Page 15 of Never Kiss a Highlander

Her da glared in her direction. “Remove yerself, daughter. Stay in yer bedchamber until I send for ye.”

She looked up at Finn, who gave her a curt nod.

Once she was gone, the men all followed The Mackay into the keep, past the great hall and into his solar.

Finn leaned against the wall next to the door, his arms crossed. He knew what he’d done was a mistake. Unfortunately, his cock hadn’t cared. Especially when Alison practically begged him to make love to her.

She was distraught and turned to him. As an honorable man, he should have turned her away and marched out of the stable with his—and her—honor intact.

The fact that he’d been lusting after her practically since he’d arrived, he chose to ignore. The woman was a pain in his arse, always getting herself into trouble, or trying to.

He no doubt had saved her from a horrible marriage and a life of misery. He was certain The Sinclair would break the betrothal.

If the man didn’t, then he was prepared to grab Alison and return to Dun Ugadale with her. Even though they had been interrupted, as far as he was concerned, she was still his, a pain in his arse or not.

“Finn, ye and me will have a private conversation after we deal with this, but I want ye to stay now.”

Finn nodded.

Archie threw the first dagger. “Yer daughter is a whore, Mackay.”

Finn roared and jumped over two chairs to get to Archie. They flew to the floor in a crash of chairs and bodies. He got in two good punches before Robin pulled him off.

“Stop it, brother. Ye are in enough trouble already,” he shouted as he pushed him back to the wall where he’d been standing before he attacked the bastard, Archie.

“Nothing will be solved by fighting,” Foster Mackay said.” He turned his attention to Finn. “As yer laird, I order ye to stay exactly where ye are until this is finished.”

Finn nodded.

“How long has this been going on?” The Sinclair asked Finn.

Finn ran his hand over his hair. “Lady Alison is a virgin.” He had no idea why he said that since he didn’t intend to let Archie marry her. Perhaps he wanted to make sure her reputation was not sullied.

There wasn’t much more to say with all of them there, so Foster dismissed everyone except The Sinclair and Archie Sinclair, then turning to Finn said, “Wait until I send fer ye, Finn.”

The summons from the laird came quicker than Finn had expected.

This time the only one in the room was The Mackay. As Finn went from his bedchamber to the solar, he’d noticed the sounds of orders shouting in the great hall and preparations being made to leave. Hopefully, it was the Sinclairs.

The Laird didn’t look happy but waved to the chair in front of his desk. He folded his hands and said, “What do ye have to say for yerself, Finn?”

Expecting this question, Finn took a deep breath. “First I want to say that I am sorry?—”

“—For what ye did or that ye were caught?”

He wanted to smile, but decided ‘twas not the best thing to do. “Both.”

‘Twas not his place to tell the laird that his daughter had been crying. She was a very proud woman and might stab him with her dagger if she knew he told her da that.

He cleared his throat and continued. “I admire Lady Alison a great deal and I believe I have feelings for her. I agree that I should have kept my hands off her since she was betrothed to another mon.” He shrugged. “Sometimes these things happen.”

He knew that was a very poor excuse but there wasn’t really anything else he could say. They went too far and got caught. Hopefully it saved Alison from a bad situation.

“The Sinclair broke the agreement. I might add that I did not attempt to discourage him from doing that. Ye might believe I don’t pay attention to what is going on around me, but I kenned my daughter was unhappy, but I coudna see a way out of it for her.”

He was tempted to tell the laird he actually did them a favor, but kept that idea to himself.

“Ye do understand that ye must marry Alison?” the laird said.