Page 108 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
McCarthy shook his head. “But it was all a lie. Ye have destroyed enough lives, Moira. Ye will nae be given leave to dae nay more. Ye are lucky Laird Murray doesnae run ye through.”
He turned back to Callum, closing his eyes as he shook his head sorrowfully.
“Ye have me word, I will get these girls back to ye. Unharmed. I will send them with an armed guard in me carriage with their maid. I can only pray ye find yer lady in time. I am sorry for the pain me daughter has wrought.”
Callum looked into McCarthy’s dark stare before holding out his hand. McCarthy took it in a grip of iron as the two men shook on their new alliance.
Callum turned to the girls, bending down to give them one final hug farewell.
“We will all be together soon,” he whispered. “I am goin’ to find Lydia and bring her back.”
The girls squeezed him tightly before Callum reluctantly released them, turning back to give McCarthy one final nod before sprinting out into the rain.
“Ye dinnae have much time!”
Callum heard Moira’s triumphant voice on the wind but shut it out, pushing the cruel words out of his mind.
He would be no good to Lydia if he did not focus.
Running through the gates, he sprinted through the deluge toward the trees where he had left Seamus.
The horse gave a snort of greeting as he hurled himself up and into the saddle, pulling on his reins and galloping back toward his castle.
He calculated that Lydia would be several miles away by now. There was nothing to stop whoever Moira had sent after her, killing her in seconds.
Callum could only pray that he was in time.
Callum Lawson doesnae beg, but I would beg her to return to me with every breath I have left.
CHAPTER 30
Lydia staredout of the windows at the gathering clouds, watching the landscape of Scotland pass by.
Even in bad weather, it was beautiful. It seemed like years since she and Hannah had arrived on their first day.
She sighed, remembering the moment she had first seen Callum riding toward her on the back of his horse. He had seemed so big, imposing, and unknowable.
Now, the mere thought of him brought an ache to her chest.
Even traveling with the guard on the back of her carriage, she did not feel safe. Perhaps she would never feel safe again without him with her. The miles of road ahead seemed interminably long.
Whatever will Father say when I return?
The thought of arriving back at her parents’ townhouse filled her with dread. Her mother would be happy to see her, Lydia knew that, but she would also be disappointed that she had not remained in Scotland.
To the Duchess,anymarriage that could give Lydia her freedom would seem like something worth fighting for.
Lydia didn’t know what her father would say when she arrived. He would likely not look or speak to her at all. The burden of her care had been passed to another, and he would not be pleased by her return.
The prospect of seeing Tommy was a happy one, but it was lessened by the memory of the girls.
I hope they are safe and Moira is not mistreating them.
The carriage rumbled on, the ground more uneven underfoot as they came toward the edge of a large loch that opened out beneath the rumbling skies.
Thunder cracked above her head just before a fork of lightning rent the sky, and Lydia opened the curtains that covered her window to look at the gathering storm clouds above.
It was getting dark, the evening closing in, and as another flash of lightning flared outward in a fork, her eye was caught by something on the hills ahead.
