Page 30 of Bond of a Bewitched Highlander

"Mayhap she is in the garderobe."

"You best hope she is! Search, man, without delay."

"Aye." Vesey hastened up the stairs.

Outside, Talnaroch yelled to his men. "Five of you, come inside and look for the lady. She's vanished!"

Several scurried to do his bidding, no doubt hoping for a bonus.

"You three." He pointed at the grooms and guards he'd left here last night. "Did you see the lady outside last night?"

"Nay. But we found her horse wandering about, grazing about a half mile away."

"Do you have it?"

"Aye. We put the mare with the rest of the horses."

"So, she did nay leave on it. Where the hell did she go?" Confused, he glanced around in the first hint of dawn light. "Mayhap they will find her hiding inside the castle." He hurried back inside. "Have you found her?" he yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"Nay, m'laird. Not yet," Vesey called from an upper floor.

"Have you searched every nook and cranny? She could be hiding. Did you check the ruined parts?"

"Three are now," a guard responded.

Could there be hidden passages he didn't know about? He'd won this place, gambling, around three years ago. He hadn't spent much time here.

"Is there a laird's lug?" Talnaroch asked.

"I did nay see one," a guard said.

"Look again, damn you!" Talnaroch combed through the castle himself, looking for hidden or nondescript doorways he might not have noticed before. Had some knave kidnapped her?

Not discovering Elsea or any hidden passages, Talnaroch emerged from the exit. "Search the grounds for any sign of the lady!" he ordered the men outside. "Find her or you'll nay receive any pay from me!"

An hour later, they still had not located Elsea, nor a clue to her whereabouts. How could she have vanished?

"Cook some fish for the captives," he ordered Vesey. "And give them clean water." He didn't want them sick or dying before he could sell them. He turned to his garrison, who stood before him, their numbers diminished. Some had died in battle on the island, but, hopefully, his men would rescue several from the capsized galley. He muttered a curse, determined to have his revenge against MacCain and the beasts he led. He would have to return to Dalthort for more men.

"I'm leaving half of you here to guard the goods in the dungeon," Talnaroch said, his voice rough from all the yelling. "If any of them escape, I'll take it out of your hide! And I'll nay pay you. Half of you will ride with me to Kincreag. We'll see if the lady walked back home. Bring her horse."

He would find the lass and teach her a valuable lesson—to never oppose him again.

***

UNBEARABLE PAIN SHOT through Elsea's head. Voices echoed, one female and one male. What on earth had happened to her?

Had the woman said Brodie? Nay, Elsea must be dreaming again.

Why did her head pound with such excruciating pain? She shivered within her cold, wet clothes.

She had been on a birlinn... though the memory was fuzzy.

The warmth of a fire heated her side. She squinted, opening her eyes a crack. Why was she lying on the ground by a fire?

"Brodie?" a woman said in a cajoling tone from some distance. "Come now, my love. You need some rest. Did the swim in the ocean tire you out?"

"Leave me be, woman." The growl came from much closer, and 'twas indeed Brodie's voice, rough, deep, and commanding. She froze. Why on earth was she with him?