Frustrated and irritated with the position he found himself in, James ran a hand through his hair, messing it even more than the wind already had.
“I dinnae suppose ye can tell me what I should do here,” he asked his horse.
The stallion only flicked his ears back and forth, continuing down the path James had set him on. Snow-covered trees continued to whirl by him, yet no plan formed in his mind.
If he went after Laura, he was not only leaving Taryn unprotected, but risked angering the English into action. And the McGregor Clan was nowhere near ready for battle. He couldn’t manage to talk sense into Laird McGregor, especially not with his brother in his ear. It was truly an impossible situation. All he could do was hope that the Laird would have sense enough to delay appeasing the Laird and start rallying the warriors, preparing them for battle. They needed allies if they were going to have even the smallest chance of holding their own in a war with the English. James needed allies if he was going to manage to keep everyone he loved safe.
His next thought struck him so hard that he pulled up on the reins, slowing his horse so he could think.
“Ye must protect my family.”Taryn had asked him. “Aila and Lachlan and Sorcha will likely come for me. If I ken anything about them, it is that they are already on their way.”
Allies. These people that Taryn called family could be his allies. If he could persuade them to help, if they truly cared about Taryn as much as she said they did, this could be the exact kind of people that James was looking for. She had told him that Lachlan was the Laird of the Kincaid clan. Perhaps he would be enough to convince McGregor to stand up to the English, not to sacrifice Taryn to the wicked man.
“I have to find them,” he said to himself.
Rolling back his shoulders, he nudged his horse in a new direction. He was the best tracker in the McGregor Clan. He had spent months looking for Taryn already. And had found her close to Kincaid lands. If she was right and her friends were coming after her, he hoped he would find them on the road somehow. At the very least, he knew how to look for a group of three on the roads. He would head south, praying the entire way that he wasn’t about to make the biggest mistake of his life.
