Page 67 of A Bride for the Kilted Beast

Nay, this cannae be happening… Diarmaid will be too late. By the time he comes back fer me, I’ll be married tae Odhrán Lennox!

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Diarmaid felt like his guts were being ripped out of him when Lillie was led from the room. The only consolation was that he had managed to pass her the note, and she had not given him away. It gave him hope to think that as soon as she read it, she would know he had not betrayed her. He could not bear the thought of her being locked up somewhere alone thinking that he had.

As soon as she had gone, Murphy Lennox went to his son, and the pair began talking in hushed tones, their eyes on him and Maddison. It was impossible to hear everything they were saying, but one word came through clearly and immediately caught his attention. Murphy had distinctly said the word “wedding.”

Wedding?

His mind lit up like a lightning storm—they were going to make Lillie marry Odhrán at once!

Something came over him then, some compelling power he could not resist. Putting Maddison to one side, he lunged forwards towards the two men.

“What are ye up tae, Lennox?” he demanded of the laird menacingly.

“That’s naething tae dae with ye, Kincaid. I dae what I like in me own castle,” Murphy shot back with an ugly glare.

“Yer gonnae marry the girl tae him,” he scowled at Odhrán, “right away, are ye?”

“What’s it tae ye? Ye’re nae invited,” Murphy growled. Diarmaid saw the laird nod surreptitiously at the guards who were lounging by the door. Suddenly, they drew their weapons and advanced on him. He realized at once that Murphy had never meant to let them leave alive. He had intended all along to kill him and Maddison, to then marry Lillie to Odhrán.

“Why, ye lyin’ dog. Ye mean tae try and kill me and me sister, d’ye, after ye gave yer word ye’d let us leave safely? I should have kent ye couldnae be trusted,” Diarmaid growled at Murphy, seeing his plan going seriously awry.

With fury surging through his veins, he drew his claymore with one hand and pushed Maddison behind him with the other, determined to protect her with his life.

The guards began to attack him, but he parried their strikes vigorously and pushed forward, on the attack. He knew the quicker he cut them down, the quicker he would get to his real target, Murphy himself.

Murphy watched them fighting, laughing in his sneering manner.

“Aye, ye got me there, Kincaid. With ye and yer sister out of the way, that only leaves that braither of yers. But it’ll be easy work tae finish him off, and then the lairdship will belong tae me, along with everything else ye own. Yer family and yer clan will be wiped out,” he said with an air of triumph.

One of the guards made a fatal slip just then, exposing his torso for a fraction a second. Diarmaid saw his chance. With lightning speed, he kicked the other guard in his lower belly, sending him sprawling backwards, his sword clattering to the floor. At the same moment Diarmaid rammed home ten inches of steel into the other man’s ribcage. He dropped to his knees, groaning in agony before toppling to the floor.

Diarmaid pulled out his blade and kicked him aside, his glance flicking over his shoulder to make sure Maddison was all right. She was backed up against the wall behind him, her pale face aghast, but she was unhurt. He turned his attention back to the Lennoxes.

Both Murphy and Odhrán now drew their own weapons, but Diarmaid noted that it was only Murphy who advanced on him. Odhrán appeared to hang back a little, behind his father.

In a split second, Diarmaid decided there was only one thing he could do that might give him any chance of saving Lillie. It was a gamble, but he knew he had to try it. He tried his best to summon a taunting laugh to match Murphy’s own as he stood panting, ready to engage him.

“Ye’re nae so clever that ye’re the only one who kens how tae lie, ye auld devil. That lassie ye’re so keen tae marry tae yer son here, well, I lied about that. The truth is, ’tis likely she’s already carrying a new life in her belly,” he panted.

“What?!” Murphy yelled, his face darkening with fury and gripping his claymore tightly.

“Aye,” Diarmaid went on, pleased to see the effect his words were having. The angrier Murphy got, the likelier he was to slip up. “I married her, ye see, the day I took her. And, well, I dinnae need tae tell ye any more than that.”

“Ye bastard!” Murphy spat, advancing on Diarmaid, who realized that even if Odhrán now rejected Lillie as a wife, he would have to kill both him and his father in order for any of them to leave Castle Lennox alive. Murphy was a battle-hardened, fearsome foe, and with both of them on him, it would be a hard task to bring them down alone before he himself was injured, possibly fatally. With that knowledge in mind, he was burningly aware of Maddison still pressed against the wall.

Murphy sprang forward and raised his claymore, his blade clashing loudly with Diarmaid’s as they met. Maddison screamed behind him, spurring him on. Any moment, he expected Odhrán to join the fray, but to his surprise, even as he fought fiercely with Murphy, he saw Odhrán slip around to where Maddison was standing, frozen, her hands over her face.

“Dinnae touch her!” he roared, assuming Odhrán was either going to kill her or at least try to take her hostage, to make him give up the fight. But Odhrán did neither of those things. Instead, he took hold of Maddison’s elbow and gently steered her out of the way of the fighting.

Is he tryin’ tae protect her?

But he had little time to think about what Odhrán was up to, for his father took advantage of his infinitesimal lapse in attention and kicked him hard in the stomach. The blow knocked the breath out of Diarmaid, and he doubled up in pain, lowering his guard.

“Ha! Got ye now, ye bastard!” Murphy roared, “I cannae wait tae finish ye off!” he raised his claymore, obviously intending to deal Diarmaid a fatal blow. Diarmaid knew then that he had failed. He had failed Maddison, and he had failed Lillie. And Ciarán too, for he would be Lennox’s next victim.

He struggled to rise, and as he did so, to his amazement, the study door burst open with a huge crash, splinters flying everywhere. Stunned as well as winded, Diarmaid looked up to see Ciarán, his bloodstained blade in his hand, spring into the room, looking right and left as he took in the scene before him.