Page 20 of Tempting the Highland Captive

“Are ye well, lass?” he asked, staring down at her in the waning light. “Ye look as if ye have been through quite an ordeal.”

“Rossell,” Amelia almost hissed out the name in disgust as she scrambled to her feet. She looked about her for any of her clansmen but found none. She could not remember where she had last seen Lucas but was surprised that he had not come looking for her. “What are ye doin’ here? How did ye get past my men?”

“I have my ways.” He shrugged his shoulders in dismissal. “I heard about the fire and came tae see how ye were.” He looked her up and down. “I can see that ye are well enough. Have ye given any further thought tae my proposal?”

Amelia did not understand how he had already learned of the fire unless he himself was the one to set it, one of his men set it, or he had spies within the village. “I have nae given it any further thought as I am a married woman and nae free tae wed anyone.”

“I dinnae believe that ye are wed,” Rossell replied, moving closer to her. “Nae one has e’er seen yer husband, except that priest o’ yers and he would say anythin’ tae protect ye.”

“Faither Jacob would nae lie. I am wed and my husband has met many members o’ my clan since returning from his duties.”

“Oh, aye? Where is he now then?” Rossell looked around as if to say that the man should be by her side at all times. “Is he a ghost then come back tae haunt ye from a battlefield grave?”

Amelia nearly choked on her own saliva at his words, so close to Ron’s threat when she had left him in prison without consummating their marriage. It was uncanny and unnerving. “Nae, he is nae a ghost. He is a true flesh and blood man, but he is away tae town tae gather supplies so that we might rebuild the village.”

“A likely tale,” Rossell snorted. “Ye will wed me, lass, one way or another. Whether ye give yerself tae me willingly or I take ye by force, ye will be mine.”

Amelia stood there, torn between running away and wanting to slit his wame open with the sgian dubh beneath her skirts. She pictured his intestines falling out of his body onto the ground and it strengthened her to stand up to him. “Ye will ne’er have me, Michael Rossell, and should ye attempt tae take me by force, ye will die by my hand.”

Rossell let out a great laugh that rattled against the trees and echoed off the water’s surface. “A wee slip o’ a lass such as yerself could nae do harm tae a flea on a dog’s back. How do ye propose tae kill me?”

“If she does nae, then I will,” Lucas’ voice cut through the trees as he emerged behind Rossell with his sword drawn. The look in his eyes said that he was ready to behead Rossell in an instant. All Amelia would have needed to do was nod and it would have been over, but she restrained herself and her guardsman, shaking her head.

“Get off o’ my land, Rossell, and dinnae return without an invitation.”

Rossell, seeing that he was outnumbered and not in any hurry to die, nodded to Amelia in something resembling respect infused with anger, then turned and walked away back through the trees. His last words floated on the breeze back to them. “Ye will be mine.”

Amelia turned to Lucas. “Follow him. Dinnae kill him but make certain that he leaves our lands.”

“Aye.” Lucas nodded, then faded into the forest as if a ghost haunting the shadows.

Sighing, Amelia walked back to the castle. She had been shaken by Rossell’s words. The notion of the terrible man forcing himself upon her was more than she could stomach, and she nearly vomited into the undergrowth. She knew that he wanted her lands and would stop at nothing to get them. She did not doubt for a moment that the man was fully capable of rape, murder, arson, and any other number of sins. She clenched her jaw at the thought. She feared what he might do next. He will nae have me or my lands!