Page 79 of Sins of a Scot
With a reddened face, she continued. “We mean ye nay harm. We are nae here tae cause ye any trouble. We ken ye have a crystal ye found in the waterfall past the village o’ Huna. All we ask is whether ye will part with it.”
The man glared at Iseabail like she was mad. “Indeed, I willnae part with it. I found it, and I will be keeping it.”
“I can pay ye,” Iseabail cried desperately. “I dinnae have the coin with me now, but I can go get it.”
He then laughed in her face. “Dae ye really think I’m so stupid as tae believe that?”
Owen then watched as Iseabail looked him straight in the eye. He knew exactly what was going to happen, and waited with eager anticipation. But just as she was about to speak, the sound of their horses neighing wildly seeped into the cottage.
“Something is wrong,” Iseabail gasped.
“I will go,” Owen offered.
“I will go,” Iseabail said sharply, giving him a determined look.
Clearly, she did not want to be left alone with this man, and nor could he blame her. Now, as he thought about it, he wasn’t too keen on that idea either.
“Go,” he said to her, jerking his head toward the door.
Nodding firmly, she slipped past the two of them and hurried out of the cottage.
“How much dae ye want fer the crystal?” Owen said, once she was gone.
“Naething ye could afford,” the man spat.
“Me name is Owen Sinclair, son o’ Laird Madigan Sinclair, heir to the Sinclair clan. Our wealth is very great, and?—”
“Aye, I ken well o’ the Sinclair clan. I’ve been on yer lands many a time selling me wares,” the man interrupted, now looking more interested.
“How much?” Owen pressed, seeing an opening for a barter.
“Forty merks,” the man growled.
Owen took a step back in astonishment. It was a ludicrous amount of money for a piece of crystal.
Aye, but look at the power it contains. Besides, what are Iseabail’s faither’s and braither’s lives worth? And then there’s Iseabail. Her happiness is surely worth every coin ye have, even if it means ye’ll nae pay yer debt.
Owen shook his head at the man and said, “Naeone carries that amount o’ coin around. But,” he continued, halting the man from objecting as he was clearly about to do, “I can get it fer ye. I will make a bond with ye right now, and swear tae it, that me word is true.”
Owen removed his clan ring and pushed it into the man’s palm. He then turned to the table, and finding a scrap of paper, he quickly scribbled a few sentences.
Signing yer own death sentence by giving all yer savings away, arenae ye?
Turning back to the man, he handed him the note. “If anything should happen tae me, fer if I dinnae return, it will only be because I have been killed, take that ring and that note tae me clan. Find a man named Daire. He will give ye what ye are due.”
For a long second, the man eyed Owen, clearly trying to decide whether he ought to trust him or not. But his greed got the better of him, and telling Owen to wait, he moved across the room. After rummaging in a cloth bag, he turned to face Owen with the crystal held proudly in his hand. It was the size of a large stone, chipped on all sides where the man had cut away at it to make the jewelry he sold.
After another moment’s hesitation, he thrust it at Owen, and growled. “Take it, and be away with ye. Dinnae dilly on yer return. I will be expecting me money within the month.”
Owen nodded, and before the man had time to change his mind, he turned and hurried out the front door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
When Iseabail arrived at the horses, they still appeared to be a little troubled, but looking about her, she could see nothing that could have caused it. She had been surprised, in the cottage, to hear them sounding distressed. She and Owen had traveled that far out into the country that she couldn’t imagine anyone else stumbling upon them by accident. Besides, they had the horses hidden well so as not to be discovered by the man they sought.
At the thought of the wretched fiend, she physically shivered, for she had not missed his leering eye as she had rounded the table in the grubby, run-down cottage. In fact, had she not been so desperate to discover the location of the crystal, she would have suggested to Owen that they leave immediately.
And then, there was the incident with the wine.
