Page 71 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

“Let her go,” Gilchrist barked again, though his voice was deathly quiet. Somehow, that quietness made him even more threatening.

“Ye ken I cannae do that,” Shay said with a chuckle. He stepped toward Gilchrist, standing over him, threateningly. “She’s why I’m here. She was always the reason.”

“Why?” Gilchrist asked plainly. “Why come for Kyven? Ye already have absorbed one clan intae yer own, taking their fortunes. Why would ye need another?”

“The thing about an appetite is…” He bent down, crouching, nearly at Gilchrist’s eye level. He smiled once more, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. “It keeps comin’ back. Once ye have the taste fer money, ye always need more.”

“Ye spent it, didnae ye?” Gilchrist said, a note of knowing in his tone.

Kyven looked between them, baffled and longing to ask more questions.

Shay’s smile dropped and he stood straight. He turned to face Kyven, walking toward her. Gilchrist shifted against the ropes that bound him to the tree, clearly wishing to stop Shay, though he could not. Shay bent down and reached for Kyven’s face. She pulled away from him as much as she could, trying to avoid his touch, but he managed to take hold of her chin and jerk her to look at him. His nose was mangled now, broken twice and out of place, but the blood had mostly dried on their journey.

“Ye will be me wife, Kyven,” he said coolly. “Ye may nae be a happy one. Ye may have tae be… encouraged tae sire an heir.”

She spat in his face, having no intention of ever letting him touch her. He snatched his hand back from her face and wiped the spit off his cheeks.

“Shall we tell her? Hmm?” he said with sudden sharpness to Gilchrist. “Shall we tell her all, Michael? Nay point in hiding any of it now, is there?”

Michael?

Kyven stiffened against the tree. How was it possible that Shay knew Gilchrist’s real name?

“Kyven, dinnae listen –” Gilchrist begged, but Shay spoke over him.

“She has tae listen.” Shay waved a hand toward her as he stood, marching up and down between the two of them as behind them, Larry added more wood to the fire. “Ye see, Kyven, Michael and I have met before, long ago. Back when he was in the… Gregor clan, the youngest brother of the clan laird. He was quite a favorite at the time, ye see?”

Kyven blinked. It took a moment for the words to register. She looked at Gilchrist, expecting to hear him deny or see some sort of defiance in his face, but there was none. He simply stared back at her, those blue eyes wide.

“Nay,” she whispered.

Gilchrist was a Gregor?

“Ye cannae be a Gregor,” she said with sudden desperation. His foot tried to rest against her own, but she pulled it back out of his reach, stuffing it under herself.

“Oh, aye, he is. He never told ye? Ha!” Laird Shay took great delight in this. He tipped his head back, guffawing into the trees and making nearby owls take flight. When his mirth softened, he turned back to Kyven, laid a hand on the trunk of the tree she was tied to, and bent toward her. “He ran when I married the woman he wanted. Now, he’ll have tae watch me take the next woman too.” He ran a hand through her hair, though she tried to jerk away. “Then ye’ll die, Michael. Nae before that.”

Gilchrist was made all the more dangerous in his silence. He didn’t deny any of it, but the glower he sent Shay’s way made Kyven’s insides tremble.

“Is it true?” she whispered, staring at Gilchrist. He still said nothing. It was all the acceptance she needed. “Oh.” Tears sprang to her eyes, she could not stop them.

She had lain with one of the men who had seen to her father’s death. How was that possible? How could she have given herself to a man she thought she trusted, for him only to be one of her father’s murderers?

Nay! What have I done!

She tried to crumple forward, crossing her legs together, protecting her body, but the ropes kept her fastened firmly in place.

“Ye can dwell on that for a while.” Shay reached for her hair again, but she managed to jerk away this time. “Aye, may ye give yerself to me someday with the same enthusiasm ye gave yerself tae a Gregor.” He pulled back his hand and walked away. “Larry? We’ll stay until sunrise. Find us something tae eat.”

As he walked away, Kyven’s vision blurred. Hot tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She stared at the ground, unable to wipe those tears away with her hands fastened so tightly behind her.

“Kyven,” Gilchrist whispered after some minutes of silence. “It’s nae what ye think. I can explain –”

“Nay. Nay.” She shook her head, uncertain what to call him anymore.

His name isnae Gilchrist, is it?

Yet she found it hard to think of him by any other name.