Page 54 of Kilted Abduction
“Right outside the door. Aye. I’ve got it.”
“Rest well,” Magnus said.
His eyes lingered on hers for just a moment as his belly lurched and his heart raced. In that moment, he wanted more than anything to pull her into his arms and kiss her. It was a powerful desire that threatened to consume him. Before he gave into it, Magnus forced himself to turn and walk out of the room, closing the door gently behind him.
“Is all well, Maister Magnus?” asked the guard to his right.
Magnus nodded. “Aye. Everythin’ is fine.”
He strode down the corridor, each heavy thump of his boot step echoing off the stone walls around him driving the spike of guilt deeper into his heart.
“Are ye sure we need tae dae this?” Magnus asked.
Enya pushed her light brown braid back over shoulder and offered Magnus a look of sympathy. Of all his siblings, Enya was the most compassionate. She had a cutting wit like all the MacLeod children, but beyond that, she was kind. She was caring and empathetic in ways the others weren’t. Not that Magnus’ siblings were unfeeling, but Enya’s gift had made her more responsive to her own emotions as well as those of others.
“I’m sorry, braither,” she said. “But we need tae ken.”
“This just daesnae feel right.”
“’Tis the only way we can learn what we need tae without telling her about us… and our gifts. And I agree with Domhnall that we cannae dae that.”
He shook his head. “This just feels wrong.”
“Wrong perhaps. But necessary.”
Magnus frowned and Enya put her small, delicate hand over his, offering him a gentle smile. “Ye care about this lass.”
“I didnae say that.”
“Ye dinnae need tae. Ye’ve never been able tae hide anything from me, braither.”
Her voice was soft, her smile gentle, and her eyes knowing. Magnus didn’t know what he felt for Ciara. It was complicated. She clouded his mind and bound his heart in ways nobody ever had before. If that was what Enya meant about caring for her, he supposed she was right. But the complicated knot of emotion in his chest confounded him. Magnus was a man who prided himself on his fearlessness and the feelings that raged inside his breast terrified him.
“’Tis good tae let yerself care fer somebody,” Enya said softly. “I’ve long said ye need tae open that door in yer heart and make room fer somebody. Ye deserve somebody who will offer ye the kind of love ye deserve.”
“I’m nae so sure Ciara is that one.”
Enya shrugged. “I’m nae so sure she’s nae.”
“If she’s workin’ fer Fairfax, I’d say ‘tis unlikely.”
“Dae ye believe she’s our spy?” Enya asked.
“Arenae ye?”
“I’m nae. The more I spend time with her, the more I like her and the more I believe she’s what she says she is—a lass runnin’ from a life she doesnae want.”
“Domhnall doesnae?—”
“Domhnall doesnae ken what tae think yet, he’s simply bein’ extra cautious. With the English lurkin’ about and tryin’ tae destroy us, ye cannae blame him,” she said. “But once this is all cleared up, I’m sure he’ll see what we see in Ciara.”
Enya’s belief that Ciara wasn’t the spy was news to Magnus. Her support was surprising and it mirrored what he’d come to believe. He’d spoken up in defense of Ciara, but Thora and Domhnall still had reservations about her. And those lingering suspicions were why Domhnall had ordered Magnus and Enya to carry out this plan. It was why they stood outside Ciara’s door with Magnus vacillating about the morality of what they were about to do. Intellectually, he understood it. But some small voice inside of him was screaming that what they were going to do was wrong and a violation of Ciara’s trust.
It had been Thora who’d first floated the theory that Ciara had been sent to them precisely because she had some innate ability to resist their gifts. Magnus had not found any sort of charm, which had led them to believe her resistance was somehow natural. She reasoned that just as they had gifts, others surelymust as well, and perhaps Ciara’s was that ability to rebuff them when they tried to use theirs on her. She thought perhaps Fairfax knew of this possible gift and had sent Ciara into Dunvegan to use it to undermine them from within.
It wasn’t a bad or outlandish theory. Magnus understood why Thora had proposed and then defended it. It made sense and from a strategic point of view, it was solid thinking. Magnus thought if he’d learned of somebody who could thwart the gifts they all had and use that to undermine an enemy, he would have ordered the same thing. But Thora was assuming Fairfax knew of the gifts the MacLeod children had, which was a stretch. It was a closely guarded family secret. However, it was possible. It was not the first time someone had noticed them. Which was why Domhnall had ordered he and Enya do this.
“Are ye ready?” Enya asked.
