A Maiden for the Ruthless Highlander (Healing Highland Lairds #2)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

“Me Laird, ye need to hear this, it’s important.”

The study door slammed open with such force that it cracked against the stone wall.

Noah MacGregor, Laird of Clan MacGregor, snapped his head up from the contract he’d been reviewing, his hand instinctively moving toward the dirk at his belt. But it was only Elliot, his man-at-arms, stumbling through the doorway with his chest heaving as if he’d run up every stair in the castle.

“This better be good, Elliot,” Noah growled, though alarm was already prickling at the base of his spine. Elliot never ran. Not for anything short of a crisis.

“It’s Esther.” Elliot leaned forward, hands on his knees, catching his breath. “She’s... the guards... they’ve lost her. Yer niece is missin’, me Laird.”

The words didn’t make sense at first. Noah’s mind refused to process them.

“What did ye just say?”

The guards and the nanny took Esther to the nearby village as ye approved, but...” Elliot straightened, his face grim. “She wandered off at the market. They lost sight of her.”

The contract slipped from Noah’s fingers. “They did what?”

His voice was dangerously quiet, the kind of quiet that made seasoned warriors take a step back.

“They searched for over an hour. When they couldnae find her, they thought maybe she’d headed back toward the castle on her own.

Ye ken how she gets when she’s frightened; she wants to come home.

So they made a choice.” Elliot’s expression was carefully neutral.

“Two guards stayed in the village to keep searchin’.

The nanny and one guard rode back to alert ye and get more men. ”

“And?” Noah’s hands clenched into fists.

A flicker of fear pierced his rage—what if they were wrong? What if Esther hadn’t gone home? What if she was still out there, alone and scared, thinking she’d been abandoned again?

“She didnae make it back. She’s still out there somewhere, me Laird.”

Noah’s jaw tightened. “They should have sent one rider back to report while the rest stayed to search. Four adults against one eight-year-old lass, and they couldnae keep track of her?”

“They made a mistake,” Elliot said quietly. “They panicked. But two are still searchin’ the village.”

“Two isnae enough.” Noah was already heading toward the door. “Lock up the ones who came back. Two days in the dungeons. They should have stayed with her, all of them, until she was found or until I got there.”

“Me Laird, that’s a bit too much, daenae ye think?”

“Two. Days.” Noah’s voice cracked like a whip as they descended the stairs.

They rushed into the courtyard where three guards and Esther’s nanny huddled nervously. When they saw Noah’s face, two of the guards turned pale.

“Me Laird, we can explain—” the nanny started, her voice trembling.

“Explain what?” Noah’s voice was cold and controlled, but beneath it ran a current of something darker—fear. “Explain how ye made the choice to leave two people searchin’ for me niece instead of all four of ye stayin’ until she was found?”

“We thought she’d come home, me Laird,” one of the guards said quickly. “She gets frightened in crowds, always wants to come back to the castle. We thought if we rode fast, we’d find her on the road, or she’d already be here safe.”

“And if ye were wrong?” Noah’s hands clenched at his sides, and for a moment, he saw Esther’s face from two years ago—pale, terrified, abandoned.

The thought of her out there now, thinking he’d left her too, made his chest tighten with a fear he refused to name. “If she wasnae on the road? If she’s still out there, lost, thinkin’…”

He cut himself off, his jaw working.

When he spoke again, his voice was rougher. “She’s eight years old. She’s been with me for two years, and every single day I’ve tried to show her she’s safe. That she’ll nae be abandoned again, and yer mistake might have just undone all of that.”

The nanny’s face crumpled. “Me Laird, we never meant for it to happen.”

“I daenae care what ye meant.” Noah turned to Elliot, needing to move, to act, to do something other than stand here drowning in the fear that he’d failed her. Again.

“Lock them up. Two days in the dungeons. They should have sent one rider back while the rest stayed to search. That’s what any competent guard would have done.”

“Me Laird, please!” The nanny’s voice rose desperately. “I’ve been with the lass since she arrived. She needs me!”

Noah’s expression hardened, even as guilt churned in his gut. He was the one who’d approved this trip. He was responsible for Esther’s safety. And now she was gone.

“What she needs is someone who willnae give up on her after two hours of searchin’. Elliot. Now.”

“Aye, me Laird.”

