Page 82 of A Highland Bride Taken

“We found Poppy.”

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“We found Poppy.”

Those three ominous words sent a cold shiver down his back, but he didn’t wait to see if the others were following him as he rushed in the direction Alastair had indicated.

They found Poppy lying unconscious in an alley.

Upon seeing her, Elspeth screamed into her husband’s chest.

Mabel moved forward with purpose, looking over the girl. “She isnae hurt,” she announced. “She just seems to be asleep.”

Elspeth hurried to pick up her daughter and hold her close to her chest. “Poppy mine, ye have to wake up.”

Campbell beckoned Alastair over. “Have ye seen the boys?” he asked, looking around for any sign of them.

“Nay, Me Laird,” Alastair answered. “The men are still looking for them.”

Panic flared inside Campbell, but he quickly buried it, seeing Poppy still unconscious in her mother’s arms. She was breathing, but looked deep in slumber.

She was the only one who could tell them where the boys were, and they needed her to wake up soon.

He couldn’t ask Magnus as the man moved to his wife’s side, holding her in his arms as they rocked their daughter.

“Poppy mine, it’s yer faither,” he murmured. “Ye have to wake up.”

“Get a carriage,” Campbell ordered one of the guards nearby.

They needed to return to the castle and warm up the girl before she caught a terrible chill. No one knew how long she had been lying on the ground, and her hair and dress looked damp.

A sneeze escaped her, eliciting a cry of relief from them all. Her eyes opened slowly, but when they finally did, she struggled against her mother’s hold.

“Be still, child,” Elspeth said softly.

“Maither?” Poppy croaked, before burying her face in her mother’s chest.

“Were ye hurt, lass?” Magnus asked.

His body shook with silent rage, but the relief in his eyes was plain to see. Campbell was relieved as well, but his worry for the boys quickly took over.

Poppy was the only one who had seen what had happened to the boys, and he needed to know. The quicker they did, the faster they could find them.

He shot Magnus a look, and the man nodded, turning to his daughter.

“What happened to ye, lass?” he asked. “Where are Connor and Ollie?”

Poppy looked around and shook her head. “There was a man,” she began. “I tried to yell, but he put somethin’ on me face, and I fell asleep. He… he took them.”

Campbell stole a glance at Mabel, whose face had fallen at the revelation. No doubt she blamed herself for not watching the boys more closely, just as he blamed himself.

He was the one who had suggested going to the fair, so he should have been watching them, knowing well that his grandfather and whatever enemies he had made would want to hurt him.

Shite.

He should never have grown complacent and forgotten the danger surrounding them.

“Me Laird,” James, another guard, greeted as he came up to them. “The carriage is ready to take ye back to the castle.”