Read Highland Sinner for Free Online Page A

of the help Sir Tormand might offer.
    “How do ye ken he didnae—”
    “Careful, Sir William,” Simon said in a voice so cold even Morainn shivered. “Dinnae toss out an insult ye can ne’er take back. Ye are good with accounts, but nay so good with a sword, aye? Tormand is verra good, as am I.”
    Sir William paled a little, showing that he understood the threat. He pressed his lips together tightly and took several deep breaths before saying softly, “He kenned my Isabella ere I married her.”
    Sir Simon clasped the man by the shoulder. “The words to recall here, m’friend, are ere I married her .”
    The men were speaking so softly that Morainn edged even closer so that she could catch every word.
    “He kenned Lady Clara, as weel, didnae he and three days ago she was murdered.” Accusation was clear to hear in Sir William’s voice, revealing that he had already forgotten the threat of challenges, but he was wise enough to nearly whisper his words.
    “I fear my friend has kenned far too many women,” Sir Simon responded, “but that only makes him a rutting fool, nay a killer. Let it go, William. If ye continue to speak so, and do so to others, ye will make my job verra hard. Angry people crying out for the blood of an innocent mon means I must divert my time from finding the real killer in order to protect him.”
    Page 18
    ABC Amber Text Merger Trial v ersion, http://www.processtext.com/abcmerge.html
    Sir William nodded, but still scowled at Sir Tormand. Morainn studied Sir Tormand Murray’s handsome profile and decided the man probably found it very easy to be a rutting fool. Innocent of murder he might be, but Morainn suspected he was steeped in sin in many another way. She felt surprisingly disappointed by that knowledge.
    “Now, allow us to go and see what has been done,” said Sir Simon. “The sooner we do what we must, the sooner ye can attend to Isabella. I am sure ye wish to have her cleaned and readied for burial.”
    “I am nay sure she can be cleaned,” Sir William said in a hoarse, unsteady voice. “She was butchered, Sir Simon. Cut to pieces. Was Lady Clara truly done in a like manner?”
    The look on Sir Simon’s face told Morainn that he did not like how fast word was spreading about these murders. That highborn women were being murdered was enough to stir up anger and fear. That they were being butchered would only make it all worse, bringing those fears to a dangerous height all the more quickly. If Sir William thought as others did, or would, then Sir Tormand Murray was in a great deal of danger. The longer it took to find the killer, the more suspicion would begin to fall upon his shoulders, the more the townspeople would gather together and feed each other’s fear and anger.
    Morainn knew all too well how dangerous that could be.
    When the men went inside the house, Morainn debated whether to go or stay. So far luck had been with her and no one in the crowd had yet spotted her. When they did, however, she knew she could find herself in a lot of trouble. Someone who was already called a witch should not be caught so close to a place where a woman had been horribly murdered. Yet, curiosity held her in place. Some of that curiosity was of the morbid kind. Morainn wished to know what the men meant when they said Lady Isabella had been butchered. She sighed and waited for the two men to return, promising herself that she would slip away at the first sign of anyone seeing her or recognizing her.

    Tormand looked at what was left of the once beautiful Isabella Redmond and wanted to flee the room.
    Her thick raven hair had been cut off and was scattered around her body, although he had a strong suspicion that it had not been cut off in this room. If it had been it had probably been done after she was dead. All his instincts told him, however, that it had been brought here along with her body, that a scene had been carefully set. As with Clara, Isabella’s face had been destroyed. The