At the Highlander's Mercy Read Free Page B

head and then removingthe gag he found there, he summoned one of the women over to see to her as he stood and dragged Symon aside. ‘Who is this and why did you kidnap her?’
    ‘We did not kidnap her, Rob. She is a prisoner of war,’ he said.
    ‘We are not at war,’ Rob said as one possibility began to tease his thoughts. Even Symon would not be so bold and brash as to … Nay! It could not be. Was it truly Lilidh MacLerie?
    Rob had turned back to look at the woman who lay unconscious on his floor. The servant had pushed her hair from her face and was dabbing at her dirt-covered face with a wet cloth. He took in the costliness of her clothing and the jewelled rings on her hand, not missing the gold band that spoke of her married state.
    Then he noticed the gently arching brows, the curve of her neck and the full lips that had enticed him even in his youth and yet haunted his dreams—and he knew it was her.
    ‘You kidnapped the MacLerie’s daughter? She is wed to Iain MacGregor.’
    He swore under his breath now as the implications hit him. This was an act of war against two powerful clans. Worse, this was not simply taking their cattle or burning a few farms, which would be insult enough. This was a personalattack as well on both clans and their chiefs. Holy Christ, what had Symon got them into now?
    ‘Dougal, check the guards. Brodie,’ he called to the steward, ‘get the outlying families into the village and gather the stores.’
    He pushed Symon aside and walked over to take a closer look at Lilidh. As he could have predicted, she’d fought against them when they took her—the bruises on her face and her torn fingernails showed that much. The markings of a man’s fingers on her neck made his own clench in response. What else had they done to her?
    ‘How did you find her?’ he asked, as he strode towards Symon. Nothing, nothing would give him greater pleasure now than pounding his face into the floor and breaking a few of his bones. Grabbing Symon by the neck, he forced him back several steps until his back met the wall behind him. ‘Where are the others?’
    Symon’s gaze moved to something or someone over Rob’s shoulder and Rob knew Lachlan approached. With a nod of his head, his men took care of that threat. ‘Where are they?’ he asked again, squeezing hard until Symon choked for breath.
    ‘She was returning to Lairig Dubh. We tookher on the road just after the river as she left the MacGregors’ lands,’ he forced out.
    ‘And her guards? Her servants?’ No daughter of the MacLerie and wife of the MacGregor would travel alone.
    ‘A few of the guards are dead. We left the rest of them and took their horses.’
    ‘Did they see you?’ he asked, but he knew the answer. They made sure they could be identified as Mathesons. Symon wanted the MacLeries and MacGregors to know who’d taken Lilidh. They wanted to force his hand into war.
    He tossed Symon to the ground and turned back to the servant at Lilidh’s side. ‘Find a chamber for her.’
    ‘She is my prisoner, Rob. I want her held in the aerie.’
    ‘You think she is that dangerous?’ he asked, pointing to the unconscious woman on the floor.
    The aerie was in one of the oldest parts of the keep and sat open to the winds. Lightning had struck the roof and blown it away and no one had ever repaired it. Though mostly unused, it had been used as a cell for prisoners in the past … the far, far past. Rob turned back to argue with Symon and to assert his control over any prisoner of the clan when she moved.
    Within a few moments, she’d seized a dagger from one of his men and held the servant woman hostage. The wild expression in her eyes spoke of her confusion, but warned him of her uncertain behaviour. Spreading his hands out to show he was unarmed, he began to walk towards her slowly and evenly.
    ‘Here now, lass,’ Rob said softly. ‘Let Edith go and all will be well.’
    His words might have worked until Symon began jeering at her