Page 91 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
“Ye cannae let her take us, uncle,” Eilis whispered.
“She is yer maither, ye will go with her. I have nay choice.”
There was a long silence, and then, Eilis moved.
She let go of her uncle’s legs and stepped forward, one hand held behind her, summoning her sister.
Lydia swallowed back tears as the two tiny girls walked across the space. They were surrounded by armored men, vulnerable and small in the face of such brute strength.
They came to a standstill in front of their mother.
Moira lowered in front of them, stroking her hand awkwardly across their cheeks before she stood up again, gripping their hands and yanking them back by her sides.
Laird McCarthy stepped forward, flicking back his cloak as he met Lydia’s gaze and spat onto the ground at her feet. Callum stepped forward, as though to strike the man down where he stood.
“Careful, Murray. Ye willnae win this fight. Dinnae ye see we have already won?” Laird McCarthy sneered.
Callum looked at him, his gaze black with rage.
“All I see is a dead man.”
CHAPTER 25
“Come, faither,”Moira said. “It is getting late, we should leave.”
Eilis and Amy looked back at them with wide, frightened eyes. Lydia had never felt so guilty in her life.
I do not know this woman, but already I can see that the children should not be with her.
Moira handed the girls to her father, and Amy and Eilis stood awkwardly beside him as she approached Callum.
She was tall, much taller than Lydia, and less curvaceous, her blonde hair falling down her back in soft waves.
Callum stiffened even further as she came toward him. Moira didn’t look at Lydia for a second as she smiled seductively at him.
He leaned away from her, his nostrils flaring as she stood on her tiptoes to whisper into his ear. She made no pretense at keeping her voice low. Lydia heard every word.
“If ye ever want to see the girls again, send yer little sassenach back to where she came from. Then we can finally show our love to the world.”
Callum looked down at her, disgust written on every part of his face.
There was the sound of a knife being taken from its scabbard, and every guard behind Moira stepped forward several paces.
“Dinnae dae anythin’ stupid, Callum,” McCarthy said firmly. “If ye try anythin’, ye watch yer family die. One would think ye would stay silent after what ye did to me daughter. We will be leavin’ now.”
Callum stepped away from Moira, the knife still held at his side. One swift swipe and the girls would have watched their mother murdered in front of them.
Moira smiled triumphantly and turned her back on them, heading toward the carriage.
“Hold on one moment!” Callum shouted, and McCarthy and Moira froze, turning to face him. “Ye willnae take the girls without an escort. They deserve to have people around them who they ken, and that isnae either of ye.”
“I am their maither!”
“Och, aye? And what time have ye spent with them in the last five years other than to drag them away from Angus when he wasnae payin’ ye attention?”
“Enough!” McCarthy pointed a quivering finger at Callum. “Ye willnae slander me daughter.”
“I willnae abandon me nieces. A maid of this house will accompany them, or I will kill every one of yer men right now. Dinnae think because they are more in number than me own that I willnae destroy them.”
