MacAlister - Taming The Scotsman Part 33

Another feud.

More unwarranted deaths...

"She belongs to Ryan," he said insistently, shrugging her hand away. "You heard what he said. He wanted her so much that he dared my wrath to hire you to keep her away from me."

Ewan paused as he thought about that. "Wait... how did he know to hireyou ? How could he have found out about Nora's plans, and then having learned of them, why did Ryan go to you and not her father to stop her from fleeing?"

Catarina looked rather sheepish.

She stepped back, her brow fretful.

A bad feeling came over Ewan as he watched her sudden nervousness. Just what was going on here?

"Cat? What are you not telling me?"

She visibly cringed. "Promise you won't be angry at us?"

"Nay," he said sternly. "I never make a promise I can't keep, and by the looks of you, la.s.s, I be thinking I'm going to be good and angry at this explanation."

She took another step back.

Ewan grabbed her wrist to keep her from fleeing. "You'd best be telling me, Cat."

She squirmed uncomfortably under his scrutiny, and when she finally spoke, it came out in a flurry. "Her father wanted Nora to marry a MacAllister. He's been trying to arrange a marriage for a while now between your families, and since Braden and Sin are both recently married, he got a bit worried that some woman would grabyour interest and he would lose out on uniting your two families."

Ewan scowled at her words. It didn't make sense that Nora's father would want him for a son-in-law.

"Why would he wish to marry her to a younger son?"

Catarina cleared her throat. "Because the MacAllister clan will ever come first to Lochlan. Alex wanted a younger son who could take over his clan's leaders.h.i.+p and yet be able to pull MacAllister strength if needs be."

Ewan went cold at the name.

"Alex?" he repeated slowly in disbelief.

There was only one Alex who had ever broached the subject of marriage with one of his brothers.

"Are you saying Alexander Canmore is her father?"

Catarina nodded.

Ewan cursed. Loudly.

This was truly unbelievable. Aye, her father would have his head.

Both of them.

"Her father is the cousin to the king of Scotland?" he roared.

Catarina offered him a forced smile. "Surprise."

Ewan felt sick to his stomach as the full weight of what he'd done with Nora came cras.h.i.+ng down on him.

He was a dead man should her father ever learn what they'd done.

"She said she was Eleanor's niece."

"She is. Her mother is sister to Eleanor. She married Alex years ago when he was in Paris."

Ewan cursed again as he remembered Alexander had married a French lady. It had never dawned on him that she would be sister to one of the most powerful women in all of Christendom.

Anymore than he would haveever believed Nora to be Alexander's daughter. No wonder she had failed to tell him her clan's status or her father's name. No man in his right mind would dare lead her out of the country and risk her father's wrath.

Alexander Canmore was known for his furious wrath and quick retaliation.

Sweet holy Mary, he'd slept with the niece and cousin of two kings!

Lochlan would kill him for this, and G.o.d only knew what her father would do to him...

How could this have happened?

Well, he knewhow it had happened, but why?

Aye, he was a fool. One destined for an ugly castration.

With a blunted instrument.

As his mind played through the horror of his situation, Ewan realized Catarina seemed to know a lot about this whole affair, and he wondered what other information she was withholding.

"You knew Ryan was the one who hired you to abduct me?"

This time she didn't even try to hide from him. "Aye, I knew it. Viktor and Bavel didn't. They had never seen Ryan before, but I had."

"When?"

"A few times at Alex's castle."

Ewan scowled. "You seem rather familiar with Alexander Canmore."

"He and my mother are friends. They were very close in their youths."

Something in her tone made him wonder if she might be one of Alexander's illegitimate children. But that was none of his business.

He had more pressing worries at hand.

"So why did you bring me here to meet Ryan, then, if you knew what he wanted?"

"To be honest, I didn't think Ryan would have the audacity to be here when we arrived with you, and her father wanted me to keep the two of you together for as long as possible. When I told him Ryan had tried to hire Viktor to kidnap you, he thought it would be a good way to give you two more time together. He was certain you would grow to love Nora if you were around her long enough."

