Page 60 of The Highlander's Captured Bride
The guard, was a familiar one, Mister MacTrye, who gave her a cordial nod, “Welcome back, Miss O’Cain.”
“Nay the best situation to be back in,” she said while entering the main entranceway and taking the stairs, “But thank ye, it’s good to see ye again.”
Entering the old room, she dropped her sack and pushed the window open to banish the musty, trapped air froom the room. Leaning on the sill, she began to consider, what was going to happen if they did not find the two men alive. Would Ethan inherit the lairdship instantly or would his uncle take over for a time?
Taking a window seat, she began to muse. Her father had said the killer was probably close to them, which meant, either he had tracked down the killer, and both of them had gone to confront him, or he had taken the Laird out into hiding to draw the murderer to them. If it was the latter, they could be somewhere secure and would be found safe and sound. But if not…she began to nibble on her lip worriedly.
She could see her father acting out a plan like that one, but if they had been hiding out and the killer had found them… She felt her heart start to pound in worry. God forbid! Her worry about his father was as deep as the one she had for her own, but as she considered the notion, a surety rested in her chest that her father would not have let the Laird slip away while he had vowed to protect him.
If Ethan lost his father so close to his murdered brother, and to be suddenly shoved into leading a whole territory, with hundreds of people relying on him amid so much grief, she was not sure he would stand strong.
At least, I’ll be by his side when we’re married.
* * *
It was extremely distracting for his uncle to speak to him in his father’s meeting room. He could barely focus on what his uncle was saying as his mind was preoccupied with thinking—and worrying—about his father.
“And we’ve sent out scouts to look for the both of them,” Uncle Callum said sagely, “They went off to Ackwell, where we ken is a day and a half ride. Someone could have attacked them and taken them hostage.”
Ethan forced his attention back to his uncle, who, unnervingly enough, was sitting behind his father’s desk and looking too calm for Ethan’s state of mind.
“And—” he breathed out slowly, “—what dae ye want from me? To join the search?”
“Nay,” his Uncle rebutted, “that would be the worst thing for all of us now. Ye are the only heir to this lairdship, and if ye are taken as well, this territory will flounder. Ye need to be here to take control as I willnae be here much. Ye need to be safe until we find our next move.”
Looking around, and seeing the tangible proof of his father’s presence, the steel in his spine gave out and he slumped over to cage his face in his hands. “I cannae…” he rubbed his eyes. “I cannea believe this is happening.
He heard the chair behind the desk scratch the floor but did not look up as his uncle came around the table. A hand rested on his shoulder and he pried his head away to look up.
His uncle’s eyes were loaded with sympathy and sorrow, “Dinnae ye worry, Ethan, I’ll be here to help ye as much as ye need me to. I love me brother and I used me strengths to help him as much I could. I will honor his legacy by helping ye as well.”
His legacy…? Dae ye ken he’s already dead, Uncle?
Shaking his head, he sighed and sat back. “Thank ye, Uncle, I dae appreciate it.”
The hand retreated, but his uncle did not move from the edge of the table. Ethan did not even have the strength to flinch at the probing look his uncle was giving him. “So, how was it with Miss O’Cain in the cabin? I’d imagine there was nae much to dae.”
“We made it work,” Ethan replied while rubbing his eyes. “Spent most of our days talking about our childhood and her experiences working with her father for the past few years.”
“Is that all?” His uncle asked.
Tamping down on the heat that threatened to stain his face from the innocuous question, Ethan kept his eyes closed. “We spent some time at the riverside, she asked me to teach her how to swim.”
“And how did that go?”
A curl of mystification about why his uncle was asking these questions, slightly probing as they were, went through his mind. He did not feel attacked but he thought his uncle had no business knowing the finite details of what happened between him and Violet.
“As well as could be,” he stood and gave a tight smile, “I ken we need to eat something and rest.”
“We?” a teasing smile tugged at his uncle’s mouth and Ethan groaned. It felt as if he was having the same question with his father all over again when it came to his and Violet’s relationship.
“Uncle, please,” he cringed.
“Nay, nay,” the man said. “I won’t pry anymore. Happy to have ye back safe and sound, though. Bring Miss O’Cain to the great hall, we can all eat together.”
“I ken its best if ye get someone to send the meals up to me room. Violet and I need to talk about what is happening and I ken it’s best for us to stay out of being seen for a while. Thank ye,” he said with a nod, and then he was out the door.
Heading directly to Violet’s door, he nodded to the guard and knocked briefly. When she called out to enter, he did and found her curled into a corner where her bed met the wall. She looked tiny, vulnerable and when her dimmed brown eyes looked up with worry—for her father, no doubt—heavy in them, the protective instinct he had for her flared up.
