Page 58 of Lost with a Scot
“Anna and I... we were alone when the men came. We tried to fight them, but there were so many...” She flinched as she tried to sit up in Ashton’s arms.
Ashton stroked his fingertips over her cheek. “Did they say where they were going?”
Rosalind shook her head and then realized they weren’t alone. She looked to Aiden, and he saw her pity and deep regret.
“I’m sorry, Aiden. I couldn’t protect her. They used me against her.” Tears rolled down his sister’s face as she started to weep softly. Ashton wound an arm around her, pulling her against his chest to soothe her.
Aiden could barely speak to his sister except to say, “It’s all right, Rosalind—we’ll find her.” The words tasted like bitter lies upon his lips. His wife had been abducted and was likely bound for her homeland, where her uncle might execute her.
“We’ll send men to the harbor at once and search every ship. They can’t be but fifteen minutes ahead of us. If no ships have left the harbor yet, we can lock the harbor down... but if they have left...,” Ashton began.
“We’ll need yer fastest ship and yer best crew, and try to find out if they’re headed to Calais or if they mean to cross the North Sea,” Aiden said quietly, but his words were met with a silence so loud that it defeated him.
“Aiden. We need at least a week to gather our forces,” Ashton warned him. “If the men who took Anna reach Ruritania before you, you’ll be facing more than just a ship—you’ll be facing an army.”
“They havemy wife. I dinna need an army to kill the bastards.” If Ashton had any idea of the rage that flowed through his veins, he’d understand that Aiden would kill any man who stood in his way, a hundred if need be.
Godric exchanged a look with Ashton and sighed heavily. “Well, I’d better go with you.” He pressed a kiss to Emily’s forehead. “Em, you need to stay here and help arrange the transportation of the men Lord Morrey manages to pull together.”
“No, Godric, you build the army with Morrey and follow us. I’ll go with Aiden,” Ashton interjected. “If we fail to intercept them at sea, we’ll be chasing them on land. I know the country. I’ll get Aiden to the Winter Palace faster. I’ll take Cedric and Charles. You keep Lucien and Jonathan with you.”
“Shouldn’t you take them?”
Ashton shook his head. “Two more men won’t make a difference where an army is involved. Any plan we come up with will have to rely on cunning and deception. Though I expect we will only be able to gather information for when you arrive.”
“Very well,” Godric conceded. “I’ll leave tonight to meet with Morrey.” Godric and Emily hastily departed.
“Aiden, I must first see Rosalind home. Then you and I will head for the port.”
“I should go with you—” Rosalind began, but Ashton shook his head and cupped Rosalind’s face in his hands.
“I need you here, my darling. I need yousafe. I know you hate me for asking it, but please...”
Something soft and intimate passed between them, and watching them made Aiden’s heart ache. His own wife was in the hands of her enemy, and he was powerless to help her. It reminded him too much of his dreams where he reached through the water, trying to grasp Anna’s hand, never quite able to save her.
He backed out of the retiring room and stood in the corridor, trying to settle himself as a wave of panic crushed his chest like a mighty stone had tumbled down from a Highland mountain. He braced a palm against the wall, struggling to breathe. He still held Anna’s diadem in his other hand. He remembered the last time he’d held this jeweled crown. It had been when he’d placed it upon her head and stolen a lingering kiss before he’d left with the others to come to Lady Eugenia’s early. He’d done all that he’d could to prevent this, and still she’d been taken. All he had left of his princess was the crown she’d left behind...
Brock’s voice cut through the din of his erratic and terrified thoughts. “Aiden?”
His brothers stood a few feet away, the merry lights from the ballroom illuminating their concerned faces.
“It’s Anna,” he rasped. “She’s been taken.”
Brock and Aiden rushed to him, steadying him as he stumbled forward. He’d never felt a despair like this, not even when he’d lost his mother.
“When are you leaving to go after her?” Brodie asked.
“Tonight, with Ashton and his friends.”
“Then we’re coming with ye,” Brock and Brodie said at the same time.
“We may not come back,” he warned them. They had wives to worry about, and he couldn’t ask them to make this decision lightly. He wouldn’t blame them if they chose to stay.
“Aye, we ken that, but we’re yer brothers, laddie,” Brock said. “We’d never let ye face this alone...never,” he repeated more softly. The blood Aiden shared with his brothers had always kept them close, but now, more than ever, he felt how strong his kinship with them truly was.
“Besides,” Brodie added, “we’re hard to kill. If Father couldna manage it, then I doubt anyone else can.” Brodie’s eyes gleamed at the prospect of battle.
“Dinna worry, lad. We’ll save yer bonnie bride,” Brock promised.
