out to stop the mon from killing someone and to harass him and Agnes with thieving, aye?”
    Katerina had the strong urge to hit Lucas with something very heavy. He had just reduced all their efforts to what sounded like a child’s game. She knew they were simply holding steady, simply staying alive and saving a few people here and there, but there was little else they could do until she got proof of Agnes and Ranald’s crimes.
    “I need to prove that Agnes and Ranald are guilty of more than simply making life miserable for everyone. I need to prove they have blood on their hands. ’Tis no easy thing to do. At best I may yet catch them at something that will bestir the council to act.”
    “Ye need to push harder. Ye strike and run and he chases. Ye need to make the mon bleed.”
    Out of the corner of her eye she could see William nodding in agreement. “He could easily make us bleed,” she said. “’Tis something I must consider every step of the way.”
    “There is that risk. Howbeit, unless ye push him hard and unrelentingly, he willnae make that mistake ye are waiting for. Ye need to lessen the number of men he has at his command and in a way that makes fewer and fewer men want to stand with him. Ye need to set him and Agnes against each other, e’en if it is only by making her openly question his competency. Ye need to corner the beast. Ye need to push his back hard against a wall and keep a blade at his throat.”
    “Until he impales himself on it?”
    “Aye.”
    “How clever of ye. Weel, while ye make your fine plans, I believe I will make up a list of the supplies we need and go fetch them.”
    “From where?”
    “Why, straight from the lair of the beast. Where else?”
    Lucas heard the word fool as clearly as if Katerina shouted it.

Chapter Four
    “I dinnae believe I asked ye to accompany me.”
    Lucas lifted his gaze from watching Katerina’s hips sway as she walked and almost smiled. The lad’s clothes she wore could not disguise her almost voluptuous curves. She might be small in stature, almost a foot shorter than his six feet plus, but she was all woman. He had resented the desire he still felt for her at first but no longer. Any man would desire Katerina. It was only a man’s natural inclination he suffered from, he told himself firmly. Perhaps if he ceased accusing her of trying to kill him, they could revisit that passion they had shared for far too brief a time. He would, of course, make sure she was not armed when they indulged themselves.
    “Ye cannae go into the lion’s den alone,” he said, “and William has to wait for the others to return.” He thought about how Ranald was searching for the reivers, searching hard enough to keep the rest of Katerina’s men from seeking the shelter of the caves. “Are ye sure this is a good time to go into the keep and steal some food?”
    “Ranald would ne’er think to look for us right inside the keep.”
    “But if someone sees—” He barely stopped himself from walking into her when she abruptly stopped and whirled around to glare at him.
    “Listen, Sir Murray, I and my men have done fine without your aid for a year.” Katerina knew she was spitting her words out from between tightly gritted teeth, but there was no chance that she could conceal her anger from him this time. “We thank ye for deciding to join with us, to contribute your great strength and fighting skills, but I dinnae believe any of us declared ye the leader of us all. So, mayhap ye could keep your opinions to yourself.”
    Lucas had the inane thought that Katerina was lovely when she was angry, and then quickly shook it out of his head. “Ye havenae won, have ye?”
    “We havenae lost, either.”
    “And