Page 55 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

As they went back the way he had come, several bodies were scattered all around and Ciara’s eyes couldn’t help but widen at Darragh’s skill. He had managed to subdue all the guards around in the tower all by himself.

“There’s the wall!” Ciara heard Darragh yell again, pulling her from her thoughts. She felt a burst of energy like no other surge through her system, and her legs moved faster than they ever had before.

“There!” he pointed to a hole in the wall that seemed to have been recently created. She shimmied through and kept running until she bumped into a person and stumbled backward.

Just as she was about to fall, the person reached out and swiftly grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back up.

Then she heard it: the sweet, familiar voice she’d been longing for.

“Whoa! Steady there, lass.” He gently brushed her hair out of her face and gave her what seemed to be a loving smile. “There, ye’re alright.”

Ciara slowly lifted her head to look up at him. His handsome face shone in the early moonlight. It surrounded him like a halo, making him look even more perfect than usual.

Her voice croaked as she spoke, “A-Aidan?”

“There they are! After them!”

Ciara gasped and clung onto Aidan subconsciously. He responded with a small smile, pulled her forward with him and began hurrying forward. His men surrounded them, lifted their bows, and shot at the guards running their way.

Ciara turned to look backward as Aidan pulled her forward, her heart beating furiously in her chest. The guards of her father’s castle had halted instantly to avoid being in the line of fire, and they hid behind whatever they could. Some of them were too slow and fell to the floor with a groan as the arrows flew into their bodies.

Finally, she and Aidan reached his horse, and he swiftly placed her on the saddle, quickly jumping on top of it right after. “Hold on to me tight.”

Ciara’s cheeks reddened, and she nodded her head, tightly wrapping her arms around him and shutting her eyes tight.

She felt him move the horse around as he yelled to his men, “That’s enough now! Everybody, move out!” Just like that, they took off on their horses, riding as fast as they could away from Ciara’s once-known home.

Finally free, Ciara broke down. Her entire system trembled with the shock of her rescue, the forced energy she had mustered to make it out of the keep was now gone, leaving her with total exhaustion. She could rest now. She was safe in Aidan’s arms.