Page 1 of Kilted Abduction
CHAPTER ONE
Awoman’s wedding was supposed to be the most beautiful, joyous day of her life. It was something Ciara MacDougal had spent countless hours dreaming of when she was just a lass. She had planned everything out to the last detail, and it had brought her immeasurable joy. With the day of her wedding drawing near, however, joy was the last thing she felt. Instead of feasting, and music, and beautiful gowns, Ciara found herself plotting how she was going to escape into the green, misty Highlands and run away from it all.
Ciara tucked a long strand of her golden hair behind her ear as she gazed at herself in the looking glass wondering, not for the first time, how she’d ended up in her predicament. A long, pained sigh passed her lips.
“Ye look beautiful.”
Ciara turned to her handmaid and closest friend, Elspeth and smiled. “Ye’ve said that about every gown I’ve tried on.”
“That’s because ye’ve looked beautiful all of them.”
Despite her sour mood, Ciara laughed. Elspeth always had a way of bringing a little light into her darkest thoughts. Her good humor quickly faded though as she returned her gaze to the looking glass and to the gaudy blue gown she was wearing.
“I look like a bleedin’ strumpet in this gown,” she complained.
“Language,” Elspeth chided her. “A proper lady?—”
“I dinnae care about me bleedin’ language or bein’ a proper lady,” Ciara growled. “This gown is too tight and leaves me breasts hangin’ out fer everybody tae see. I suppose it’s fine enough fer the English, but it I dinnae like it.”
“Come now, me Lady,” Elspeth said. “You’re marryin’ an English lord. How terrible can that be? Think of the balls ye’ll attend with all that finery and?—”
“Ye sound positively besotted. Maybe ye should marry him,” she said.
Elspeth’s full lips curved upward. “Believe me, if I was a lady instead of yer handmaiden, and suitable tae marry a lord, English or nae, I would be skippin’ down the aisle.”
“Have ye seen the man?”
“I have. I snuck a peek at him when he arrived,” she teased. “Tall and handsome he is. I swear tae the good Lord I dinnae ken what ye’re winging about.”
Ciara scoffed. “He’s prissy and pale. Reminds me of a walking corpse he does. Nae only that, I’ve heard stories about him?—”
“People love tae wag their tongues, they dae. Ye shouldnae believe everything ye hear.”
“They say he’s cruel. Evil,” Ciara said.
“They say, they say,” Elspet cut in. “Who says? And have they seen him dae anything cruel and evil with their own bleedin’ eyes?”
“Language, Elspeth,” Ciara teased.
The short, waiflike redhead waved her off. “I’m nae lady and can speak any way I wish,” she said. “Anyway, like I said, people love tae wag their tongues. Ye ken the English arenae well-loved here and people make up all kinds of stories about them eating Scottish babes. Am I really supposed tae believe they’re spit roasting babes fer supper?”
Ciara knew Elspeth took a more favorable view of the English than she did simply because she was in love with an Englishman.
“Try seein’ all the good that can come out of this marriage. Ye can only see the bad because that’s all ye’re lookin’ fer,” Elspeth urged.
Ciara fixed her with a sober gaze. “Because there is nothin’ good that can come out of this arranged marriage. I dinnae want tae marry this man.”
“Nae, I ken. Ye want tae marry yourself some big, strappin’ Highlander.”
“Is it so wrong tae want tae wed one of me own people?”
“It’s nae wrong. But that big, strappin’ Highlander isnae going tae be able tae secure yer family’s future the way hitchin’ yerself tae a nobleman will, even if he be English.”
“And that’s the problem, Elspeth. I dinnae want me marriage to be part of some political game. I dinnae want tae marry somebody just because he can secure me family’s future. I want tae marry a man because I love him.”
Elspeth frowned. “But ye ken that’s nae the way the world works. Nae fer womenfolk. Nae even yer maither, God rest her soul, had a choice in who she married. But she eventually came tae love yer faither.”
A wan smile touched Ciara’s lips as she thought of her mother. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t miss her.
