Chapter 25
There was no sign of Sloane. Lachlan searched until dawn before he was forced to leave the search to Blaine and move camp. They reached Brisbane lands by midday and Freya couldn’t even look at him.
Lachlan couldn’t stop scanning their surroundings hoping beyond hope that he would find her, but she’d reverted back to the woman she’d been when she’d first come to him.
A ghost.
How many nights had he watched her sleep knowing that she was crying into her pillow? He hadn’t held her or comforted her or told her that he was sorry for the way he’d treated her. He’d let her cry and swore to himself that he wouldn’t let her hurt him again.
And now it might have cost her life.
When they reached the border of Gair’s land, he felt hollow. They were met by Gair as well as Cunningham and Donahue. It didn’t surprise him to find that there was no Fenton representative.
Gair nodded to Lachlan and then immediately searched for Freya. When he saw her and took in her puffy and red cheeks, his eyes widened and he ran to her.
Lachlan moved forward to greet Cunningham and Donahue. The sooner they got Freya wed, the sooner he could go back out and search for Sloane. If he could, he would see that they wed immediately.
“Brodie. Good to see ye again.”
“Aye. How is married life treating ye?” the other man said with gusto as he clapped Lachlan on the back. “I doona see yer pretty wife!”
Nodding his head, Lachlan lied through his teeth. He didn’t want the other clans to know there was a problem and he certainly didn’t want word to get out that a pretty woman was traveling alone somewhere. “A mutual friend is due at any moment and Sloane stayed behind.”
“Shouldn’t she be carrying as well or are ye not doing yer job?” Brodie joked.
Lachlan’s stomach twisted. He was right. What if she was carrying? Swallowing hard, he turned his attentions to the other Laird. “How are ye, Cunningham?”
“Good, good.”
“Blaine was unable to join us, but he would want me to ask about his sister. How is she adjusting? I am sure most of yer men are head over heels in love with her by now.”
Cunningham gave him a strange look. “Blaine’s sister?”
“Aye. Kenzy. She returned with yer niece after ye left my wedding?”
“I doona know what ye are talking about,” Cunningham said with a shrug. “We didna return with any of yer people.”
Strange. Had Kenzy lied to Blaine? If she wasn’t with Cunningham then where was she?
“My mistake,” he murmured slowly. Troubled, he returned to his horse. Now, he had two lost women to worry about. Blaine would be furious when he learned that Kenzy had lied to him.
They were escorted to Gair’s keep. As everyone was getting settled, Lachlan went in search of Gair to see if they could have the wedding immediately.
“I have heard of yer wife,” Gair said quietly as Lachlan approached him in the courtyard. “I am no fan of Sloane’s, but if ye want to leave…”
“After everything that has happened, I willna risk Freya’s reputation. Sloane isna here to act as a chaperone and I cannae leave ‘til she is married. Wed her, now.”
“We have chaperones,” Gair started.
“Aye, but I want to know that she is under yer protection. Errol Fenton is still looking for her…”
“No,” Gair said quietly. “He is not. I should have said something sooner, but I know that whoever is after yer wife isna her father.”
Lachlan stopped and turned his head. “What? How could ye possibly know that? Ye know what kind of bastard he is.”
“I suppose ye have not gotten the message yet. Errol Fenton is dead. Ness Fenton is now Laird.”
Errol was dead? “Sloane is his daughter. If he were dead, then she would know before ye would.”
Clearing his throat, Gair looked around. “Officially, he is missing.”
“Missing as in out searching for his daughter to kill?” Lachlan growled. What was his friend keeping from him?
“Errol Fenton is dead,” Gair said evenly as he met Lachlan’s hot gaze. “He has been for days now.”
Realization hit him like lightning and he slowly stiffened.
He should have known. Gair loved Freya and there was nothing that he would not do to protect her. “And where were ye a few days ago?” Lachlan asked in a low voice.
Gair never looked away. “Hunting.”
If there was to be a fallout for Gair’s actions, they would have to deal with it later.
For now, there was a bigger problem at hand.
“That doesna make any sense. If Errol has been dead for days then he couldna have paid someone to kill Sloane. Her uncle is a good man and he’ll make a good laird, but he would never hurt her. ”
“Ye think she lied about being in harm’s way to gain yer sympathies?”
“Nay.” Lachlan shook his head. He didn’t want to admit that he had considered it. “Someone shot arrows at her. Someone put snakes in her bed. Sloane isna lying to me but someone is.”
