Ailsa hadn’t known what else to do. She felt sure she could have made it back to Edinburgh if she’d tried. She could probably have avoided the Galbraiths.

Probably.

She had been so terrified when she realized she’d been kidnapped. She didn’t want to risk it. Besides, if Fingal ever learned that she had set off on her own to return to Edinburgh, he would be furious.

He’d be furious when he found out about all of this anyway. She did love him, but he took things so seriously. For years she had wanted to go with them to Edinburgh. Her mother had absolutely forbidden it. She remembered trying to get Fingal to agree to take her.

“Ye’re the laird, Fingal. If ye say I can go, there’s nothing mama can do.”

“But I don’t think ye should go either. Edinburgh is a dangerous place in many ways and even more so for a young lass. I promise ye can go when ye’re older.”

Then her mother had died suddenly two years ago. Gillian and Fingal had become Ailsa’s guardians, but they still believed she was too young to go to the royal court.

She’d turned eighteen in August and she wanted to go so very badly. But she hadn’t even asked this year. She felt sure they’d say nay again because Gillian wasn’t going. She’d given birth to their fourth child in June.

Ailsa knew the only way she’d be able to go was if one of her sisters was going too. Her other sister, Fallon, was married to one of Fingal’s captains. Although she almost never went, Ailsa had begged her.

“Fallon, ye know Fingal won’t take me if Gillian isn’t going. But if ye go, he might. Please, think about it. I really want to go.”

In the end, Fallon said that she would go if that would make Fingal relent about Ailsa going. It felt like it had taken an eternity for Gillian and Fingal to finally agree to let her go and now the Galbraiths had ruined everything. Still, if she could have gotten back before Fingal knew she was gone, everything would have been fine. But she had to be honest with herself, by now there was positively no hope of that. She’d been gone long enough that there was no longer any chance of keeping Fingal in the dark.

“He’ll never let me go back,” she muttered.

“Laird MacLennan?”

“Aye.”

“Maybe he should have been more diligent about guarding ye.”

“More diligent? Fingal? I had a guard at my elbow all of the time.”

“Then how did ye wind up in the hands of the Galbraiths?”

That was a fair question. “It was my own fault,” she answered miserably.

He chuckled. “Let me guess, ye didn’t like the fact that ye couldn’t take a breath without a guard knowing it and ye managed to elude him during the Michaelmas celebration.”

“Aye. How did ye know?”

“Ah, lass, it wasn’t hard to guess. Ye seem to have a wee stubborn streak.”

She sighed. “It’s just that I’ve had a guard within shouting distance since I was twelve. When I was younger it was fun to try to escape them. I never went far. It was fun figuring out how I might trick them. So I did it that night. I just didn’t see what harm could come to me among so many people. ”

“And what happened?”

“I was dancing with one of the Galbraith guardsmen.” She sighed. He’d been very handsome. “With all of those people and the dancing…well, it was rather warm. He brought me a tankard of ale and we left to get a bit of air.”

“Ye left the safety of those many people, to go off with a man ye barely knew?”

“When ye put it that way, I sound colossally stupid.”

“That’s because ye were colossally stupid. If a MacLennan guardsman had been nearby, he wouldn’t have let ye leave.”

“Nay, he wouldn’t have.” She paused for a moment before adding, “He probably would have noticed the man drugging my ale too.”

Lucas snorted. “He drugged ye? That’s a cowardly thing to do. Ye’re certain?”

“Aye, I’m dead certain. We were chatting and I began to feel sick and dizzy. He seemed so nice. He offered to help me. That’s the last thing I remember. The next thing I knew I was waking up on his lap on a horse.”

“By all that’s holy, lass, ye could have been raped or killed.”

“Thank ye for reminding me. We’ve already established that I was colossally stupid.”

“Aye, well, don’t ever forget it. In the future, don’t be so trusting. And when there are men set to guard ye, be grateful.” He had trouble looking as solemn as he sounded.

She looked down. “Aye, I suppose ye’re right. I am too trusting.”

~ * ~

Lucas smiled to himself, glad that she couldn’t see his face. He should probably feel a little guilty. After all, she had put her trust in him and believed that out of the goodness of his heart, he was escorting her to her home. But he hadn’t asked for her trust. He had given her his word that she was safe with him…and she was. But he had also let her believe he was taking her to her home, when, in reality, he intended to hold her for ransom—just as the Galbraiths had. But he assuaged any small bit of guilt he felt by telling himself she would likely have suffered at the Galbraith’s hands whereas he wouldn’t hurt her. She would be treated gently when they reached Castle Grant. William and his wife wouldn’t tolerate anything less.

She sighed and relaxed against his chest. “I’m very tired.”

“I expect so.” Having been up for the better part of two days, he was too. “I’d like to stop and rest, but we need to make certain we’re well away from the Galbraiths. So we’ll keep riding for a while, but ye can try to get a little rest here on my lap as we go. We’ll stop once we reach a safe place.”

She yawned. “Aye, that sounds like a good idea.”

She was asleep in minutes—as trusting as a lamb.

He rode with her sleeping in his arms for several hours while the waxing crescent moon was high, lending it’s light. But a few hours before dawn, when the moon was low in the sky, clouds began to thicken. It became too dark for them to ride safely—which meant it was too dark for anyone following them to ride safely either.

He nudged her awake. “Ailsa?”

“Mmmmm. Aye?” She yawned.

“I think it is safe for us to stop and rest for a while. We’ll leave the track and go into the forest, but it’s too dark to risk riding. I’m going to dismount and guide Captain. Hang on and keep yer head down to avoid low branches.”