The protests and pleas faded as Noah strode toward the stables, his mind already racing ahead.

Esther had been gone for over an hour. Maybe longer if these fools had wasted time debating before riding back. She could be anywhere by now.

Noah’s chest tightened as he thought of his niece, scared and alone.

Eight years old, small for her age, with dark hair and eyes that still carried shadows of everything she’d endured.

Two years ago, his bastard brother William had abandoned her on the castle doorstep like unwanted baggage. The lass had been six, malnourished.

She’d barely said a word during the first six months.

It took Noah two years of patience—more than he knew he had—to help her feel safe.

Two years of making sure she had regular meals, a warm bed, and gentle voices around her.

Two years of watching her slowly and painfully start to trust that she wouldn’t be hurt or abandoned.

She’d finally started speaking more than just single words. She had finally stopped flinching when he entered a room. She had finally begun to believe that she had a home.

And now she was out there somewhere, probably terrified, probably thinking he’d abandoned her just like William had.

The thought made something twist fiercely in his gut, not just anger, but fear.

Fear that he’d failed her. Fear that all his careful work to make her feel safe had been shattered in a single afternoon.

I cannae lose her. I willnae.

“Prepare Shadow,” Noah barked at the stable master before the man could even offer a greeting. “Quickly.”

“Right away, me Laird. May I ask—”

“Nay.” Noah grabbed his riding gloves from where he’d left them that morning. “Just get me the horse.”

Shadow, his massive black stallion, was led out in minutes. The horse sensed Noah’s mood and pranced restlessly, picking up on his master’s tension.

Noah swung into the saddle with practiced ease. “If anyone asks, I’ve gone to find Esther. And if those four are nae in the dungeons by the time I return, there’ll be hell to pay.”

He didn’t wait for a response.

The moment his heels touched Shadow’s flanks, the stallion bolted ahead, hooves pounding against the packed dirt as they charged through the castle gates.

The wind whipped at Noah’s face as they galloped down the dirt road toward the village. It was a tough ride, thirty minutes at a full run, but Shadow was strong, and Noah pushed him without mercy. The sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink.

How long until dark?

Two hours? Three?

Esther was terrified of the dark. Noah urged Shadow faster.

I cannae lose her.

The thought echoed with every thud of the horse’s hooves against the ground. When William left her, Noah made a silent vow: Esther would never feel abandoned again. Never feel unwanted. Never be afraid that those responsible for her would simply walk away.

And what had happened today? She’d been left behind.

His hands tightened on the reins.

The village came into view, its thatched roofs and stone cottages clustered around a central square.

Market day was drawing to a close, with merchants packing up their wares and villagers heading home with their purchases. Noah barely slowed as Shadow thundered into the square, scattering a group of chickens and causing several people to jump aside.

“Has anyone seen a wee lass?” Noah called out, his voice carrying across the square. “Eight years old, dark hair, probably lookin’ lost?”

An older woman with a basket of vegetables shook her head. “Nay, me Laird. When did she go missin’?”

“Over an hour ago.”

“An hour?” A man loading bags onto a cart frowned. “That’s plenty of time for a bairn to wander far. Have ye checked the other villages?”

Other villages? Christ. Esther could be anywhere.

“Which direction would a lost child most likely go?” Noah demanded.

The man scratched his beard thoughtfully. “Well, if she were followin’ the main road, she might’ve ended up in Glenmore. It’s only about two miles east. Or if she wandered into the woods—”

Noah didn’t let him finish. He quickly turned Shadow around and headed east.

Please let her be safe. Please let her be unharmed.

He wasn’t a man prone to prayer, but as Shadow’s hooves covered the distance between villages, Noah found himself bargaining with any deity that might be listening. He’d give anything, anything, to ensure Esther’s safety.

The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the road as he rode. Every minute that went by felt like an eternity. Each empty stretch of road caused his chest to tighten with fresh worry.

“Faster, Shadow,” Noah urged, and the stallion responded with a burst of speed that would have impressed him under any other circumstances.

The rooftops of another village came into view on the horizon. Glenmore. It was smaller than the previous one, just a few buildings gathered around what seemed to be a church.

Let her be here. Please, let her be here.

Noah’s jaw clenched as he prepared to search yet another village. He wouldn’t stop. He wouldn’t rest. Not until he found her.