Page 57 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
“Aye, m’laird!” Harris confirmed, and instantly jumped off his horse and ran into the castle to get to the highest point where he could scan the lands for any sign of her.
As James galloped out of the gates, he tried to think about where she might have gone. It was unlike her to leave without an explanation. Even when she had gone to the village she had told Harris where she would be.
He spurred Kenzie forward to the town. As he arrived he asked the first man he met if anyone had seen her, but there was no sign.
Frantic, he began to wonder if she might be in danger. He was a powerful man who had just got wed. There had been many senior families in the clan who he had snubbed with his choice of bride.
Could one of them have wanted to harm Maisie?The more he thought on it the more convinced he became, until he could think of little else.
After an hour of searching the towns and surrounding areas, scouring the horizon for any sign of her, his chest was tight with concern. He wasn’t sure whether he should go back to the castle to see if she had returned or keep searching.
In one last-ditch attempt, he decided to go to the waterfalls. There was a chance she remembered the path and had made her way there alone to swim. It was a weak hope, but he spurred Kenzie onward either way.
As they cantered through the undergrowth, he felt a burst of hope as he saw something white ahead of him in the trees.
Kenzie galloped onward until they reached the edge of the pool below the thundering falls.
To his horror, the white object he had seen through the trees, was Lily, the horse Maisie had taken. She was a beautiful white mare, but her flank was streaked in blood. It looked as though there was a high graze on her right leg and, although shallow, blood had spread over her hind quarters.
James dismounted, looking about wildly when finally, he saw her. On the far side of the pool, Maisie was lying on the ground propped against a rock. She did not look conscious.
“Maisie!” he cried, clambering over the many rocks to get to her. “Maisie!”
To his relief, she opened her eyes and reached for him.
“James.”
“What happened to ye, where have ye been?”
She tried to sit up, but the effort was too much. “I went to speak to the MacCarthys. I thought I could help, but I didn’t ken the way. I went to ask a man behind me for directions, and he shot an arrow at me.”
James felt his heart stutter in his chest. “Are ye hurt? Maisie! Are ye hurt?”
His hands went to her dress, trying to see any signs of blood but there was nothing.
“It is all right. It isnae too bad. It grazed me leg and cut the horse. I ran as fast as I could away from him. I intended to return to the castle but I cannae ride with me leg like this. I kent there was clean water here for the horse. She saved me life.”
James looked back at Lily, who was calm and peaceful behind them.
“She’s all right, lass, I need to tend to ye. Let me see.” He pulled her skirts up over her thigh, and she hissed. The cut looked about an inch deep. Not too bad, but not too good either.
“Did ye recognize him?” he asked but Maisie’s eyes were drooping already from exhaustion.
“Nae, he looked too big to be a laborer. Stocky, like a soldier with a long scar on his face.”
I’ll find him, and I’ll kill him for what he could have done to ye.
“Why would he try to kill me?” Maisie asked plaintively.
“I dinnae ken,”to get to me,“but I’ll find out. Come, lass. We’ll take Lily back with us. We’ll go slowly and we’ll get ye to a healer. Ye had me worried half to death.”
She laughed as though that idea was amusing. James cursed himself for how he had treated her. She didn’t believe that she mattered to him and that was his doing.
“We’ll make ye well. I’ll look after ye,” he said softly, brushing the hair from her face.
I have never felt fear like this before,he realized.Ne’er in me life have I been so terrified to lose somethin’.
He pushed his arms beneath her and lifted her, carrying her back to Kenzie as she swooned in his arms.
