“Don’t worry,” Lamont said. “We’ll get him.”
Eoin didn’t need to nod, his grim look said it all. Damn right, they would get him.
Lamont whistled and motioned for the men to follow.
He would have gone after them, but Margaret stopped him.
“Wait,” she said, grabbing his arm.
He looked down at it and told himself the coiling and twisting in his chest, the feeling that he was coming out of his own skin, was because he was angry. Her touch had lost the power to affect him years ago. But there was no denying the heavy drum of his heart.
Perhaps sensing the dangerous emotions boiling inside him, she dropped her hand. “I’m going with you.”
He almost laughed. Glancing over, he noticed Sir John starting to stir. “I don’t think your fiancé will like that very much. Besides, I lost the taste for treacherous redheads six years ago.”
She flushed angrily but refused to be baited. “This has nothing to do with you. My son needs me.”
His gaze turned as wintry as his blood. “Myson will have his father.”
“He doesn’t know you, Eoin. He’ll be scared. I know you hate me, but don’t take your feelings for me out on our son. He’s only little boy. Please, he needs me. I swear I won’t get in the way.”
He gave a harsh laugh. As if that were possible. She’d been in his way since the first day he’d met her.
“You need not worry that I won’t be able to keep up,” she persisted. “I know how to ride.”
He gave her a long look. “I remember.”
And bloody hell, it infuriated him.
She flushed again, realizing to what he was alluding.
His jaw hardened, refusing to let her sway him. “The boy will be fine. Though the same cannot be said of your father when I catch up with him.”
“I can help you find him.”
Nowthatcaught his attention. His eyes narrowed on her, assessing. If she was lying to him... “You know where he is going?”
“Not exactly, but—”
He cut her off with a harsh sound. “I didn’t think so. I don’t need your kind of help. I’ll find him on my own.”
Lamont was the best tracker in Scotland.
“And what if you don’t? Think about it, Eoin. If you want to catch my father, are you better off taking me with you or leaving me here? I have knowledge you may need.”
She was right. But that didn’t mean he thought she’d give it to him...willingly. Torture, nowthatwas tempting. His mouth curled. “You offer to betray your father so easily? Why am I not surprised?”
Her cheeks went hot with anger, but she didn’t attempt to defend herself. How could she? They both knew what she’d done. She lifted her chin. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do to see my son safe—nothing.”
She might be a liar, but she wasn’t lying about that.
He might be able to use her. To hold over her father’s head if nothing else. Would MacDowell trade his foul life for that of his daughter’s? He should be so damned lucky.
He turned to one of his men. “Find theladya horse. She may be of some use to us.” He turned back to his deceitful wife, making sure she understood the stakes. “But lie or do anything to make me regret this, Margaret, and I swear I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that you never see the boy again.”
17
THE CHILL OFhis words followed her hours later. He hadn’t meant it, Margaret told herself. Eoin was angry. He wouldn’t try to take her son away from her... would he?
