Read Online The Return of Black Douglas by Elaine Coffman - Free Book Online

disappeared into the trees. “Well, if that doesn’t beat all. I know a trip through time was probably rough on us, but we can’t look that bad.”
    Isobella smiled. “I don’t know about myself, but you look as beautiful as ever.” And that was true. The sun glinted off Elisabeth’s neat ponytail of curly auburn hair, dusting it with gold. Her jeans had nary a wrinkle and her T-shirt looked as if it had never seen a smudge.
    Isobella knew her loose hair looked wild as a milkweed pod. Her shirt and shorts were wrinkled. She was always the one who never seemed to reach an agreement with the word “neat.” The last time she had been spotless was lying beside her twin in the nursery, when they had both been scrubbed to a rosy hue and dressed in identical pink gowns.
    Elisabeth gazed at the place where the men disappeared. “I have to say that wasn’t exactly the outcome I expected. What happened to barbaric charge and capture, or chivalrous rescue?”
    Isobella shrugged. “I guess we aren’t as high on the food chain as we thought. Perhaps they are still frightened by our sudden appearance. On the other hand, you may be right about them thinking we are witches. We did sort of pop out of nowhere.”
    “So, what do we do now?”
    Before Isobella could respond, they heard a faint rumbling like thunder in the distance. She gazed at the clear sky. Where was the thunder coming from? Suddenly, she realized the thunderous sound was horses, fast approaching.
    They turned in time to see four men burst out of the underbrush and come charging toward them. Isobella wondered if they were the same four men who had been chased off moments ago, but when she saw one had his sword drawn, she didn’t really care to find out. She yelled to Elisabeth, “Run!”
    Isobella took off running with Elisabeth right behind her. The terrifying sound of thundering hooves grew louder as the men covered the distance between them. These men meant business, and she wondered if they had traveled back through time to be hacked to death by barbarians.
    Suddenly, Elisabeth screamed. Isobella turned around quickly, ready to go to Isobella’s aid, when she watched, horrified, as Elisabeth was swept up by a warrior and onto his horse.
    Isobella broke into a dead run, but in her haste, she did not notice a loose bed of stones treacherously close to the edge of a ravine. As she ran across them, they slid out from under her and she went over the edge on a carpet of flying stones.
    ***
    Alysandir might have ridden away without another thought, had they not heard the Macleans bursting out of the trees. He turned and saw them riding like banshees were after them, heading toward the clearing in the glen where the two women waited.
    A spine-chilling scream shattered the silence. He saw that Colin and Drust were waiting for him to say something. He knew they were itching to ride like avenging angels, to deliver the two tarnished damsels from danger.
    Beware, his mind seemed to say, not knowing whether it was a prophetic sign or his own hard heart that was reluctant to engage in a chivalrous rescue. With a heart heavy as stone and a feeling he should ride like hell in the opposite direction, he spurred Gallagher and rode toward the glen. He did not look back, for he knew his brothers followed with eager anticipation.
    When they galloped into the clearing, the Macleans rode away—one rider with a woman slung over his saddle. Alysandir looked for the other woman and watched as she went sliding over the side of a crag. He turned to his brothers. “Go after the Macleans and retrieve the lass. Meet me back at Màrrach. I will go after the clumsy one.”
    Grinning like two buffoons, his brothers turned around, and with a touch of spurs to flanks, their horses leapt forward and broke into a fast gallop.
    ***
    Isobella fell and kept on falling, tumbling and rolling like a tossed die, as she was battered by rocks, as well as the scratch and claw of gorse, bracken, and