Read Online Highlander Medieval 06 - Her Highland Hero by Terry Spear - Free Book Online Page B

knew he meant to lift her into his saddle, but she feared that once he had hold of her, he’d return her to the keep and the other men would go after her escort.
    She quickly pulled out her sgian dubh and took a stance that said she was serious about this. She would not be thwarted in her task.
    “My lady,” Sir Halloran said, trying to persuade her to listen to reason and sounding perfectly disgruntled. “If your father knew what you have done, he would have all our heads.”
    She wouldn’t budge and he finally waited for her to agree to let him take her home. When the horses’ hooves had faded off in the distance, and she turned to see that her escort was long gone, she sheathed her sgian dubh . The knight dismounted and lifted her onto his saddle.
    “I could have taken you,” he said, “easily. But I wished to show goodwill toward the men who returned you safely.”
    “Thank you.”
    “But your father will be most displeased.”
    She knew she could only further displease him if she continued to want to be with Marcus and her father denied her the chance to do so.
    Now that she knew Marcus would live, the next time she left the castle, it would be to find a safe haven far from her father’s reach, and she prayed he would change his mind about wedding her to someone other than Marcus.

Chapter 6
    Marcus couldn’t believe that Isobel had managed to see him alone and while the fighting was going on. Though he had been glad to share a moment with her, he wouldn’t stop worrying about her safety until Rob returned safely himself. Marcus scowled at Finbar.
    “Mary said her charge would find a way to slip out somehow to see you as determined as she was. She thought it safer for her if she had an escort,” Finbar explained, his arms folded, his demeanor as stubborn as any of his kinsmen.
    Still feeling tired, Marcus couldn’t agree or disagree with Finbar’s comment. But if Isobel didn’t make it safely back, or his own kinsmen died en route…
    He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. As soon as he heard voices speaking low in the room, he woke to find candlelight reflecting off the walls and Rob had returned safely.
    “Isobel?” he asked immediately.
    “She protected us.” Rob smiled. “With her sgian dubh , she threatened her da’s people if they should ride into battle against us. They left us in peace. The good news is that Pembroke arranged a tentative peace between the Scots and the English. I spoke with him myself, and he sends his regrets about your injury. He asked if there were any more men who attacked you, or just the one. When I told him there were three, he fully intended to find the others and hunt them down.”
    “Three was enough. Why would he know of only the one?”
    Rob shrugged. “I wonder if whoever paid them tried to get rid of the bodies to hide the evidence. Since the men who attacked you are dead, he felt the matter closed.”
    “You told him what the one man said, aye? These men were doing a task for another, most likely a lord vying for Isobel’s hand in marriage.”
    “Aye. I told him just that. Pembroke did not feel that was the case. No evidence exists to back up the claim.”
    “‘Tis as plain as the tusks on a wild boar.” Marcus grunted. “If a peace agreement of sorts has been reached, the bad news is Pembroke doesna need me to convince the Scots to stand down in exchange for my wedding Isobel.”
    “Aye. The other good news is that before we parted ways, he said he willna have Isobel wed anyone for a couple of months. He wouldna say for certain why, but I got the impression he was rethinking the situation as far as your injury was concerned and wouldna want his daughter to marry a man who would have had you killed. But know this, the lass will wed you—her words—and if you wed another in the interim, it will go badly for you.”
    Marcus smiled. He loved her and if it was in his power to do so, they would be wed.
    ***
    After returning to Lochaven, and for