Free When a Laird Loves a Lady (Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts Book 1) by Julie Johnstone Page B

conclude that having her as a bride would be too much
trouble, and Rory Mac would likely agree.
    “Tell me the truth,” her father
roared as he released her head and gave her a shove forward. She almost fell
again, but Andrew caught her by the arm. Her father’s fist crashed into Andrew’s
face, letting the knight know what her father thought about his aiding her.
Poor Andrew staggered to the ground beside her. She quickly shook her head at
him.
    “Do not dare to help her,” Father
ordered as he stepped in front of her once again. “Marion, on my word, if you
don’t tell me the truth, I’ll beat you until you beg for death. Now, where did
you go when you fled from here? From whom did you get that horse?” He pointed a
gloved finger toward Rory Mac’s destrier. Iain’s beast had refused to let her
mount him.
    Marion slanted her gaze toward the
bridge on the other side of the bailey. Her father had left Angus tied to the
pole at the entrance, as she’d told Iain he might. Just as she was about to
look away from Angus’s slumped form to answer her father, a large shadow rose
up beside Angus. It had to be Iain, she thought, and within seconds, Iain and
Angus were gone. Iain may be a strapping Scot, but his size certainly didn’t
impede his ability to hide. She should have known he’d be clever. Angus had
always said Scots were taught the art of shadow dancing from the day they could
toddle on two legs.
    Slowly, she faced her father once
more. “I already told you the truth. Someone tried to snatch me from the hill
in front of the castle. I don’t know who it was! I fell into the water in the
struggle, and they fished me out and then rode me all the way to Newcastle. I
escaped when they thought I was sleeping, and stole this horse to return
directly to you.”
    “If you’re lying, Marion—”
    “I’m not. I swear it.” That lie
would cost her a great number of coins to Father John, but it was worth it.
Perhaps all was not lost.
    An idea occurred to her then, one
that would lead her father and some of his men away from the castle to make
things easier for Iain. “I can lead you to where they took me. I know what they
look like.”
    “Give me their descriptions and the
exact position. I’ll ride out with some of my men to find them, and you”—he
offered a malicious smile—“will stay here and ready yourself for your wedding.
Froste will have to be fetched from Newcastle. He arrived earlier and I told
him you drowned, so he went into town to—er—deliberate with his brother.”
    Marion knew that was a lie. Froste
had gone into town to seek a whore to warm his bed for the night. That’s how
distraught he was by Marion’s presumed death. She snorted inwardly as she
studied her father from under her lashes. So her father truly meant to defy the
king. Or maybe he simply intended to claim she’d been married to Froste before
he knew of the king’s new orders. That was very likely. But it would mean her
father had every intention of hunting down Iain and killing him and Rory Mac so
they could not tell King Edward otherwise.
    Marion needed to escape quickly,
now that Angus was safe with Iain. But how? Before she could consider it
further, her father spoke.
    “Sir Thomas will escort you.” Her
father nodded to a knight Marion didn’t know.
    “There’s no need,” she replied,
striving to sound accommodating though she was feeling desperate.
    “There is a need, Marion.” Her
father’s dark eyes bore into hers. “Someone tried to seize you. I will see you defended
at all times.”
    It had been years since she’d
allowed herself to hope her father might feel any true affection toward her,
but that hope had apparently never died as it now flared in her chest. “Father,
I’m touched.”
    “Don’t be,” he snapped. “I simply
can’t have you disappearing again before I marry you to Froste.”
    “Of course,” she replied, her face
heating with anger at herself. Why had she been so foolish to