Page 120 of Love Me Forever
Ian asked with the women gone. “I feel Arran is playing a game.”
“Then he plays with the wrong man, and aye, I am certain. You have spent enough time here. I have a force of men well able to handle the situation.”
“If necessary, you will send for me?”
“Immediately,” Royce assured him and leaned closer to Ian as if about to impart a secret. “Now tell me, what do our women really discuss?”
Ian laughed. “You are finally learning.”
* * *
By late afternoonsthe weather had turned stormy, and if it continued, Ian and Moira’s departure would be postponed.
The two women along with Delia had decided that the kitchen was the perfect place to spend a stormy afternoon. Delia had joined them earlier to discuss the birthing preparations, and then Brianna had suggested they all bake a fresh berry pie and enjoy it.
They baked an extra one for the two guards who stood silent by the two entrances of the kitchen and then decided that their husbands would probably enjoy one, too.
They laughed and had much fun, and soon the room began to fill with a delicious aroma, and the two guards sniffed the scented air with appreciation.
They began to clean off the table they had worked on and Delia grabbed a bucket to step outside and retrieve fresh water from the rain barrel. Moira and Brianna continued cleaning the table so that there would be room for them to sit and enjoy the pie.
Delia called out for help with the bucket, and one of the guards went to her aid. When a few minutes passed and they had not returned, Moira and the guard glanced at each other.
‘Take her out of here,” the man said to Moira and moved toward the door that the other guard had disappeared through only moments before.
Brianna glanced up from the task of wiping the table and noticed the alarmed look on Moira’s face.
“We need to leave here,” she said, hurrying to Brianna’s side.
Brianna dropped the cloth and grabbed for Moira’s outstretched hand.
“Stay where you are.”
The familiar voice caused Brianna to freeze in her steps.
She and Moira turned to see Arran holding a knife to Delia’s throat.
Both women remained completely still.
“No smile for your husband?” Arran asked, applying pressure to the knife at Delia’s throat and forcing her farther into the room. “I knew with patience I would find you in the kitchen baking berry pies. You always had a penchant for them when the berries were in bloom.”
Moira held firm to Brianna’s hand.
“Did you think I would not come for you? Did you think I did not miss you or know how much you missed me?”
Two men entered behind him, rough and dirty in appearance.
Brianna reminded herself that she had prepared for this possibility, and she was ready. Though her legs trembled and fear rippled through her, she demonstrated not a sign of her fright.
“I care not that you come for me. You mean nothing to me, and there was not a day I missed you.”
Moira squeezed her hand, showing her support and confidence.
A malicious grin spread across his face. “You mean more to me than you know, dear wife.”
He motioned to the two men, and one quickly took Delia from him while the other hurried over and wrenched Moira away from her. In seconds a knife was placed again at Delia’s throat and to Moira’s throat.
“Now, dear wife, the choice is yours as to whether you come with me or not.” He raised his hand, and the two men pressed the knives more firmly to the women’s throats.
