“Nay,” Eithne said quietly. Everyone turned to look at her. Although she was a little surprised about what she was going to say, she met each of their eyes when she spoke. “Nay, we willnae be running. I’m tired of running. I’m tired of letting MacDuff follow me and take everything from me, over and over again. Nae more.”
“Then what do ye suggest we do?” Myrna asked, frowning. “How can we stop him?”
“There’s only one way,” Eithne replied. She looked to Ivor and was relieved to see nothing but support in his eyes. “We’re gonnae have to kill him.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Wait
“Come in,” Rory MacDuff ordered in an almost bored voice. He lay in the bedroom that had once belonged to Laird Kinnear, in the castle he’d requisitioned after that distasteful battle. Here was where he would be when Walter MacDonnell brought him his bride.
She should be grateful. I’m letting us be wed in her own childhood home.
“Me Laird!” the woman next to him protested, scrambling with his silken sheets to pull them up over her naked body. “I’m nae dressed!”
The door opened, and an uncomfortable-looking soldier peeked in while Rory laughed. “Och, yer a whore,” Rory told her, rolling his eyes. “How much more do I have to pay to get ye to stop whining?”
Her eyes widened with hurt, and she stared down at the sheets, obviously hiding tears. Pathetic.
The woman – Clara or Clarice or something of the sort – was not, in actual fact, a prostitute. She was a local woman from the village who had nursed a soft spot for Rory since they were both bairns. Rory himself bore no feelings for her, of course, but if she would repeatedly offer him pleasure, then who was he to turn her down?
I’ve told her time and again that she is just me tool while I wait for me true love in Eithne, but if she keeps coming back, I’m hardly gonnae refuse her. I’m still a man.
“Ye dinnae pay me, Me Laird,” the woman whispered. Clare. That was her name. “I came here to speak with ye.”
“If I’m interrupting, Me Laird, I can come back,” the soldier said, glancing between the two of them in the bed. He was obviously feeling very awkward, which amused Rory even more.
I can command these men to slaughter bairns on the fields, but the idea of seeing me tup a whore is too much for them!
“We’re done,” Rory said with a disdainful look at Clare. “Hardly worth me money for a repeat encounter, to tell ye the truth. I dinnae recommend ye purchase her wares.”
“Me Laird,” the woman said, bleating in that pathetic voice of hers. “Please stop insulting me. I ken ye’ve got a heart in there somewhere. I just need ye to listen—"
“Hush, woman. Me soldier has come with a report.”
Clare’s mouth snapped shut. She wasn’t a bad girl when she remembered her place and listened. Rory thought that he might keep her on as a mistress once he and Eithne were married. She wasn’t ugly by any means – lovely, full breasts, dark curls to grip, and doe-eyes of the deepest brown that they almost looked black. If it wasn’t for Eithne and the fact that Clare was just a peasant, she might intrigue him.
But Eithne, me Eithne, yer so close. Dinnae ye worry, me love. Ye’ll be in me arms soon.
The soldier cleared his throat awkwardly. “Er, aye,” he said. “Well, Me Laird, I’m afraid it isnae the best news we’ve ever had to give.”
Rory went still. He felt Clare flinching beside him, obviously scared that he was about to launch into one of his tempers. “Speak,” he commanded tersely.
The soldier looked nervous. “We still havenae heard a word from Jonah Reilly,” he said. “We think the mercenary might have killed him.”
“Let’s hope they killed each other,” Rory spat. Reilly’s son had been more trouble than he was worth anyway. “Why do I care?”
The soldier winced and said, “Well, Me Laird, we just received word from the halfway outpost. The MacDonnell boy and his men never showed up with the girl.”
Rory went still. “What?” he said in a low, dangerous voice. “What did ye just say to me?”
The soldier swallowed. “It…doesnae mean anything necessarily worrying, Me Laird. It’s just that—”
“Out!” Rory snarled. “Get out!”
They’d lost her. Again! How hard was it to bring a broken girl back to her rightful home? Why were his men so incompetent? Did he have to killeveryonehimself?
The soldier turned to go, and Rory shoved at Clare. “You as well, woman. Leave me. Now.”
