Page 88 of A Sinful Night with a Scot
Owen shrugged. “Maybe he wanted tae teach ye a lesson fer stealing his bride.”
“Maybe,” Keane nodded. “And what did it accomplish? A whole lot o’ dead men and nay resolution.”
“He killed yer faither tae tak’ the lands, Keane. We ken that,” Alisdair added.
“Well, if his intention was tae kill me, he failed miserably. He didnae send enough men to actually make an impact.” Keane looked about him, noticing the wounded and injured men, both Gunn’s and his own. “What a waste.”
Already, the exhausted but uninjured were helping the injured. Slowly picking them up from the floor, men threw arms over shoulders, assisting them to their feet.
“We need more help out here,” Keane said. “Let’s go and get the others now that it’s safe.”
They found a great many gathered downstairs in the kitchens. Many of them huddled together, the women trying their best to comfort the children who looked terrified.
“Me laird,” one of the servants cried when Keane walked into the middle of the crowd.
A hushed silence fell over them all, and people began standing and looking at him and those with him.
“It is over?” someone else called out.
“It is,” Keane said. “We now need yer help outside. There are many injured men. Set up in the great hall and begin tending tae them.”
Relief washed through those gathered, and mothers kissed children in their arms. Cries of thanks rippled through the room. Slowly but surely, they began to move towards the door he had just walked through.
Iseabail pushed through the crowd towards them, her brow furrowed.
“Did ye see Elsie on yer way down?”
Anna hurried to her side, looking as desperate as Iseabail. “She went tae find Edward, but he was already down here. She didnae return.”
Keane spun around, looking for her in the crowd.
“She isnae here, Keane,” Iseabail said firmly. We’ve looked.”
“God!” he cried, spinning on his heels and pushing past those in front of him.
Taking the stairs two at a time, he pounded up them until he reached the great hall. It was completely empty. Owen, Alisdair, Anna and Iseabail had been close on his heels, and burst through the doorway behind him.
Keane spun to look at them. “Find her!” he demanded.
All of them ran towards the back of the great hall, and at the double doors, they split up. Anna went with Iseabail, Owen with Alisdair, and Keane on his own. He headed for the wide staircase. Perhaps it was because he had given her the instruction earlier to hide in the bedchamber that he made his way directly there. But as he ran, his heart pounding in his chest, all he could think about was why she would not have joined the others.
Scenarios ran through his head as he went. Perhaps she had found herself trapped. Perhaps she had gone back to collect something. Perhaps she thought she had heard someone else still hiding.
Crashing through the bedchamber door, he bellowed her name.
“Elsie! Elsie, where are ye? It’s me, little one. If ye are hiding, it’s safe now.”
There were not many places to look. After opening the wardrobe, and checking under the bed, he hurried to the adjoining door. Bursting through that one with as much gusto, he continued calling her name, but to no avail.
Hurrying back out into the corridor, he then busted into every single bedchamber on both sides of the corridor. The further he went, the more desperate his yelling became. He couldn’t think the worst. He just couldn’t. She was still here. She had to be.
But half an hour later, when he met the others in the corridor, his greatest fear nearly swallowed him whole.
“She’s gone,” he cried, raking a hand through his hair. “This attack wasnae fer me. It was fer her! Gunn has taken her.”
“The attack was a distraction,” Alisdair said solemnly.
“Och, God. We have tae go after her,” Iseabail blurted. “We have tae go now.”
