Page 12 of Craved By a Highland Beast

Bonnie considered her options for a moment. If she left with Laird MacGregor and his brother, then for all she knew, she would end up tortured and killed, even if the man had assured her time and time again that he had no desire to harm her. If she stayed in Castle Hamilton, then she would be forced to be closeto Laird Ruthven and she wanted to avoid that as much as she could.

Could he be tellin’ the truth? Will he truly nae harm me?

“Ye must choose,” Laird MacGregor said. “I will soon find me brother an’ leave.”

Looking around her helplessly, Bonnie tried to figure out a way to avoid both men. The more she searched for a way out, though, the more she realized there was no better, third option.

“Me guards.”

O’ course! Finlay an’ Lachlan will save me from all this!

As her guards, they had not attended the feast, but they were still in the castle. Bonnie would simply have to rope them into helping her, something that couldn’t prove too difficult for her. Finlay was a good friend and so was Lachlan. They would be more than willing to help her.

“Yer guards are gone.”

Fear crept down Bonnie’s spine, like icy water dripping down her back. She looked at Laird MacGregor with wide, fearful eyes as she tried to move back from him as far as her seat would allow, her stomach churning at the thought that they had met such a cruel fate.

Bonnie should have warned them about him. She should have told them to be wary, to watch their backs. Now they were gone, all because she had been too focused on her own survival to consider the danger they were facing.

“They’re goin’ back tae the mainland,” Laird MacGregor said with a roll of his eyes. “What did ye think I was sayin’?”

The relief that washed over Bonnie was so intense that she would have collapsed onto the floor had she not been sitting. Finlay and Lachlan were still alive. Their lives were not in danger.

“I thought ye killed them!” she whispered.

“Why would I kill them?” Laird MacGregor whispered back.

“Because ye kill everyone!”

That may have been an exaggeration, Bonnie thought after the words were out of her mouth. Really, she hadn’t even seen the man kill someone, but it was the only logical conclusion she could reach. He was violent, cruel, prone to anger. He had tortured a man half to death without even flinching. Was it truly such a leap to think that he was a bloodthirsty killer?

But if Laird MacGregor hadn’t killed her guards, if they had truly simply returned home, then why had she not been informed?

“Who sent them away?” she demanded. “Was it ye?”

“Nay,” said Laird MacGregor. “But I saw Ruthven speak tae them. I assume he told them their services were nae longer needed, since ye would be accompanied by his guards tae Castle Ruthven.”

Bonnie barely managed to suppress a furious growl, her fingers curling into fists until her nails bit into the meat of her palm, leaving small crescents behind. The audacity of Laird Ruthven to send away her own guards! They were not supposed to take any orders from him.

It wouldn’t surprise her, though, if the council was behind all this once again. Surely, they wanted no distractions near her, and since they had no way of knowing that Macauley and Cathleen wouldn’t make it to the wedding, they may have thought her guards’ presence insignificant.

Now there she was, stuck in Arran with Laird MacGregor and Laird Ruthven, with no one else to turn to.

“Make yer choice, cousin,” said Laird MacGregor and Bonnie didn’t appreciate the mocking tone. “We must leave.”

Bonnie glanced across the room to where Laird Ruthven sat, gesturing wildly with his cup of wine until it spilled everywhere. She watched as a servant approached him and tried to refill his cup, only to spill a few drops of wine on him when he moved it again.

The slap that followed echoed all around the great hall. The servant girl’s head was wrenched to the side, the force of theblow making her stumble and spill the entire pitcher on herself. Everyone around Laird Ruthven froze, and it was only when he stood, towering over the servant as if the slap hadn’t been enough to appease him, that a few men jumped in to diffuse the situation.

Bonnie turned to Laird MacGregor, who was watching, too, a grim expression shadowing his face.

“Let us go,” she said.

Two days.

That was all Bonnie had been afforded before she would have to make an appearance at Castle Ruthven. Two days in that inn with the MacGregor brothers and no one else to speak to.

At least she had her own room there. The two men had booked two, but were forced to share one when Bonnie joined them, and she didn’t even have to insist on it. For all their other faults, they seemed to be gentlemen in that regard, at least, and neither of them had tried to creep into her room in the middle of the night or touch her whenever she was near.

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