“Who told ye that it was Fenton?”
“Fenton colors were on the bow,” Lachlan said slowly. “Blaine found it and reported it.”
“Anyone could fake that.”
“Aye.” Lachlan swallowed hard as a chill swept through him. “Blaine was also knowledgeable about the snakes.”
“He sounds like a good man to have around.”
Lachlan straightened. He was a good man to have around if one did not think too hard about how Blaine came to be a MacFarlane.
“I was to marry his sister,” he murmured slowly. “When I was forced to marry Sloane instead, he told me that his sister left the lands to be with Cunningham’s niece. She loved me and couldna watch me wed another.”
“Did ye love her?”
“I was fond of her, but she and Freya were always together. I saw her more as a sister,” Lachlan acknowledged.
“What does that have to do with the person trying to kill Sloane?”
“He found the bow. He knew about the snakes. And when I asked Cunningham how Kenzy was doing, he claimed that no MacFarlane returned to his lands with him.”
Gair’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “Lachlan, he is one of yer closest friends. Ye cannae seriously think…”
“He was on guard last night when she went missing and he volunteered to go in search of her.” Lachlan inhaled sharply. “I doona know what happened to his sister, but if she met some horrible fate, he could blame Sloane.”
The blood drained from Gair’s face. “Ye are serious.”
There was no time to debate Blaine’s loyalties to him. He only knew that Blaine had access to her and now, he could possibly have a reason to harm her. There was only one thing that kept him focused and that was the fact that if Blaine did have her, she would likely still be alive.
“Where would he take her?”
“If he caught up with her then she is already dead,” Gair pointed out.
“Nay. If he wanted her dead, then he could have followed her last night and killed her before anyone knew that she was missing. Instead, he let the alarm be raised. He didna look overly concerned about finding her. He knows where she is. Ye know the borderlands better than I do, so where would he take her?”
“There is a village that we were forced to abandon on the northernmost edge of the border. What’s to say that he willna make a temporary shelter?”
“He will want some place that he knows is private. Blaine wasna born in the MacFarlane clan. I found him in battle, and he was already trained in certain torture methods. He had no one and I knew that he would be an asset. I took him and his sister in, but he was practically feral in his protection of her. If he wants to… hurt Sloane, he’s going to do it slow.
” He couldn’t even bring himself to say kill.
“I am leaving now to find her. Ye will stay and watch over my sister.”
Gair’s face turned ashen at the implication of what Blaine was capable of. “Ye can take some men.”
“No. I will move faster alone and I willna leave Freya here without someone that I trust.” Lachlan didn’t want to think about the fact that he trusted Adair and Jamie as much as he trusted Blaine. “When I return, I better not hear even one rumor that ye took my sister before she was wed.”
“Ye have my word,” Gair swore. “Bring Sloane back alive or Freya will never forgive ye.”
“Neither will I.”
Pain throbbed in her head and Sloane moaned as she opened her eyes. For some reason, she couldn’t move her arms and she was sprawled out on a floor. Shifting, she managed to push herself off the floor.
Then she realized that her hands were pulled behind her back and tied to something.
Where was she?
Blinking her eyes, she cleared her blurred vision.
The floor below her was dirty as if it hadn’t been swept in months.
The blue pattern on her dress was gray with dirt and because she appeared to be missing a shoe, her feet were nearly black.
Shifting, she moved her feet beneath her and tried to find some comfort.
It was a cottage of some sort. She could see an empty pantry next to her and the post of a bed was barely visible around the corner. What was she doing here? Her father wanted her dead... Or did he plan to haul her back to Fenton lands and punish her there?
How long had she been unconscious?
“I see ye are finally awake.”
“Blaine?”
Relief flowed through her and she turned her head. The pain radiated down to her neck, but she could see him sitting casually with his elbows on a table. A slew of weapons were spread out on the table around him.
“Thank goodness ye are here. Can ye untie me?”
“I could, but then ye might decide to make a run for it and that just willna do at all. I am glad to see that ye have all yer faculties. I was starting to think that I’d hit ye too hard. There is no point in making ye pay if ye are unconscious.”
Making her pay? Cold spread throughout her abdomen, and she stared at him in horror. “You did this? Why? Are ye working on Lachlan’s orders?”
It was one thing to know that her father, who had used her mercilessly, wanted her dead, but to know that the man she loved wanted her dead? Did his hatred of her really run that deep?