How could he go back to what he'd been before her winsome smile had set him free?
"Ewan?"
He looked over his shoulder to see Catarina approaching. The lass was toying with the tip of her long braid. She looked hesitant as she drew near.
"What is it?" he growled. "Can't you see I'd rather be alone?"
She ignored his surly tone and stood by his horse's head. She patted the horse on the nose as she watched him. "Nora didn't lie to you."
He felt his nostrils flare as more pain wrenched his gut. "What do you know if it?"
"I know enough to say that she would much rather have you for husband than Ryan."
He tightened his grip on the brush, refusing to let her see how much her words bothered him. "And I would say that you are not Nora and know nothing of her mind or mine."
"I know what I see," she said softly. She reached out and stopped his hand from brushing the horse. "You two belong together."
Ewan stared at her hand on his. Her skin was pale, like Nora's, her nails every bit as well manicured.
But that hand didn't make him tremble.
It didn't cause his body to burn, his manhood to stiffen.
Only Nora did that.
And she was the one woman he couldn't have.
Alone he could fight for her. Was willing to fight for her. But if Ryan refused to let her go, it would be like Robby MacDouglas all over again.
Another feud.
More unwarranted deaths…
"She belongs to Ryan," he said insistently, shrugging her hand away. "You heard what he said. He wanted her so much that he dared my wrath to hire you to keep her away from me."
Ewan paused as he thought about that. "Wait… how did he know to hire you? How could he have found out about Nora's plans, and then having learned of them, why did Ryan go to you and not her father to stop her from fleeing?"
Catarina looked rather sheepish.
She stepped back, her brow fretful.
A bad feeling came over Ewan as he watched her sudden nervousness. Just what was going on here?
"Cat? What are you not telling me?"
She visibly cringed. "Promise you won't be angry at us?"
"Nay," he said sternly. "I never make a promise I can't keep, and by the looks of you, lass, I be thinking I'm going to be good and angry at this explanation."
She took another step back.
Ewan grabbed her wrist to keep her from fleeing. "You'd best be telling me, Cat."
She squirmed uncomfortably under his scrutiny, and when she finally spoke, it came out in a flurry. "Her father wanted Nora to marry a MacAllister. He's been trying to arrange a marriage for a while now between your families, and since Braden and Sin are both recently married, he got a bit worried that some woman would grab your interest and he would lose out on uniting your two families."
Ewan scowled at her words. It didn't make sense that Nora's father would want him for a son-in-law. "Why would he wish to marry her to a younger son?"
Catarina cleared her throat. "Because the MacAllister clan will ever come first to Lochlan. Alex wanted a younger son who could take over his clan's leadership and yet be able to pull MacAllister strength if needs be."
Ewan went cold at the name.
"Alex?" he repeated slowly in disbelief.
There was only one Alex who had ever broached the subject of marriage with one of his brothers.
"Are you saying Alexander Canmore is her father?"
Catarina nodded.
Ewan cursed. Loudly.
This was truly unbelievable. Aye, her father would have his head.
Both of them.
"Her father is the cousin to the king of Scotland?" he roared.
Catarina offered him a forced smile. "Surprise."
Ewan felt sick to his stomach as the full weight of what he'd done with Nora came crashing down on him.
He was a dead man should her father ever learn what they'd done.
"She said she was Eleanor's niece."
"She is. Her mother is sister to Eleanor. She married Alex years ago when he was in Paris."
Ewan cursed again as he remembered Alexander had married a French lady. It had never dawned on him that she would be sister to one of the most powerful women in all of Christendom.
Anymore than he would have ever believed Nora to be Alexander's daughter. No wonder she had failed to tell him her clan's status or her father's name. No man in his right mind would dare lead her out of the country and risk her father's wrath.
Alexander Canmore was known for his furious wrath and quick retaliation.
Sweet holy Mary, he'd slept with the niece and cousin of two kings!
Lochlan would kill him for this, and God only knew what her father would do to him…
How could this have happened?
Well, he knew how it had happened, but why?
Aye, he was a fool. One destined for an ugly castration.
With a blunted instrument.
As his mind played through the horror of his situation, Ewan realized Catarina seemed to know a lot about this whole affair, and he wondered what other information she was withholding.
"You knew Ryan was the one who hired you to abduct me?"
This time she didn't even try to hide from him. "Aye, I knew it. Viktor and Bavel didn't. They had never seen Ryan before, but I had."
"When?"
"A few times at Alex's castle."
Ewan scowled. "You seem rather familiar with Alexander Canmore."
"He and my mother are friends. They were very close in their youths."
Something in her tone made him wonder if she might be one of Alexander's illegitimate children. But that was none of his business.
He had more pressing worries at hand.
"So why did you bring me here to meet Ryan, then, if you knew what he wanted?"
"To be honest, I didn't think Ryan would have the audacity to be here when we arrived with you, and her father wanted me to keep the two of you together for as long as possible. When I told him Ryan had tried to hire Viktor to kidnap you, he thought it would be a good way to give you two more time together. He was certain you would grow to love Nora if you were around her long enough."
Ewan let out a long, deep breath.
