Page 95 of Promised to the Forbidden Laird

The words undid her. The sensation broke through her suddenly, warm, powerful and overwhelming, with his fingers moving over her throbbing flower. Donaldina’s body trembled as pleasure swept through her, leaving her breathless and clinging to him.

For one startled instant, she feared the intensity of it. Then Roy’s arms closed securely around her. He held her through every shiver, his mouth resting against her temple while her heart struck wildly beneath her ribs.

She had heard women speak in guarded whispers of passion, but their careful words had never suggested anything like this: the helpless sweetness of it, the trust, or the astonishing comfort of discovering that she could surrender without being made powerless.

Roy kissed her hair. Donaldina slowly opened her eyes.

For the first time since Cormac had taken her, her body felt entirely her own again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Roy learned that maps possessed an unfortunate talent for making danger appear reasonable. Spread across the council table, Cormac’s possible hiding places became no more than dark marks upon parchment: a hunting lodge in the western woods, caves beside the inland river, ruined encampments abandoned after old clan quarrels and narrow glens where a dozen armed men might vanish for weeks.

The map did not show Donaldina bound inside one of those places. It did not show blood upon her wrists or the terror she had concealed until she reached the safety of her chamber.

Ink was considerably kinder than truth.

Roy stood at the head of the council table with one hand resting beside the western coast. Captains from both clans crowded the great hall, their wet cloaks steaming faintly in the heat of the fires. MacIver warriors occupied one side of the table and MacNicol men the other, though the distinction had become less precise with every patrol they shared.

Donaldina was seated beside him. She wore deep green wool, her hair braided at the nape of her neck, and the healing cuts on her wrists concealed beneath narrow linen bands. No one looking at her composed face would have guessed how violently she had trembled the night before.

Roy knew. The knowledge lived beneath every thought he possessed.

“The eastern road is watched from the town tae Dun Ard,” Hamish reported. He placed a wooden marker beside the route. “Two riders at each crossing and four men stationed near the upper bridge.”

“Too few,” Roy said.

“The bridge is narrow.”

“So is a grave.”

Hamish’s mouth tightened, but he moved another marker into position.

Malcolm leaned over the map. “Cormac lost men at the lodge. He may retreat north and seek aid among the smaller clans.”

“Or he may remain near enough tae watch us searching farther away,” Donaldina said.

The council quieted.

She reached across the parchment, placing one finger upon the western woods. “Cormac knows Dun Ard. He knows which roads we use, which guards are likely tae be trusted and how quickly rumors travel between the coastal villages.”

Roy looked at the route beneath her hand.

“He willnae require a large force if he intends sabotage rather than open attack,” she continued. “A few men could strike the fishing stores, poison a well or burn winter grain before disappearing intae the trees.”

Finlay frowned. “He wouldnae destroy MacNicol stores.”

Donaldina looked at him. “He dragged the last MacNicol heir from a festival and imprisoned her in an abandoned lodge.”

Finlay lowered his eyes. Roy felt a grim satisfaction which lasted no longer than a breath. Donaldina should not have been required to defend the truth of what happened to her before men who witnessed Cormac’s treachery from the beginning.

He placed another marker beside the coastal path. “MacIver riders will cover the northern road. MacNicol men ken the western woods more closely. They will search the old encampments and every cave within half a day’s ride.”

One of the MacNicol captains shifted uneasily. “Me laird, some of the caves flood when the tide changes.”

“Then send men who ken the tides.”

Donaldina glanced toward him. Roy recognized the warning in her expression. His temper had sharpened his voice more than the captain deserved. He forced his hand to loosen upon the table.