Page 87 of Promised to the Forbidden Laird

Cormac dismounted. Mud darkened his boots and one side of his cloak. His face appeared pale beneath the moonlight, drawn with exhaustion and triumph.

He removed the cloth from her mouth. Donaldina drew in a desperate breath of cold air.

“I shall see every one of ye hanged,” she snarled.

Cormac smiled without amusement. “Inside.”

Donaldina planted her feet. Two men seized her arms. She fought them along every step, forcing them to drag rather than lead her through the doorway.

The lodge smelled of damp stone, old smoke and rotting wood. A fire had been lit in the central hearth, though it gave more smoke than warmth. Rough blankets lay near one wall. Sacks of grain, water skins and weapons were stacked beneath the windows.

He drew a knife. Donaldina held herself still as he cut the ropes around her wrists. The hemp fell away, revealing swollen skin and streaks of blood. She rubbed her hands together, restoring sensation one painful finger at a time.

Four armed men remained inside the lodge. Others stood beyond the windows and door.

“What dae ye imagine this achieves?” she asked. “Roy will follow.”

“MacIver,” Cormac spoke the name as though it were poison. “Everything returns tae him, while I spent years building order within Clan MacNicol.”

Donaldina stepped closer, though every instinct warned her not to place herself within his reach.

Cormac turned away, pacing before the hearth.

“The clans were ready tae accept me. The council understood Dun Ard required a man who kent its people. Then MacIver arrived beneath the King’s decree, carrying foreign soldiers intae our hall and claiming authority through a marriage promised eight years… He took everything.”

“Nae,” Donaldina said quietly. “He revealed what ye were willing tae take.”

The words seemed to wound him.

“There is one way tae save the clan.”

Donaldina already knew what he would say. Still, hearing it spoken made revulsion crawl across her skin.

“Marry me.”

She looked directly into his eyes. “I would sooner die than marry ye.”

The room became silent. Even the men beside the walls seemed to stop breathing.

Cormac’s face changed. The careful councilman vanished. So did the aggrieved protector and the man pretending his ambition served the clan. Rage remained, naked and trembling.

He seized her arm. Donaldina gasped as his fingers closed over the bruises left by the abduction.

“Then ye will stay here,” he declared. “Days. Weeks! And ye will remain me prisoner until yer people learn obedience.”

He released her with a shove. Donaldina stumbled but remained upright. She folded her injured hands before her so that no one would see them tremble.

“Ye misunderstand me clan,” she said. “And ye misunderstand Roy.”

Cormac smiled. “He will come raging through the forest. That is what I expect.”

Donaldina’s heart struck hard against her ribs.

Cormac had set a trap.

She looked toward the narrow window. Through the crooked shutter, the forest appeared dark and quiet under the night. Somewhere within it, Roy was coming. Cormac thought this would make him predictable, but Donaldina knew better. His rage might lead him to the lodge. But his love would make him careful enough to bring her home.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO