My Captive Highlander (Highland Adventure Book 7) (9 page)

Shamus was proud of her boldness and bravery but he feared it would get her into trouble, especially where her brother was concerned. In fact, he feared her brother might punish her for helping Shamus escape. He cursed under his breath. How could he have let this go so wrong?

"Nay,
MacKenzie
will be walking," Hamish said.

"Then I will, too." She dismounted.

Hamish released what sounded to be an exasperated breath. "Suit yourself, m'lady. But you must keep up."

Shamus considered various methods of escape on the way back to the castle, but he knew none of them would work. Not with Maili so close by. He would do naught to cause her injury. Now and then, he glanced at her, walking beside him. Every time her blue eyes met his, he could not fathom why his heart pounded and excitement raced through him. What magical powers did she hold over him? Did it have something to do with the standing stone circle? And the most difficult question of all—how could he escape the MacDonald clan and make her his wife?

Once they reached the castle,
Elrick
awaited them in the bailey and a frisson of fear raced through Maili. His glare darted between her and Shamus.
Sleat
stood nearby, scowling.
Elrick
strode toward them and threw a hard punch into Shamus' stomach.

"Stop!" She launched herself at her brother, but the large guard behind her caught her around the waist, her arms and legs flailing.

"You bastard!"
Elrick
said to Shamus. "How dare you kidnap my sister?"

Shamus was doubled over, gasping for breath.

"Leave him be!" Maili shouted. "He didn't kidnap me. I left because I wanted to."

"Take her upstairs and lock her in her bedchamber," he ordered the man restraining her.

The giant picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and carried her up the steps.

"Nay! You bastard! Release me!" She kicked and punched. Once inside the stairwell, he slapped her hard on the
arse
.

She screamed. "How dare you? Beast!"

He merely laughed. "Want me to do it again?"

Suddenly, defeat pressed in on her and tears streamed from her eyes. She couldn't best this hulking guard. He was solid muscle and weighed near thrice as much as she did. Once he'd opened her bedchamber door, he carried her inside and tossed her onto the bed.

Though she felt dizzy, she rolled toward the opposite side.

Once her vision focused, she saw that he leered at her with lascivious interest. She couldn't remember his name, but she knew he was one of the new guards
Elrick
had hired.

"What is going on, Maili?" Constance rushed forward. "Where have you been?"

The guard cast a glower at her cousin, then trailed his lustful gaze over Maili again. Thank the saints her cousin was here. Though they were not close, Maili ran toward her and embraced her.

"You can go now," she told the guard.

He lifted a brow as if to say this wasn't finished. Once he'd exited, she barred the door from the inside.

"Did the
MacKenzie
prisoner kidnap you when he escaped?" her cousin asked.

Maili paced before the warm hearth. "I don't wish to speak of it now."

Constance fell silent but Maili felt her gaze burning into her. "You helped him escape, did you not? You've been taking him food all week. Did he seduce you?"

Maili stopped and glared. How could her cousin guess such things? "Nay!"

Constance crossed her arms over her chest and cast a scornful look at Maili. "I don't believe you."

"I want to be alone." Maili needed to think, plan her next course of action. Her brother would no doubt toss Shamus in the dungeon again, if he didn't kill him.
Please, God, nay.
Surely he wouldn't because he needed him alive in order to exchange him for the ransom.

"Very well. But you are daft to help such an outlaw and scoundrel."

"He is neither an outlaw nor a scoundrel!" Maili said.

Her cousin removed the bar from the door and yanked at it, but it wouldn't budge.

Maili felt sick. "
Elrick
had the guard lock me in."

"But not me. I'm no traitor." Constance banged on the door. "Let me out of here!"

Maili was no traitor either, at least not to her clan. Helping an innocent man escape didn't mean she'd betrayed her clan. She was trying to help them avoid attack. As for
Elrick
, she was no longer loyal to him.

