Page 50 of Claimed By the Heartless Highlander
Duncan was tempted to refuse, but he needed to keep Scott’s attention on him and give his brother time and room to make his move. Jack was quick-thinking and cool-headed, and Duncan’s own mood was too volatile to ensure clear-headedness.
Duncan forced his hand back to his side and jerked his head in a sharp nod. “What proposition?”
“Ye can have the whelp, and even yer woman, if ye wish. But in return, ye must cede yer clan to me, whole and entire. Ye’ll give me yer allegiance, yer people, yer Lairdship, and all yer lands. Ye’ll go afore the Highland gathering and publicly renounce yer position and yer tartan, and announce yer subservience to me clan forever.”
His stomach churned. As a laird, his heart screamed a refusal. As Lily’s father, it seemed like a small price to pay. And for Lily and Ailis both, it seemed a cheap trade, indeed.
He held himself back with an effort. He knew that becoming flustered and fearful was what Scott wanted. Scott wanted him to act rashly.
Beyond Laird Fraser, he could see Ailis looking back at him. Her face was pale and uncertain, but her hands, even bound as they were, were wrapped around Lily, trying to shield his daughter’s eyes and ears so she wouldn’t witness the things happening around her.
God above, but I love ye, Ailis. I was a fool to nae ken it afore, but the way I feel watchin’ ye hold me daughter and protect her now, there’s little else I’m more certain of in the world.
He glared at Scott, then walked around the man to Ailis’s side, ignoring the guards, who seemed too reluctant to clash with a warrior who had managed to get inside the keep without any apparent trouble. Or perhaps they thought he was surrendering in exchange for Lily and Ailis.
He gently cut the ropes binding Ailis’s arms. “’Tis all right. Just be brave a little longer for me.”
Ailis nodded.
Duncan turned back toward Scott. He smiled grimly as he spotted Jack moving in. Laird Fraser had turned to follow his movements, and his position blocked the view of the two guards. As a result, none of the men of Clan Fraser could see his brother slipping into position.
Scott sneered. “I see ye’ve made yer choice. Foolish and sentimental like yer sister—ye’d choose a girl-child over all else.”
“I’m nae surrenderin’.” Duncan brought up his sword. “Dinnae fool yerself. Ye’ll nae take me clan and me kin from me.”
“Then I’ll take the child.”
Jack lunged from his new position by the wall and caught the nearest guard off balance. His movement drew Scott’s attention, and Duncan used that opening. He lunged.
Scott Ferguson scarcely had time to draw his blade before Duncan’s sword ran him cleanly through. He coughed wetly. Duncan smiled grimly and leaned forward to utter soft words in his ear.
“Ye dinnae deserve me clan. And ye certainly dinnae deserve to ever lay so much as an eye on me daughter, let alone claim her.”
He stepped back, and Scott fell with a last, rattling breath. Duncan turned and helped his brother dispatch the two guards with a few swift strokes of his blade.
As the last man fell, he wiped the blood off his sword, sheathed it, and turned to his daughter and his betrothed. “Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER20
Ailis washappy to follow Duncan back out to the courtyard, and even happier to find the carriage ready and waiting, guarded by a number of Muir soldiers. She was exhausted from the emotions and the stress of the day.
She expected Duncan to return to his horse, but he climbed into the carriage with her and Lily. She shot him a questioning look, and he settled himself back into the seat.
“I’ll nae be takin’ any chances with either of ye. Til we’re back in Castle Muir, I’ll nae be leavin’ yer side.”
Ailis nodded, unable to find anything to say. She had a number of questions, but she wasn’t sure how to ask any of them, or even if she should. Her head was still spinning from what she’d learned.
Lily’s mother was Duncan’s sister, not his wife. On the one hand, it made her hopeful, because it wasn’t the ghost of some long-dead love of his life she was fighting. But it also pained her, because she wasn’t sure why he’d force both of them to go through so much heartbreak if he wasn’t mourning a lost lover.
She knew now why Duncan had been worried about them being outside, and particularly about Lily’s safety outside the castle walls, and she understood. What she didn’t understand was why he’d refused to tell her the truth. Had she known, she would have been more careful with her own safety and the child’s.
She also had to wonder whether he’d saved her because he cared for her, or saved her because she happened to be with Lily. Would he have bothered if Lily hadn’t been kidnapped?
She wanted to believe he would have, but the way he’d acted made her doubt it, in spite of her determination to think more kindly of him.
It was all so confusing and frustrating, but she didn’t want to air her feelings on the road, in the midst of a group of soldiers, or in front of Lily. The poor bairn had endured quite enough, and Ailis was worried that, despite her best efforts, some of what had been said might have reached the child’s ears.
Duncan, for his part, seemed no more eager to discuss things than she was. He sat quietly, scanning the lands around them for any signs of danger. Lily sat between them, her head on her father’s lap, worn out from the stress and the fright she’d dealt with that day.
