Read Dreamer (Highland Treasure Trilogy) for Free Online

corner, she quietly carried one of the heavy leather bags back
into her chamber.
    Rummaging through the contents as
quickly as she could, Catherine guessed that the bag belonged to David Hume.
She pulled out a linen shirt, yanking it over her head. It was a good thing he
was a small man, she thought. The heavens were clearly smiling on her,
Catherine decided, when she spotted the warrior’s discarded tartan and kilt
beside the bed.
    She knew exactly what she had to
do. Dumping out the rest of David’s things, she hastily stuffed what she could
of her own belongings into the bag. Though clumsy in her attempt to fasten the
kilt around her slender hips, with the use of a cord, she managed to dress
herself in the Highland gear in just a few moments. Realizing that his boots
would never stay on her feet, she quickly donned her own and then pulled
David’s knee length boots over them. The combination was unbelievably heavy,
but it would have to do. Making a quick knot of her hair, she shoved the black
mass into David’s cap.
    Then, taking a deep breath,
Catherine hoisted the bag onto her shoulder and slipped out through the
anteroom onto the landing beyond.
    Peering through the darkness, she
moved silently down the narrow set of stairs. A few steps down, though, she
tripped in the oversized leather boots. Cursing silently as she caught herself,
she pulled them up as well as she could, and continued on. Reaching an arched
doorway at the bottom, she saw a door that she thought must lead outside. As
she mustered her courage to run for it, though, she leaped back, flattening
herself in the shadows. A portly servant, carrying a basket heaped with
steaming bread, shouldered his way in through the door.
    Catherine shot a glance through the
door. In the gray light of dawn, she could see the courtyard, and a part of the
outbuilding where the kitchens must be located. 
    And she could see a sprightly
gelding standing with a little donkey beside a stone watering trough. They were
both saddled, and--more important--they were unattended. The heavens were
indeed smiling on her.
    Putting her head down, Catherine
moved swiftly through the open door and across the rain-softened ground of the
courtyard. Looking neither right nor left, she strode quickly to the gelding
and tossed the reins over its head. All she needed to do was to climb up onto
this horse, and make the dash across the courtyard and through the arched
passageway to freedom.
    Taking one quick look around as she
threw the leather bag across the steed’s neck, she could see that the only
people between her and that open arch were a half dozen men and boys working on
horses by the stables. She could make it, she thought joyfully. By the saints, she would make it!
    Stepping onto a stone mounting
block, Catherine had both hands on the saddle when she found herself being pulled
backwards by two meaty pairs of hands.
    “I do not think we’ll be going,
just yet,” one growled.
    “Get the bag,” a voice commanded.
    Trying to keep her feet under her
as they hauled her across the courtyard, Catherine struggled against their
hold, but she didn’t dare make a sound. From their rough handling, she had a
sudden thought that perhaps they hadn’t discovered her identity. Perhaps they
were simply taking her off to a dungeon. After all, she’d been caught trying to
steal a horse. Her hopes continued to rise as she was dragged into the lodge
through a door she hadn’t seen before.
    Her eyes were slow to adjust to the
dark, but to calm her fears, she kept reminding herself that she was shrewd,
she was fierce, she had a purpose. She would find a way to escape any prison
John Stewart might build. At least, she was not being forced to marry the man
against her will.
    “Just as I expected.”
    Catherine’s head snapped up at the
sound of his voice, and she found Athol’s fierce eyes staring down at her. It
took all her strength to keep her knees from buckling beneath her weight as she
felt the