Several minutes later, a key rattled in the lock and the door opened. As her cousin left, her maid entered. And the guard outside quickly locked the door again. Thankfully, he was not the same one who had carried her in.

"M'lady!"
Anora
rushed forward and grasped her hands. "Are you well? What happened?"

"Aye, I'm fine. Don't
fash
. What is happening outside?"

"The chief had the guards take
MacKenzie
to the dungeon."

"Did they beat him?"

Her maid swallowed hard. "I fear they did."

The nausea churning through her increased. "That bastard," she said through clenched teeth. Was it a sin to hate one's own brother so? He was a vile, heartless man. She paced from the window to the door and back again. She could not abide it. She had to find a way to get to Shamus, to help him, to be with him. Her thoughts were a jumble and she could not think of a plan.

Moments later, the key rattled in the lock. Mayhap she could run past the guard and escape, or bash him on the head. Frantically, she scanned the room for a weapon and her gaze landed on a stoneware jug.

As she ran toward it, the bedchamber door slammed back against the wall.
Elrick
stood there, his broad shoulders blocking the doorway. Too late to surprise him with a jar to the head, she halted.

"Out!" he yelled to
Anora
.

Tears in her wide eyes, the young maid fled the room, and
Elrick
slammed the door behind her.

"How could you betray me and the clan in such a way?"
Elrick
demanded. "I should deal with you as I would any traitor." He lurched forward and she ducked back, but not in time to avoid his fist flying toward her face. The blow to the jaw knocked her to the floor. Pain lanced through her face and shoulder which had struck the wood floor.

"I cannot wait until you are gone from here with
Sleat
!" he growled. "I never want to lay eyes on you again, witch."

Her throat closed on the shock and pain. Tears burned her eyes, more from the emotional pain than the physical, although both were severe.
Elrick
had never struck her before. Their father would've broken his nose if he had. She inhaled deeply, trying to regain her bearings.
Remain calm.

She hoped if she didn't respond to him or talk back, he would leave her be.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Standing over her, he crossed his arms over his chest.

What a self-important bastard her brother was. "If Father were here he would—"

"Well, he isn't here to spoil you anymore, Maili!
'Tis
time to grow up."

She ground her teeth and sat up, her hand covering her aching jaw. She worked it to make sure it wasn't broken.

"Dugan told me you hit him on the head with a bottle and knocked him out. How did
MacKenzie
convince you to help him?"

Maili pushed slowly to her feet, trying to hide her pain from her demented brother, and eased toward the other side of the room.
 
"I was trying to protect our clan. I thought if he wasn't here, his older brother wouldn't lay siege."
'Twas
the truth, at least half of it. She couldn't tell her brother the other half—that she wanted to escape this place, and him. Of course, he could probably figure that part out on his own.

"Ha,"
Elrick
scoffed. "I'm not concerned about his brother. He may attempt an attack but he and his men will be shot down with flaming arrows. I have men about everywhere, on the lookout for
MacKenzies
."

She wanted to ask if he'd hurt Shamus, but she knew her concern would only make matters worse. She prayed his injuries weren't too severe.

"Did the bastard seduce you?"
Elrick
narrowed his eyes.

"Nay." Her answer was perhaps too quick, but she didn't view what she and Shamus had shared as his seducing her. Maybe she had seduced him. Or maybe the stones had brought them together in a spiritual and physical bond.

"You have lain with him,"
Elrick
growled. "I can tell by the look in your eyes."

She dropped her gaze to stare at the floor. People had told her that her emotions were always plain to see.

"Not a word about it to
Sleat
! Do you hear me? You will trick him into thinking you're a virgin."

She frowned, wondering how she was supposed to do that. She knew little about coupling as it was. Not that she would marry
Sleat
, anyway. As soon as she could, she would escape this place, even if she had to hire a galley to take her to the small island where they suspected her brother Neacal was. He was not as cruel as
Elrick
. In fact, she was certain he would be on her side.

