Page 43 of Her Forbidden Highlander Husband

He stopped when caught a glimpse of red-gold hair. His wife was leaving the bailey with a maid. She carried a bundle and he wondered what business she had in the village. Especially one that had her hurrying so with dark nearly upon them.

Rather than earn her ire for intruding, he held back and followed his wife from a distance.

His curiosity rose as she passed the shops that stood closer to the castle. Winding through the cottages, he watched. Finally at the far end of the homes she came to an abrupt stop. She paced a few steps and wiped at her cheeks.

He saw a man he’d never met standing at the edge of the woods with two horses. The man flipped a coin to the maid and the girl rushed off, a wide smile on her face.

What was this? Evelyn stepped away from the man, but he didn’t respect the space she’d put between them. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward the horses.

Liam heard the slightest whimper from his wife, followed by the rasp of metal as he drew his sword. What happened next he couldn’t be certain as his vision had gone to a red haze. When he came back to himself, the man lay dead at his feet and Ev was sobbing in his arms.

“Who is he?” Liam’s voice sounded icy in his ears.

“A Stewart.”

“Your father sent him?” The word came out of Liam’s mouth as a curse. The man had no right to such a title for how he treated his only daughter. Could he not leave her to peace? She was happy here. Or could be. It seemed the man didn’t want her, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“Aye. He-he…” She struggled to speak. “He has threatened war with the MacKinlays if I don’t return immediately.”

Liam didn’t let go of her, worried she’d fall if he didn’t hold her up.

“And you were just going to leave? Without so much as a word before you rode out?” He understood the power her father had over her. She’d not liked disappointing the man. She’d allowed him to send Gwennie to the village and forbid Ev from seeing her.

Liam couldn’t blame her in that, for he knew well the power of wanting to please someone. He’d have done anything for the old laird and did. He never wanted the man to regret taking him in.

“I thought maybe if I went to him and explained, he’d let me go.”

“And if he didn’t let you go?”

She frowned. “It’s not fair to make you choose between me and your clan. You’re the war chief and it’s your duty to protect your people. If I become a threat—I thought I could stop him before that happened. Before you were forced to make a decision.”

“When I married ye, I promised I’d protect you. Do you remember my words?” he asked.

She nodded. “But I don’t want to bring trouble to Dunardry. And I won’t take Gwennie away from here. This is her home.”

“She’ll be cared for and happy because you will be here to see to it. This is your home as well. We’ll find a way to settle Hugh Stewart and keep you here where ye belong. Do you trust me to do so?”

She looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. “Liam…”

“You’re my wife. I’ll not give you up so easily.”

“But the clan—”

“My laird will support us on this. He doesn’t take kindly to other lairds taking his people by force.”

“I shouldn’t have married you. It was a mistake.”

Liam felt like she’d run him through with a dagger. He’d known she hadn’t wanted to marry him. She’d seen him as a way to get to be with her daughter. But he’d thought things had changed over the last few days. After what they’d shared and had planned to share that night.

But he saw now things hadn’t changed at all.

…

It took Evelyn a few hours to calm down enough to write a response to her father. She’d started with begging, then anger, and finally resolve. In the end, it was no more than a few lines.

She still hadn’t told Liam that her father had promised her to the Morgan heir. And she hadn’t shared the letter the messenger had brought with her father’s compromise to include Gwennie in the match. Liam assumed her father was just angry at their defiance. She was a coward.

As she’d said, she should not have married him. It had been a mistake to get him involved. She should have left with Gwennie on her own, long ago and gone somewhere her father wouldn’t have found her. But the last time she’d gone away on her own she’d been captured by the McCurdys. She’d been afraid to leave the Stewart lands on her own again. But binding herself to Liam had given her father only more leverage to bend her to his will. Another person to be used against her.