In the quiet of the night he heard the soft babbling of flowing water. He led them into the forest until he reached the source, a small, rapidly flowing burn where Captain could drink his fill. Then he backtracked a few hundred yards. He took an extra plaid from his bundle and handed it to her. “Wrap up in this and try to get a little more sleep. We’ll leave at first light.”

“Thank ye. Are ye not going to build a fire?”

“Nay, lass,” he said as he put oats in a feedbag for Captain. “There are only two of us, and no one to stand watch. We are safe enough here in the dark, but a fire would be a beacon for anyone wishing to do us harm.

“Oh.” She sounded disappointed. “It’s just that I’m cold.”

He finished tending Captain and turned toward her, prepared to tell her she’d have to make do. But seeing her standing there, swathed in his plaid, looking very young and fragile, he couldn’t. “Well then, ye can lay next to me if ye wish. Ye’ll stay a bit warmer that way.”

Her face lit with a smile. “Thank ye.”

The next thing he knew, he was curled up on the cold ground with her snuggled up against his chest, wrapped in his extra plaid.

If he hadn’t been so tired, the nearness of such a comely lass would have made it hard to fall asleep. But he’d promised to keep her safe so he couldn’t very well seduce her. Besides, it would take at least three solid days of riding to reach Castle Grant. He needed some sleep or he’d never make it.

~ * ~

As Ailsa had nodded off to sleep the night before she’d added one more thing to her list of “firsts”—sleeping in a man’s arms. She had quite liked it. His heat against her back kept her warm all night. She missed it when she woke. Dawn barely pinked the sky but he was already up, had saddled Captain and taken him back to the burn to drink.

She sat up, wrapping his plaid tighter against the early morning chill, and watched him. Caught up in her own predicament, she hadn’t paid much attention to him the night before. Now she realized he was a very well-formed man. Extremely tall and broad chested, his sandy brown hair was streaked by the sun and hung to his shoulders. He was also very strong. She thought back to the previous night when he’d run through the forest with her on his back as if she were no heavier than a child. And he seemed to be a very good man. He had saved her from the six men who’d kidnapped her and was taking her home.

She sighed. He really was quite attractive. She imagined his arms around her, kissing her as Fingal kissed Gillian and another sigh escaped her lips. But a little voice deep inside said, Ailsa, other than the fact that he’s a Macrae, ye know nothing about him. Don’t get carried away…yet.

He returned to where she sat, leading Captain. “Ah, ye’re awake. Good.” He reached into a bag tied to Captain’s saddle and took out an oatcake and a piece of dried beef. “Here, break yer fast with this and we’ll get started.”

“Thank ye,” she said and took the food he offered. In truth, she was very hungry and it took all of her restraint to keep from gobbling it all down like her dog, Duff, would have.

When she was finished, she washed it down with water from a costrel he handed her.

“We should mount up now. We want to get as far north as we can today.”

“Aye. But…um…I need a bit of privacy.”

He sighed. “Fine. But don’t be long.”

“I won’t. I promise.” She hurried away toward some bushes that would afford her the privacy she needed. When she had finished attending to nature’s call, she hurried to the edge of the burn to wash her hands and face in the frigid water. She ran her wet hands through her unruly curls trying to smooth them down a little before twisting them into a braid. Realizing that she had nothing to tie it with, she ripped off a strip of the ribbon trimming the hem of her kirtle. Having made herself as presentable as possible, she returned to the place where he waited with Captain.

“I’m ready to go now.”

He arched a brow at her. “It’s about time. I’ll wake ye as soon as I rise tomorrow morning so ye have plenty of time for yer ablutions without delaying us more.”

She huffed. “Didn’t ye wake up grumpy? I wasn’t that long.”

“Ye were long enough. Let’s go.”

He lifted her onto the saddle, mounted behind her and urged Captain forward, out of the forest.

They rode in silence for quite a while. But Ailsa had always found silence didn’t agree with her. Eventually she had to speak.

“So, other than the fact ye’re a Macrae, I know nothing about ye. Tell me about yer family.”

“There isn’t much to tell.”

He offered nothing more.

“Do ye have any brothers and sisters?”

His answer, “I have two brothers,” was followed by another long stretch of silence.

Finally she said. “I have two sisters. They’re both married and have children. Are yer brother’s married?”

“Aye, they are, and they both have children too.”

“Are ye married?”

“Nay.”

“Betrothed?” she asked, frustrated by his short answers.

He chuckled. “Nay. Are ye?”

“Oh, good heavens, nay. Fingal and Gillian—”

“Laird and Lady MacLennan?”

“Aye, them. They want to arrange a betrothal for me. That was one reason they let me go to Court—so I could meet some of the men they were considering. But I didn’t really like any of them. Years ago, a friend of mine, Dougal MacKay—he’s in training at Brathanead—he said he’d marry me if no one else would.”

Lucas chuckled again. “So is that who ye’re holding out for?”

“Nay, not really. He’s nice and everything, but he’s more like a brother or a cousin. I don’t think I could actually marry him. Besides, he wants to go home to Naomh-dùn when his training is finished and I want to stay at Brathanead.”

“That poses a bit of a problem then.”

“Aye, it does. But I’m not going to worry about it for now.”

“That’s probably best. Don’t borrow trouble.”

They rode in silence a little while longer but once again, Ailsa couldn’t stand it. “So what do ye do, when ye aren’t saving kidnapped women, that is? Are ye a Macrae guardsman or man-at-arms?”

“Something like that. I help with the training of our men. Ye said ye had two sisters. Tell me about them.”

“Well, my oldest sister is Gillian…”