Highland Angel Read Free Page B

struck him to the core. He took a step closer to them and the largest of the boys immediately shifted so that he was between Payton and the other children, his expression turning nearly feral. The little girl began to cry silently.
    “Nay, my loved ones,” soothed Kirstie. “He is nay the enemy.”
    “He is a mon,” said the oldest boy.
    “He is Sir Payton Murray and no danger to ye, Callum. I swear it. He found it hard to believe all I told him. I brought him here so that ye may help him see the truth and then he will help us.”
    “He is willing to kill that monster?” asked the little girl. “He will kill the bad mon who hurt me so that I can go outside again? Can he get my brother back?”
    “Ah, nay, Moira. Your brother is with the angels.”
    “Aye, that bastard cut—” hissed Callum.
    “Little Robbie is with the angels,” Kirstie said, interrupting the boy quietly but firmly.
    Callum looked at Payton. “Ye want me to tell ye all that swine did?”
    There was such anger and hate in the boy that Payton was surprised he did not shake apart from the force of it. “Nay. ’Tis said I was a verra bonny child.”
    “Then ye ken what I would say.”
    “Aye, though, through God’s mercy, I was saved.”
    “Are ye going to save us, sir?” asked Moira.
    “Are ye going to kill the bastard?” demanded Callum.
    “Callum,” said Kirstie, “Sir Roderick is a mon of power and wealth. I have told ye, we cannae just kill him, nay matter how much he deserves it. Proof of his evil is needed and it takes time and skill to gather such proof.”
    Callum kept his gaze fixed upon Payton. “Weel, sir?”
    Payton held Callum’s gaze, almost feeling the torment and pain the boy suffered. “Aye, I will kill him.”
    “Sir Payton,” Kirstie protested softly.
    “It may take days,” Payton continued, ignoring her, “weeks, e’en months, but I will dig out every foul secret the mon has. I will rob him of his allies, of places to hide. I will expose his evil to the world. I will break him, corner him, haunt his every step.”
    “And then?” asked Callum.
    “I will kill him. As of this moment Sir Roderick MacIye is a walking dead mon.”

CHAPTER TWO
    Little Alan trembled in her arms as Kirstie led them all through the dark, rank streets back to Payton’s home, Payton and the other four children following at her heels. She wished she could do more than hold him close and rub his thin back, but silence was necessary. Kirstie also wished she could have discussed the moving of the children with Payton first, but a dark hidey-hole with five frightened children listening was no place to discuss such things. She tried to calm her unease by telling herself they could always find another hiding place if needed.
    Kirstie realized they must have reached an area Payton recognized, for he quietly took the lead. She was surprised at how readily Moira had accepted him, even letting him carry her. The boys stayed close to her, however, revealing their lack of trust in any man. Callum watched Payton as if ready to tear Moira out of his arms at the slightest hint of any wrong. When Payton led them in through the rear of his house, startling Wee Alice and Strong Ian at their meal, Callum stayed taut and glowering near the door. Kirstie knew the boy would require gentle, patient handling.
    “Sir?” Wee Alice asked even as she rose from the rough kitchen table to set kettles of water over the fire.
    “These children need a safe place to hide,” Payton told her. “This bonny lass is Moira, the lad snarling near the door is Callum, m’lady holds Alan, David stands to her right, and William to her left. Baths, clean clothes, food, and beds. In that order.”
    “Aye,” agreed Strong Ian as he stood up and looked pained when all the children backed away. “I will find the clothes, then ready the beds. All in one room?”
    “Aye,” all the children replied.
    “Fair enough,” he murmured, and left.
    “I suspect Callum will be