Wicked Highland Wishes (Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts Book 2)

by Julie Johnstone

  “Ye must nae scrub anymore. Yer skin is raw.”

  “Release me!” she howled, her terror-filled cry like a thousand fatal gashes to his heart.

  Tears stung his eyes as he looked down at her fearful face. “I will,” he said in a gentle voice. “But ye must give me yer vow to come out of the loch and cease yer scrubbing.”

  “I’m nae clean!” she wailed. “I’m nae clean! I kinnae get his smell off my skin!”

  There were a hundred ways he was going to torture Colin. Lachlan inhaled a ragged breath. “Ye will scrape off yer skin. Do ye wish for that?”

  For a long moment, she said nothing, and then a sob escaped her lips and she crumpled into him, all her weight coming into his hands as her head fell against his chest. Her hot tears wet his skin and made the tears in his own eyes roll down his face. He released her arms and gathered her up as he lifted her out of the water and carried her to the embankment.

  When he set her on her feet, she stood there looking through him, teeth chattering, skin prickled with gooseflesh. He wanted to put a soothing hand to her, but he feared he would make things worse. Finally, her eyes locked with his and the complete desolation in them seared his heart.

  “I have been shattered into a thousand pieces,” she said in a choked voice. “I dunnae ken that I can find them all to make myself whole again.”

  “I will find them for ye,” he vowed. “I will help ye become yerself once more. Together we will make ye whole.”

  “I dunnae think I can let ye.”

  He took great comfort in the fact that she had not simply refused him. “In time ye will. And I will wait. I will wait as long as it takes.”

  She looked at him with those bleak eyes that nearly sent him to his knees. “What choices could I have made differently? I tried to stop the seer’s prophecy, but it all came true anyway.”

  He wanted to howl his agony and anger. “Be damned the seer,” he hissed. He would never heed a seer again as long as he lived. The seer could only see the future in the moment she touched a person, and their future had changed in a way the seer had never predicted. Damn her to Hell. And damn him for not demanding Bridgette marry him as he had wanted. He had let her convince him to wait out of guilt over Graham. But they loved each other. They had not done wrong by loving each other. What they had done wrong was trying to deny a thing so true and so pure.

  Bridgette’s eyes widened and her mouth parted. Slowly, she leaned down, grasped her gown, and tugged it on. When she was dressed, she faced him. She was so near, yet she could have been a thousand miles gone for how far away she seemed. He didn’t want to leave her, but he had to go now and try to save Graham and Lena.

  “Now that we are on MacLean land, I must away to rescue Graham and Lena.” He tried to swallow the fear that clenched his gut. “If they still live…”

  She nodded. “As ye should.”

  He sighed at the lack of emotion in her tone. It worried him more than the outburst. “Neil will take ye to yer brother’s home”—he was careful not to call it hers, as he wanted to let her know in a gentle way that he still intended for his home to be hers—“at Duart Castle, and I’ll come for ye after I have Graham and Lena, and then we will go together to Dunvegan…back to our home.”

  When she opened her mouth, he prepared himself for her to refute his words, but instead, she quickly told him where Colin’s bedchamber was—as best she could remember—and where Lena’s bedchamber was, too. Then she told him that his uncle Jamie and the Campbell had left for a meeting directly after Colin had married her. That explained why the castle had not been heavily guarded.

  She swallowed audibly. “Colin was to make haste to the meeting, as well, so he may be away.” She bit her lip hard before speaking again. “Lena seemed to have good knowledge of the castle and can likely help ye locate Graham if he lives and was taken. Godspeed, Lachlan. My love is with ye. Always.”

  Relief poured through him that she would speak of her love to him. “And ye take mine with ye, Bridgette. It will nae ever falter.”

  With that, he forced himself to turn and go speak to Neil, who he quickly instructed to see Bridgette and Marion to safety and then ride straight to Dunvegan with the Fairy Flag and the news of what had occured. When Lachlan mounted his horse and rode away, he looked back over his shoulder and lifted his hand in parting to Bridgette, Neil, and Marion, who all stood watching him.