Suddenly everything made sense.
Well, not everything, but many things were a lot clearer.
Her guard abandoning her at his cave.
Some of the odder comments the gypsies had made over the last few days.
But one thing still didn't make sense.
"Why would he entrust her to me?" Ewan asked. "How did he know I wouldn't hurt her?"
Catarina looked as if he'd just asked her the dumbest question on earth. "Because you're a MacAllister and your family honor is the law all of you live by. He knew you would never let her come to harm."
Ewan snorted at that. "The man is still a fool. I would never have taken such a chance with my daughter's life, and I find it hard to believe that he would be so careless with hers."
"Well to be honest, that's why he sent us. We were to keep you together and to keep watch on you to make sure you didn't hurt her."
"But why send gypsies?"
She smiled at that. "We're not all gypsies. Lysander is one of Alex's men and Pagan is a good friend of his. That's why the two of them refused to fight you with a sword after Nora disarmed Lysander. Had you engaged either of them, you would have known immediately they were knights trained for battle and not peasants."
"And you?"
"My mother is a peasant and I fall under Alex for my protection. Viktor is my uncle and Bavel my cousin."
Ewan shook his head. "I canna believe I was duped so easily."
"Don't blame Nora—"
"Believe me," he said, interrupting her, "I don't. 'Tis her father I want to murder. How could he play with people's lives like this?"
"Ewan?" Nora's voice rang out.
Ewan looked past Catarina to see Nora standing a
t the opening of the stable.
Nora seemed nervous and uncertain as she looked at them together. "Could you please come out here for a moment?"
He frowned at her words. "Nora, there's nothing."
"Please, Ewan," she stressed the words. "I truly need you to come outside alone. Now."
His frown turned into a scowl at her insistent tone. She sounded more like a mother trying to rein in an ill-bred child than a woman who should be contrite for her father's behavior.
Angry, he headed for her.
It wasn't until he neared the entrance that he saw she wasn't alone.
Graham MacKaid was with her, and he had a dagger held to her throat. His two brothers flanked him.
"Make a move and she's dead."
Ewan froze. He wanted to turn around to see if Catarina was still in the stable, but didn't dare, lest he get her into trouble as well. With any luck, she would be able to sneak out and get one of the others to help with this.
"You wouldn't dare harm her," Ewan said slowly, stepping forward with his arms held up nonthreateningly so that Graham wouldn't get nervous and hurt Nora out of fear.
"Wouldn't dare kill the king's cousin?" Graham said his next words loudly as if wanting everyone to hear them. "Ewan MacAllister will kill whomever he pleases."
Ewan took another step forward, intending to end this once and for all.
"One more step," Graham snarled, "and she's headless."
Ewan stopped instantly.
He met Nora's fear-filled eyes and tried to offer her comfort. He had no intention of letting her be hurt by Graham or anyone else.
Whatever it took, he would see her safe.
"What do you want?" Ewan asked.
Graham smiled snidely. "You to stand there while my brothers take you."
Ewan heard Catarina in the stable, and his heart lurched in fear of Graham and his brothers finding her there. They wouldn't hesitate to kill Catarina.
He didn't know what Cat had planned, but she always had something planned. He only hoped she executed it carefully.
Ewan stood in silence as Graham's two brothers tied his hands behind his back.
"Excuse me," a villager said, drawing near them hesitantly. "Is there a problem here?"
"King's business," Graham snapped. "Isn't it, my lady?"
By her pale face, Ewan knew Nora longed to tell the truth, but didn't dare. The truth would get both of them killed and probably the good Samaritan too.
"Aye. There's no problem."
The old villager looked less than convinced but went on his way.
The taller of Graham's brothers was still a full head shorter than Ewan. He had dark brown hair and mean brown eyes. He grabbed Ewan by the hair and forced him onto a horse.
Ewan kept waiting for Catarina or one of the others to come and distract them.
They didn't.
So in the end, the MacKaids mounted their horses and he had to watch helplessly as Nora was placed in front of Graham.
He saw the pallor on her face. The fear and concern.
"It'll be all right, Nora," Ewan assured her.
The doubt in her eyes tore through him.
"Aye, Princess Nora. It'll be just fine." Graham laughed evilly and kicked his horse forward.
"Why are you taking us?" Ewan asked.
Graham's younger brother, Rufus, was the one who answered him. Shorter than Nora, Rufus might have been passably handsome had he ever taken a bath and if he could get the distasteful smirk to leave his lips.
Ewan had met the man only once, years ago when Rufus had stopped with Isobail and their father to visit with his father at the MacAllister castle.
"For the sake of justice," Rufus snarled. "You ruined our family and so we ruin yours."
Graham laughed again. "And here I thought the best revenge would be in just taking the woman you wanted and making her my own. Little did I know who she was. Just imagine how her father will react when he learns that she was killed by Ewan MacAllister. He won't rest until he's destroyed every single member of the MacAllister clan. There won't be a single member left standing."
Ewan was aghast at their plan.
Surely they weren't serious.
"Are you mad?"
"Not at all," Rufus said. "We lost everything when you ran off with Isobail. Robby MacDouglas demanded her dowry and then when our father failed to give it to him, he killed Father and banished us."
