Beneath a Highland Moon (The Highland Moon Series 1) by Gwyn Brodie

I catch you sleeping again, it'll be out with you and with no pay. Open this door at once."
    Duff hurried to do his bidding, and Gordon stepped past him into Jillian's bedchamber. The window coverings were drawn, and he had to squint to see inside.
    The old woman jumped up from the c hair beside the bed. Jillian lay huddled beneath the covers as still as a mouse. Gordon threw open the window coverings and walked to the other side of the bed and looked across at the woman. She'd gone completely pale.
    " Please, sir, m'lady needs her rest, for she's very ill," she pleaded with him, wringing her hands.
    Suddenly everything became clear. Grabbing the top of the bedclothes, he snatched them back, exposing several strategically placed bundles of clothing. "Just as I thought. Where is she?" he shouted, slamming his fist against the headboard.
    The servant flinched, but didn't answer him.
    He quickly stepped around the bed and grabbed her arms, shaking her. "Did you hear me? Where is she?"
    " I'm not certain. I but did as I was told," she said, her voice quivering. He let go of her, and she fell across the bed.
    " Duff," he shouted," if I find out the lady walked past you whilst you slept, I'll see you hanged."
    The guard looked past him at the empty bed and shook his head. "I swear, MacRae, no one has gone in or out this door, but that one there and the healer."
    Gord on again turned his attention to Winnie. "What of the lad?"
    She said naught , and refused to look at him.
    " I'll see for myself," he said, hurrying down the corridor to the nursery. But he knew even before he pulled back the covers what he'd find there. How the devil did they get out without my knowing? He returned to Jillian's bedchamber.
    The old woman calmly sat on the edge of the bed with her hands folded in her lap. "Duff, take her to the dungeon. Perchance, after a couple of cold nights, with only the rats to keep her warm, she'll talk."
    She got up and quietly went with the guard.
    Frustrated, Gordon was d etermined to find out how the two of them could have escaped without anyone seeing them. He walked over to the window and looked down below. Perhaps Jillian could've climbed down, but not the child. He turned away from the window and studied the bedchamber. He'd heard stories of the tunnels at Lochstorm, but had always believed them to be just that—stories. What if they'd been true?
    Beginning at one corner of the outer wall, he searched, working his way toward the fireplace. Then he stopped and took a good, hard look at the stones. Getting down onto his knees, he ran his fingers along the bottom edge of the stones until he touched an iron latch. Grasping it, he shoved hard and a panel slid open. Pushing away the small door, he stepped into a tunnel. So, the stories were true. But she'd had help from someone other than that old woman to pull off their escape, and he knew who—Roderick.
    ***
    Shrouded by low-hanging clouds and a thick mist, the top of the mountain range lay hidden from sight except for a few of the taller peaks sticking through here and there. Laird Kade MacLachlan looked up at the sky. Not a speck of blue to be seen there. He, his good friend, Galen MacKinnon and several members of his clan had been hunting fresh game for almost a week, and weren't due to return home for another couple of days. It'd been raining the entire time and didn't appear to be letting up anytime soon.
    Kade took a deep breath of the crisp Highland air, picking up a whiff of peat smoke carried on the wind from the nearby village. He loved the smell of pine, the bitter scent of peat smoke, and wet, decaying leaves, the sound of the wind whispering through the branches and the chattering of the red squirrels, but he didn't relish spending another cold, wet night on the ground.
    T he chestnut stallion tossed his head and stamped his foot in the mud when he caught sight of Kade coming up the hill toward him. He softly whinnied, intently watching Kade approach.
    " Good