  He set a fast pace back toward Arthorn Castle, formulating a plan of rescue, attack, and revenge. Once he was satisfied, he turned his thoughts first to Lena. A dull ache spread in his chest. Lena was alive? He could hardly believe it. He was not sure he would truly accept it until he saw her for himself. He then allowed himself to contemplate what had happened to Bridgette. He could not lose her. He would not. She had stolen his heart and taken his soul. There was no living without her. Whatever came, whatever wounds left scars that changed her, he would gladly accept them all if he could just be with her.

  Tears filled her eyes and her throat tightened with the need to cry as she stood by Marion and Neil and watched Lachlan leave. He stopped mid-stride and glanced back at where she stood. Her heart raced when their eyes met and locked, even at this distance. She should turn away, not give him hope that was not there, yet her feet would not budge. She drank in the sight of him. He had his sword and bow and arrows strapped to his back, and she could see a multitude of daggers in different sheaths upon his body.

  He was truly a formidable warrior. His broad shoulders bespoke of strength, along with his powerful arms and legs. Her heart swelled with love but then wrenched with fear at the thought of his touch. He mounted his destrier and started away, but then he turned and raised his hand in farewell. She had thought she could not long to be out of her own skin more than she had the moment Colin had touched her, but now she longed to be out of her body and mind with a desperation that grew with every beat of her heart. Marion and Neil returned Lachlan’s farewell by raising their hands, but Bridgette simply stood there. She thought she saw Lachlan tense, and she bit down on her lip at the pain she knew she was causing him and at the certainty that she would cause him more.

  As he disappeared, a shudder passed through her, and a sudden overwhelming need to inhale his scent and feel the heat that wafted from his body rose within her. Yet cold fear edged the need and won. She turned away and found Marion staring at her with sad eyes. Neil had moved ahead, and Bridgette realized with a start that she had not even noticed.

  “Lachlan loves you,” Marion said simply.

  Bridgette nodded. “And I love him…but love is nae always enough. I am nae the woman he fell in love with.”

  “Give yourself time,” Marion pleaded, tears pooling in her eyes.

  “I dunnae think time will heal me, Marion.”

  Marion shook her head. “You cannot know yet. And even if it didn’t, it would not matter to Lachlan!”

  Bridgette stared at Marion. Her friend’s refusal to accept what Bridgette was telling her made Bridgette aware she was going to have to flee her new home and the people who loved her—including Lachlan—because he would never be able to release her. He loved her that much.

  A desperate look came to Marion’s face, as if she knew Bridgette was slipping away. “Would it matter to you if Lachlan had been so grievously hurt that it greatly changed him? Would you love him less?”

  “Ye ken well I’d nae love him less. But the way in which I’ve been changed does matter! I kinnae stand his touch! What sort of marriage would that make, even if there could be a marriage? I may carry another man’s bairn! I kinnae, I will nae ask Lachlan to accept that.”

  Marion opened her mouth to argue, and Bridgette shook her head. “Cease this, Marion, I beg of ye. I dunnae wish to part angry after we arrive at Duart.”

  “Part? I’ll stay with ye there until Lachlan and Graham return. Ye heard what Lachlan said.”

  “I am leaving Duart,” Bridgette said quietly.

  “What?” Marion gasped. “Whe
re are you going? You cannot depart! Lachlan will come here for you!”

  “I ken it, but what if Colin escapes Lachlan? I kinnae ever be Lachlan’s wife when I am the wife of another, even if there was nae something wrong with me now. Nay, I must away to somewhere he will nae ever find me.”

  “Where?” Marion demanded.

  “I ken a place, but I’ll nae say,” Bridgette said gently. “Ye’d tell him, and he’d come for me if he kenned where to go. I fear it would kill me to turn him away. ’Tis better ye dunnae ken where I’m going.”

  Marion clucked her tongue. “How do you think he’ll feel when he returns to find you gone?”

  Bridgette’s stomach clenched. “Astounded. Angry. Hurt. But ’tis for the best.” She paused. “I want ye to do me a favor.”

  Marion nodded as she sniffed. “Anything.”

  “Tell him I’m sorry, aye? Tell him I’ll always remember the day in the forest when he first kissed me and I fell in love with him.”

