Page 64 of Taken By the Ruthless Highlander
Morgana flinched, expecting his eyes to flash with ire. Instead, she was surprised to find kindness and compassion… and a hint of adoration.
“How do ye always ken exactly what to tell me? For I thought ye were takin’ pleasure in my tails of woe.”
“Anyone who gets a thrill from other people’s pain is a very sick person, indeed,” Morgana stated. “Especially if ye do that to the ones ye care about.”
“Are ye sayin’ ye care for me, then?” Ryder asked, his eyes twinkling.
“Maybe a little,” she answered, flashing him a smirk. “I like ye as much as I like meat pies.”
“Is that so? Meat pies? Well, I hope it’s the lamb pies and nae the pork pies,” Ryder drawled.
Morgana’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, and her mouth dropped open. “Ye werenae in the kitchen when we made those—how do ye ken that lamb pies are my favorite?” she asked.
Ryder shrugged as he moved around her to the bank of the pond. “A little birdie told me.”
“And there are a lot of these wee birdies in the castle, eh?” Morgana asked, her boots crunching against the loose pebbles of the pond as she followed him.
“A laird must ken what is goin’ on in his castle at all times,” Ryder said, as if he were being graded on recital.
“That sounds like somethin’ yer faither would say,” Morgana snorted as she bent down to pick up a stone.
She swung her arm back and let the pebble fly over the placid water until it was caught by the rough current of the waterfall.
“My maither, actually,” Ryder admitted. “She was smart. If it werenae for her spies, she never would have survived for as long as she did.”
“So is that why everyone is scared of ye? Because they saw how yer faither behaved and feared ye’d turn out the same?” Morgana asked.
“Nay,” Ryder answered, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. “I started learnin’ to carry a blade when I was a wee lad. I thought I was good by the time I was thirteen and a master by eighteen. It was then I thought I could…” He paused.
Morgana felt the rapid beat of her heart drumming in her ears. She stared at him, clinging to his every word. “What?”
“Do what ye have been charged with doin’,” Ryder finished.
Morgana’s heart stopped. It felt as if the moisture had dried up, leaving her tongue scraping the roof of her mouth.
“I had it all planned. And I swear it would have worked if Cohen hadnae ruined everything. Do ye ken where my faither’s body is now?”
The rage in his gaze unnerved her. She knew it wasn’t directed at her, but seeing it there scared her. There was clearly a side to Ryder that she wasn’t sure she wanted to see.
She shook her head as she held her breath. She did not doubt that what was about to come out of his mouth wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“Next to my maither. The very woman he killed. They are together, side by side, as if they were when they were alive. And can ye guess who came up with that brilliant idea?”
Morgana didn’t need to guess. The name hung on the tip of her tongue as Ryder picked up a pebble and chucked it over the water. It skipped violently across the surface and crashed into the rocks beyond.
“I understand,” she murmured.
It finally dawned on her why he resented Cohen.
“Now ye see why I dinnae trust that man around ye. I dinnae care that he was my faither’s man-at-arms and was doin’ what he thought was the right thing to do. It wasnae for the clan or my maither, or me. He stood there and watched…” Ryder dropped his head into his hands as his tears spilled over.
Morgana wrapped her arms around him. Although she couldn’t reach all around him, she pressed her body to his, wishing she could somehow seep into him and soak up all the hurt.
“Ye are nothin’ like yer faither. I met the man and was even married to him for a brief seven hours. But I promise, ye are nothin’ like him. As for Cohen, he has only ever shown me kindness. Maybe somethin’ snapped inside him after the death of yer maither. Maybe he has changed.”
“He hasnae, and to think he has would be naive and foolish,” Ryder bit out. “Who do ye think convinced my faither to banish me?”
There was no hiding her shock. It hadn’t clicked for her how Ryder was still alive if he had planned out his father’s murder. And as he wiped his face and schooled his features back to calm, all the pieces fell into place.
