“What do they face?’
“I imagine Cregan has a large contingent of troops waiting for him somewhere up ahead, which explains why he’s rushing us forward. The more warriors he has, the better chance of outrunning or outfighting your sons should that become necessary. He will probably leave with me, and perhaps a handful of his men, while leaving the others to delay our rescuers.”
“But he leaves them to face a certain death or surrender,” Addie argued.
“He does, but he does not care. He copies what my father often did.”
“But why would his men obey knowing they would meet death or worse?”
“The ‘or worse’ was facing my father’s wrath,” Carissa said. “And believe me when I tell you that death was preferable, though perhaps a slim chance at freedom made them obey.”
“I don’t like leaving you,” Addie said.
“It is the only choice we have if we both hope to survive.”
“You are wise for one so young,” Addie said.
“Wisdom knows no particular age, but it does know suffering and, with that, comes many lessons. I have grown wise by no choice of my own, but since I am, I choose to use that knowledge to my benefit and others’ when possible.”
“I am proud to have you as my daughter,” Addie said, choked by tears.
“And I am so grateful finally to have a mother,” Carissa said. Although she knew this was a time for joyful tears, she could not cry.
“What do you want me to do?” Addie asked.
“I will tell Cregan we need to stop and have a moment of privacy,” Carissa said. “Once in the woods, I will run. There will be chaos, and Cregan will direct his men to follow after me. No doubt there will be a moment when no one watches over you. It is then you must run and not look back. Find a place to hide, even if it is not far from here. Cregan will not bother to spare his men to search for you.”
“And you?”
“I will be caught eventually.”
“Are you so sure?’ Addie asked.
“Cregan would never stop searching. He believes that I am signed and sealed by the agreement he made with my father. He intends to have me. My only chance is you.”
“I will not fail you, my dear daughter,” Addie said.
“I believe you won’t, and I will wait impatiently for your return.”
The escape went more smoothly than Carissa had expected. The two men sent with her and Addie into the woods immediately took off after her, and that provided Addie with ample time to escape.
Carissa was out of breath and her legs bone weary, but she kept running. The longer it took for them to find and catch her, the longer the delay and the better chance for Ronan and her men to catch up with them.
She ducked under a heavy brush when she heard Cregan call out.
“I will find you, Carissa, and you will suffer for this.”
He did not frighten her though she would suffer no punishment willingly, which would provide more of a delay. The escape was going better than she had imagined.
Addie was no fool. She had watched the direction they had traveled and as soon as she could, she retreated in that direction, though she did so carefully. She had no intentions of getting caught by Cregan’s men. Her new daughter had surrendered herself to provide both women with a means of escape, and she would not fail Carissa.
She traveled between the brush and trees, careful not to make noise, the cover of soft snow helping her. She didn’t know how long she had traveled when she thought she heard a noise, and she quickly ducked under a snow-covered bush.
She kept as still as she could and thought herself safe when she didn’t hear another sound, then booted feet appeared by the brush, and she feared she was caught.
“It’s Piper, you’re safe.”
Ronan thought he was furious seeing the dark bruise on his mother’s jaw. It was nothing to the fury he saw on Hagen’s face. Still, the large man remained calm in front of Addie and held her shivering body tightly to his, ordering a fire built for her.
While men scurried to do his bidding, Ronan spoke with her and Hagen continued to hold her tight, seeming to believe that if he didn’t, someone would once again snatch her away.
“You are sure you are all right, Mother?” Ronan asked again for what seemed like the hundredth time.
“I truly am,” she said. “It is Carissa that concerns me.”
She went on to explain everything to Ronan, from when they were first captured, to the tale Carissa told Cregan. Then she spoke of Carissa’s courage and strength, qualities that Addie insisted she had never known any woman to display to such a degree.
“Carissa is a remarkable woman,” Addie finished.
“She truly is,” Ronan agreed. “But tell me, did Cregan believe this tale you concocted?”
Addie looked to Hagen.
“Tell him,” Hagen urged. “He needs to know.”
Ronan looked from one to the other, and asked anxiously, “Tell me what?”
“I had hoped to tell you and Carissa together,” Addie said.
“It is better that Ronan knows now,” Hagen encouraged. “It will help him to help Carissa.”
Ronan was growing upset with the exchange between his mother and Hagen. They obviously knew something about Carissa that would startle or upset her, or could it be much worse?
“Tell me,” Ronan urged.
His mother reluctantly left Hagen’s arms and walked over to Ronan and took his hand.
Her comforting touch didn’t help; it made him feel worse. What was she about to confide in him?
“You know how I have been wondering why Carissa looks so familiar to me.”
He nodded.
“I realized why,” Addie said. “She reminded me of a woman in a village a bit east from here. Your father and I would stop there after visiting neighboring clans. A woman spun the most beautiful wool yarn, and I would purchase some from her. It was that woman Carissa reminded me of, and so I went to speak with her.”
Ronan continued to listen.
