Page 110 of A Bride for the Icy Highlander
“We’ll find her!” Freya said.
Their husbands followed close behind, all grim-faced and determined. Cody joined them as well.
The torches were lit, the flames cutting through the encroaching night. The party galloped into the dark with haste and fury.
Kian led the way, his eye scanning every rock, every path, every shadow. The moors stretched out vast and cold beneath the stars. The wind bit through wool and leather, and his heart sank lower with every mile.
He rode as if the devil himself were chasing him, spurred on by dread and love. Then, at last, he saw a shape beneath a jagged crag, curled up like a wounded fawn.
“Abigail!” he bellowed, his voice rough and full of anguish.
She didn’t move.
He urged his horse forward, then leaped from the saddle before his mount had stopped. He landed hard, stumbling through the brush and dropping to his knees beside her.
“Abigail, lass, look at me.”
Her eyes fluttered open, glassy with tears. Her lips trembled.
“Kian?” she whispered, weak and broken. “It’s nay use, leave me where I am. I’d rather perish out here than watch ye leave me for another.”
He pulled her into his arms, wrapping his cloak around her shaking body. “Never, bunny. Never. Why would ye think such a thing?”
“I heard…” Her voice cracked, and her tears fell freely now. “I heard the messenger say… another laird offered ye his daughter’s hand. I thought ye’d say aye. It is a good deal.”
Kian leaned back, cupping her face in his hands. “Och, Abigail. That letter came from one of the lairds I’d written to long before I met ye. Aye, I received it. But I wrote a reply, refusing it plain and clear.”
She furrowed her brow and looked away, ashamed. “Ye did? But ye didnae refuse the messenger outright.”
“It is a delicate matter,” he explained gently. “I didnae want to insult Laird Teyrn by refusing outright. Nay faither likes to hear that his daughter has been turned down. But lass,neverhave I considered it. Not once. Ye already had me heart long before that message came.”
Abigail let out a sob that shook her entire frame. She clung to him, burying her face in his chest.
“I was so afraid,” she whispered. “So sure I’d lose ye.”
Kian pressed his lips to her forehead. “Ye’ll never lose me,” he whispered into her hair. “Nae in a hundred lifetimes, nae in ten thousand storms. I’d ride through fire to reach ye, bunny. Ye’re mine.”
A series of thuds followed as Marissa and Freya dismounted at once.
“Abigail!” Freya cried, dropping beside her sister and taking her hand. “Och, lass, we were scared witless!”
Marissa knelt too, wrapping an arm around Abigail’s shoulders. “What on earth were ye thinkin’, runnin’ off like that? Do ye ken how worried we were?”
Abigail looked at them. “I didnae think. I only felt… lost.”
Kian held her tighter, his jaw clenched. “She heard the wrong words at the wrong time, that’s all. But she’s here now, and that’s all that matters.”
The torchlight flickered over them, casting warm gold on tear-streaked cheeks and weather-worn cloaks. The cold wind had softened, the stars blinking down like distant promises.
Kian caught Marissa’s gaze as she looked between them, her eyes soft with understanding.
“I see now,” she said quietly. “I see just how much ye love our sister.”
Kian met her eyes. “More than life itself.”
At that moment, even the moors seemed to hush.
He lifted Abigail gently, her cold frame limp against his chest. He carried her to his horse with urgency but care, lowering her into the saddle before mounting behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, his cloak enveloping them both.
