Page 3 of Highlander of Steel
Because, somehow, I’ll be blamed.
That was the nugget of truth at the core of her silence. Her father might even accuse her of conspiring with this man, whoever he was. Any excuse to punish her.
“Well,” Murdock said stiffly, “ye make sure ye stay in yer room.”
A moment later, her brother’s footsteps faded down the hallway. She waited until she couldn’t hear them anymore before she expelled the breath she’d been holding and raised her gaze to the intruder.
“Ye should leave. Quickly,” she said, wondering if, at long last, Castle Ainsley had turned her mad. It was the only reasonable explanation.
The intruder prowled toward her, catfooted despite his towering height and tremendous breadth. She might have backed away if there was anywhere to go, but a few steps would have had her pinned against the door. Besides, he was already in the closed room with her; there was nowhere to run.
He stopped, close enough to leave her breathless… and just a little bit scared.
“Ye listen as well as ye comprehend,” he said coolly, his movements slow, perhaps conscious of spooking her, as his hand closed around her wrist. “I already told ye, ye’re comin’ with me.”
A rough pull had her knocking into his hard chest, a curse hissing from between her teeth as her chin bumped against him. It was like hitting a solid wall; her eyes watered at the fleeting pain.
His arm snaked around her waist, holding her against him. “Ye’re mine,” he whispered, lowering his head until his cheek brushed her temple. “Now, will ye walk, or must I carry ye?”
At least twenty protests screeched through Ailis’s mind, but between the dizzying effect of hitting her chin, the unfamiliar intimacy of a strange, handsome man’s arm around her waist, and weighing up this man’s threat against her brother’s, she couldn’t muster a single argument. She wanted to, but nothing came out.
“Carry ye it is, then,” the man said.
Ailis tried for a scream, but found herself expelling a strained grunt as he heaved her up and threw her over his shoulder. Winding her.
How is he so strong?
Maybe it was an odd question to inwardly ask about a man as tall and broad as a bear standing on its hind legs, but she wasn’t exactly… liftable.
Throughout the rare gatherings that her father held at Castle Ainsley, she dreaded the moment someone would feel obliged toask her to dance. Reels had grown wilder over the years since she first attended a gathering, and involved plenty of lifting. It was a chance for the men to show their strength and prowess by lifting the ladies effortlessly and spinning them around in the air.
Needless to say, the men who danced with Ailis often struggled, turning red with the effort. Or worse, forgoing lifting her altogether.
But thisman had just picked her up as if she were a willowy waif, his breathing and gait not the least bit labored as he began to carry her out the door.
Wait…
Coming back to her senses to focus on the fact that she was about to be kidnapped, Ailis curled her hands into fists. With all of her might, she pounded on the hard, rippling muscles of his broad back as hard as she could.
Although she had the feeling that she was hurting her knuckles more than she was hurting him.
“Calm down, lass,” he said flatly. “I willnae hurt ye. If I wanted to do that, I’d have had a knife to yer throat the minute ye stepped into the room.”
Ailis paused.
She couldn’t argue with his logic. At any moment since she returned from Skye’s room, he could have harmed her. With her brother outside the door, he could have done far worse things than flash her a warning stare to keep her silent. Instead, he had just confidently and quietly assumed that she would do as she was told.
Ailis almost laughed.
If ye kent me better, ye’d understand how daft that is.
But, for some reason, he sounded convincing. Then again, people weren’t to be trusted. It was a conundrum.
Still, I shouldnae let him take me away from the castle, should I?
She gave his back another thump as she considered, scolding herself for not being better prepared.
Of course,she couldn’t let him kidnap her. What would happen to Skye if she weren’t there to keep her sheltered? No one else would play with her or read to her or tell her stories, or make sure that she felt loved. Without Ailis, the little girl would be confined to her room, distracted now and then by a nursemaid, but otherwise alone.
