Page 94 of Captured By the Cruel Highlander
The sky was black, unleashing a torrential downpour. Everything was a mass of shadows and rain.
Looking around him, Adam saw James running ahead of him.
His pace was slowing, and Adam saw that the guards on the parapet were raising their bows, ready to strike him down. He ran after him, raising a hand into the rain to stop the guards from firing.
James Stewart is mine and mine alone.
The rain was coming down in sheets, and Adam slowed his pace to a walk as James struggled to remain on his feet. He had lost a lot of blood; he must know the game was over.
But at the last second, James lurched sideways, bringing his sword around and almost slicing into Adam’s arm. Adam jumped back at Emily’s scream and pushed her back as he swung his blade forward.
James’s shriek of rage reverberated around the courtyard as he fell back against the statue of the pegasus, glaring at Adam with pure hatred.
“She is mine!” he screamed. “Ye willnae ever have her—she doesnae want ye.”
The possible truth in those words cut deeply, but Adam towered over the man, determined to silence him once and for all.
James’s sword clattered to the ground as his arm lost its grip and rain mixed with his blood on the ground.
“This is the same garden where I first kissed her,” Adam said softly as James’s eyes widened. “And it is where I’ll kill ye.”
With one last effort, James pulled another dirk from his belt and threw himself at Adam, but Adam was ready for him. He plunged his sword deep into James Stewart’s heart, finally ensuring that his wife would never have to deal with this man again.
Even if she doesnae want me, at least now she is free.
He pulled back his sword as the light left James’s eyes, and with a soft sigh, the man collapsed onto the ground in a crumpled ball.
Adam’s breath fogged the night air as he stared down at the bloodied corpse of the man who had caused his family and his wife so much pain.
Finally.
Then he turned around, his eyes falling on Emily, and they stood together in the rain, getting drenched as they breathed heavily.
33
All was chaos after that.
Emily took a step toward Adam to thank him for all he had done when dozens of guards poured into the walled garden.
Doughall and Theo arrived shortly afterward, and Adam was occupied for a few minutes as he explained what had happened and ordered the guards to remove the body from the castle.
Emily stood in the steadily falling rain, hardly able to believe that James was dead. She was finally free of him, but it felt like a hollow victory.
As Adam directed the men, she couldn’t gather her thoughts, fear and worry obliterating everything else. Instead of relief, all she could feel was an unpleasant sense of loss.
It was only when Adam turned to her and saw her standing in the deluge that he frowned and walked toward her.
“Come to the stables—ye will be soaked through,” he said gruffly as he turned to direct the others. “Guard the passage entrances. Theo, put a man on every one of them. That’s how he got inside the castle!”
Theo nodded and sprinted away with five or six guards alongside him, and Adam pulled Emily toward the stables. He was so insistent that she nearly tripped over her feet as she was tugged beneath the canopy.
“Are ye hurt?” he asked urgently as she stepped away from him.
“Nay,” she replied. “Are ye?”
“I’m fine. Ye are safe now.”
His eyes held an intensity she had not seen before, but her mind was still in turmoil.
