Page 39 of A Highlander's Vow

She placed her hand at her hip and smirked. “That was the reason for all the men following me. And here I thought I had become so bonny that I was attracting men.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “Ye doona need any other mon but me.”

She patted his arm. “Aye.”

Daniel motioned to Gregory and Evan. “We will meet them at the gate.”

Megan grabbed onto Gregory’s sleeve. “I am coming, too.”

“Nay. Ye stay here.”

“Why? Ye ken why they are here. I should be allowed to speak for myself.”

“’Tis dangerous.”

She continued to hold onto his sleeve as he walked, running to keep up with him. “’Twould ne’er be dangerous for me with ye alongside me.”

Gregory came to an abrupt halt and looked down at her. “’Tis true, lass. I would ne’er let anyone hurt ye.”

She flushed and instead of trying to get her to stay in the keep, he took her hand. They linked fingers and walked together to the gate.

Daniel was already there with Evan alongside him, talking with Anthony and The Gunn.

“There she is!” The Gunn pointed at her. “My intended wife. I shall take her with me now.”

Gregory tensed and held onto Megan’s hand a tad tighter. “Ye have wasted yer time, Gunn. Megan and I are married, so she canno’ marry ye.”

The man whipped out a piece of parchment from his pouch and waved it. “This is a direct order from the king. Lady Megan Sinclair is to marry me.”

A bit taken aback by that news, he wrapped his arm around his wife as she whimpered.

Daniel stepped forward and reached out. “I would see that paper.” He moved back to where Evan, Gregory, and Megan stood. He opened it up and read it, then handed it to Gregory.

It was an order from the king that Robert Sinclair’s widow was to marry Laird Stephen Angus Gunn of the Gunn Clan immediately upreceipt of this order and it was signed by King George II, with his seal upon the paper.

Gregory tossed it back to The Gunn. “’Tis no matter to me because Megan Mackenzie and I were married before a priest of the church a couple of weeks ago.”

“There can be an annulment,” The Gunn shouted.

Gregory grinned and looked down at Megan. “Nay, there is no reason for an annulment.”

All the soldiers standing behind Daniel, Evan, Gregory, and Megan drew their swords.

“As stated, there are no grounds for an annulment, so I suggest ye take yer men and return home. Megan Makenzie is a member of the Mackenzie Clan now and as her laird I will not permit her to leave with the two of ye,” Daniel said.

Gregory knew exactly what those words meant. Daniel had refused an order of the king and he must have known the two men trying to rip his wife from him would not let it go.

The two men now had the monarch behind them.

“I would offer ye food and drink, but considering what ye came here for, I doona trust ye in my keep.” Daniel placed his hands on his hips and studied the men.

“’Tis an outrage!” The Gunn screamed. He waved the order toward Megan. “Ye canno’ defy an order of the king.”

The men behind the Mackenzie clan members, who still had their swords out, moved forward. Evan spoke. “My men will see ye out of the castle.”

Even though the Gunn and Sinclair had men behind them, too, Sinclair turned and waved his men toward the gate. A wise decision since Daniel could empty out the men practicing on the list and slaughter the ones with Gunn and Sinclair in a matter of minutes.

Once they were gone, Megan turned to Gregory, her hands twisting. “What are we going to do? Will I have to marry The Gunn?”

Gregory took both of her hands in his. “Calm yerself, lass. No one will make ye marry anyone because ye are mine. He can bring the king right here and I will no’ let ye go.”

She burst into tears, and Gregory wrapped his arms around her. Daniel, Evan, and the other men left them and returned to the keep.