The Firebrand by May McGoldrick Page A

beyond if need be—to find out about your mother’s possible whereabouts. And while we wait, I’ll put together an escort to take you to your sisters.”
    Wyntoun studied her profile as she gazed intently at the map. Some time during the past few months, she’d obviously adopted the dress of the island women. The undyed wool blouse. The red and black and green MacNeil plaid skirt. When she’d climbed aboard the ship, she had discarded the wet tartan shawl that would complete the picture. Aye, he thought, with her wild mane of loose dark hair and her sun-kissed skin, she had the look of an islander. A stunningly beautiful islander.
    He shook his head and looked down at the map. But he had not come to Barra looking for a woman to bed. Not even when that woman managed to heat his blood with a mere show of skin. She was a bonny thing, though, to be sure.
    Nay, he told himself decisively, he’d come here to take possession of the youngest of the Percy sisters for a reason...a reason far nobler than simple lust.
    She pointed a slender finger at the map. “Where is Balvenie Castle?”
    “Here,” he replied, pointing to an empty space beneath the cross marked “Elgin.”
    She shook her dark locks. “‘Twould be a waste of time for me to go north to them. I will travel there only to turn around and go south again. If it takes as long as you say, the Treasure of Tiberius will be surely lost...and my mother, too.”
    “Your sisters’ wishes were clear regarding what you were to do.”
    There was a knock at the door. She ignored it and turned to him. “But that was because...well, I love them both dearly, but they are incapable of acting swiftly.”
    “I gave them my word that you would be delivered safely.” The knock was louder this time. Wyntoun turned irritably to the door. “Aye, what is it?”
    Alan pushed open the door.
    “I have bad news, Wyn. We’ve cleared the point and made the turn toward Ardnamurchan. But Coll just brought up the stowaway from the hold, and ‘tis not the lass--” The shipmaster stopped dead as he noticed Adrianne standing behind the knight. “On the other hand...”
    “Mistress Percy is accustomed to traveling in better quarters than an empty barrel.” Wyntoun cast a quick glance in Adrianne’s direction and found her frowning at him. “Stay to your course, Alan. Our guest managed to find this cabin with no help from any of us.”
    The sound of shouts and laughter from the deck above them raised Wyntoun’s brow.
    “And what is all that about?”
    “We did find a stowaway in the barrel.” The shipmaster seemed to have some difficulty tearing his eyes away from Adrianne.
    “And who might that be?”
    “The foundling you came across years ago. The scar-faced lad they call Gillie the Fairy-Borne.”
    There were more shouts and laughter from above.
    “What’s all the noise about?” Wyntoun asked again, stepping around Alan and cocking an ear toward the ladder as a loud cheer from the sailors reverberated throughout the cabin.
    “I believe the men just threw the lad overboard.”

CHAPTER 6
     
    “Overboard!” Adrianne cried out. “They cannot throw Gillie into the sea!”
    She made it only to the door of the cabin before the knight caught her and tossed her roughly in the direction of the shipmaster.
    “Let me go! I have to get him out of that icy water. The lad will die!”
    “Alan, keep an eye on this hellcat until I get back.”
    Adrianne struggled for a moment against the man’s grip, but the rolling of the ship suddenly sent a wave of sickly heat through her, causing her knees to weaken beneath her. She paused and drew a breath in alarm. The cabin was suddenly close and warm. She pushed away from him again in an attempt to move toward the door. The shipmaster held her firmly by the arm.
    “Mistress Percy, you’ve no reason to fight me. The master will bring the lad back. The men may have him tethered to a line yet.”
    His voice was gentle, soothing, but she looked