Page 87 of Sighs of the Highland Wind
“Indeed, you will not, because I am going to kill him!” Cameron roared. He had never been so furious in his entire life. He could feel blood rushing to his head and rage thrumming through his veins. His whole body was shaking with it.
“Calm down for a minute, Cam,” Ava begged him. “I heard him talkin’ to Davina, and he plans to kill you after the wedding. He even threatened to kill her - his own daughter. I had to come an’ see ye, because ye are the only one who can save us a’. I left Davina wi’ my sisters, but we must hurry back!”
“I can help an’ I will,” Cameron growled. “Ava, did he harm ye? Did he touch ye?”
Ava shook her head, managing a wobbly smile. “No, Cam, he did not, but only because there were three of us there by that time, I think.”
Cameron bent town, touching her forehead to his as he felt rage being slowly replaced with relief. “Thank God,” he breathed. “If anything had happened to you, Ava I-” He did not finish what he had been going to say, but touched his lips to hers as he wrapped his arms around her again.
The kiss began gently, but soon developed into something more desperately passionate as they satisfied their hunger for each other like two starving people at a glorious feast. Indeed, it seemed like ages since either of them had enjoyed the taste of the other as they caressed each others’ mouths, their tongues tangled, and their bodies responded with fervent arousal.
Ava felt Cameron’s hardness pressing against her, and she responded with a sweet pulse and a flood of warm wetness between her legs. She gave a long drawn-out moan of desire. Every rational thought had left her head. Her world had narrowed down to the man who was holding her in his arms. He was giving her sensual pleasure the likes of which she had never imagined, and she wished it never had to end.
Cameron was in heaven. He had never imagined that he would have Ava in his arms again after the terms of his father’s will had torn them apart, but now he was sure she was his, and always would be. He would give up the estate, and he would find some other way to make a living, and he knew he could do it as long as she was with him. He knew that with Ava by his side he could do anything, for she would give him the strength he needed.
Abruptly, Ava pulled away with a sudden cry, her face stricken with panic as she turned away from him and rushed away towards her horse.
“Ava! ” Cameron called as he rushed after her. He reached out to grab her arm but she yanked it away from him and resumed her headlong dash towards her mount. He knew he did not have the right, but he suddenly felt unfairly rejected.
Ava whirled around to face him again. “I have to get back to my sisters!” she cried. “I have left them on their own an’ they might be in danger!”
Cameron wasted no more time. He took Ava by the waist and placed her firmly in the saddle, then leapt on to his own mount. “They will no’ be the only ones in danger when I get my hands on Henderson!” he growled.
20
When the guards at the gate of the Henderson house saw Ava and Cameron they swung the gates open for them, but they looked bewildered as Ava, who had her own keys, fairly sprinted to the front door and rushed in.
Cameron called two of the guards over. “Do you know who I am?” he asked urgently.
“Aye, M’Laird,” they said in unison, looking a little mystified.
“There are three young ladies inside who might be in danger,” he explained. “I need your help. Come with me.”
The two men did not hesitate, but followed Cameron as he took the stairs two at a time until he arrived outside the door to Janet’s and Rona’s chamber. Ava was standing with her ear to the door, her face a mask of fear.
“They are both weeping,” she whispered, looking up at Cameron with tears in her eyes. “I think he is in there too. Cam - what are we goin’ to do?”
Cameron took her by the shoulders and looked down into her tragic, tear-stained face. “You will trust me,” he whispered, “an’ I will do whatever needs to be done.”
Ava nodded and gave him a faint smile of encouragement, then one of the guards escorted her away to a safe distance. Everything was done in almost complete silence, and it briefly occurred to Ava to wonder how Cameron knew how to fight this way. Her admiration for him was boundless.
Cameron bent to look into the keyhole, but was dismayed to see that the key had been left in it. Just as he was about to suggest to the guards that they must kick it down, he noticed that the door to the room next door was slightly ajar. He frowned and looked along the corridor at Ava, who made a motion with her hands, indicating that he should open it.
He did so, and once inside he saw how James Henderson had gained entry to the sisters’ room. The two chambers had at one time evidently been used by a married couple, for there was a connecting door between them. It had obviously been disguised to blend in with the decoration of the wall, for none of them, not even Davina, had known of its existence.
Cameron could hear Henderson as he spoke to the young women inside the chamber. He did not have a particularly deep voice compared to his own, but now, it sounded like a high-pitched hiss, interspersed with guttural snorts of mocking laughter.
Cameron felt his blood begin to boil with fury and it was all he could do not to rush through the door and flatten Henderson’s nose against his face, but he had no idea what the other man was doing, so he had to be cautious.
Presently, he heard Janet’s voice, but she was not speaking in her usual assertive, almost arrogant tone. He could not hear the words properly, but he could tell that both she and Rona were pleading and weeping. He looked around at the two guards, uncertain of where their loyalties lay, but he could see by both of their faces that they were just as angry as he was.
This time, Cameron was able to peek through the keyhole. His view was very limited, but from what he could see, he could work out that Rona was sitting right on the edge of a chair. He could just see the fingers of Henderson’s hand grasping the back of it, and he realised that she was in a very dangerous position.
He turned and outlined the situation to the guards in a low whisper, and a moment later they had decided on a plan. However, that was the moment that Ava chose to sneak in behind them, but Cameron only saw her a split second after he had given the guards the order to storm the room.
Ava had waited as long as she could, shuffling from foot to foot in a state of nervous apprehension before she could stand the suspense no longer and crept up behind Cameron and the guards. She peeped around the edge of the door, but no-one was watching her, since they had all their attention fixed on what was going on in Janet and Rona’s room.
‘What is going on?’she thought desperately. She heard hushed whispers between them, but of course she could make out nothing of what they were saying. A moment later, however, the two guards burst into the other chamber, and Cameron looked back and saw her.
