The laird did the same, fixing his gaze on Eian, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Ye wished to speak with me Mac Coinnach? Speak. I am a verra busy man."
Eian did not hesitate. "I wish to wed yer niece, Allia. I would bring her to Creagmor with me, and she would be verra well provided for." There, might as well get straight to the point.
"No."
"No?" Eian leaned forward in his seat, not entirely surprised at the answer, but not willing to give up. He would rather do this the proper way for the good of everyone involved, especially his brother who would have to deal with any political fall-out. But improper would work too. It had never held him back before, and Bren always forgave him… eventually. "I beg ye to reconsider. It would be a good match."
Leon snorted at that. "A good match? To a third son? My niece can do much better than that. Have ye no’ seen her? She’s a beautiful creature… and charming too. There is no shortage of offers for her hand, in fact I already have negotiations well underway."
Eian pressed his lips together for a moment, trying to control his anger before he spoke. "I have money and power in my own right, third son or no'. I am a Mac Coinnach, brother to the chief!"
"Aye, I ken who ye are, lad. But as I have just told ye, I have other plans for my niece."
Eian stood, clenching his fists at his sides. Over his dead body would Allia ever marry another. She was his, damn it! Fate had made it so.
He was careful to keep his voice even when he spoke. "I understand. Thank ye for yer time." He turned toward the door, but Leon called after him.
"I will be watching ye, Eian Mac Coinnach. Ken this well: I dinna want war with the Mac Coinnachs, but I will do whatever is necessary to protect what is mine."
Eian turned to look at him, his face carefully expressionless. "Aye, as would I."
When the door closed, Leon folded his hands behind his head and smiled.
***
It had been a week.She had given it a week.Okay, only five days, but close enough.Evidently, she didn’t belonghereanymore, either, because for five days she had felt as if she were absolutely about to crawl out of her skin. Great,just great! Now she belonged nowhere. She had everything back that she thought she had been missing, and still she wasn’t happy. In fact she was completely miserable. She was still staying at the inn, unable to even bring herself to travel back to her apartment. Now she understood why: she would have had to turn around and come right back here again. After what had to have been the worst five days of her life, Allia was ready to step back through those stones and take her chances on the other side.
Only when she was asleep was she at peace here, because she dreamt each night of Eian Mac Coinnach. In her dreams she kissed him, made love to him. He held her in his arms. It was almost as if… she were being physically compelled to return to him, and try as she might, she just couldn’t hold out any longer. Had he cast some sort of spell on her? The thought had definitely crossed her mind, not that there was much she could do about it from here. If she went back, maybe she could find a sorcerer or someone to remove it. Love spells weren’t unheard of, were they?
Allia tossed a meager bag of necessities over her shoulder and heaved a big, heart wrenching sigh. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. Icannot believeI’m actually going to be this stupid.”
She looked around, but there was no one there to talk her out of going back. There was also no guarantee that she would be able to escape again, if things went wrong. But she couldn’t stay here, either. Not when she was completely and utterly infatuated with a gorgeous… womanizer.
She groaned and slapped her free hand to her forehead. “God, I’m going to regret this, I know I am.” At least in the end she would know, once and for all, that there could be nothing lasting between them. At least she would no longer wonder at what might have been. Even if she ended up hurt, at least she wouldn’t regret never having taken the chance.
She arrived at the stones just as the sun was setting. In the near-dark, it wasn’t likely anyone would be out hiking in the woods and see her. Not that they could do anything about it, if they saw her disappear, but it was always better to avoid drawing attention to things that weren’t supposed to exist. At least inthistime. In the other, people were still much more accustomed to things they could not understand.
Allia waited a few more minutes until the sun had sunk below the horizon, then stepped into the portal and spoke the words that would carry her back to a man that she strongly suspected would break her heart. Into a million tiny pieces. Perhaps she should have packed a broom.
She would quickly find out that a weapon might have been the more prudent choice.
Chapter 9
They were waiting for her. She had barely stepped out from between the two tallest stones when she felt the darkness all around her, bone deep. Allia froze and instinctively crouched down in a defensive stance, her eyes scanning the edge of the trees. Night had fallen, and she couldn’t see much of anything, but the chills on the back of her neck told her they were there. Two large and menacing shadows moved out from behind the massive oaks surrounding the stones, and adrenaline pumped into her veins as she prepared to run for her life.Damn, she was in a world of trouble,and no one even knew she was here.Except, apparently, whoever or whatever had been waiting for her.
She sprang to her feet and turned to the right, running for all she was worth, hoping she didn’t run headlong into a tree. But it was not to be. Two more dark shadows appeared in front of her and as she swerved in a blind panic to avoid running right to them, strong hands grabbed her from behind. She struggled, her head flying around to try to see her captor. Then she stilled. They were all around her, closing in, faster now. In the darkness, she couldn’t see their faces, but she didn’t need to see to know she was not going to a tea party. And she knew that to continue struggling against them would only get her hurt, or maybe even killed. One, she would stand a chance against… but this many? No way.
Finally, she found her voice. “Who are you?” she asked in a hoarse whisper, barely squeezed out of her fear constricted throat.
She heard a rumble of laughter that could only be called sinister, but no one answered her.
“Where are you taking me? What do you want?”Right Allia, like the bad guys answer those questions… ever.
She thought she heard a low mumble of voices in the darkness, but, as she suspected, no answers were forthcoming. As she was dragged along, stumbling over the occasional rock, Allia forced herself to calm down. She needed a clear head so that she could think. No one knew she was here… but her uncle would be searching for her by now. Her heart leapt with hope. Then sank just as quickly. She had been gone nearly a week. The stones would have been one of the first place he looked, and if he suspected she had gone through the portal… either he would have found someone who could follow her and drag her back, or he would have simply given up.
No one had shown up in the 21stcentury to drag her back.
But just in case… on the off-chance someone was still looking for her, she should leave a trail of some sort. The thought gave her a shot of much needed courage. The man on her left held her tightly by her upper arm, but her hand was free. Moving her fingers slowly, she felt the hard, cold edge of a blade tucked into his belt. If she could grasp the handle and somehow wrench her arm free at the same time… No. She looked around at the dark figures. She could only see moving shadows in the darkness, but there had to be eight or ten of them, at least. Nope, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
