Page 10 of A Bride for the Kilted Beast

After another hour or two, they made camp for the night. Kincaid and his brother dismounted, and the big laird lifted her down from the horse with surprising gentleness. She was grateful that he at least seemed to regard her as a human being at last and not just an object he had just purchased.

“We’ll gather some firewood,” he told Ciarán. “I’ll get a fire going, and ye can make us something to eat from those provisions in the saddlebag. I’m famished.” He looked at Lillie, who made sure to look unsteady on her still bound feet. With a look of concern, he knelt and pushed her skirts aside to inspect the bindings on her ankles. She prayed he would undo them.

There was sharp intake of breath as he saw the red, raised welts the ropes were causing. Her wish was granted as he loosened the knots and finally removed the rope. She breathed a sigh of relief as the blood rushed painfully back into her feet. He rubbed her ankles with his large, warm hands. Alarmed by the strange sensation his touch elicited, she stepped back, and he stopped.

“Can ye walk?” he asked, standing up and looking down on her, his green-eyed gaze piercing.

“I-I think so,” she replied, walking a few steps. “’Tis painful, but I think it’ll pass soon enough. Can ye loosen the rope on me hands as well, please. ’Tis cutting off me blood.” She held out her bound wrists to him with an imploring look.

“Do ye promise nae tae run?”

She nodded her head vigorously. “Nay, I told ye, I’ve accepted me fate. I’ll nae run.” The green eyes seemed to bore into her, as if to read her thoughts. She held her breath.

“All right,” he agreed finally and undid the rope tying her wrists. She hissed when he set them free, and the blood flowed back into her hands in sharp pins and needles. “Come on, ye can help me find some firewood. Once we get a fire going, we can rest and eat. But stick close tae me,” he added with a warning look, or I’ll nae be so gentle next time.”

“Aye,” she told him, biding her time, putting on a façade of obedience. Unfortunately, he stuck to her like glue while they scoured the undergrowth for kindling and small branches for the fire. Soon, they had amassed quite a pile, plus some larger logs Lillie guessed would likely keep the fire going all night.

It was beginning to get cold, so she was grateful when the fire was lit, and she could sit beside the warming flames. She was hungry too, and when Ciarán handed round bowls of hot meat broth and hunks of barley bread, she took them gratefully and began eating.

She had eaten nothing since that morning, when she had breakfasted with Aiden and his wife Ciará in the safety of Castle MacDonald. They would all be searching for her by now.

Why was I so stupid as to leave? Why did I go tae Kirkauld? Why did I nae just dae as I was told?

Bitterly regretting her foolhardy behavior, she secretly cast about, looking for the best place to run while the two men slept. They were in a small glen, with rocky outcrops above and below the trail, but there was a forested section ahead of them. She decided she would head for the trees. There would be plenty of hiding places in the forest where they would never find her.

She had no idea what she would do then, for she did not have a clue where they were or in which direction home lay. She had no money, no clothes, no horse. But she vowed she would get there, however long it took.

“That must have been a strange experience fer ye, being in that auction,” Diarmaid observed while they ate.

She cast him a withering look. “Strange is nae how I would describe that shameful affair,” she told him, frowning as she remembered the horror she had gone through that day.

“Aye, it fair made me want to puke,” Ciarán put in with a derisive sniff. “Seeing ye wee lassies up there, all ye laird’s daughters sold off like cattle. ’Tis nae right.”

“Well,” Lillie pointed out tartly, “yer brother didnae think so, fer he paid good money for me.”

“Aye, true enough, but we were there fer another reason,” Diarmaid said, his voice gravelly. “Buying ye was… an opportunity we did nae expect.”

“Tae make that other man angry. Aye, I saw,” she replied, popping her last piece of bread in her mouth. She placed the bowl beside her on the ground and stretched out her legs, massaging her sore ankles.

“I saw what ye did, too,” Diarmaid said. “Tryin’ tae comfort that girl next tae ye.”

Lillie sighed, recalling the horrible experience but also seeing an opportunity to flatter him and thereby lull him into a false sense of security. “I think those poor lassies face a worse fate than me, judging by the way those men were manhandling them. Tae say naething of their faithers. What sort of men are they? And lairds too! Me faither, bless his soul, would never have done such a thing. Such disrespect.”

“Maybe so,” he said, his eyes searching her face. She prayed he could not read her thoughts. Evidently, he could not, for before long, he stretched and yawned. Ciarán had brought blankets from the saddle bags to sleep on and laid them beside the fire. Diarmaid lay down, patting the blanket right next to him. “Come on. Lie down here, where I can keep an eye on ye.”

Her excitement growing, Lillie obeyed meekly, secretly pleased he seemed to trust her enough not to tie her up again. Ciarán seemed not to care either way. He lay down on his blanket and closed his eyes. She rolled on her side and turned her back on Diarmaid, curling into a ball and closing her eyes too.

On tenterhooks, she listened to Kincaid’s breathing. After what felt like an eternity, she heard his breaths deepen and slow, and he began to snore a little. She forced herself to wait a while longer, to be sure he was slumbering soundly.

At last, she moved. Careful not to make a sound, she rose to her feet. A half-moon hung in the sky, giving her a little light to see by. Keeping low, not looking back, she moved slowly over the short turf, then through long grass, keeping her eyes on her goal, the tree line of the forest, and finally breaking into a run as she put more distance between herself and the men.

Her heart leapt with elation when she reached the trees and plunged into the forest. Among the trees it was much darker, and she had to slow down. In the feeble light trickling through the canopy her eyes strained to find a way forward, wondering how far away she could get if the men slept until dawn.

She pushed on, lifting her skirts to prevent them from catching on the undergrowth and pushing low-hanging branches aside. Suddenly, she found herself in wide, moonlit clearing and bounded onto the narrow animal track running diagonally across it, feeling confident she had succeeded in her escape. From there, the men would never be able to tell which direction she had gone.

She was almost to the other side of the clearing when the ground suddenly gave away beneath her feet, and she found herself falling. Flailing her arms, terrified, not knowing what was happening, she screamed.

A moment later she landed with a bump at the bottom of a steep-sided hole, covered in grass and branches. Dazed, she pushed them aside and rubbed absently at her behind, which had taken the brunt of the fall. She looked up at the moon shining down through the square opening above her. She then looked at the unscalable sides of the pit and realized where she was. She had fallen into a boar trap.