Page 86 of Captured By the Cruel Highlander
What can I do to make this better? What can I do to protect her?
It had been stupid to bring all his forces to the kirk; he should have sent more men to protect Emily’s family.
Please dinnae let anythin’ else happen to her faither and braither.
Slowly, Emily came back to herself and pushed away from him, beginning to pace, running her fingers through her hair. She looked mad with grief, and his heart broke at the sight.
“Emily, we will make this right.”
“How can ye? We dinnae even ken what has happened to me faither. He might be dead, ye dinnae ken!”
“What exactly are ye proposin’?” Adam asked derisively. “That ye go to James Stewart and offer him yer hand after all of this?”
Emily spun round, snarling at him. “What would ye prefer? That I stay here in a loveless marriage while he murders everyone Idolove?”
“Ye are bein’ irrational.”
“Me faither’s finger is lyin’ on that table. How would ye feel if that was yer maither’s finger or Laura’s finger? Ye would move heaven and earth to protect them, and I plan to do the same.”
She made for the door again, but he gripped her roughly, pulling her back to him and looming over her, exerting his strength as she fought against him.
“Ye arenae goin’ anywhere,” he said firmly.
She gasped, pulling away from him, understanding dawning in her eyes. “Ye cannae treat me like a prisoner now, Adam. I am yerwife.”
“Well, if me wife is goin’ to offer herself to another man, I can do with her as I please. Ye arenae leavin’ this castle without me.”
“Ye are bein’ cruel!” she cried.
“I am keepin’ yesafe!Dinnae ye see, this is what he wanted all along. Heexpectsye to go to him. Do ye truly believe ye will be any safer with him than ye are with me?”
“At least I would ken if Bruce and Faither are safe!”
“Nae, ye wouldnae. Ye think he would give ye that reassurance straight away? He’ll leave ye hangin’ for days, force ye to marry him, and he might kill them anyway.”
“This is because of ye! If I had just married him, none of this would have happened.”
“And if ye had married him, he would have taken yer lands, conquered yer castle, and likely done away with them anyway. Ye may hate me now, but ye are safer with me than ye ever could be with him.”
Emily’s eyes hardened as she glared at him. “Ye willnae let me go to them?” she asked, her voice a dangerous whisper.
“Nay, I willnae.”
“Alright,” she replied. “Ye can keep me here, lock me up in yer castle like ye always wished to. But I will tell ye one thing, Adam Kane—ye willnevertouch me again for as long as I live. I will hate ye forever for this!”
30
Left alone in the darkness, Adam was unable to rest.
He sat at his desk, staring into the empty grate. The smoke curled upward into the chimney as the fire died down around dawn.
He would not have been able to sleep even if he had attempted it. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the severed finger.
Within his fevered imaginings, Emily’s father and brother lay mortally wounded on the floor at his feet, his body frozen and powerless to help them.
An owl hooted from outside the window as he stirred. He could hear the quiet of the night all around him, but it brought him no comfort.
The look on her face.