"Aye," Graham said, his lips twisted cruelly as he rode. "We've been struggling just to live only to find that none of our family will even admit they know us. 'Us time for the MacKaids to be regaled again while the MacAllisters get what they deserve… humiliation."
Ewan clenched his teeth to keep from telling them who was really to blame for what happened. Reminding them of the fact that their sister was a faithless, lying whore wouldn't accomplish anything.
They blamed his family, not Isobail.
And he doubted if they would ever listen to reason where she was concerned.
"If it's vengeance you want, then kill me and let Nora go."
"Oh nay," Graham said. His eyes glowed with cruel mischief. "See, here's where we regain our position. Who better to fall into the king's good graces than the man who tried to save his cousin and who killed her murderer."
Nay! the word screamed through Ewan's mind.
Ewan was appalled at the man's plan.
He should have known Graham MacKaid was insane. He should have killed the man in the pub when he had the chance.
Why had he ever allowed Graham to leave the pub without killing him?
Damn!
Nora's heart pounded as she listened to the men brag to one another what they intended to do to her and Ewan. She was terrified of their insidious plan.
Guilt, horror, and anger warred within her. Over and over she saw Ryan in her mind.
As soon as she saw Graham, she'd known something was wrong, so she'd tried to run.
Rufus had caught her.
And Ryan, God have mercy on his soul, had finally found a moment of bravery. Seeing her threatened, he had reached for his sword.
But it hadn't even cleared the scabbard before Graham ran him through with his dagger.
Ryan had staggered back, holding his stomach as blood poured from his body.
Nora had tried to help him, only to find Graham in her way.
"Do as I say, or I'll give you worse than that."
Ryan had reached out to her with one bloodied hand, then he'd fallen to the ground, dead.
Nora sobbed at the memory.
Ryan was dead because of her, and now Ewan was taken. If she didn't come up with some way to free him, he, too, would die.
And so would she.
Nay. Nay, she would never submit to these brigands. She was Eleanor's niece. She was her father's daughter. Ruffian Alexander Canmore might be, but no man had ever defeated him in battle or practice.
She would get them out of this.
And heaven have mercy on the MacKaids when she did.
They rode for hours until they came to an abandoned keep that appeared to have been burned down. The skeleton of the building remained, but it looked far from safe. Weeds and vines covered the fallen and charred stones.
It was an evil place. An aura of death and decay clung to it.
Nora had never tasted real fear before, but she tasted it now. The place looked like a crypt. A place that had no purpose except to house dead remains.
The MacKaids dismounted, then carefully pulled Ewan from his horse.
Ewan glared at the men. Though he didn't know how at the moment, he was determined to get them out of this.
And once he had Nora safe, all three of the brothers would pay for this. He would make sure of it.
Graham kept his dagger at Nora's throat the entire time.
"One move," he warned.
It was a threat Ewan heeded.
They led him into the crumbling great hall and roughly forced him to kneel by the hearth. T
he only thing that made him obey was the knife at Nora's neck.
Ewan didn't take his eyes off it or her while Sean and Rufus tied him to an iron ring that was buried deep into the stones by the hearth.
Only then did the dagger come away from her neck. Ewan took a deep breath in relief.
Now the real fun could begin…
Graham smiled evilly at him. " 'Tis a pity I can't kill you now. But I have to make sure you stay alive until her ransom comes to us. Tell me, how would you kill her? Would you choke her? Cut her throat?"
Ewan eyed him with all the hatred he felt for the man. "You harm her, and so help me, I'll defy death itself to rip your heart out."
Sean sucked his breath in sharply. "I can almost believe the rumors that say you've sold your soul to the devil when you look like that."
Ewan turned his black stare toward the man. "You can more than believe it, MacKaid. Harm her and I'll introduce you to the devil myself."
"Leave them be, Sean, Graham," Rufus snapped. "Let us write the note to her father and see about putting this into motion. The sooner we get the message off, the closer we'll be to having us a home again."
Graham shoved Nora toward Ewan and sheathed his dagger.
Nora fell to her knees by his side. The sight of her there, trembling, made him want their blood all the more.
"Don't fret, Nora," he hastened to assure her. "I won't let them hurt you."
"They killed Ryan," she said, her voice shaking as she cuddled up to his side like a child needing comfort.
Ewan winced at the news and wished his arms free so that he could hold her and soothe her worry and fear. "What happened?"
"After you left, I was talking to him when they came in. Ryan tried to keep them from taking me, and Graham stabbed him dead for it."
Tears were shining brightly in her eyes, but to her credit, she held them back. "Oh Ewan, what have I done? I only wanted to go to Eleanor's. I never meant for anyone to be harmed. The saints know I never really wanted Ryan dead. I just didn't want to marry him, but I never truly meant for evil to befall him. He didn't deserve to die like that. Not over me. Whatever will I tell his parents? His poor mother lives for him. She'll never recover from this."
He nuzzled her head with his cheek, offering her what solace he could while bound to the wall. "Shh, love. None of this is your fault."
Taming the Scotsman Page 19
