Fergus was almost positive the lass wasn’t with the Leary clan. She didn’t have the telltale glare that that clan usually had, and if shewerepart of them, why would the man also try to kill her? She was just a girl caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“This isnae about gold,” the lass responded.
“What’s it about, then?” he asked.
“The fact that ye just kidnapped me!” she exclaimed, and Fergus burst out laughing, finding her dramatic but adorable, all the same.
“Ye arenae being kidnapped. It’s fate that we met, is it nae?”
“Fate?”
“Me sister needs a healer. I need one, and ye just happened upon me. Sounds like the work of fate to me.”
“It isnae fate,” she said stubbornly.
“Give me yer name,” he insisted, riding harder.
She did not answer, and Fergus let out a long breath through his nostrils.
This was going to be a long ride.
She had fled one powerful man. And walked straight into the grasp of another.
CHAPTER FOUR
It’s huge.
Jeane stared in awe as the truly majestic castle came into view from afar.
The rounded towers on the corners were posted up with guards—archers from the look of them. The rest of the towers were square, looking stark and gray against the pinks and yellows of the rising sun.
The weathered stone walls rose up over the hill, overlooking a glossy loch that looked too deep to swim in. It worked as a makeshift moat, Jeane supposed. The drawbridge came down, and the horses’ hooves thudded against the wood.
Jeane clutched onto the neck of Fergus’ horse, having finally risen from a fitful sleep.
They had ridden through the night, and her thighs ached, being unused to riding this hard. She thought of her father, how everyone he knew must be out looking for her right now. She did not feel concerned when she thought about it, though, mostly just… afraid.
That was the most emotion she could muster for her father, after all the long years he had spent abusing her. It wasn’t just that he thought her plain and stupid, but when she failed… when he punished her…
She shook her head to rid herself of those awful thoughts.
Ye wanted an adventure, and ye got one.
But this was not what Jeane expected when she thought about getting away from Castle McKay. She did not expect a brute of a man to take her away.
She hadn’t had much of a plan to be fair. She only wanted a brief escape. She had run away before, multiple times, even spent a few days at a tavern in town once before her father found her. She had no delusions that she’d be able to escape forever.
Her father would be furious to find out she had been with Fergus overnight without a chaperone. Not that Jeane cared much about what her father thought. She was not scandalized as her father would be but furious that she had been taken against her will.
The Laird had not tried anything, but he had a glint in his eyes when he looked at her… one that excited her more than scared her if she were honest with herself. She wanted to know more about this scarred man, even if he irked her to no end. He was devilishly handsome, for one thing, even though Jeane thought of herself as a woman not easily swayed by a man’s looks. But there was something about the scars on his face, the set of his jaw, that made her want to see him break out in a smile.
Would it make him look more boyish? Softer? It was a thought only a lover should have, and it made Jeane blush. She remembered her hands on his chest earlier, the way his skin had been warm to the touch, firm beneath her palms.
“So ye arenae goin’ to tell me who ye are? Nae even a hint?”
Fergus’ words came to her from behind as she held on for dear life to the reins while he rode the horse hard.
She did not answer, hoping that he would think she was sleeping if she squeezed her eyes shut hard enough.
