Page 4 of The Heart of a Highlander
One
1362
Isle of Mull, Scotland
Brothwell was the devil, or as close to it as a person could be and still be human. Ada MacQuerrie stared at her stepbrother, fully expecting horns to pop out of his pointy head at any minute.
“Ada.” Brothwell’s gaze narrowed on her, and he snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Are ye hearing what I am saying to ye?”
It would be impossiblenotto hear the man. He was standing so close she could see spittle fly from his mouth every time he enunciated. She longed to tell Brothwell just how misguided she thought he was, but she clenched her teeth on the desire, lest the words escape her. It would not serve her well to anger her stepbrother, being at his mercy as she currently was. Any way she tackled her current predicament, the path would lead her back to Brothwell’s benevolence. His current goodwill would expire the moment he realized she did not intend to choose a husband from the supporters of the Steward whom he had presented to her. That left one option: running. So far, it had been impossible to get away given Brothwell had ordered the guards to be her shadows since her father’s death four days prior.
“Are ye ignoring me?” Brothwell demanded. He grabbed her chin and brought his lips a hairsbreadth from hers.
Her stepsister, Marjorie, who had always been quick to side with her brother, surprisingly did not respond. Instead, she pressed her lips together and glanced down at her feet.
“What think ye, Marjorie? Is little Ada ignoring me?” he asked. Silence stretched for a moment, to which Brothwell blew out a loud, irritated breath.
Marjorie slowly looked up, and Ada could have sworn she saw tension in the woman’s face. “Aye,” Marjorie replied, her voice little more than a whisper. “She’s ignoring ye.”
Ada had not expected Marjorie to come to her defense. Still, it stung all the same when she didn’t.
Brothwell squeezed Ada’s chin. “Ye think yerself better than us. Ye always have.”
“That’s nae true,” Ada denied. “I have always treated Marjorie as my true sister and ye as my true brother.”
“Nay, sister dear, ye treated us as the bastards we are every time ye did nae listen to us, though Marjorie is five summers older than ye, and I’m twelve summers older.”
“Ye told me to do things that ye kenned my father would nae approve of,” she replied.
“Siblings would have stuck together,” he snapped. “Like Marjorie and me. Is that nae right, Marjorie?”
Marjorie nodded and offered a tight smile.
“Even now, with yer father dead and me as yer new laird and keeper, ye are refusing to obey and choose a husband.”
“Ye wish me to wed a man for the Steward, and ye ken my father supported King David. I—”
Brothwell grabbed her arm and hauled her from her seat. “Yer father is dead. Ye will support whomever I tell ye to.”
“Brothwell,” Marjorie cut in, “might I be excused?”
“Nay!” he thundered. “Dunnae ye find it fun to watch Ada squirm?”
In the past, Marjorie would have nodded readily, but she had seemed a bit different lately, less inclined to torment Ada. She suspected it had something to do with the warrior Bram MacLean, who had been here for a while but was now gone. She did not know for certain, though. Still, even if Marjorie no longer supported her brother, she was no fool. She knew not to anger Brothwell.
Marjorie finally gave a nod to Brothwell’s question, and he grinned, motioning to the guard standing in front of the closed great hall door. “Tell James to bring in Esther.”
Ada’s eyes widened. “Why do ye have Esther?” she demanded, looking toward the door. It was already opening. Her dear, sweet companion of many years appeared with a guard on either side of her. Esther was really the mother Ada had never had, as her stepmother had never taken to her.
“Esther is here to persuade ye to do my bidding with haste,” Brothwell answered. “Choose a husband,willingly, within the next fortnight or ye will nae like what I do.”
“Dunnae do it, Ada!” Esther bellowed.
Brothwell sliced his hand through the air toward the guard, and the man smacked Esther across the face. She cried out, as did Ada when she tried to run to her.
Her stepbrother tightened his grip. “Do ye wish to see her hurt, Ada?”
Ada’s heart thundered, and her stomach knotted.
