“I willnae give me daughter tae a man that would attack her. Never.” He looked at Kai. “Ye realize what this means? She will need yer protection more than ever.”
Ava couldn’t sleep properly. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw that hand on her wrist again. She wasn’t sure whether it wasthat hand that had gripped her in the forest years ago or Laird Grant’s hand.
“Nay one is here,” she muttered, rolling over in the bed. By the slit of moonlight that shone through the window, she could see the door was shut and locked tight. She had even moved a coffer in front of the door, to block it in case anyone thought to break it down.
She knew it was a mad fear. Kai had said himself that he’d watched Blair and his men ride away from the castle as everyone else had left the feast, confused at the strange announcement about the sudden end to the betrothal.
Laird Grant was not in the castle. He could not hurt her now.
She rolled the other way, putting her back to the door, then lifted the pillow and brought it down over her head. To try to stop the foul memories, she conjured better ones instead.
Kai…
She thought of the way they had made love that night in the library, how he had let her take control, lying down. Even now, the memory of the pleasure made her writhe beneath the fur covers.
Kai had never frightened her. He had always been there for her, constantly. Even when they had escalated to being physical and very intimate, he had been slow. How many times had he toldher they could stop if she wanted to? How many times had he kissed her gently, checking she was happy with what they were doing before he had increased the passion?
He is everything. I love him so much.
Telling herself that everything would be well now, that Laird Grant was gone, and maybe someday she could marry Kai, helped sleep to come.
In that darkness, there was movement. She could hear it close by. There was a rustling sensation, and something was scraping across the floor, something heavy. Was that a chair being dragged out? No, no. That was not what it was, but yes, something was being dragged across the floor.
Ava saw herself walking through the darkness. She was following someone.
Kai…
He was far ahead of her, walking away with his family. Laird Domhnall stood on one side, then Thora on his other. There were also Magnus and Enya, the whole family together, just out of reach.
Ava raised her hand, trying to grasp them through the thin air, but her hand fell limp.
There was that scraping sound again. Something was most definitely being dragged across the floor now. Then something creaked, like a door opening…
Ava’s eyes shot open.
The door creaking had not been in her dream, no more than the something being dragged. Was it the coffer being slid across the floor?
A footstep nearby creaked the floorboards.
Someone is in this chamber!
Ava reached beneath the second pillow. She knew exactly what she kept there. She kept it there every night. Her warrior ways had taught her long ago to always be prepared. She grabbed the small dirk firmly in the palm of her hand, then spun around in the bed, raising it high.
Thick fingers grasped her wrist and held the dagger, stopping it from falling.
Grey eyes flashed silver in the darkness.
“That is nay way tae greet yer husband-tae-be now, is it?” Laird Grant’s voice hissed in the darkness.
“Ye bast – hmm!” He placed a hand over her mouth, silencing her.
“Get the ropes,” he ordered someone.
“Hmmm!” Ava wriggled desperately to be free, trying to prize her wrist out of his grasp and bring the dagger down on him, but he was too strong and other hands were now on her. The dagger was snatched away, her wrists pressed together. A second man, Laird Grant’s advisor Peters, was the one tying the ropes as Laird Grant kept her silent, pinning her down and shutting her mouth.
“Bind her mouth. We need tae keep her silent as we get her out of here,” Laird Grant ordered.
She knew if she was forced to be silent, she could be slipped out of the castle as easily and as undetected as they had somehow managed to get in. She shifted her face as much as she could and bit down hard on Laird Grant’s hand. He grunted and pulled back his hand on instinct, shaking it out as she drew blood.