"You will marry
Sleat
as soon as the priest arrives, whether that be one day or five,"
Elrick
said.

Saints, she had to devise a way out of this room.

"Prepare for your wedding and forget the
MacKenzie
outlaw. You will never see him again."
Elrick
walked out and slammed the door behind him. A second later the lock clicked.

***

Late that night, Maili dreamed, terrifying images running through her head. The
MacKenzie
chief was coming. She saw him, a tall, dark and fearsome warrior, disembarking from his clan's large fleet of galleys. What seemed like hundreds of soldiers armed with swords, battleaxes, dirks,
targes
and other weapons raced along the shore toward their castle.
Bearach's
walls were thick and strong. Surely no one could breach them. But then she heard the battle cries and saw the combat raging in the bailey.

"Nay!" She lurched upright in her bed, darkness surrounding her. Cold sweat drenched her body.

"What is it?"
Anora
asked from her pallet near the hearth.

"I had a nightmare." Maili tried to calm her breathing, but the icy terror would not leave her. She shoved out of bed and crept to the window. Were the
MacKenzies
coming? No moon was visible. Thick clouds cast the night in blackness. Even if they were approaching, she could not see them.

Although her brother and some of his soldiers treated her poorly, most of her clansmen were good people. She didn't wish to see any of them hurt or killed because of
Elrick's
cruelty.

Staring out into the darkness, she thought she saw a movement on shore. She gasped, but saw naught more.

Nay, 'haps her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"M'lady, you're scaring me," her maid said.

"Aye, well. I'm scared."

"Why?"

A flaming arrow blazed through the darkness. In the far distance, a man cried out.

"Oh dear heavens, it has started! God help us all."

"What has started?"
Anora
raced toward her.

"The siege. The
MacKenzies
have come for their brother. Pray that not too many of our clansmen are killed."

More fiery arrows were shot in both directions. Distant shouts and metal clangs from the clashing of swords echoed from the opposite side of the castle.

"Oh, m'lady," her maid sobbed. "Do you think they will kill us?"

***

Shamus awoke with a start. A noise had sliced the silent darkness of the dungeon. When he moved to get up, pain lacerated his body. He groaned. The bastards had beaten him black and blue again. Not his face this time, but his body. No doubt so he wouldn't look so terrible when his brother came with the ransom money. He didn't think any of his bones were broken but he would surely have bruises over most of his body.

The sound reached him again—the clash of swords. He held his breath, listening. Aye, men shouting in the distance, at ground level.

Had Cyrus launched an attack? Grinding his teeth, Shamus pushed to his feet and limped toward the locked cell door. Breathing hard against the excruciating pain, he held onto the iron bars. Once the pain lessened a wee bit, he tried to breathe normally and listen.

Shouts echoed.

Where was Maili? He prayed she was safe in her chamber, away from the skirmish. He wished he could tell her to bar her door. Not that Cyrus or any of his brothers would harm her. But who knew about the hired guards and other soldiers?

Sword clangs at the top of the dungeon steps tensed his muscles. His brothers must have come!

A man cried out in a rough shout, then all grew quiet. Who had been killed? He prayed it wasn't one of his brothers, dead for attempting to rescue him.

Keys jangled.

Footsteps pounded down the stone stairs into the dungeon. A fast approaching torch blinded him.

"Shamus? Thanks be to God, you're alive!" his second oldest brother said.

"Aye, Dermott!" Shamus grinned, despite the pain. "
'Tis
about time you got your
arse
here."

His brother shoved a key into the lock and turned. "We came as soon as we got the message you were taken hostage. Before that, we thought you'd drowned in the storm. Are you injured?"

"A few bruises and scrapes." Once the cell door was open, Shamus emerged. "What of Fraser?"

"He's outside, fighting beside Cyrus. We found him and the other men from your wrecked galley the next morn, but we couldn't find you. Have they been feeding you?"

"Aye, the chief has a sister who brought me food."