Page 65 of Eloping with the Laird
‘And then, we’ll slip in and find them.’
‘I’m going with you,’ Rory commanded.
‘You’ve just risen from the dead, son. Perhaps you could stand down on this one and let us get Moira and her maid out and to safety,’ Bran countered.
‘Not a chance,’ he muttered. ‘She is my wife.’
‘And my daughter. And right now, you are a liability. You’re too weak to be in the midst of combat.’
‘And if anything happens to you, we’ll never hear the end of it,’ Ewan muttered from behind them both.
‘You may be right about that,’ Bran agreed.
Rory wanted to charge in, not stay back. But the logic in the back of his mind told him they were right. The one area free of his emotions regarding Moira agreed. ‘Fine, then. I’ll stay here.’
Bran and his son exchanged a look.
‘What?’
‘We’d already planned to have to tie you up to keep you here. You’ve already saved us time.’ Bran smirked.
Rory scoffed. ‘Glad to hear it. Now what’s the rest of the plan?’
‘Distraction, we get them clear of the castle, and then run to the copse of trees. You and Garrick can stay with the men who will run behind us to cover us with their targes. With enough shields stacked against one another, Moira will be safe from arrows and blades once she is freed from within.’
At least that was the hope.
‘You’ll help lead her out with a few men down through the hillside,’ Bran continued.
‘Then we can split up into small enough groups to fracture their search area,’ Rory added.
‘And lose us entirely,’ said Ewan.
A great deal had to go in their favour for this plan to work, but it was sound. As sound as a plan made in the last day and a half could be.
‘Agreed?’ Garrick asked.
‘Agreed,’ Bran and Rory answered at exactly the same time.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The boom nearly knocked Moira off her feet. She grabbed for the wall to steady herself as the ground trembled beneath and doors rattled.
‘What was that?’ she asked Enora, glancing out the window. Off in the distance, she could see smoke and a ball of fire. Fraser soldiers raced to the chaos near the border of trees, but Moira didn’t have a chance to study the scene further. Their chamber door crashed open, thudding against the wall, and three of Tavish’s men rushed in to grab her and Enora by the arms. When the men spied Cullen, they paused but secured him as well.
‘You will come with us,’ the Fraser soldier ordered. ‘The elders will speak with you. Now.’ Hope filled Moira’s chest. That could only mean that they were nervous. Something was happening and they needed to move their questioning along.Rory.The McKennas were coming for them. It had to be. The noise and fire was a ploy. All she and Enora needed to do was to find him and his men. Or to create enough time for the McKennas to find them. She banked on the latter.
The soldiers rushed her, Enora and Cullen along and out of the chamber so quickly that Moira wasn’t even sure if her feet touched the floor. Moira caught Enora’s gaze and mouthed ‘They’re coming for us’ to let her know what she hoped was happening. That they were being rescued. Enora nodded, and they continued along offering little resistance. Soon they were thrust before a large, wooden crescent-shaped table flanked with five men of advanced age, which she could only assume were the Fraser clan elders.
‘You will answer for your crimes,’ Laird Tavish Fraser commanded with his aunt by his side. They sat flanked off to the side of the elders in all of their finery. As usual, Peter’s mother glistened in her golden gown and jewels while Tavish sat looking rather bored in his plaid and frock coat with its jewelled buttons.
‘And what crimes might those be, my laird?’ Moira asked, stalling for time. It would take precious minutes for the McKennas to sneak onto the grounds, breach the castle walls and overcome the guards. She and Enora had to provide them as much time as they could.
Tavish scoffed. ‘You have forgotten the death of my cousin so quickly? You amuse me.’ He nodded and the soldier shoved her so hard she fell to her knees on the cold stone floor before him.
Startled, she lifted her head and glared at him. ‘You will have to do more than that if you wish to scare me, my laird. Remember, I was married to your cousin after all.’ She leaned back on her haunches and flicked her plait of hair back behind her shoulder.
Enora sucked in her breath behind her. Perhaps Moira was taking it too far, but she refused to show fear in front of Tavish and her former mother-in-law. She was not the woman she once was. She would speak her mind and stand up for herself. She was Moira McKenna. The timid Moira Fraser of the past was no more.
