Page 94 of The Fierce Highlander

Lance saidwhat Noble had surmised for himself when they reached a particular spot. “Someone took her, sir, and he had a troop of men with him.”

Noble gave thought to his options as Lance wandered a bit deeper into the woods, searching the area. He could not chance losing the tracks and he could not chance returning to the keep, fearing how far his wife could get from him. He wasn’t foolish enough to think he could defeat a troop of warriors on his own, but he could track them while Lance went for the Gallowglass.

“Sir,” Lance said, rushing toward him just as he was about to call out to him. “They turned. Just a short distance away, they turned course.”

“Where are they headed?” Noble asked anxiously.

Lance shook his head slowly. “If they hold a steady course, it looks to be toward the clan village.”

Noble had to look for himself, thinking Lance was wrong, but he wasn’t. The tracks did go toward the village.

“We follow,” Noble ordered. “They could rear off somewhere along the way.”

To Noble’s surprise, the tracks stayed on course straight to the village.

It was when he heard the horn alert his clan of the troop’s approach that he was sure of their destination.

“I am going to ride ahead to be there when the troop arrives. You follow from behind and alert me immediately if they should suddenly change course,” Noble ordered Lance, taking no chances but knowing it was unlikely.

Noble turned and followed a different path that would get him to the village faster and he entered the village just as a troop of men approached and as Finley arrived. Penn had the Gallowglass waiting for them, weapons in hand and Ross at his side.

It didn’t take long for him to spot his wife. She rode with the man who led them, and he grew angry at how she was tucked against him. Then he spotted her wagging her finger in the man’s face and he had to smile.

Noble rode his horse straight for the man. He had good features, dark hair and eyes, and, though lean, one could see he had good strength to him. He sat his horse with confidence and held himself with even more confidence.

Noble kept his smile locked away when he heard his wife say, “That is my husband, just as I told you time and again until—”

“I grew tired of hearing it,” the man snapped and brought his horse to a stop at Noble’s approach. “Take her. Please take her.”

“You are lucky you finally stopped being foolish and listened to me or my husband would have killed you by now,” Leora scolded, her finger still wagging.

“It would have been a relief instead of listening to you endlessly harangue me,” the man snapped again.

She turned to her husband and smiled. “As much of a foolish arse as he is, you should know that he tended to the wound on my arm and treated me well.” She stretched her arms out to her husband.

Noble quickly hooked his arm around her waist, and her arms went around his neck as he lifted her off the man’s horse and settled her in front of him on his horse. He wanted to hug her tight, kiss her, tell her how much he loved her and how happy and relieved he was to have her in his arms. But that was for later and he almost let loose his smile when she whispered, “Later.”

“Who are you?” Noble demanded of the man after tucking his wife snug against him.

“He is Lord Drake, son of Lord Willian of Clan Braverman,” Lady Elizabeth said as she approached on a horse with Novice Angelica. “You made the trip here for nothing. Your father’s plan failed. Hedley is dead. There is no one to wed your sister and unite Clan MacMurray with Clan Braverman.”

“Aye, there is, and I came here to see it done so this senseless feud between my father and you can be brought to an end and two strong clans can form an even stronger alliance,” Lord Drake said. “Unfortunately, your granddaughter is already wed, and she tells me she may not even be your granddaughter, which leaves your clan without an heir.”

“There is someone here who may be able to confirm that Leora is my granddaughter,” Lady Elizabeth said with a haughty lift of her chin.

Noble looked at Ross. “Mother Abbess is here?”

“Aye,” Ross said with a nod. “She waits in the keep.”

“Then we go to the keep and find out if Mother Abbess can finally solve this dilemma,” Noble said and ordered Penn to see Lord Drake’s men settled on the outskirts of the village while everyone else proceeded to the keep.

Noble kept a slow pace, lingering behind the others to have time to speak with his wife.

“You killed Hedley?” she asked.

“He deserved it,” Noble said without remorse and wished his death had not been a swift one, seeing the exhaustion and pain in his wife’s eyes and in the creases around them as she tried to hide her pain from him. “You are hurting.”

“I think it best that Mother Abbess look at my arm.”

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