“Stop buzzing about like an angry bee,” he said, gripping her upper arm. “I meant only to give ye pleasure, my sweet. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“There’s more?” She whipped around to look at him.
“Yes,” he answered wholeheartedly. “Much more.”
She couldn’t resist smiling. “Ye are a wonder to me.”
“And ye are beautiful beyond measure…”
“Adam!” A lone horse and rider thundered across the sand, reaching them in a whirl of excitement.
“Sam? What is it?” Adam asked, tugging Kali behind him.
Sam swung down from the saddle, out of breath. “Yer father…”
“Is he…”
“Enraged. He knows ye’ve taken the girl.” Sam gazed at Kali. “Pardon me, Lady Kali.”
“Fook!” Adam’s curse echoed around them.
“Ye are summoned.Now.”
“Nay. I canna take her back when me father is out of control. He might hurt her.”
“Adam.” Kali rested her hand on his shoulder to reassure him she feared nothing as long as he stood beside her. “We can face him together.”
“Nay.” He turned toward her, anger clear on his face. “Dress and go with Sam. It must never be revealed we came here. Me sire yearns for this place, for it is the one thing he canna take away from me, even according to the law.”
“Where shall I take her?”
Adam rubbed his stubbled chin. “To Raini. She will know what to do.”
Chapter Thirteen
When Adam reached home, he didn’t waste time greeting the stable lad or bowing to the women he passed. He entered the keep, stalked through the great hall, and rushed to his father’s solar, where the door was shut. He didn’t care and opened it without knocking.
His younger brothers, Struan and Kerk, were inside with their father and looked shocked by the unexpected intrusion.
Laird MacKay stayed seated behind his table, clearly angered by Adam’s lack of decorum. “Ye are a brigand. A thankless, gutless boy.”
“Aye, I am all those things, Father, and more.” Adam approached the table, slamming his hand on top of it for emphasis. “I am also the only sane man in this room!”
“What nonsense is this?” Struan asked, offended by the insult.
“I apologize for any misunderstanding, Struan. Ye are but eighteen, and the welp there is only sixteen. Take Kerk and go. This is no place for ye.” Adam loved his brothers and never wanted them to witness the discontent and growing hatred between their father and brother.
“Who are ye to bark orders in me own solar?” his father yelled.
“I am yer heir, and these are me brothers.” He nodded as they slipped out of the solar and closed the door behind them.
“Curse the blood in yer veins, boy.”
“Which blood, Father? Yers or Mother’s?”
Adam ducked as a bound manuscript came flying at his face, followed by a cup of wine.
“I will have ye disinherited, banished from MacKay lands forever!”
