Margo Maguire Read Free Page B

trouble than they were worth, and he knew only a handful of them who could be trusted—his brothers’ wives and his sister.
    “There were no guards at the pier,” Lachann said.
    “Mayhap they were not at the pier because we arrived a day earlier than expected,” Duncan remarked.
    “What good are such guards then, eh?” Kieran said. “A warrior should be ready at any time.”
    Both Lachann’s men were right. There should have been an armed contingent of men to meet them when their ship put into the harbor and when the Glencoe Lass approached the pier. If there had been any lookouts at the top of the castle walls, they’d have seen Lachann’s ship coming from a long way off. But Laird MacDuffie would have had no assurance that it was friendly. He should not have assumed it would be the MacMillan brig, or even a benign trader.
    “Their defenses are exceedingly poor, Lachann.”
    “All the better for me,” Lachann said.
    “Aye,” Duncan agreed. “MacDuffie cannot fail to see the value you bring him.”
    They started for the road up to the castle, but Lachann was distracted by the sight of a tall, burly Kilgorran staggering drunkenly in the opposite direction. The man made his way into the village, alternating between muttering and shouting a string of curses so vile that Lachann’s ears burned.
    Lachann rode on for a moment, then halted, realizing what the drunkard’s destination was. The healer’s cottage. “Wait for me here!” He turned and took to the lane that led to the cottage.
    “Do you think this is wise, Lachann?” Duncan shouted after him.

 
    Chapter 2

    L achann did not stop to think about wisdom. The drunk had to be on his way to the healer’s cottage, and he was not so jaked that he could not do more damage if he wished. And from the sound of his words, that was his intent. He was likely to kill someone.
    Lachann was only a minute or two behind the drunk, but when he came to the cottage, the man had already managed to pin the fair-haired lass up against a wall and was shouting his vile abuse directly in her face. The injured woman was trying to get up from her pallet—to help, Lachann supposed.
    The lass struggled to get free, but the bastard’s hands were at her throat, and her face was turning a livid shade of red. Lachann wasted no time, but yanked the bloody fool off the woman, whirled him around, and landed a punch that dropped him to the ground.
    The woman’s attacker lay insensible on the floor.
    “Weel now,” said Janet, “ye’re a bonny fetcher, are ye no’, lad?”
    Lachann paid no heed to the woman but knelt beside the lass, who’d slid down the wall to the ground, looking stunned. “Are you all right?” he asked.
    She swallowed tightly and gave a wee nod, but there was a look of shock about her lovely eyes, and she seemed to be in no small amount of pain. Lachann tipped her chin up with two fingers and saw that a bruise was already forming ’round her throat.
    He resisted the urge to caress the injury, to try and give her more comfort than he ought, considering his purpose here on Kilgorra. “ ’Twill be sore for a few days.”
    He heard Duncan’s voice behind him. “Lachann.”
    Both his men stood at the open door, peering into the croft. Their expressions reminded him he should not allow himself to become distracted by an altercation taking place in the village. “Aye. I’m coming.”
    Even so, he bent down and picked up the drunkard. Tossing the blighter over his shoulder, Lachann stalked out of the cottage and down the path. He heard his men mount their horses behind him and follow as he headed down to the pier once again. When he arrived at the water’s edge, he realized he had an audience of fishermen, arriving in their fishing boats with their catch. He ignored them and threw the fellow into the drink.
    “ Gesu , Lachann,” Duncan said. “What if he drowns?”
    “No great loss to Kilgorra, then,” Lachann replied.
    The drunkard came up sputtering,