Chapter Twenty-Five
Healing a Highlander’s Heart
This is Brenna and Quade’s story, so many wonderful scenes to choose,
but I had to narrow it down to a few.
Chapter One
Brenna was kidnapped by Quade’s brother Logan, with the hope that she could save Quade. This scene is about two strong personalities meeting for the first time. Logan, forever arrogant, meets a woman who is not impressed with him. This was a sign of their future, I think.
Meet Logan Ramsay.
Her eyes flew open at the touch of the cold steel blade against her cheek.
“Do no’ move, lass. I do no’ want to have to cut you.”
Brenna Grant jerked with a gasp.
A sharp pain perforated the right side of her face. She cringed at the sensation of warm blood trickling down her neck. Stop! He will kill you. Do as he says.
“Ah, lass, what did you have to go and do that for? I told you no’ to move.”
Lying helpless in her night clothes, she peered through the dark chamber hoping to distinguish a face or any clue as to who held the knife, but the man was out of her line of sight.
Sensing his body crouched behind her pallet, she let the air out of her lungs slowly, not wanting to set him off. Who was her attacker?
“Are you the healer?” Hot breath scorched her ear. He smelled of sweat, horse, and the odor that results from days of not bathing.
“Aye.” She closed her eyes before reopening them, hoping something would happen to change her situation.
Her brother or his guards could charge into the room at any moment, so Brenna made the decision to do as he ordered.
Alex and her other two brothers would save her, wouldn’t they?
Yet this invader had gotten past her brother’s powerful defenses. That thought alone frightened her.
“There’s a good lass. Now, we will stand up together. You will grab your plaid, shoes, and cloak, and you will leave with me. Understood? If you yell, I will slice. Verra simple. Do as I say and naught will happen to anyone else.”
The knife moved to her throat and eased enough for her to nod her head. She berated herself. Why did she always have to be so honest? She should have lied and denied being the healer. Perhaps he would have left. No, it was always better to tell the truth. She couldn’t risk endangering her family.
“Smart lass. Now where are your healer’s herbs and poultices?”
She pointed to the left of her bed, where her satchel sat ready for any emergencies.
“Ready?”
He tugged her out of bed and dragged her over to her chest of drawers where her clothes were kept. She dressed quickly and grabbed her cloak before slipping on her shoes and picking up her satchel.
Sweat beaded on her forehead, between her breasts. “Where are you taking me?”
“You do no’ need to know.” He grasped her arm above the elbow, digging into the tender skin hard enough to leave bruises.
“If I hear any sound from you as we leave, I will take your sister as well. Jennie is her name, if my sources are correct, aye? I have a lad waiting to grab her at my request. You’ll come willingly. Agreed?”
Brenna nodded her head, cringing at the thought of anything happening to her sister. She would do anything to protect Jennie. When he eased his pressure on her arm a bit, she threw a few more essentials into her healer’s sack and followed him to the door.
He clamped his fingers down on her arm again as he led her down the dim passageway.
She stumbled over something and nearly screamed.
One of the guardsmen lay sprawled on the floorboards.
A brief moan rose from him after the impact.
She sighed, grateful he was still alive, though who knew for how long.
Her brother, Alex, also her laird, would have an apoplexy when he discovered his guard had failed.
When they reached the staircase, another lad joined them.
She sighed with relief. Her sister was not with him.
They snuck out the back entrance and headed for the wall surrounding the keep.
She almost tripped over another body near the kitchens, but her captor yanked her aside just in time. Nothing else impeded their path.
Stumbling across the back of the bailey to the wall, Brenna faltered several times attempting to keep pace with her captors.
Where were they taking her? Her brother had no enemies to her knowledge.
If any neighboring clan had need of her healing skills, she would be glad to help—no threat required.
Alex often sent her with an escort to tend the sick and wounded, whether they were within the clan or not.
She didn’t recognize either man running alongside her. Both had blackened their faces, and their voices and clothing sparked no familiarity. They wore no plaid. All Highlanders wore their plaid; it was a matter of pride. What reason could they have for breaking with tradition?
Tumbling over a tree root, she yelped. “Slow down, please!” Her plea fell on deaf ears.
