Read Online Much Ado About Highlanders (The Scottish Relic Trilogy) by May McGoldrick - Free Book Online

places.
    “I like you when you’re submissive like this.”
    Her knee was intended to connect with his groin, but he was too quick. He rolled them until she was straddling his lap.
    “You don’t need to unman me. Speak to me. You can be on top. I won’t argue.”
    “Untie me, you qualling measle,” she demanded. “Everyone’s gone, including Emily. What have you done to her? Where did they all go?”
    A moment later, she was free. He moved across their camp. She stretched her sore arms and limped after him. The others were definitely gone.
    Alexander disappeared into the woods. Kenna noticed a bag left by the fire. She rummaged through it. Another blanket, some dried meat, and oatcakes.
    He came back carrying a sword in its sheath. He strapped the weapon to his belt.
    “Where is everyone?” she asked again. “Where is Emily?”
    “James must have taken her, and not too long ago.”
    “But why? Where are the horses? We have to go after them.”
    “They’ve taken those, too,” he said.
    “Why? There has to be a mistake.”
    “I don’t think so.” He looked around the camp. “We’ve been abandoned . . . for some reason.”
    She threw up her hands in frustration. “But why would anyone do such a thing? Are they insane? Weren’t they afraid I might cut your throat while you slept?”
    “The thought must have crossed their minds. James left my sword where the horses were tied, out of your reach.”
    He crouched by the fire, pawing through the food.
    Kenna couldn’t believe how calm he seemed in light of everything. Deserted with no shelter and still on MacDougall land. After what the Macphersons did yesterday, she wouldn’t be surprised if there was a price on Alexander’s head. “Emily wouldn’t go with them without putting up a fight. She must have been kidnapped.”
    “She
was
kidnapped. Yesterday,” he reminded her, looking amused. He took a bite of dried meat. “But from the looks of things, she didn’t put up a fight or call for help.”
    “Maybe she did. You sleep like the dead.”
    “And what about you? Did you hear her?”
    Kenna hadn’t. She recalled last night before falling asleep that she’d found it peculiar that Emily appeared to be so comfortable with James Macpherson. Would her cousin do that? Run away with a Highlander? Would she abandon her? No, none of that made sense.
    “Emily has a reputation she protects fiercely, never mind an upcoming marriage. I wouldn’t even be here if she hadn’t refused to be alone with you and your brother.”
    “Her reputation is safe. The abbot saw you two were together. That will be enough until we hand her over to her father in exchange for our ship.”
    “The MacDougalls won’t return your ship unless I’m returned. Don’t forget—I was kidnapped, too.”
    “You overestimate your value. You were taken by your husband.”
    “That’s still kidnapping.”
    “Not in the eyes of the Macphersons or the MacKays. Your father suggested many times that I should ride over to Glosters Priory and reclaim my wife.”
    Her father would say that. Magnus MacKay had only two things he valued: keeping his sons safe and protecting his clan’s future. He needed the Macpherson warriors. And Kenna was just a marker in the exchange. As far as he was concerned, she had no voice in what was to become of her life.
    “I’ll not be a sack of grain to belong to the highest bidder.”
    “That’s exactly what I told your father. I said Kenna is more like a Scots Grey or a bearded collie.”
    “So I’m a chicken . . . or a dog?” She could hurt him. She wanted to hurt him. She wanted to hurt someone. She moved toward him, hand outstretched. “My dirk. I want it back.”
    He pushed to his feet, backing up. “Only a fool would hand Kenna MacKay a weapon when she’s this unsettled.”
    “And a bigger fool would think he’s safe in the wilderness, no matter what scheme my father or your brother has been devising to bring me to my knees. It won’t