Page 39 of Highland Spirit

The last place she really wanted to be right now was the MacKeefe camp, but she didn’t have a choice. Isobel made that decision for her. Alana hadn’t been here since the day she’d almost married Ethan and become not only his wife but also a part of the clan. Every single one of the MacKeefes had been friendly and kind to her, and now she regretted having to see them again but on totally different terms.

Because of leaving him with no explanation, she was sure his clan would not take kindly to her and neither could she blame them. If she were in Ethan’s position, she would be sure to hate her, too.

Her long cloak dragged behind her as she jumped from the boat in ankle-high water and pulled the boat to the shore. Her body was so cold that she couldn’t bend her fingers. She felt like a block of ice. But at least she was alive, and had made it here to bring Isobel back with her. She noticed the boat that Ethan had used, tied up next to her. She wrapped a line from her boat around the same stake he’d used since there were no trees this close to the water.

She’d just finished tying the knot when someone jumped out from behind a large rock in the dark, about scaring her out of her mind.

“Who goes there?” came a deep, gruff voice.

Her body stiffened.

As the man emerged, she saw the shine of his sword glimmering in the scarce moonlight.

“It’s me! Alana,” she cried. “Please dinna hurt me. I mean no harm.”

“Alana?” The sword slowly lowered and the man walked forward, allowing her to see that it was Ethan.

“Ethan!” she exclaimed. Her heartbeat sped up now.

“What are ye doin’ sneakin’ around in the dark? I thought ye were a thief stealin’ the boat. I almost took yer head off.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, wrapping her arms around her wet cloak, her teeth chattering. “I found out Isobel hid away on yer boat and I’ve come to get her and take her back to the castle.”

A flash of lightning lit up the sky, hitting a tree nearby. The boom of thunder and the sound of splintering wood filled the air, making her jump.

Immediately, Ethan was there, pulling her into his arms and against him in a protective hold. “Let’s get the hell out of here, Lanny,” he said, using the terms of endearment he used to call her years ago. That is, when they were lovers.

Together, with his arm around her shoulders, they ran back to the camp in the rain. He brought her into the main longhouse causing everyone to look up in surprise.

“Ethan?” asked Logan with a chuckle. “Where did ye find her?”

“I’m here for my daughter,” said Alana, feeling uncomfortable under the perusal of so many MacKeefes.

“Wasna she the one who escaped Ethan before they were married?” a teenaged boy asked his mother.

“No’ escaped,” his mother corrected him. “She left him standin’ alone like a stray dog at the altar while she went off with another man.”

“Ye are no’ welcome here,” shouted a man from the back of the room.

“She’s a strumpet,” said someone else.

“Enough!” shouted Storm, getting up and holding up a hand for silence. “We are MacKeefes. We dinna treat guests with such disrespect.”

“She’s no guest,” mumbled someone else.

“Alana Chisholm. Welcome,” said Storm’s wife, Lady Wren, hurrying across the room to greet her.

Alana remembered Lady Wren and had always thought she was one of the kindest people she’d ever met. She was English, yet the clan had accepted her. Alana hoped that mayhap they would all forgive her in time for what she had done to Ethan.

“Lady Wren, I’ve come for my daughter, Isobel,” explained Alana. “It seems she hid away on Ethan’s boat. I’m sorry.”

“Your daughter is safe,” Wren assured her. “And you are soaked to the skin. Let me get you something dry to wear and a bite to eat. You can warm yourself by the fire.”

“Nay, but thank ye,” she said, feeling too nervous around Ethan and not wanting to stay where she wasn’t wanted. Besides, she needed to get back to the castle before she was discovered missing. “I’ll just take my daughter and go.”

“Yer daughter is sleepin’,” said Hawke’s wife, Phoebe, walking up to join them. “We just put the lassies to bed. Ye must stay for now. Ye canna take the wee one out in this storm.”

“That’s right,” agreed Ethan. “It’s too dangerous. And ye are wet and shiverin’. Ye should stay here for the night and wait out the storm.”