Read Online Highland Captive by Hannah Howell - Free Book Online Page B

raided the Ferguesons, Parlan had hoped to find Rory within his
sword’s reach, but the man had always eluded him. Fondling the lush hair
tangled around Aimil’s face, Parlan knew he could not let her fall into that
man’s hands. Getting up, he donned his robe and strode off to Leith Mengue’s
chambers.
    Leith
glared at the man who had awakened him and had just come from taking Aimil’s
virtue. “What do ye want?”
    “Is
Aimil betrothed to Rory Fergueson?”
    “Aye,
since the cradle,” Leith answered, curious over the agitation he sensed in the
larger man, “though I had forgotten the matter until the day we were captured.
The wedding plans were being set and that caused me to recall the arrangement.”
    “Doesnae
Lachlan ken the sort of man Rory Fergueson is?”
    “I
cannae think he hasnae heard the rumors. ‘Tis an old arrangement that cannae be
broken because of rumor. Of course,” he added coldly, “Rory might weel break
the betrothal now that ye have stolen Aimil’s honor. Few men want to wed
another’s leavings.”
    “Stolen
her honor I may have, laddie, but I havenae hurt her in the doing of it. Rory
Fergueson will kill her.”
    The
charge was made with such conviction that all of Leith’s thoughts of Parlan’s
crimes fled. “Do ye have proof to back your charge?”
    “Nay,
curse it. Five years back he and my cousin Morna, were lovers. She thought he
would wed her, told me of her hopes, for she had been a virgin when he had
taken her. Then her hopes changed. She became afeard of the man though she
wouldnae tell me why. When she told me she was ending the affair, I was pleased
for I had never liked it, but she wasnae a verra comely lass and I felt she
ought to have her moment.”
    “What
happened?” Leith prodded when Parlan fell into a brooding silence.
    “The
next morn she was found dead. If it wasnae for the ring and dress she wore, we
wouldnae have kenned who she was she was beaten so badly. She had been used so
harshly the women who treated her said she was torn up inside. I have no proof
but each thing I have learned of the man since then tells me t’was him, and I
have studied him verra closely. The man has left a long, bloodied trail of
women who are too afraid to speak against him or who are dead, leaving no proof
‘tis Rory doing the killing. The beast covers his tracks weel. I must have
proof and then I can cut him down wherever and whenever I find him.”
    Leith
did not question Parlan’s conviction of Rory’s guilt. “All I can do is speak to
my father. He is the law.”
    “It
isnae enough.”
    “What
ye have done this night just might be.” Leith did not really want to think that
Parlan might have done Aimil a favor.
    “Nay.
T’will depend upon how badly Rory wants her or what is to be gained through the
marriage.”
    “I
cannae give ye an answer to either of those.”
    Parlan
swore and ran his hand through his hair, unable to conceal his agitation. “I
cannae allow this marriage.”
    “Ye
cannae allow it?” Leith glared at the man. “Ye are a MacGuin nae a Mengue.
‘Tisnae your place to allow or to disallow.”
    “Aye,
but ‘tis I who hold her now.”
    “She
is to be ransomed. T’was said ye would send word to my father on the morrow.”
    “Ransoming
can be a difficult business,” Parlan drawled, quickly putting together a plan. “A
lot of haggling may need doing. Could take a verra long time.”
    “Rory
may wait.” Leith found himself uncomfortably allied with Parlan to stop Aimil’s
marriage to Rory.
    “Aye,
and he might weel expose himself as the depraved bastard he is. Surely your
father would stop the marriage then?”
    “I
cannae say,” Leith reluctantly admitted. “Since she first showed signs of
womanhood, he has been blind to her existence. I was meaning to speak to him on
the marriage, but your brother captured Aimil and me. Rory’s uncle, James, and
my father were like brothers. They both wanted the families joined in marriage.
James died