Page 65 of Hunting for a Highlander (Highland Brides 8)

Geordie raised his head and speared her with cold eyes. “But I do no’ want you. I want her. And she does make me happy. ’Tis why I married her.”

“You— She— Ye’re no’ married,” she got out at last. “The wedding was to take place at Innes. And ye do no’ love her. Ye love me. ’Tis only Aulay that made ye end our relationship. I ken that. One minute we were playing Nine Men’s Morris and laughing, and then he came to the room and took ye away to talk, and ye never came back. I ken he made ye stay away from me after that. I ken ye love me, Geordie. Ye do no’ have to pretend anymore that ye do no’. I’ve taken care o’ everything. Aulay’ll no’ interfere after tonight, I promise. Ye’ll be able to live yer life as ye please and we can marry and ye can love me openly.”

Geordie stared at her, his brain suddenly sending out a loud alarm in his head. Releasing her abruptly, he stood and walked to the door. Much to his relief, he opened it to find Aulay and every one of his, as well as Dwyn’s, family members standing there. They were waiting in the hall, offering silent support and staying near in case he needed them. They’d probably heard most, if not all, of what Katie had just said. Still, he met Aulay’s gaze and murmured, “Do no’ eat or drink anything until we ken how she’s taken care o’ ye.”

Aulay nodded and then said in a voice low enough it wouldn’t carry into the room, “I spoke to one o’ the men who were on the wall when Katie and Simon rode out. Ye’re right. Katie was sitting in front o’ Simon. He could no’ have been stabbed, let alone gutted, by anyone but her in that position.”

Geordie grunted and closed the door.

“Who were ye talking to?” Katie asked with a frown as he started back across the room. “Who’s out there?”

Geordie didn’t answer. Instead, he caught her by the throat and drove her backward until she was pinned against the wall. He didn’t have the patience to try to trick her into a confession. Besides, she’d already given enough away.

Eyes wide, Katie gasped for the air he was choking off and grabbed at his hand, trying to pull it away.

“I am married to Dwyn,” he assured her coldly. “Father Archibald married us the night Brodie’s man ran me through with a sword. After he gave me the sacraments o’ the dying, I asked him to marry us. Because I love her. And he did,” Geordie told her grimly. “Now where is me wife?”

“It’s no’ true,” she cried the minute he eased his grip on her throat. “Ye love me.”

Geordie smiled coldly. “I do no’ love ye, Katie. I never did. How could I love a murdering bitch who would kill a man like Simon? He was a good man, Katie. He cared about ye. He told Rory he planned to ask ye to marry him. I should have told him that ye were sneaking around trying to get back into me bed, but I did no’, and ye killed him like he was nothing.” Slamming her back against the wall, he growled, “Where is Dwyn?”

“I did no’ kill him,” Katie cried the moment he eased his grip on her throat, and Geordie immediately tightened his hold again, cutting off her air.

“Ye were seated before him when ye rode out, Katie. No one could have stabbed or run him through without going through ye first. Only you would have been in a position to do that, and no one would have taken four or more hours to calm a horse and return to Simon. Ye killed him. Ye went to Brodie and had him come knock me out, take me wife, and then ye had him or one o’ his men lay me over Simon’s horse so ye could ride back to Buchanan with the ridiculous story about being attacked. Now.” Geordie slammed her against the wall again. “Where’s me wife?”

He eased his grip on her throat again, and this time she didn’t immediately try to deny what she’d done. Instead, sweet, always smiling Katie snarled, “I hope he kills the bitch.”

Geordie’s fingers contracted around her throat almost of their own accord, and he might not have stopped this time if someone hadn’t started knocking at the door and then opened it.

“Geordie, we know where Dwyn is.”

Aulay’s voice made him freeze, and then he released Katie and turned to hurry across the room as she collapsed to the floor, coughing and sucking in great gasps of air.

“Where is she?” he growled, striding out of the room.

Aulay pulled the door closed and glanced to Rory. “Can ye guard the door and keep the lass here until I can deal with her?”

“Aye, I’ll no’ let her out,” Rory assured him.

Thanking him, Aulay took Geordie’s arm to urge him through his sister and Dwyn’s sisters, every one of his sisters-in-law, as well as their friends Lady MacKay and Lady Sinclair. None of their brothers or the other men were there now besides Rory, he noted distractedly, but then shifted his attention to Aulay as they started down the stairs and his brother began to speak.

“Alick was leading a group o’ soldiers searching the border between our land and the MacGregor land when he encountered one o’ their men on patrol. He told him what was happening here and that he was looking for yer wife, who had been taken by a Lowlander named Brodie, and the MacGregor’s man told him that there’s a laird named Brodie on MacGregor land right now, that he paid MacGregor to let him camp there. Brodie claimed at the time that he was traveling home to Brodie from Arran when several o’ his men became ill from what he suspected was bad meat and they needed to bide a wee while they recovered. The MacGregor soldier said they’ve been no trouble, but then this afternoon one o’ Brodie’s men rode up to the keep with more coin and a request for the priest to come to their camp. He claimed it was to give the sick men the sacraments o’ the dying, but—”

“Brodie must have sent his man to fetch the priest when Katie got to his camp so that he’d be there waiting when he got back with Dwyn. He’s trying to make her marry him,” Geordie said grimly as they stepped off the stairs and hurried toward the keep doors. “He does no’ ken she’s already married to me, then.”

“Well, he did no’ ken it at the time,” Aulay agreed, and then caught his arm, drawing him to a halt as he cautioned, “But he may ken by now.”

Geordie’s mouth tightened. “If he’s hurt her, I’m killing him.” He waited for Aulay’s nod of assent and then turned to continue to the door, only to pause again when he saw Dwyn’s father enter, spot them and move their way.

When Geordie offered the man an abrupt nod of greeting, James Innes said, “Geordie, I ken ye think little o’ me, that ye do no’ approve o’ how I raised me Dwyn and that ye think me a selfish old bastard. But I love me daughter. All o’ me daughters,” he added, casting a glance to Una and Aileen, who had moved up beside them. Turning back to Geordie, he said, “We have to get Dwyn back, Geordie. Brodie’s no’ just a brutal bastard, he’s no’ right in the head. We need to get her back.”

“We will,” Geordie assured him, clamping a reassuring hand on his shoulder briefly before moving past him to push through the keep doors. He was halfway down the steps before he bothered to glance around, and then he paused when he saw the men all gathered on horseback in the bailey. Nearly every last Buchanan warrior was mounted and waiting, but they weren’t alone. There were soldiers carrying the banners from each clan his sister and brothers belonged to, as well as the MacKays, MacLeods and Sinclairs, and of course the Inneses. They were the soldiers that had escorted his in-laws, his family members and family friends here. Combined, they easily matched the Buchanan warriors in number.

“So this is what it means to have the Buchanans backing ye,” James Innes said with awe.

Geordie heard him, but he had turned to his brother in question.

It was Saidh who answered the silent query. Moving down another step until she could have put her head on his shoulder if she’d wanted, she said, “Ye did no’ think we would no’ back ye up, did ye?”

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