  “Oh, Bridgette!” Marion sobbed, but Bridgette turned away from Marion and did not embrace her as she normally would have.

  They made their way, the three of them, through the afternoon across MacLean land and finally arrived at Duart Castle near nightfall. After greeting her clansmen and women, ensuring that Marion was cared for, and seeing Neil off with five of her brother’s men to ride for Dunvegan with the Fairy Flag, Bridgette called five of Alex’s most trusted guardsmen to her and told them of her wishes to have them accompany her to Culdrich Castle.

  It was the perfect place to live her life in seclusion. They rarely used the remote castle, though it had been in their family for ages, and now it would be her home. She was not so brave anymore to make the journey alone, however, and she feared her brother would never stop looking for her if she simply disappeared. She feared the same of Lachlan, of course, so once she had finished speaking to her clansmen, she sat and wrote a note to Alex, telling him what had happened—without giving all the horrible details—and beseeching him on their mother’s grave not to tell Lachlan where she had gone. She made it perfectly clear that her choice was now to remain alone, even if Colin was killed and Lachlan wished to marry her. She didn’t doubt Alex would come to try to talk her into returning, but she felt sure she could make him understand. And if she could not, she would simply have to find somewhere else to flee. She hoped it did not come to that, though.

  She folded the note carefully and then took it to one of the servant boys, Alfred, and gave him specific instructions to give it to no one but Alex, no matter what may occur. Alfred adored her so she felt certain he would do as she said.

  Then very late that night when she was sure most of the castle inhabitants were slumbering—particularly Marion, who Bridgette suspected would refuse to let Bridgette go—she met her brother’s guardsmen where she had instructed them to wait for her and she fled into the night, leaving all her hopes and dreams behind her.

  Twenty-Four

  Lachlan entered Arthorn Castle under the cover of darkness, which had descended once again. But this time he took the tunnel that led straight to his Uncle Jamie’s bedchamber. After traversing the damp tunnel to the chamber, he listened for any signs of noise from within, though he expected none given what Bridgette had told him about his uncle being away. The door to the chamber took some doing to open, and when it did release, it made such a racket that he withdrew his sword in preparation for an attack. Yet after standing for several tense breaths in the middle of his uncle’s bedchamber, Lachlan decided no assault was forthcoming.

  He crept silently out of the bedchamber through corridors that were disturbing in their emptiness. It seemed most the castle inhabitants—likely all soldiers—were not here, which to Lachlan signaled that they had gathered somewhere for a strike, likely on Dunvegan. He wondered briefly if Colin had already left with the men who had been here, but then he spotted two men at the end of a corridor and he had to quickly duck to avoid notice.

  Once he felt sure they were safely past, he eased out, and remembering the markers Bridgette had given him, he turned to make his way toward the corridor where he should find Colin’s bedchamber. A woman stepped from the shadows holding a sword—Graham’s sword—in front of her. He felt his eyes widen as he beheld the russet-haired, blue-eyed woman before him. His throat tightened. Though it had been many long years since he had seen Lena, he saw the little girl in the woman before him. Or at least he thought he did. Was he seeing what he wanted? Was this Lena or another lie from Jamie? His gut told him it was his sister. She had the same slanted eyes and full upper lip. Still…

  He snaked a hand out and took Graham’s sword from her. Pointing both his own sword and Graham’s at her, he motioned her toward the shadows.

  Her lips twitched at the corner with the hint of an amused smile that surprised Lachlan. Without hesitation, she moved into the darkness and faced him. “Ye dunnae remember me, Lachlan MacLeod, but I remember ye. I thought ye a god, and the way ye used to strut around, I ken ye thought yerself a god, as well.”

  Shame heated his neck. “I have changed. Raise yer hair, please.”

  Lena frowned. “My hair? Why?”

  “I’d like to see yer neck.”

  “Why—Ah, ye’re nae sure I am yer sister.”

  He nodded, and she quickly raised her hair and displayed the dark, leaf-shaped birthmark on her neck. She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Well?”

  “My God,” was all he managed to mutter.

