Marti Talbotts Highlander Series 1 - Anna Rachel u Charlet

strong arms around her. She closed her eyes and slept.

    It was early afternoon when Catherin climbed the stairs of the Keep and walked down the balcony. Her head was high and her tears were gone. The door to the last bedchamber was open and when she went in, Anna was sitting with her back to the door looking out the window. The countryside was beautiful this time of y ear. The trees were lush and the birds sailed through the air.
    Catherin bent down, slipped her arms around her daughter’s neck from behind and kissed her cheek. “Justin says I cannot hear his heart again until I tell you how sorry I am.”
    Anna lovingly put her hands on her mother ’ s arms. “And you would do anything to hear his heart.”
    Catherin let go, got a chair and joined Anna. “Justin thinks so. I only do it now so he will hold me. Let ’ s not tell him, shall we?”
    Anna smiled. “I was afraid you would never speak to me again.”
    “I thought of that, but I decided it would be too dull. Kevin tells you everything first and I have enjoyed hearing it second.”
    It was enough and both women felt relieved. At peace once more, they went back to waiting for Rachel.

    It was the most magnificent stallion Rachel had ever seen. His eyes were as black as his coat and he was walking straight for her with his ears perked up. She wondered if the horse meant to trample her and then wondered if she could move fast enough to get out of his way. But the horse slowed, stopped and put his head down so she could look into his eyes. She saw her own reflection.
    She remembered Anna telling of a horse like this who knew how to do tricks and seemed to love her greatly. This couldn’t be the same horse, could it? Anna had named her horse Threcher, she remembered.
    “Threcher?” Rachel asked. The horse nodded.
    Threcher nudged her with his nose. She didn’t move, so he nudged her again. Finally, Rachel reached out and patted his nose, but she didn’t get up; she wasn ’ t sure she could. What the horse did next surprised her. He moved away and began to turn around and around, which made her giggle. Threcher came back and nudged her again. She patted his nose a second time and what the horse did then amazed her.
    Threcher inched around until their bodies were parallel, knelt down on all four legs and rolled slightly toward her until his mane was within her reach. Rachel grabbed a handful and slowly pulled herself to her knees. She painfully put one foot on the ground and lifted her other leg over. Then she shoved with her foot until she was solidly on the horse ’ s back and held on with both hands as the horse got to his feet.
    Rachel leaned forward, wrapped her arms around the horse’s neck as far as they would go and hugged him. “Thank you.”
    Threcher nodded. As soon as she took hold of his mane again, the horse began to walk. She had no idea where the stallion was taking her, but anywhere would help. Hopefully, he would take her to someone w ho could warn the MacGreagors.
    It was less than an hour before Rachel said stop and the horse obeyed. Her head was throbbing, she felt half-witted and she couldn’t take the constant movement of the horse another moment. She sl id down, curled up into a ball o n the soft grass, and went to sleep.

    CHAPTER VI

    When Connor walked into the great hall, Kevin was pacing and Justin was sitting at the table with his head in his hands. Catherin and Anna were standing on the balcony watching. They were not crying or yelling, but they were clearly worried. When Kevin and Anna’s sons asked to go outside, Anna let them.
    As soon as they were gone, Kevin stopped pacing. “Connor, tonight you will go out again. You must see if they are prepared to attack, and then look for Rachel and bring her back. Do you know the way she might have taken?”
    “I do, I have followed her.”
    “Good. Are you sure you know all her hiding places?”
    Connor nodded. He was relieved; he could find her, he was sure of it and now he would be allowed to try.

    He did not find her. Connor was nearly out of his mind and had not come back until it was nearly too late to go inside the wall. Everything at the Ferguson hold looked normal just as Rachel reported three nights earlier. He didn’t see any Fergusons in the woods and he didn’t think they would attack any time soon. Inside the great hall, he gave Kevin his r eport.
    Kevin asked him if he wanted to go to sleep on his own or wanted to be knocked out. Either way, he was