Page 88 of Highlander’s Forbidden Fruit

“God helps those who help themselves, father!” Evanna cried and pulled him up on his feet. “Sarah! Quick! Jump inside the carriage and dinnae come out till I tell ye to. Keith, use that hammer to knock the knees out from under those horses. Father Gilmore, pick up a stone and start hurling at these damned men!”

It was impossible to fight them all off, Evanna knew that. But if they thought she’d let herself be robbed without putting up a fight they were sorely mistaken.

Wrenching the broken spoke clean off the wheel she yelled a battle cry and got ready for the first horse to come closer. She ducked low to avoid the swing of the sword and swung at the horse’s legs. The beast went toppling to the ground, its cries of pain punctuated by the rider who fell headfirst on the ground.

Keith had much the same success as she did. Father Gilmore managed to hit one of the men in the face.

“Chop their heads off!” one of the brigands yelled.

“Do that, and I’ll haunt ye for the rest of yer miserable lives!” Evanna promised. “There’ll be no safe quarter for ye in this world or the next!”

“She’s a witch!” one of the horsemen cried and backed away.

“She’s naught but a woman,” the first brigand shouted. “Get her!”

The men dismounted their horses and came towards them, their swords in front of them. Evanna swallowed painfully. All that screaming had hurt her throat. This was it. This was how she would die, killed at the hands of thieves. She supposed there was an irony and justice in it. She was just saddened; Sarah and the rest did not deserve such an ignoble death.

Preparing to swing again Evanna pulled her arm back. Hooves thundered on the ground again. Two horsemen came galloping towards them, swords out and swinging. The brigands saw them and dispersed, except for their leader. He grabbed Evanna by the arm and pulled her so violently the spoke was jerked out of her hands.

“Give me all yer money!” he yelled, his mouth a row of rotting teeth.

“Let her go, ye scum!” Aleck roared.

Evanna watched, bewildered, as Aleck jumped off his moving horse and ran towards them, sword swinging. The brigand hesitated, he pulled at Evanna’s arm as if intent on dragging her with him, but then thought better of it and let her go. He ran to join his partners in the woods, their horses scattered to the four winds.

“Are ye alright?” Aleck asked, coming to stand by her side, his hands caressing her face. “Did he hurt ye?”

“Only my pride,” she said. “What are ye doing here?”

“What are ye doing?” he demanded. “Why were ye leaving?”

Evanna swallowed. “I cannae explain.”

“Try.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Try.”

“I didnae want ye to suffer me by yer side. People will keep pointing fingers at me, and ye’ll feel like ye have to defend me, and soon ye’ll resent me for it.”

“How can ye think that? I could never resent ye.”

“And John…”

“What of John?” Ashton revealed himself to be the second horseman. He dismounted and gave the reins to Keith. “Tell me.”

“Ashton, I’m so sorry about yer brother. I ken ye told me nae to accept his proposal, and he wouldnae have come to Glenlivet if I’d nae encouraged him so. It’s all my fault.”

“That’s where you have it wrong. You did not manipulate John’s pure emotions for your gain; he exploited your innocence for his.”

Evanna blinked. None of what he said made sense to her. How had John anything to gain from her? He was an Earl, women fawned over him wherever he went, he had his health, wealth, and the world was his oyster. Then why would he take the trouble to exploit Evanna?

“We have no money,” Ashton said. “All that you see us buy and spend is on loans or rent. My father made some horrible investments, and now we haven’t a penny to our name. So, my father used the only asset he had in his meager arsenal and sent John looking for a rich heiress, preferably an only child, so he would inherit her entire wealth.”

“I’m the wealthy heiress,” Evanna said as the enormity of it dawned on her.

“John knew you didn’t love him,” Aleck said. “That would have been your saving grace. But father kept insisting, and so John pressured you into inviting him to Glenlivet where he saw your father’s illness as an opportunity to gain your father’s consent. Laird MacLeod must have been sick enough to worry about you after his death to fall for John’s tactics. He was vulnerable, and John took advantage of that.”