Page 23 of Saved by the Cruel Highlander (Lairds of the Loch Alliance #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

H olly walked with Cole through the castle. The boy was practically tethered to her, and she didn’t mind that one bit. He didn’t say much, and there was a melancholy about him, which was to be expected, but there were moments when he seemed truly happy, and that had always happened when he was around her.

“What would ye like to do today?” Holly asked.

She was in a fine mood. She had been in a fine mood ever since she had been with the Laird at the loch.

“Mayhap we can go and see the huntin’ dogs again and feed them in case they need to go out on a hunt soon,” Cole said quietly.

Holly thought about it.

“Aye,” she replied.

The lad had taken a liking to the hunting dogs, and Holly wondered if it was because of how protective they were, especially of the bairns in the castle. It might also be because he was worried that she and the Laird would dump him in the middle of the woods when they got tired of him. The hunting dogs would find him if they knew his scent well enough.

“Aye, we can do that,” Holly continued. “And then we can go down to the kitchen and see if they have some freshly baked cakes. How about that?”

“Cakes?” Cole asked, his eyes widening. “Aye, that would be braw.”

“Aye, ye need to get as much strength for yer life here in the village or the castle…” Holly trailed off.

She wanted to reassure the boy, but she didn’t know what would happen to him just yet, and she had barely seen the Laird since their outing at the loch to talk to him about it.

The memory of the Laird leaping into the loch popped into her mind. When she had witnessed it from the warmth of the blanket, she had barely believed it. It wasn’t until his head broke the surface that it became real and she burst out laughing.

Mayhap the Laird they whisper about wouldnae house a young boy like Cole, but the Laird who leaped into the cold water certainly would.

Holly stopped walking and crouched down before the boy. “I want ye to ken that I’m nae goin’ to let anythin’ bad happen to ye, all right?”

Cole nodded as she held him by the shoulders. “Can I stay here with ye, Mistress?”

“I dinnae ken,” Holly admitted. “We’ll have to see about that.”

Cole nodded again.

When Holly stood back up, Eliza was walking toward her, her eyes wide, and an extra bounce in her step.

“Och, Me Lady, there ye are. I can scarcely believe it meself, but I ken it to be true. There’s a man in the castle who means to kill ye.”

Holly gritted her teeth as Cole jerked his head up to look at her. She shot Eliza a look that stopped her from blabbing.

“Ye are an awful mess, Eliza. Ye mean there’s a man here who wants to see me, aye?” Holly asked.

“Aye, that’s it,” Eliza said, her lips slightly parted in wonder.

Holly took the maid by the arm and led her away from Cole, who remained in his spot.

He’s gained wisdom beyond his young years, but at what cost?

“Eliza!” Holly hissed when they were alone. “Ye cannae be gossipin’ about things like that in front of the lad, let alone everyone. What is goin’ on?”

Holly wasn’t worried about a man coming to kill her. If that were the case, Eliza wouldn’t be so giddy about it.

“It’s exactly as I said. Laird McAllister had an entire clan hunt him down and bring him here, and he’s in the dungeons right now. I heard from a maid, who heard from a guard, who heard from another guard, who heard from the cook who takes the food down to the dungeons that they are torturin’ him somethin’ terrible. Stretchin’ him out on the rack and piercin’ him with needles.”

“I dinnae understand,” Holly said. “Who did they capture?”

“Ferdinand?” Eliza asked. “Nay. Phillip? ‘Twas a man who was goin’ to murder ye. Felix?”

“Felix?” Holly echoed.

“Aye, that was his name. A brute, by the sounds of it.” Eliza shook her head and wore a large smile. “They said the Laird would duel him, each with only a sword, and to the death.”

“What?” Holly gasped. Her heart beat quicker at the thought of it.

Did I make a grave mistake by admittin’ to Elias what Felix had planned? He would have surely given up by now.

“I need to find them,” she said. “Will ye take care of Cole for a minute?”

“Aye, of course, Me Lady,” Eliza said, bobbing a small curtsey before she ran off toward the stairs, leaping down into the bowels of the castle.

She had just made it there when Elias and Laird McKinnon emerged from the darkness, walking toward Holly.

Holly let out a sigh of relief, the questions still swirling in her mind.

Footsteps sounded from behind, and she spun around, on high alert after what she’d heard. It was Cole, running toward her. Eliza was hot on his heels but unable to catch him.

Holly smiled and chuckled before turning back to the Laird. He was conversing with Laird McKinnon, even after seeing her approach, and she didn’t want to interrupt them, so she waited for them to reach her.

Then, her mouth dropped open.

She saw the blood on his hands and immediately ran to him.

“Me goodness,” she said, taking him by the arm. Her mind was torn between the pleasure she had felt with him lying on the blanket and the thought that he now might be mortally wounded. “Come with me. We have to get ye to Cassandra to take a look at ye. Where are ye injured?”

Elias chuckled. “I’m fine, lass. ‘Tis nae me blood.”

“Nae yer blood?” Holly asked, relieved.

Laird McKinnon chortled. “So, I finally get to meet the lass who can manhandle Laird McAllister like this. Who drives him to use up his favors in huntin’ down a man.”

Holly quickly let go of Elias’s arm in embarrassment and took a step back. “Laird McKinnon, it’s a pleasure to meet ye.”

“And she kens who I am without an introduction,” Laird McKinnon said.

Cole had reached Holly and stood by her side, not saying a word. Holly looked at Eliza, whose face was apologetic, and she waved her away.

