Page 6 of Pretty in Plaid
Ice formed in Kenna’s belly. The man was too insistent. Did he suspect her of something? She thought of Sorley, who she had hidden in the cupboard only a few feet away. Perhaps there was an ulterior motive to Captain Boyd’s acceptance of the invitation to join them here tonight. It felt at that moment as if it weren’t to enjoy a dance.
“But would it no’ also be conspicuous for ye to wait?” Elizabeth sounded desperate. Desperate to run away and also to make Boyd disappear.
Kenna was surprised at Elizabeth’s stand. The lass rarely stood up to others, save for when propriety was at stake, and she supposed this would be one of those occasions. Kenna tried hard not to stare at the wardrobe. The tension from behind those wide oak doors was palpable. At any moment, Sorley would burst from within and attack Captain Boyd. Then all hell would break loose.
Boyd must have suspected something. There was no other reason for him to have followed Elizabeth upstairs to the family’s private quarters. With how silent he was, he might have been spying on her and Sorley the entire time. That he was now trying to get Elizabeth to leave so he could whip open the wardrobe's doors and stab Sorley through the heart.
Oh, dear God…
Kenna had a feeling that if Elizabeth didn’t get out of here, Boyd would do it with her watching. But her rumination was halted when he took several steps more until he was standing slightly ahead of Elizabeth. He took her hand in his, raising it to his lips. “I promise you, my dear, that I will bring no shame to Miss Kenna, nor ye. I am an honorable man, serving his king.”
An honorable man would not have snuck up the stairs to find two women alone. Kenna narrowed her eyes on Elizabeth, whose heart practically fluttered visibly from her chest. Her cousin fanned her face. How in all of Hades had Elizabeth fallen for his ruse? Couldn’t she see right through his attempts at seduction?
“Why, of course, sir.” Elizabeth started to retreat. “Take care of her, so that no ruffians take advantage.”
Boyd gave a laugh that was decidedly without humor, the sound of metal scraping on metal. Kenna was certain the man knew more than he was letting on and also that she was very much in danger.
When Elizabeth disappeared down the stairs, rather than enter her chamber, Kenna waited, the prickle of fear on her spine confirmation that Boyd was up to no good and that he meant to follow her should she go. That wouldn’t do at all.
He turned back around. The smile faded from his face, replaced by a hungry fury. “Whereishe?” he demanded.
“He?” Kenna feigned shock, though her heart plummeted to her feet. Oh, how she wished she’d been wrong. “Sir, I’ve no—”
Boyd cut her off. “I heard him.”
“Heard who, sir? I have no’ the faintest—”
Boyd marched forward, his finger in her face, rage in the twist of his lips. Kenna’s back straightened, but she worried it would snap with fear.
“Do not toy with me, miss. I know what I heard. Where is he?”
She shook her head, throat tight. “I do apologize, but—”
He raised his hand as if to slap it over her mouth, and she retreated, wincing. His hand dropped. With his lips still twisted in a menacing snarl, he cocked his head toward her bedroom.
“Open your chamber door,” he demanded.
Mouth dry, she managed to form words, “I dinna think that is a good idea.”
“He’s in there. Now open the damned door.”
Kenna felt light-headed, ready to drop into a puddle on the floor or fling herself down the stairs to get away from him. “There is no one in there, and I’ll no’ be opening the door, for it wouldna do for a lass in my position to openly invite a man into her chamber with or without a chaperone.”
A vein pulsed in the side of his neck and the center of his forehead, so visible was his anger. “Bloody hell, wench, open the door, or I’ll bludgeon ye. I’m an officer in the king’s army with probable cause to search your chamber. If ye dinna allow me entry, I’ll have everyone in the party below executed for treason.”
Kenna believed wholeheartedly in his threat, and so she opened the door but did not enter, fearing bodily injury if she did so. He marched into her chamber, looked left, looked right, and then flipped a table, the wood crashing with a thundering bang to the floor, sending every book and knickknack on its surface flying.
She waited with panicked breath to hear footsteps on the stairs, rushing to see what the commotion was about.
He ransacked her room, tearing it apart as she watched. And from the periphery, she could see Sorley climb from his hiding place in the wardrobe and disappear down the stairs.
Oh, heavens, he was going to be caught…
* * *
To his credit,Sorley did not pull out his dagger and thrust it through the bastard’s heart, though he had every intention of exacting revenge at some point. His mission, however, had been to bring Kenna back to her uncle, and he would be damned if he’d let an egotisticalSassenachbastard get in the way.
From where he stood in the shadows by the stairs, Sorley kept his eyes on Kenna, prepared to attack should Boyd try anything nefarious, which he wouldn’t put past him. Vicious rumors had abounded across Scotland about what the captain was capable of, and none of the stories had ended in anything less than a nightmare.
