Page 70 of The Highlander’s Unexpected Wife

She offered a tremulous smile. “I saw Mister Napier whisk Alison off the dance floor and through the balcony door. I thought it odd, so I went after her.”

Cameron looked at Alison. “He forced you off the dance floor and onto the balcony? You were dancing with him? By God, Alison, I should paddle your backside right here in this carriage.”

“I didn’t know it was him when he asked me to dance,” she shot back.

Cameron stared. “Didn’t know it was him? Who the bloody hell did you think he was?” He narrowed his eyes. “Do you know the man?”

Even in the dim light of the carriage he saw the blush that crept up her cheeks.

“He tricked me,” she whispered.

Cameron believed her. He closed his eyes and released a slow breath. “What happened then?”

“Then Erin came.”

He opened his eyes and looked at Erin. “You did not think to call for help, Erin?”

“Easy, Hunter,” James said. “The lass has been through a terrifying ordeal.”

“All of which could have been avoided had she called for help.”

“Forgive me, Cameron,” Erin said, “but had I taken the time to find help, Mister Napier probably would have disappeared with Alison.”

“Erin saved us,” Alison said.

“Oh no, it was you who saved us,” Erin said.

Cameron forced back frustration—and the need to crush Alison to him—and said, “Pray continue, Alison.”

“I am not lying when I say Erin saved us. I was lost in the garden maze, but she knew how to get us back to the mansion without encountering Mister Napier.”

“And Alison hit him—twice,” Erin said. “That is how we got away from him.”

“Did either of you think to scream?” Cameron said.

Alison drew far enough away to look into his face. “It was far too likely he would have found and incapacitated us before anyone located us in that maze.”

She was right, of course, which only infuriated him all the more.

A shot exploded outside the carriage. The vehicle swerved. Cameron yanked Alison against his chest. Horses screamed and wood cracked. The carriage listed heavily to the back left. Cameron dragged Alison onto his lap in the instant before his shoulder slammed into the corner. Alison screamed when a heavy weight toppled onto them. The interior went dark. The carriage scraped another several feet, then stopped.

The weight lifted off them and Cameron twisted and moved Alison off his abdomen. She cried into his shirt. Erin was crying, as well.

“Are ye all right, lass?” James asked in unison with Cameron’s “Alison, are you hurt?”

“Aye,” Erin answered in a bare whisper.

Alison shook her head against Cameron’s shirt.

Cameron released a breath. “We must see what happened.” A broken wheel was bad enough. It was the gunshot he’d heard before the carriage veered that worried him.

“James,” he whispered, “have you your pistol?”

“Aye,” James whispered back. “Two.”

“Give one to Erin. I will go first. Shoot anyone who tries to enter the carriage.”

“Perhaps we should let them come to us.”