Her kidnapper caught her before she fell, pulling her tight to him. “Mind your mouth. We will not risk losing everything for you.”
What could he mean? Two others awaited them at the wall. One shoved her toward a rope ladder, uttering only a single command.
“Climb.”
She stared at the four warriors, gulped and stuck her foot on the bottom loop. As she grappled for the rope, the dampness of her palm slid across the rough twine. A hand pushed her bottom. Reacting instinctively, she swung out and struck the offender in the chin with her hand.
“Do no’ touch me,” she whispered between clenched teeth.
The warrior started to swing back, but her kidnapper stayed his hand.
“Do no’ touch her. The chief will have your arse.” He turned back to her and pushed her up the ladder. “Get moving, lass. We do no’ have time for games.”
Chief? What chief? After her brother’s marriage to Madeline MacDonald, she knew most of the lairds in the Highlands. This could not be a Highland laird forcing her against her will, could it? Her hopes dashed as realization struck. This was no amateur kidnapping.
When they dropped to the ground on the other side of the wall, her kidnapper grabbed her elbow, tugging her toward a nearby horse.
He grabbed her waist with one hand and put his other hand under her foot, helping her onto the horse.
He mounted behind her after hooking her satchel to the saddle, and then, digging his heels into the flanks of the beast, set off at a frantic pace. The other guards followed.
Brenna searched the area for other horses besides the three behind her—her brother’s guardsmen, anyone. She saw no one. It wasn’t long before even the guards who followed them disappeared from sight, leaving her alone with this stranger.
“There are no other horses, lass. And no one to save you. Your guardsmen are busy with a fire on the other side of the keep. This was well planned. Get it out of your head now.”
He leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“You willnae be rescued.”
Chapter Two
Brenna’s patience had disappeared a long time ago. Several hours had passed, and still they rode on. Her captor refused to answer her questions. He ignored her, refusing to be civil, and she could no longer tolerate it. She would annoy him until he gave her answers.
She took a deep breath, hung on for dear life, and started.
“Where are we going? Where are you taking me? And I willnae stop talking until you answer me. I have three brothers and I ken how annoying incessant female blather can be, and I will continue until you respond. Or are you that heartless? You have nae feelings for anyone? You ride your horse until he foams; you barely allow me the opportunity to see to my needs. Your partners have never caught up with us. Why do we ride alone? Why have they no’ caught up with us?
Why can we no’ stop and rest? Why cannae… ?”
“Enough, woman!” His dull roar echoed in her ears.
His very loud sigh gave her hope. Had she been successful?
“You want answers; I will give them to you. You ride with me because I am the best. No one else will be able to get you where we need to be in time.”
“But we ride alone. We could easily be attacked.” She attempted a glance over her shoulder at him.
He wasn’t that ugly. He had light brown hair, brown eyes, and a strong nose.
True, he still had an odor that riled her sense of smell something fierce, but he didn’t appear as angry as he had before, just focused.
“No one would dare attack me. I am the best rider in the Highlands and the best swordsman, too. I am the only hope there is of getting you where you are needed in time. No one is with us because they couldnae keep up. They ride behind as protection against your clan. I have the best horse and he will do as I order. Do no’ be concerned about him.
He will get his reward when we arrive. I am no’ normally cruel to animals.
These are rare circumstances.” His brown eyes met hers. “Now cease your prattle.”
“Get me where? Where are we going?”
“Cease, I said!” He tugged her back against him when he bellowed.
“Fine,” she muttered out the side of her mouth.
He hadn’t told her much, but at least he had spoken.
She dared not aggravate him more, lest he slap her or do any number of vicious things, like Madeline’s stepbrother, Kenneth.
How her sister-in-law had survived that man’s cruelty was a wonder.
But Kenneth’s abusive nature had eventually made him addled and wild, impossible to predict.
Something told her that this man, who seemed in complete control of everything, was another type altogether.
She watched the stranger from the corner of her eye, and she was quite sure she saw the corner of his mouth twitch.
Chapter Four
Brenna is such an innocent, but Quade awakens a yearning inside her unlike anything she’s ever experienced before.
“Quade, I think it may need a couple of stitches. Would you like something to help with the pain?” She paused in her assessment, unsure of his response.