A door banged open.
Ava’s head jerked up. In the doorway of this foreign bedchamber stood Laird Grant. He was clearly tired after his kidnapping activities in the night, with heavy shadows under his eyes. In his belt was a long basilard that he rested the palm of his hand on. The threat was explicit, without him having to say a thing.
“Why take me?” Ava hissed. “What good can I dae ye now?”
“I dinnae like tae lose,” he said simply, his lips pressed firmly together. “Ye gave me yer word, and now ye will keep tae it. Ye will marry me today, Ava.” He walked forward, reaching for the ties at her ankle. “I willnae be made a fool.”
She scurried back, trying to get as far from him as possible, though the rope was tight so that was only so far that she could go.
He took hold of her ankle and dragged her back toward him, so that she fell beneath him on the bed. She thrust her hands up to his chest, halting him from dropping his body down on hers.
“Ye willnae force yerself on me,” she said with disgust. “Ye willnae take me.”
“Naeyet.” His words made her blood run cold. “We will be married first.”
“Ye cannae marry me. I will stand in that church and yell me refusal. I will scream it so every woman in the Highlands will hear me.”
“Ye willnae say nay.”
“I will!”
“Let me show ye why willnae refuse me in that church.” He moved abruptly, bending down and grabbing the basilard from his belt.
“Nay!” she cried, fearing he was about to stab her with it, but he only used it to cut through the ropes instead. Then he grabbed her wrist and hauled her to her feet. “I am nae yer dog tae carry around!”
“Ye will be.” He dragged her out of the room.
She pulled against him, digging her heels into the floorboards as she looked around herself, trying to figure out where they were. It didn’t take any great leap of imagination to realize.
This was a castle. The room she had been in was a bedchamber. The staff walking the corridors were not just guards but maids too.
Ava was pulled down another corridor, then into what appeared to be a minstrel’s gallery, overlooking a great hall.
“Where are we? What is this? Where are ye taking me?” Yet none of her questions were answered.
Ava’s waist was grabbed as she was pushed toward the edge of the gallery. She gripped the balustrade hard, terrified she was about to be thrown over when she saw who was down in the middle of that great hall.
Kai was kneeling on the ground. He had his wrists bound behind his back, his face and body dirty. The side of his face and head was dappled with blood where he had suffered a head wound, and behind him stood three men, including Peters. Each one had a sword pulled on Kai, showing what they would do if he dared to move an inch.
Slowly, Kai lifted his chin, his eyes meeting Ava’s.
“Nay,” she whispered in horror, feeling as if her heart was shattering into pieces.
“Poor, poor lovesick pup,” Laird Grant said, leaning on the balustrade beside her. His hand caressed her waist. She tried to lean away from him, but he took hold of the robe she had been put in and dragged her back to his side.
Ava caught the disgust on Kai’s face, the fury in him right now. He would have taken a sword and run Laird Grant through if he could have.
“This is why ye will marry me today,” Laird Grant declared, loud enough for Kai to hear. “Or yer poor little lover down there is dead. Ye understand me?”
Peters moved forward with his sword and placed it threateningly on the back of Kai’s neck. Kai didn’t even flinch, but his face contracted as Laird Grant moved closer to Ava, whispering in her ear.
“He had ye, didnae he? He was yer first.”
Ava said nothing. She was doing her best to ward off tears as her hands gripped the balustrade tightly.
“That will be a distant memory soon enough.” He gripped her back, possessively. “I will mark ye as me own after the wedding.”
“Tae marry ye –”
