Page 60 of My Scarred Laird
She hadn’t been able to sleep well without Callum, but she couldn’t be by his side, as it was the eve of their wedding.
She didn’t like it. She had gotten used to his huge body curled around her.
Well, that and the fact that he made her see stars every night.
She loved being with him that way. Feeling his body move inside hers was something else. Something beyond anything she had ever felt. He loved her, and she loved him.
Today had been a shock seeing her sister, and she loved it. She had missed Daracha, and having her sister at her wedding was exactly what Islay longed for.
Now if the dawn could come sooner. She was ready to be Callum’s wife.
She smiled when she heard a boot scrape along the floor, thinking Callum had come to join her, unable to stay away from her as she had hinted to him.
But as she peered into the darkness, she saw a huge form in her room, certain it was him, joining her in bed because he missed her as much as she missed him.
But as the man got closer, her heart dropped as she saw it wasn’t Callum.
Gasping, she looked around, wanting to grab a weapon, something to hold him at bay.
She grabbed the candle by her bed, throwing it at the man who just laughed, “Ye are a feisty one. No one told me ye would fight back.”
Islay tried to grab something else but came up empty. All of her things had been moved to Callum’s room.
She tried to scream, but the man lunged at her, a white cloth in his hand, and he held it to her mouth, causing her to breathe in the substance there.
Her eyes fluttered shut, but he hadn’t held it to her mouth long enough to make her fall completely asleep, and she stayed conscious enough that she could feel him carry her over his shoulder outside.
He went out a different way than what Callum or anyone else would have gone though. Taking her through a dank tunnel that seemed as if it hadn’t been used in a long time, and she could barely hold back her cough.
There was another man waiting outside the keep with two massive stallions, and she was handed to the second man, slung over the front of his horse, and she wanted to cry out in pain as she was.
The first man climbed onto his horse, from what she could hear, then they were riding.
Islay felt dizzy, her eyes not obeying her command, neither did her body, and she lay there in helpless fury as they rode.
For the first hour or so, the men rode in silence, and Islay lightly slept, even though it was the most uncomfortable sleep of her life.
The men slowed their frantic pace, and she could breathe a little easier.
One of the men spoke, and it sounded close, so she knew it was the man who had her on his horse.
“Tha’ was easier than I thought.”
The other man snorted, “Fer a man who is a such a great so-called warrior, his keep is no’ well-guarded. He has ta be completely insane ta not have men on the walls, men in the keep walking the halls, and men in the bailey. He had none of those things. He would have been so easy ta kill if tha’ were our mission.”
The other man said, “He didna have men on the walls?”
“Nay. I looked. Stupid sod must believe himself ta be invincible since he is cursed and all.”
“Aye. What do ye think he is gonna do when he finds out we stole his bride’s sister? McGavin is still in there. He wants ta see what Callum will do. He kens tha’ Callum will come after us. We have ta be long gone though. I willna be killed for him.”
The other man said, “Isna he is waitin’ ta take the actual bride out from under the Laird’s nose?”
“Who the fook cares? McGavin paid us ta take the sister, and we have. Wha’ ever plans he has doona matter ta us. Once we get paid for takin’ her, then we are leavin’. I ain’t staying around ta fight in a war we doona care about. We arena in a clan. So, I fer one am not stickin’ around.”
“I doona want ta either.”
“After we get paid, we can live like kings for a while.”