  “Aye,” she agreed. “I myself have been saying that since the woman Bridgette told me ye were nae dead. That none of my brothers were dead as I had been raised to believe.”

  Overcome with emotion, Lachlan lowered his weapons and tugged his sister to him. They stood for a moment, embracing, but he knew they had to save all questions—and the time for true reunion—until they were safely away.

  “Ye have come to rescue me and our brother Graham, I presume?” She grinned and two big dimples appeared that he remembered so well from her chubby little girl cheeks.

  “Aye,” he replied as relief poured through him. “Ye’ve seen Graham, then?”

  She nodded. “Only from a distance as Colin dragged him through the courtyard. Colin took him straight to Jamie’s torture chamber, where he is trying to break him this verra moment. I kenned who it was when Colin taunted him and used his name.” Hatred twisted her features, and it seemed to match what Lachlan was feeling for Colin, too. “Graham is strong, aye?”

  “Aye,” Lachlan replied. “Why say ye so, though?”

  Lena chuckled. “Our brother has been taunting Colin with pledges of yer coming to rip out his heart and eat it for supper. I’ve verra much enjoyed listening to that vow, along with the hundreds of other dark ones of vengeance that Graham has hurled at Colin.”

  “Colin will die this day in the way he deserves,” Lachlan snarled.

  Lena nodded. “Good. Then he shall die a miserably painful death. ’Tis too bad my husband is nae here for ye to kill, as well. I’d much prefer to be widowed.”

  Lachlan felt a smile come to his lips and was sure it likely looked feral. “We can arrange that, sister.”

  She nodded, a gleam of satisfaction coming to her eyes. “Come. I’ll lead ye to Graham, but ye must give me yer vow that afore ye kill Colin, ye will learn where he has hidden Ross.”

  “Is this the boy ye vowed to protect?”

  “Aye. I’m all he has. He dunnae ken who his parents are. I met him when I came here. They treat him like a dog. I will nae leave him. I have searched this castle—was searching yet again when I saw ye—and I kinnae find him. He’s but a child of eight or nine summers.”

  “I vow it,” Lachlan said immediately, “upon Bridgette, who I hold most dear in this world.”

  A smile pulled at her lips, but then worry came to her eyes. “Did she tell ye anything that happened to her?”

  He shook his head. “She will nae speak of it.”

  Lena suddenly clutched his arm. “Dunnae los
e hope in her,” she said forcefully, and it struck him that she almost sounded as if she spoke for herself.

  “Never,” he assured his sister. “Now, how many men do ye ken are here? Will the room Graham is being held in be guarded from within and outside?”

  A slow, gleeful smile came to Lena’s lips. “Ten men remain here. Most left with the Campbell and Jamie to rally to strike Dunvegan, and after Colin and Graham fell into the water and were pulled out by Colin’s men, Colin sent all but ten to meet with his father. He thinks himself invincible. No men guard the room he’s in, but he’s deadly by himself. Ye ken?”

  Anger set Lachlan’s teeth on edge and had him gripping both swords. “I ken,” Lachlan growled, “but Colin is about to ken that he’s nae strong enough. Lead the way.”

  They crept through the dark corridors in utter silence, and as they moved, Lachlan noticed Lena was limping. “Are ye injured?” he whispered.

  “’Tis nothing. It will heal,” she said dismissively.

  Accepting her word, Lachlan followed her down a tunnel that led to the outermost wall of the castle and into a larger tunnel that led to a single room. Despite the thick stone walls of the room, Graham’s guttural cries rang out.

  Lena jerked to a halt with a gasp. “He’s nae cried out in pain once since the torment began. He uttered only barbs afore.”

  Fresh hot rage flowed through Lachlan as he made his way to the closed door. Lena produced a key with a grim smile and held it out to him. “I stole it.”

  Lachlan took the key, and as his fingers closed over the cool iron, his entire body tensed in anticipation. He inserted the key and unlocked the door, not overly concerned with being quiet because Graham’s bellows would drown out the small noise the key made. He paused, though, needing the arrangement of the room and handing Lena Graham’s sword, which she took with wide eyes. “In case ye need to defend yerself.”