Highland Love Song (DeWinter's Song 2) by Constance O'Banyon

his feet. "Are you certain he didn't break out by himself?"
    "His stall gate was closed, and he couldna' done it."
    "How could this have happened?"
    The young boy looked befuddled. "I don't know, m'lord. With me sleeping above the stable, you'd think I'd a' heard something."
    Warrick hurried out of the room with Tam keeping pace with him. "Were there tracks we can follow?"
    "If there were, the snow's covered them, 'cause it came a real blow late last night."
    Warrick rushed out of the house and into the stable. His saddle was missing too. He looked around for some trace left by the horse thief. He bent down and traced a small muddy boot print with his finger. It's obvious our thief is a lad or—" His eyes narrowed with speculation. "Or—a woman!"
    Warrick raced back to the house and up the stairs. He threw open the door to his sister's room and saw that the bed had not been disturbed. Then he hurried down the hallway to Lady Mary's room.
    He rapped on her door and, not waiting for an answer, entered to find her ladyship awake as if she had been waiting for him.
    She smiled at him with satisfaction. "Yes, Lord Warrick, my niece has escaped. She is an excellent horsewoman, and you can't overtake her. She's safe from you at last."
    "My God, woman, do you know what she's done? It's snowing harder now than it was the night your coach overturned. She'll lose her way and freeze to death."
    Tears rolled down Lady Mary's colorless cheeks. "You left her no choice."
    "My lady, I would not have harmed the girl. But now she will surely die unless she's found."
    Lady Mary searched his eyes and saw only concern there. "You made impossible demands on her, and she had to get away."
    "With me, she would be alive and not buried in some snowbank."
    Lady Mary held out her hand to him. "You must find her, my lord. It's my fault that she is not safely with our family at this moment. I will not have her death on my hands."
    Warrick felt pity for the woman. It was clear that she loved the girl and was desperate in her concern. "I'll do what I can. Have you a notion of which direction she would have taken, my lady?"
    Lady Mary hesitated for only a moment. "She will be traveling south toward Aberdeen."
    She watched Lord Warrick leave, feeling like a foolish old woman and wondering how she would ever explain to Kassidy and Raile that she was responsible for their beloved daughter's death. Her good intentions had ended in disaster.
     
    The howling of the wind was a reminder of nature's fury. Arrian urged her tired mount onward in the driving snow. At last the horse stopped, and no amount of urging could make the exhausted animal move.
    Dismounting, she laid her face against the horse's sleek neck and cried bitter tears. The snow had covered the road, and she was lost. Surely they would both perish.
    She led the horse behind a rocky projection where she hoped to find some shelter against the wind. Shivering and cold, she patted the magnificent animal that had aided her in her escape.
    The storm that had hit just before morning had now become a blinding blizzard, fierce and merciless. Since there was no sun to gauge the direction, Arrian could not even be certain that she had continued south as her aunt had instructed.
    In total misery, she leaned against the horse, borrowing from his warmth and hoping to lend warmth to him at the same time. After a while her legs became numb with cold, and she sank to the ground, too weary to stand.
    Arrian weakly raised her head to protest against fate. "Father, Mother, Michael, I'll never see you again," she cried. Her cry mingled with the howling sound of the wind and was lost. Now she would never know what it would be like to be Ian's wife, to have his children, to grow old with him.
    With stiff fingers she pulled her cape around her and brought the hood over her head. Perhaps it was her destiny to die here in the land of the enemy.
    The horse seemed only tired and not suffering from the cold. Arrian remembered her