“Take her to my tent,” Struan ordered.
She kicked and tried to get away from her captor, but it dinna do any good. He half carried and dragged her inside the shelter, tossing her onto a pallet in the corner.
“There are no rules out here, Lady,” he warned. “If ye doona obey, I will whip ye into submission.”
She stared up at him, memorizing the details of his face.
A few moments later, Struan strutted inside and dismissed the guard. “Ye made it very easy for me, Keely.” He hovered over her with a triumphant look on his handsome face. “Here…” He tugged the gag out of her mouth. “I am sorry for having to treat ye so rough.”
Keely wet her lips and growled at him. “What have ye done with Petro?”
“Why are ye so worried about him?”
“Damn ye, Struan,” she cursed. “Ye left him bleeding on the ground.” When Struan announced he intended to take her back to Dunrobin Castle himself, Petro had attacked. But the scholar was no match for Struan. It only took one blow to the forehead to knock him out.
“All right, lass. I’ll send one of my men to make sure he is still alive. Will that make ye happy?”
“Nothing will make me happy until ye let me go. But I thank ye for doing so. Petro has nothing to do with any of this.”
“Firth,” he yelled.
A man stuck his head through the flaps of the tent. “Sir?”
“Send one of the guards to the lady’s escort. See that he’s awake and able to travel. Escort him back to the MacKay keep.”
“Aye.”
“Ye see? I am capable of kindness.”
“Why have ye taken me? We were on our way to see yer father, by his invitation.”
Struan laughed wickedly. “If ye’d studied the missive a little closer, ye would have noticed the difference in the lettering. Though I am a talented forger, my father’s script is more severe than my own hand.”
“Ye’re a bloody liar and a savage!”
He laughed again. “I always knew there was a hellion underneath that sweet smile. I look forward to spending more time with that side of ye, Keely Oliphant.”
“Lady MacKay,” she immediately corrected.
“Oliphant,” he said, stalking closer. “Soon to be Sutherland.” There was a flicker of something in his eyes that made her wary of challenging him too much. The look of a desperate man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. She’d caught glimpses of that side of Struan while living at Dunrobin Castle. But out here, away from the comfort and luxury of his home, it frightened her even more.
“Ye canna ignore the fact that I am a married woman.”
“That dinna make a difference when ye ran away from yer first husband, Laird John.”
Keely struggled with the binding on her wrists. “Untie me at once.”
“Nay,” he said. “If ye prove ye willna try to escape, then I will consider it.”
“Ye doona care about me.”
“That is where ye are wrong. I kept my distance out of respect, Keely. But I know ye are no longer a maiden, which changes everything—for the better in my opinion.”
She could feel herself blush.
“How endearing,” he said.
“The shame I feel isna endearing, Struan. It should show ye that I am opposed to anything where ye are concerned.”