“Her name was Kate, and I told her of a young woman I had recently met who bore a striking resemblance to her. She began to cry and she told me a tale about her sister Shona.” Addie took a breath. “That tale was the one Carissa thought I concocted.”
Chapter 37
“Carissa is not Mordrac’s daughter?” Ronan asked, wanting to make certain he understood what his mother had just told him.
“No, she’s not,” Addie confirmed. “Kate told me in full detail how Mordrac plundered their village and how she had watched from a hiding spot in the woods as Mordrac killed Carissa’s father. Kate told me that Shona knew she was with child and probably didn’t let Mordrac know for fear he would harm her babe.”
Ronan shook his head. “Why would Mordrac care so much for a slave?”
“He didn’t want her as his slave; he wanted her as his wife. Kate told me that he had passed through the village on several occasions, no one knowing he was a barbarian leader and had expressed interest in Shona, a kind and beautiful woman. An elder of the village told him that Shona was pledged to another and he grew furious. When they didn’t see him after that, everyone assumed he had simply gone his own way.”
“But he didn’t,” Ronan said. “He planned to have Shona for his own.”
“Kate told me that Shona loved her husband Cormack and could have never lived without him. She assumed that Shona perished with the child.”
“While this should make Carissa happy,” Ronan said, “I believe it will also make her sad, and perhaps hate Mordrac all the more. I will tell her about it at the appropriate time. Now we must rescue her.”
“Cregan is a determined one,” Addie said.
“And I,” Ronan said with a pound to his chest, “am a man who intends on saving the woman I love.”
Cregan dragged Carissa by the back of her hair along the ground. Her eyes stung from her hair being pulled so tightly. Stones and branches dug into her backside and legs
as he was unrelenting in his efforts to get her back to the horses.
She knew he worried that he had lost precious time, and no doubt the Sinclares were drawing closer. If he didn’t reach the contingent of men she was certain waited for him somewhere up ahead, he and the few men with him would find it impossible to defend themselves.
He released her suddenly, then grabbed her by the back of her cloak and dragged her to her feet. Once she stood, he backhanded her across the face. The blow sent her head reeling back, but she dug her feet into the ground, refusing to stumble.
When she felt the trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth, she smiled at Cregan before spitting a wad of it in his face.
He wiped it off, his face red with fury. “I do not know if you’re worth the trouble.”
“Then release me and avoid more trouble for yourself.”
“You think me afraid of the Sinclares?” he scoffed.
“It isn’t only the Sinclares you’ll face. It’s my men, and they are more barbarian than civilized.”
That bit of knowledge infuriated him all the more, and he lashed out at her once again, only this time she deflected the blow with raised arms.
“Hit me again, and I’ll kill you,” she said.
He laughed. “You have no weapon.”
“I don’t need to kill you now, but I promise you that if you strike me again, you will die.”
“We need to leave here,” Sully dared to say.
“My men will be here sooner than you think,” she said with a grin.
“She’s right,” Sully said. “We have wasted time searching for her.”
“Get the other woman, and we’ll leave,” Cregan ordered.
Sully took a step away from Cregan. “The other one escaped.”
“What?” Cregan yelled. “Did you search for her?”
“We were too busy going after her,” Sully said with a nod toward Carissa.
Cregan grabbed Carissa by the throat. “It appears that your plan has worked.”
Carissa fought to smile though breathing was difficult.
“I should kill you and leave you for the animals to feast upon and for your love to find what is left of you,” he said, releasing her.
“If I can defend myself against an animal like you,” she said hoarsely, “then I certainly can manage the animals of the forest.”
“You belong to me,” Cregan shouted.
“Are you certain that you want me?” she challenged.
He approached her again, and Carissa did not move away in fear. Instead, she proudly stood her ground. He grabbed her chin.
“With my men and your men combined, we could be an unstoppable force. Just think of the power we would have. The fear we could instill in people, the places we could conquer, and our children could carry on our supreme reign.”
She looked at him oddly as if suddenly realizing something. “That’s why you waited to come for me. You knew I was amassing a troop of mercenaries, and you wanted them as well as me.”
“I’m no fool. There is power in numbers.”
“My men would never serve you,” she spat.
“They would if you ordered them to.”
“That will never happen,” she said.
“I think otherwise.”
“Think all you want. It will never be so,” she said.
He squeezed her chin tighter. “I will have what I want.”
She opened her lips to protest, and he slammed his mouth over hers in a savage kiss.
Ronan was annoyed to see that Cavan had arrived. They had just come upon Cregan, and he wanted no interference from his laird. It was his to choose what he would do.
Lachlan and Alyce were also there, as was Zia, who was busy fussing over his mother.
“Where’s Artair?’ Ronan asked annoyed. “Isn’t this a family affair?”
“Someone had to protect the keep in case Cregan had other ideas in mind. Zia wanted to come in case Mother or Carissa needed tending. Now tell me what goes on here.”
Ronan was quick to explain that they had just come upon the spot where Cregan’s crew had stopped. No sentinels were posted, and it seemed that the chaos their mother had told him about was still going on.
