CHAPTER 32
“Take this dirk,” Niall said, handing it to her as they left the beach. “Put it up your sleeve, just in case.”
They took the fork in the path toward Gòrdan’s house and walked at a brisk pace without speaking again, their thoughts on the loved ones they had just left.
Relying on Gòrdan to protect her must have been bitter medicine for Ian to swallow, but he hadn’t hesitated to put her safety before his pride.
Sìleas looked over her shoulder and caught a glimpse through the trees of Ian on the beach pushing the boat out into the water. A shiver went through her.
Please, God, watch over Ian and keep him safe for me. Do not let these young men perish.
It was only a half mile to Gòrdan’s, but the path rose and turned so that one could not see from one house to the other. As they rounded a bend, a dozen men on horses appeared in the distance, coming in their direction.
Sìleas sucked in her breath. Was that her stepfather and Angus at the front of the riders? Even from this distance, they would know her by her hair. She could feel their eyes on her. What she had feared for years was coming true.
They were coming for her.
“Run,” she said to Niall. “They are going to take me, and there is nothing ye can do to prevent it.”
“We can make it back to the house,” Niall said, tugging at her arm.
“No! If they come to the house, they’ll see the others leaving in the boat,” she shouted. “They’ll kill them all.”
The MacKinnons had tried to murder Connor once.
When they saw that they had failed, they would kill every man in the boat.
Ian was the best of fighters, but there were too many of them.
He would die trying to save the others. Likely, Payton and Beitris would run out to help and be killed as well. She couldn’t let that happen.
“Please, Niall,” she said. “I’m begging ye to go. It’s me they want.”
“Not without ye.” She heard the familiar whisper of a steel blade as Niall drew his claymore from his back.
“Ye must go so ye can tell Ian they’ve taken me,” she said, holding his arm.
The hooves of the approaching horses vibrated through her feet and echoed in her head.
“It’s too late. Get behind me,” Niall said, shoving her back.
In another moment, a dozen MacKinnon men surrounded them.
“He’s a brave one,” one of the men said with a laugh, as they dismounted. He jumped back, though, when Niall swung his claymore within an inch of his chest.
“Come, laddie, there’s no need for ye to die today,” another man said, “but the lass belongs to us.”
The men moved aside as Murdoc pushed through them on his horse.
“Ye have a lot to answer for, Sìleas,” he said in a hard voice, as he looked down at her. Glancing at Niall, he said, “Who’s the foolish lad ready to die for ye?”
Before she could think of a lie, Niall said in a defiant voice, “I am Niall MacDonald, son of Payton and brother to Ian.”
“Take him,” Murdoc said.
Sìleas screamed as the men closed in on Niall from all sides. Niall sliced one man’s arm and nicked another, but there were too many of them. It wasn’t long before they held him.
“He’s yours,” Murdoc said, turning to Angus.
Panic pounded through Sìleas’s veins as Angus dismounted from his horse.
It was no use pleading with him, for Angus enjoyed hurting people and wasn’t one to think about the consequences.
Murdoc was the calculating one. Killing Niall was not important to him; she needed to give him a reason not to do it.
“Ye will regret it if ye hurt him,” she shouted.
Murdoc raised his hand, signaling Angus to halt. “And why would I regret one less MacDonald in this world?”
“Ian MacDonald is a stubborn man,” she said. “Ye must have heard he stayed away for five years just because he was forced to wed me.”
“I’ve heard he’s even refused to bed ye.” Murdoc laughed and the others joined in. “Luckily, Angus here is no so particular.”
Sìleas could not let herself look at Angus for fear she would lose her nerve.
“ ’Tis true Ian doesn’t want me.” She stretched out her arm, pointing at Niall. “But this lad is Ian’s only brother. If ye harm a hair on his head, I can promise ye Ian will come after ye. No matter how long it takes, one day he will catch ye unawares. He’s that stubborn.”
“Enough talk,” Angus said, pulling his sword.
Fear seized her heart as Angus started toward Niall. “Murdoc, ye gain nothing by harming him.”
“If Ian has treated ye so poorly,” Murdoc asked, narrowing his eyes at her, “why do ye care what happens to his brother?”
“Because he’s like a brother to me as well,” she said, letting the truth of it show in her eyes.
“If your mother had not been so useless,” Murdoc said, his anger flashing, “ye would have a true brother.”
Sìleas felt for the dirk up her sleeve. If Murdoc didn’t stop Angus she would have to stab the brute as he walked by her.
She’d have only one chance, but she didn’t know where best to stick him.
Her heart raced as she tried to think. Angus had too much belly—if she stuck him there, it might not stop him. No, it had to be in his thick neck.
“Angus, we’ve got what we came for,” Murdoc said, then turned to the other men. “Tie the lad to a tree. If he rots before he’s found, so be it.”
Sìleas’s limbs felt weak from the relief surging through her. Praise God! She watched as the men bound and gagged Niall, despite his kicking.
“Come, Sìleas. We’ve no more time to waste,” Murdoc said. “Ye will ride with Angus.”
It wasn’t easy to keep her courage up when Angus smiled, showing his brown and broken teeth, and crooked his finger at her.
“Let me say good-bye,” she blurted out. Before anyone moved to stop her, she ran to the tree where Niall was tied and threw her arms around his neck.
“Tell Ian I’ll be waiting for him,” she said in Niall’s ear, as she dropped the dirk behind his back.
An instant later, Angus’s rough hands jerked her to her feet.