Ewan let out a long, deep breath.

Suddenly everything made sense.

Well, noteverything , but many things were a lot clearer.

Her guard abandoning her at his cave.

Some of the odder comments the gypsies had made over the last few days.

But one thing still didn't make sense.

"Why would he entrust her to me?" Ewan asked. "How did he know I wouldn't hurt her?"

Catarina looked as if he'd just asked her the dumbest question on earth. "Because you're a MacAllister and your family honor is the law all of you live by. He knew you would never let her come to harm."

Ewan snorted at that. "The man is still a fool. I would never have taken such a chance withmy daughter's life, and I find it hard to believe that he would be so careless with hers."

"Well to be honest, that's why he sent us. We were to keep you together and to keep watch on you to make sure you didn't hurt her."

"But why send gypsies?"

She smiled at that. "We're not all gypsies. Lysander is one of Alex's men and Pagan is a good friend of his. That's why the two of them refused to fight you with a sword after Nora disarmed Lysander. Had you engaged either of them, you would have known immediately they were knights trained for battle and not peasants."

"And you?"

"My mother is a peasant and I fall under Alex for my protection. Viktor is my uncle and Bavel my cousin."

Ewan shook his head. "I canna believe I was duped so easily."

"Don't blame Nora-"

"Believe me," he said, interrupting her, "I don't. 'Tis her father I want to murder. How could he play with people's lives like this?"

"Ewan?" Nora's voice rang out.

Ewan looked past Catarina to see Nora standing at the opening of the stable.

Nora seemed nervous and uncertain as she looked at them together. "Could you please come out here for a moment?"

He frowned at her words. "Nora, there's nothing."

"Please, Ewan," she stressed the words. "I trulyneed you to come outside alone. Now."

His frown turned into a scowl at her insistent tone. She sounded more like a mother trying to rein in an ill-bred child than a woman who should be contrite for her father's behavior.

Angry, he headed for her.

It wasn't until he neared the entrance that he saw she wasn't alone.

Graham MacKaid was with her, and he had a dagger held to her throat. His two brothers flanked him.

"Make a move and she's dead."

Ewan froze. He wanted to turn around to see if Catarina was still in the stable, but didn't dare, lest he get her into trouble as well. With any luck, she would be able to sneak out and get one of the others to help with this.

"You wouldn't dare harm her," Ewan said slowly, stepping forward with his arms held up nonthreateningly so that Graham wouldn't get nervous and hurt Nora out of fear.

"Wouldn't dare kill the king's cousin?" Graham said his next words loudly as if wanting everyone to hear them. "Ewan MacAllister will kill whomever he pleases."

Ewan took another step forward, intending to end this once and for all.

"One more step," Graham snarled, "and she's headless."

Ewan stopped instantly.

He met Nora's fear-filled eyes and tried to offer her comfort. He had no intention of letting her be hurt by Graham or anyone else.

Whatever it took, he would see her safe.

"What do you want?" Ewan asked.

Graham smiled snidely. "You to stand there while my brothers take you."

Ewan heard Catarina in the stable, and his heart lurched in fear of Graham and his brothers finding her there. They wouldn't hesitate to kill Catarina.

He didn't know what Cat had planned, but she always had something planned. He only hoped she executed it carefully.

Ewan stood in silence as Graham's two brothers tied his hands behind his back.

"Excuse me," a villager said, drawing near them hesitantly. "Is there a problem here?"

"King's business," Graham snapped. "Isn't it, my lady?"

By her pale face, Ewan knew Nora longed to tell the truth, but didn't dare. The truth would get both of them killed and probably the good Samaritan too.

"Aye. There's no problem."

The old villager looked less than convinced but went on his way.

The taller of Graham's brothers was still a full head shorter than Ewan. He had dark brown hair and mean brown eyes. He grabbed Ewan by the hair and forced him onto a horse.

Ewan kept waiting for Catarina or one of the others to come and distract them.

They didn't.

So in the end, the MacKaids mounted their horses and he had to watch helplessly as Nora was placed in front of Graham.

He saw the pallor on her face. The fear and concern.