Page 26 of Kidnapped By her Highland Enemy
“Same to ye, lass.”
He held her fast and murmured soothing words to Maisie as she slipped off to sleep, and right before slumber took her over, she felt that, maybe things would be all right.
Dead to the world, she did not hear Lucas whisper a promise to keep her safe from all harm, right before he slipped out of the room.
9
When Maisie woke, it was past dawn and heading to midday. She sat up and rubbed the lingering sleep from her eyes. She stood, went to wash up then decided to find Heather and apologize. It was not fair of her to demand that Heather accept Lucas when days ago, Maisie had considered him an enemy as well.
Besides, Heather had lost her brother in a deadly skirmish between the two clans and had a right to hate the Barclays. She had been too caught up in her emotions for Lucas to fully understand Heather but now, felt the pressing need to find her and make things right.
Descending the stairs, Maisie felt an odd silence resting in the house but the first thing that caught her attention was milk burning on the stove. She rushed to grab a cloth and heave the pan off the fire. Backing away from the burnt mass on the bottom, Maisie grew concerned.
Had Heather or Mrs. Jamieson started it but forgot about it? She peeked into the room where Mr. Jamieson’s wife stayed and found the lady sleeping then softly backed away. If it was not her, it had to be Heather.
She went to search for her maid, but she was absent from her room and that was strange. Where was her friend? Checking the other rooms on the lower level, she could not find Heather anywhere and slowly, Maisie grew worried and a bit fearful.
The more she searched, the more apparent it was that Heather was gone and then, when she darted down the stairs, the door opened and she let out a breath of relief. At least Heather had come—but no; Ian was stepping through the door.
“Ian—”
He looked pressured and Maisie felt that he knew what she was about to say. “I cannae find her,” he said while rubbing his face. “I was gone for a brief time, less than a few minutes, and she said she was going to make warm milk, but when I came back, she was gone. I didn’t have time to take the pot off, I ran off to look for her.”
Maisie felt sickened and she slumped on the door moments before Ian gently guided her to a chair.
“His lairdship is going to be cross with me,” Ian said through gritted teeth. “And I deserve it. I kent better than to let a lass fool me.”
“She’s going home,” Maisie muttered while her fingers flexed on the edge of chair. “She’s going back to me clan an’ when she gets there, she is going to tell me faither where to find us or at least point him in the direction. When she does that, I can bet half me fortune, Lucas’s faither is going to come here as well. We have to get away from this place—tonight.”
Ian was grim. “That occurred to me as well. His lairdship isnae going to be pleased. I feel like a green lad on his first hunt, makin’ mistakes all the way.”
“What did she ask ye to do?” Maisie asked.
“To get her some water as we had run out,” Ian grated. “The spring is just beyond the treeline and by the time I got back, she was gone. His lairdship and Mister Jamieson are out, seeking the levity of the situation that we might be walkin’ into when we go back to the clans, but now we must run whether or nae.”
The soft shuffle behind them had Maisie and Ian turning to see Eilidh coming out of her room.
“Did we wake ye?” Maisie asked, concerned.
“Nay,” the lady said, rubbing her stomach. “The bairn did, and I am hungry too.”
“Let me help ye cook,” Maisie offered and stood. Even while fear and foreboding rested on her heart, she felt compassion for the lady. “And I am afraid we have some troubling news.”
While heading to the seaside cottage, Lucas mulled over the news he had heard in the town’s marketplace. The brick-wall of silence his father had imposed on his people now had cracks and crevices—people were starting to whisper and not all of it was comforting.
Dunn says his daughter was taken out of a revenge plot. Barclay says Dunn’s men wanted to kill him…whatever it is, war is on the horizon.
What was he supposed to do about this? If the clans went to war, not skirmishes, not brawls, or tussles over land and livestock, but fullwar, his efforts to stem the bloodshed would have failed. This time, instead of a Maisie’s forefather stealing a lass for his ancestor, he was the one that had kidnapped a Hendry.
By kidnapping Maisie, he might have given his father and Dunn full reason to equip all their forces and go and annihilate each other. Grimly, he guided his horse over a rocky outcropping. It seemed that his effort to stop any war had come back to slap him in the face. He had given his word to Maisie that he would end all this strife, but his actions had made it worse.
The only thing I ask is that ye daenae do anything to make me regret it.
The weight of Maisie’s trust rested on his shoulder like Sisyphus’s boulder, and he feared that if he failed and the clans went to war—again—it would tumble and shatter.
“Things are tense,” Oliver said beside him. “If war is on the horizon, we will need to act fast.”
Lucas grunted. “What do I tell the lass? The reason I took her was for me protection and now, with these revelations, hers as well. I see that there is someone trying to undermine us, we need to come together and fetter out this upstart in our ranks. From what I have deduced, it must be a pair of traitors sent by the king, working on each side. But now—” he grimaced. “—me faither and hers have taken it as permission to settle old, smarting sores.”
