Chapter 24 #2
He was either too sweet or not nearly as trusting as she had hoped. Sloane tried not to groan in frustration. “Thank ye. Give me a few minutes to see to my needs and I will return.”
“All right. Doona go far.”
She was going to miss him. There was definitely something brewing between him and Isla and she wished that she could stay and watch it blossom. He was a good man. He’d make a good father to her baby.
Baby.
Immediately, Sloane put a hand to her belly. She could be carrying right now. What if she was robbing Lachlan of his heir or her baby of his father?
If Lachlan died protecting her then she could be killing her baby’s father.
Smiling at Jamie, she turned and headed into the woods. She wouldn’t get as much of a head start as she wanted, but Jamie would give her more time than most of the guards.
Knowing how good of a tracker Lachlan’s men were, she headed straight for the river and used the rocks to help try to cover her tracks. She was just about to veer off into the woods when she heard someone approach her from behind.
“You are making this way too easy,” a familiar voice said, but before she could turn around, her world exploded and went black.
“Lachlan!” Freya hissed. “Lachlan, wake up!”
At the sound of the alarm in his sister’s voice, Lachlan woke immediately and sat straight up. “What?” he growled. “Why in damnation are ye waking me?”
“Sloane is gone.”
“What?” Instantly, he was on his feet. “What do ye mean she is gone? Taken? ‘Tis not possible! Where are my guards?”
“I don’t think she was taken,” Freya admitted. “I think she left voluntarily.”
“Then double the guards,” Lachlan hissed. “Whatever she is planning…”
Suddenly, his sister’s hand cracked across his face.
Shocked, he stared at her. “What the bloody hell was that for?”
“Because ye are the biggest idiot I ever met. She loves ye with everything and she left because she fears that her father is going to kill a MacFarlane trying to get to her and she would rather risk her own life than risk yers.” Her eyes filled with tears.
“I should slap myself as well. She was telling me goodbye tonight and I didna even see it. Lachlan, ye must go after her.”
Lachlan stared at Freya. She was right. He was an idiot. Sloane had obviously been saying goodbye to him as well.
Leaning down, he grabbed his sword and started for the flap of his tent before he stopped and gritted his teeth.
Every fiber of his being wanted to race after his wife and drag her back before her father got to her first, but he couldn’t.
Even worse, he had a feeling that Sloane had known that. Why would she leave before Freya wed?
“I am the MacFarlane Laird and ye are my sister. I must protect ye and escort ye to the Brisbane lands. I will send someone out for her, but anyone from her father’s lands could be tracking us. She might be safer away from ye.”
Her eyes widened in horror as she stared at him. “I doona believe ye,” Freya whispered. “Do ye really hate her so much that ye would let her die?”
“Nay,” Lachlan hissed. “But she knew the risks. She picked this time because she knew that I couldna go after her. She didna trust me to protect her, Freya.”
“Yer wrong. She knew that ye would protect her. She loves ye too much to risk yer life for hers.” Freya wiped away the tears. “When ye do find her, she can have a home with me. It’ll be a far better home than ye can ever give her.”
Growling under his breath, Lachlan strode past her. Jamie, Adair, and Blaine were waiting for him. “What happened?”
“‘Tis my fault,” Jamie muttered with an angry flush on his cheeks. “She told me that ye had tasked her with washing yer clothes. I offered to escort her to the river, but she needed a few moments to see to her needs.”
“And did ye really think that I would task my wife to wash my clothes?”
Jamie folded his arms in front of his chest. “A week ago, she was cleaning the floors of the keep.”
Wasn’t his little wife clever?
“I cannae spare all of ye to look for her.”
“I am the best tracker,” Blaine said as he stepped forward. “I will look for her.”
Lachlan nodded. “Go. Now. Once we reach Brisbane lands, Adair and Jamie will return to join ye. I want her found even if ye have to track her all the way back to Fenton lands.”
“I willna return until I have news of her,” he vowed with a nod and immediately broke off. Lachlan wanted to yell at Jamie for being so foolish, but he knew that wouldn’t help things. Sloane had played him well.
“Back to yer posts,” he ordered. “I’m going to scan the woods, but I’ll be back by dawn.
No one enters the camp and no one leaves.
Do ye understand me? And Freya doesna go anywhere without an escort.
I mean it. I doona care what she tells ye.
She’ll want to join the search for Sloane. Ye willna let her.”
“Aye,” they said instantly and dispersed.
Praying that something, anything, was slowing Sloane down, he headed into the woods to search for her.
Guilt dogged him with every step. Had Freya been right? Had he been so busy blaming her that he couldn’t see what it was doing to her? His wife loved him enough to risk her life to save his.
And now she might die thinking she didn’t matter to him and there was nothing he could do to change that if he didn’t get to her first.