Page 72 of Tempting the Highland Devil
Yvaine returned to her chamber and stood by the window till Jane and Isabella joined her.
“Me Lady,” they both greeted and curtsied.
Yvaine managed a shaky smile as she turned to them and cleared her throat. “I need ye to spread word around the castle discretely. Let everyone ye see ken that the laird has captured the traitors who tried to hurt me, and they have confessed and given the names of their allies. Spread the word that they will all be punished as soon as he gets back from capturin’ their leader.”
“Aye, me lady,” they chorused, and once they left her chamber, Lily and Elspeth came in next.
“Do ye really think this plan will work?” she asked Lily.
Lily nodded. “Gossip is a powerful tool, me lady. Do not worry. James is here, and we will soon catch anyone who behaves suspiciously.”
Yvaine tried to still her nerves after that. She turned to stare outside her window again and held her breath. If they were to lure out the traitor, they had until tomorrow.
38
They arrived at the Golden loch as the skies darkened in the horizons that day. Arran, Duncan, and Killian made a campfire by the loch while the rest of their men found the perfect spots to hide around the bushes and the valley around the loch.
The person was expecting to meet with Isabella, but Arran was here instead.
He was feeling confident in his plan, but each time he remembered the pale look on Yvaine’s face this morning and the hollow look in her eyes, he couldn’t help but feel the inkling of fear rise in him too.
“Here,” Duncan said to him then handed him a tiny vial. “Me wife always wants me to drink this every night. She says it keeps me agile and healthy.”
Killian chuckled as Arran took the vial from Duncan and drank its content in one swift move.
Arran cursed under his breath then groaned. “Is she tryin’ to poison ye? This is bitter.”
Both men laughed as he complained then shook his head and tried to shrug off the goosebumps that raised his flesh.
“It is herbs, me friend,” Killian said then patted his shoulder. “Lily makes me drink it every night, too. It feels like these women have some sort of secret meetin’ where they decide what is best for us.”
Arran understood Killian’s words perfectly. “Yvaine is the same, too. She believes in me more than I believe in meself, and it scares me sometimes that she has that much faith in me.”
He lowered his head and sighed. “She is the only reason why I strive to do better. Since I returned to me clan…she has pushed me to be a better laird…a better man.”
“Ye have always been a good man, Arran. Ye just needed a reason to act. Me sister was the push ye needed, and ye dinnae even realize it. It was why I ordered the games in the first place. I ken it would push ye to act. The only people who dinnae ken that ye two were in love were Arran and Yvaine themselves.”
Arran combed his fingers through his hair. “Was it that obvious that I desired her?” he questioned, unaware that he said the words out loud for everyone to hear.
They fell silent while sitting by the campfire, and some time passed before Arran grew restless and rose to his feet. It was a full moon tonight, and whoever was to meet them there at the loch had to be on their way by now.
Arran’s nerves were highly alert, and he listened to every sound in his surroundings including the taps of Duncan’s foot on the ground. When he heard the horse’s hoofbeats on the ground nearby, he rose to his feet and drew his sword.
Duncan and Killian followed immediately. They all drew their swords and backed against each other, forming a close circle as they planted their feet steady on the ground.
Arran held his sword up when he heard the skittish noises of horses nearby.
“Show yerself,” he ordered in his loudest voice just before a single horse rode into their clear view. The rider dismounted from the horse with ease, walked closer to Arran and his friends, then took off the cloak he wore over his head.
Arran stiffened the moment he saw the older man’s face. His breath seized in his throat from his shock. He could never have imagined “Laird Macmicking?”
Arran did not lower his sword because he did not know what the man was up to. “Ye lied to me? Ye were behind me wife’s kidnappin’?”
Without hesitating, Arran lurched at him, striking with his sword first, and Laird Macmicking defended himself from the blow with his sword.
Their blades clanged in the night’s air. Their eyes met, and Arran held out with his might because he was not ready to surrender yet.
“Ye lied to me?” he asked Laird Macmicking.