Loud voices had him and Cavan suddenly dropping to the ground, and they watched silently through thick branches as Cregan dragged Carissa into camp. Ronan would have jumped up if not for his brother’s heavy hand on his back.
“Don’t be foolish,” he whispered. “We need to surround them.”
“Then hurry and have it done,” Ronan murmured, “for I will not wait long.”
When Cregan landed a hard blow to Carissa’s jaw, he was ready to jump again, but this time Dykar stopped him. “We’re almost ready, and she can take it.”
“I don’t care. I’ll not see her suffer like that.”
“If it were you, she would strike when the time was right,” Dykar said.
Ronan said nothing. He watched and when Cregan’s mouth hungrily connected with Carissa’s he jumped up, shoving away Dykar’s arm and marched straight into the camp.
“Get your hands off her and get ready to die!”
Carissa smiled. Her Highlander had come for her. He stood proud and strong in his plaid, with his claymore planted in front of him waiting for his opponent to face him. She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him and tell him how very much she loved him, but she restrained herself. She worried that such actions could do him or even her harm, and she would not chance losing her love.
Cregan turned around, planting himself in front of her. “She’s mine.”
“Not likely,” Ronan said with a laugh. “She belongs to me. She always has and always will.”
“I’ve already marked her with my lips,” Cregan boasted.
Carissa scoffed and craned her head past Cregan’s back. “You can’t call his smashed mouth against my lips a kiss.”
Ronan roared with laughter. “I guess you just don’t know how to kiss, Cregan.”
Cregan stepped forward. “But I do know how to kill.”
Ronan raised his claymore and stepped toward him. “What I’ve been waiting for.”
Cregan sidestepped him and gave a signal. His men surrounded Ronan in a flash.
“You idiot,” Carissa cried.
“See what she thinks of you now,” Cregan said on a laugh.
“Carissa doesn’t mean me,” Ronan said.
Cregan turned to glare at Carissa.
“Are you truly foolish enough to believe he has come here alone?” she asked.
“My men would have warned me—”
“What men, you fool? All your men were busy chasing me.”
Cregan froze as he finally realized what she was telling him. Just as he did, Cavan, Lachlan, Septimus, Dykar, and more stepped from behind bushes and trees and surrounded them.
Cregan shook his head, as if he could not believe what was happening.
“Carissa has a way of making a fool appear even more the fool,” Ronan said. “But don’t feel too bad. You were doomed as soon as you captured her.”
Ronan stepped forward until he was so close to Cregan that he could hear the man’s rapid breathing. “No one takes what belongs to me and, as I’ve told you, Carissa always has and always will belong to me.”
“Then she is yours,” Cregan relented wisely. “I’ll take my leave.”
“Not that easily you won’t,” Ronan said. “Carissa, go with my brothers and wait for me.”
She looked ready to object, and he glared at her. Surprisingly, she obeyed, though she detoured to give him a kiss first.
“This one time I obey you, Highlander, but don’t get used to it.”
Ronan laughed. God, he loved that woman. Life would never be dull with her around to challenge and to love him.
Cavan ordered the men to go and take Cregan’s men with them.
Ronan could see that Cavan was reluctant to leave him, but he didn’t need his big brother to help him this tim
e. In the two years he had been away, he had become a man in his own right. He had matured with confidence.
He smiled, and Cavan bowed his head, acknowledging his brother’s ability and determination to handle Cregan on his own. So, with a smile, Cavan turned and left his brother to fight his own battle.
“There’s no need for either of us to die,” Cregan said. “I had thought that once I spoke with Carissa, she would see the wisdom of us uniting. Without her men, my troop pales in comparison to your warriors. I pose you no threat.”
“That we both know,” Ronan acknowledged. “But you dared to abduct not one, but two women I love, and for that you must suffer the consequence.”
“Death seems a harsh consequence when I meant them no harm.”
Ronan tossed his claymore aside. “True enough.”
Cregan grinned and threw his weapon aside. “What if I win?”
Ronan laughed. “There’s not a chance of that.”
“There is blood on your skirt,” Zia said. “Let me have a look at your legs.”
Carissa would not sit still long enough for Zia to have a look. “Ronan is taking too long. Someone should go see if he is all right.”
“He’s fine,” Cavan said, walking over to her. “Now sit and let Zia tend you.”
“No,” she said, and went to walk past Cavan.
He grabbed her arm, and she winced.
“That’s it,” Cavan said. “Ronan will have my head if he finds out you’ve been injured and not tended to.”
“You’re the laird, he can’t have your head,” Carissa said.
“But I can have yours, now sit,” Cavan ordered.
Her eyes turned wide, and she yanked her arm free and sped past him.
Cavan turned just as she reached a battered Ronan, and he smiled.
Carissa didn’t care if Ronan was bloody and bruised, she ran into his outstretched arms, and as they closed around her, she attempted to kiss him. They both winced from the pain of their split lips.
“I thought…” She could not vocalize her fear.
The Highlander's Forbidden Bride Page 25
