Page 76 of The Laird’s Sinful Obsession

Movement. She was moving.

No… being carried.

Strong arms held her, and beneath her she could feel the rhythmic gait of a horse. She was on a horse, slumped against someone's chest, their arm locked around her waist to keep her from falling.

Where am I?

Alba tried to speak but her mouth wouldn't cooperate. Her tongue felt thick, her thoughts sluggish and disconnected.

"She wakin' up?" A different voice. Male. Coming from somewhere beside them.

"Nae yet. Hit her pretty hard."

"Ye shouldnae have marked her. He said no visible damage."

"She bit me."

"I dinnae care if she tried to gut ye. Ye ken the orders."

Hoofbeats. Two horses, moving fast over rough ground. Trees overhead, branches blocking out patches of sky. The forest. They were in the forest.

Alba tried to lift her head, tried to see where they were taking her, but the movement sent fresh pain lancing through her skull and she nearly retched.

"She's stirrin'." The man holding her tightened his grip. "How much further?"

"Another hour, maybe less. The boat's waitin' at the cove."

Boat. They're takin' me off the island.

Fear cut through the fog in Alba's mind. She had to fight, to escape. But her body wouldn't obey, too heavy and uncoordinated from whatever he'd done to her head.

She managed to open her eyes to slits, seeing flashes of forest path, of her captor's rough cloak, of the other rider keeping pace beside them.

"How much did he pay ye?" the second man asked.

"Enough." Her captor shifted in the saddle. "Half now, half when we deliver her."

"And the guard? Thomas?"

"Already got his share. Fool did exactly what I told him—opened the archer's cell, made sure the postern gate was unlocked." A dark laugh. "Probably still hidin' thinkin' he got away with it."

Thomas. The traitor was Thomas.

Alba tried to hold onto that information, tried to stay conscious, but the darkness kept pulling at her, dragging her back down.

"She's out again," her captor said. "Better fer both of us. Less screamin' this way."

The last thing Alba heard before unconsciousness took her completely was the steady rhythm of hoofbeats and the distant sound of waves crashing against rocks.

They were heading for the coast.

For Torquil.

And no one knew she was gone.

"Search every inch of this castle!"

Lachlann's roar echoed through the corridors as soldiers scattered in all directions. He stood in Alba's empty chamber, his hands clenched so tight his nails drew blood from his palms.