Page 81 of Secrets of a Kilted Seduction

Alana followed her glance and saw Tadgh dozing in a chair next to the bed. A huge wave of love for him washed over her. She had sent him away, but he had not gone anywhere. He had come to rescue her after all. Ye should have had more faith.

And over in the corner, she spied her father lying in the cot next to her, having been cleaned up and taken care of, most probably by Moira. He looked so much younger. “Faither,” she said softly. When he heard her voice and looked over at her, she stretched out her hand as if to touch him. He smiled, got up surprisingly quickly on his feet and hurried over to her, taking the hand she offered between both of his and squeezing it. It was then that Alana noticed Moira slipping out of the door and guessed she was giving them a few minutes alone to speak in private.

Her father perched on the bed next to her. “How are ye feelin’, lassie?” he asked solicitously.

“I’m all right. Moira says I only fainted, from all the excitement, apparently.” They both chuckled at that.

“I suppose that’s one way of describin’ it,” he observed. “I’m relieved ye’re all right, anyway. I’ve been walkin’ on egg shells these last few hours, I admit, I’ve been so worried about ye.”

“How are ye, Faither? How did ye get out?” she asked, curious about all that had happened in the last few hours to free her from Blaine.

He father nodded at Tadhg. “Yer man there, Tadhg. He came out of nowhere and busted intae the dungeons with Knox and some of his men, and they got me out. Just in time too.”

“Aye, just in time,” she agreed, feeling immensely grateful to Tadhg for not giving up on her when she had given up on him. “Thank ye fer comin’ tae save me. I thought Blane was gonnae kill me when ye…” She broke off, unable to say the words.

He looked terribly sad, and she knew the way things had turned out with Blaine were most likely hard for him to come to terms with. He clearly loved and trusted Blaine as his own son and, despite Blaine’s evil scheming, he would mourn him just the same.

“Alana. I ken that was a shock fer ye, seein’ me kill him like that in front of yer eyes,” he said gently. “But it couldnae be helped. He was goin’ tae hurt ye. I couldnae allow that. He’d done enough damage as it was. Ye see that, eh?”

“Of course, Faither. If ye hadnae killed him, I’d be dead. How can I nae be grateful tae ye fer that? And he would have killed ye.”

“That was all lies he told ye, ye ken? I’ve been searchin’ fer ye and yer maither fer so long, and I never gave up hope of finding ye. Ever since I found out that me wife had sent Ella away. He hid it from me that he’d found ye, and I can never forgive him fer keepin’ us apart like that. Ye have nae idea how happy it makes me tae have ye here, holdin’ me hand, talkin’ tae me. ’Tis like lookin’ at yer maither.” His eyes took on a soft, faraway look. “She was the love of me life. I miss her even now.”

“Why did ye nae wed her?” she asked.

“I wanted tae, lass, but me faither wanted me tae marry Skye as part of a political alliance. I had nay choice in the matter. There was nay love between us at all. But me and Ella, we were so in love, we couldnae stop seein’ each other, even after I was married. And after a while, she found she was expectin’ ye.”

“What happened then?”

“A question I’ve asked meself one too many times. I only found out years later that it was me wife, Lady Skye, who was responsible fer forcin’ yer maither tae leave me. She told me that on her death bed. She did nae wantae be wed tae me anymore than I wanted tae be wed tae her. She was jealous of the happiness I had with yer maither, especially when she found out Ella was with child. We had nay bairns, ye see. She couldnae stand me havin’ a child with another woman,” he said sadly before resuming the story.

“When Ella told me about the bairn, I was as thrilled as she was. I planned tae buy her a house of her own, so she could set up her healin’ business. I promised tae spend all the time I could with her, and we were plannin’ tae raise ye together. Ye were loved, Alana, even before ye were birthed.”

His sincerity shone through, and his words made Alana feel warm inside.

“Then, one day, when she was about six months with child, I went tae see her, but she’d vanished and taken everything with her. I almost lost me mind. I was heartbroken. I couldnae understand it. What had happened tae all our plans? I couldnae accept that she’d just up and left me like that, so I started lookin’ fer her. But she was clever. She knew how to hide. The rest ye ken already.”

“I thought ye’d sent her away because she was havin’ yer child,” she told him. “I thought ye didnae want us.”

“Nay, lass, that was the last thing I wanted tae dae. I loved her, and I’ve loved ye too, even though I didnae ken where ye were or anythin’ about ye. Blaine told me that Ella died two years ago. Is that right?”

“Aye, she had an illness and passed away peacefully in her sleep.”

“Did she ever speak of me?”

“Nay. She told me me faither was a sailor who died at sea. So, ye can imagine what a shock it was fer me when yer delegation suddenly turned up at me home, sayin’ I was the illegitimate daughter of Laird MacIver.”

“Aye, that must have been a shock,” he agreed. “But ye agreed tae come here.”

“I was curious. Truthfully, I wanted tae give ye a piece of me mind fer abandonin’ us.”

“D’ye still want tae give me a piece of yer mind?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.

“Nay, because now I ken the truth, thanks tae Tadhg. I ken me maither lied tae me because she was tryin’ tae protect me. Tadhg found out years ago that yer wife discovered yer affair and that maither was expectin’ yer child, but he could nae tell me then. I only just learned of this a few days ago.”

“Aye, he told me about that as well.”

“Well, fer whatever reason, Lady Skye threatened Maither’s life if she didnae leave ye and nae tae come back. I see now that she couldnae risk any connection with ye in case Lady Skye tracked us down.”