Page 54 of Secrets of a Kilted Seduction

“Naethin’ a good healer and a few drams willnae fix,” he mumbled thickly through his split lips.

Blaine felt like puking when she stood on her tiptoes and planted a sweet kiss to Tadgh’s bloody, swollen lips. The bastard MacTavish should have been good and dead by now, his body dumped somewhere in the wilds, to be discovered in days or maybe weeks, half eaten by animals but still identifiable. Alana should have been a widow, one he would comfort and, eventually, get to marry him.

“Come on, let’s get ye out of this place and back tae the castle,” he said, hiding his displeasure at her attachment to MacTavish.

“Aye, I cannae wait tae tend tae Tadhg’s wounds and wash the filth of this place off,” Alana said as they prepared to leave. Blaine made sure to offer her his arm and help her up the stairs. Outside in the courtyard, he was surprised when Tadhg pulled away from his men and made for a barrel full of rainwater standing nearby. The warrior appeared steadier on his feet and dunked his head in the cold water for several moments, clearly in a bid to recover from the beating he had received. Blaine wished with all his heart he had been the one to meter it out before slitting the man’s throat.

He ordered one of his men to give up his horse to Alana and Tadhg. “Can ye ride?” he asked the warrior, feigning concern. “Alana can ride with me if she likes.”

The look Tadhg shot him from beneath his blackened eyelids was laden with suspicion. “Thanks, but I’m fine tae ride, and me wife will ride with me.” He reached down a mighty arm and effortlessly lifted Alana into the saddle, setting her in front of him. Blaine was careful not to show that he took the move as an insult.

They had not ridden very far when Tadgh suddenly said, “I owe ye me thanks fer rescuin’ us.”

“Och, I’m yer host and, I hope, yer friend. I could nae let naethin’ happen tae ye,” Blaine replied. “I feel bad about sendin’ ye off alone like that as it is,” he lied.

“So, ye launched a rescue mission, eh?” Tadhg continued. “With only two men?”

It was obvious to Blaine from the man’s tone that he did not believe him. How he held himself back from attacking Tadhg’s then and there he hardly knew. But with Alana watching, what else could he do but be brazen it out? “I didnae ken the situation, and I thought it best to come with a small party tae avoid raisin’ suspicion.”

“Well, things worked out well fer ye in that case,” Tadhg replied coolly. “Me and me wife are deeply grateful tae ye,” he added, with all the sincerity of a roadside peddler selling false cures.

At least, that was how it sounded to Blaine, and his burning hatred for Tadhg roiled in his guts like crayfish being boiled alive. “Nae need fer gratitude,” he said eventually, summoning another false smile. “I could nae let any harm come tae Alana, and naturally, the same goes fer her husband.”

Just as Tadhg half expected would happen, when they got back to their chambers, Alana fell apart with delayed shock. As soon as the door shut, she all but fell into his arms, tears rolling down her cheeks, sobbing into this chest.

“Oh, Tadhg, I was so frightened fer ye. When I saw that man beatin’ on ye like that, I thought I was gonnae die! And I could dae naethin’ tae help ye,” she mumbled through her tears.

His heart clenched to hear how much she cared about him, hardly thinking of what she had been through. “’Tis all right, bonny lass, ye’re safe now, and ye neednae worry about me. I’m as tough as old boots, eh?” he crooned, holding her, stoking her hair gently, letting her cry herself out. “It’s been a terrible ordeal fer ye.”

He supposed he should feel bad for taking her with him, but he could not regret his decision. To have left her alone with Blaine would have been even more dangerous, he knew that now. The man could not be trusted, and he had a good idea of what Blaine’s original intention for him had been. The scouting mission had been nothing but a trap. He meant tae kill me fer sure.