“I like to keep up with the clans in the area,” she admitted. “It’s best to ken who yer neighbors are, both good and bad.”

“And which is Clan McKinnon?” Laird McKinnon asked with a raised eyebrow.

“If Laird McAllister trusts ye enough to have ye here on any sort of business, then ye are definitely an ally and friend of Clan McAllister.”

Laird McKinnon nudged Elias with his elbow. “I like her more and more, Laird McAllister. I can see why ye like her.”

Holly looked down at the floor as she blushed.

“All right, enough of this idle chat,” Elias said. “I was comin’ to find ye, Holly. Ye have a right to ken what I’ve done.”

Holly raised her head to look at him. The look in his eyes reflected uncertainty, but not a lack of confidence. Whatever was done was done, and he was not ashamed of it, but he did need to hear her opinion on it.

“The blood,” Holly blurted before he could start explaining. “Does it belong to Felix Grant?”

“Aye,” Elias said plainly. “I had him brought to me, and when I questioned him, he admitted that he meant to poison ye. If I let him leave the castle, he would have done everythin’ in his power to kill ye and me.”

“Aye, it’s the truth,” Laird McKinnon added. “I was there to hear the man’s madness. He didnae even plead for his life or deny it. He only spoke about how he would still do it. Then, he had the gall to attack Laird McAllister. What McAllister did was fair.”

“Aye, it was,” Holly agreed.

Elias raised his eyebrows slightly. Before he or Holly could say anything further, Cole bolted from Holly’s side and crashed into his leg, wrapping his arms around his thick thigh.

“Thank ye, Mister Laird,” Cole said, gripping Elias tightly. “Thank ye for savin’ us. He was a bad man, was he nae? He came into the castle to kill Mistress Holly, and ye protect her and me. Thank ye, thank ye, thank ye.”

Holly could see that Elias didn’t know what to do. He ruffled the lad’s hair while looking at her. Laird McKinnon looked on in fascination.

“Eliza spoke before the lad when she shouldnae have,” she said. “I didnae realize how worried he was about it all.”

Elias sighed and nodded, patting Cole’s head.

Holly smiled to see them interact as they did – she didn’t expect Elias to have a soft side towards kids, but she loved that he did. Finally, she went to Cole and took his arm. Only when she did, did he release his grip on the Laird. She pulled him back with her.

“So, he’s really dead?” she asked.

Elias’s eyes flickered from Cole to Holly. “Aye, he’s dead. I stabbed him in the heart with me dirk.”

“It’s over,” Holly said.

“Aye,” Elias confirmed.

There was a sudden look of loss on his face, and she could tell exactly what it meant.

The only reason she had gone to Elias in the first place was to avoid being poisoned by Felix. Her best option was to align herself with someone more powerful, and that would be the end of it. Only, it was not the end of it, and she had not known that. Felix had been plotting in the shadows, and he meant to murder.

The Laird had killed Felix, and that was the end of it. Felix was dead, and he did not hurt her or Elias.

The sadness in Elias’s eyes came from that. With Felix gone, there was no reason for her to marry him. In his opinion, anyway. Holly had no thoughts of calling off the wedding, and not because she didn’t want to unpromise herself to a second man. After she had spent the morning by the loch with the Laird, she wanted to spend more time with him. She knew she needed to wed, and he was a man worth marrying.

“Then our weddin’ will be undisturbed,” she announced. “I admit that I hadnae worried about Felix disturbin’ us, but mayhap I should have. Ye took matters into yer own hands, and ye have made sure we will have a braw weddin’ day, Me Laird.”

Elias suddenly stood a little taller. “Aye, the weddin’ will go ahead… with nay hitches.”

“Aye,” Holly said enthusiastically. “Now, are ye sure ye arenae hurt? That looks like a lot of blood.”

“Nay, I’m nae hurt,” Elias said. “I do appreciate yer concern for me, but he did little to trouble me. He lunged at me, and I’m sure he meant to hurt me, but Grant was a wee man, and he died a coward. He could barely look me in the eye, but at least he admitted what he meant to do.”

“‘Tis true,” Laird McKinnon piped up. “The man was a coward when I caught him, and he showed madness afore Laird McAllister.”

Holly couldn’t help but think of Ollie. She hadn’t seen the cat in some time and hoped he had grown fat on mice. However, she was starting to worry.

“Of course, now, yer Laird owes me a favor,” Laird McKinnon added.

“Och, away with ye,” Elias said. “Ye really think this is the same as killin’ the eight men who surrounded ye?”

The mention of killing so many people shook Holly, but the more she thought about it, the prouder she became. Elias was a man who could take care of himself and others. Whenever she heard a story about what a beast or monster he was, it was always in the act of protecting others.

“A favor is a favor,” Laird McKinnon said with a smile. “It doesnae matter what the favor is, or we’d be bogged down in arguin’ the finer points of everythin’.”

“Aye, ‘cause we dinnae do that already.” Elias smirked.

“Laird McAllister’s weddin’ will be a boon for the clan,” Holly said. “And for the clans around. I have seen the effort the servants are puttin’ into the preparations, and it will certainly be the biggest weddin’ I’ve ever seen, and I get the pleasure of bein’ the bride.”

“And a fine one ye will make for Laird McAllister, from what I have seen and heard so far,” Laird McKinnon said.

“Aye, and a fine laird and husband he will be,” Holly said. “Of course, there are still the seatin’ arrangements to figure out, and I ken they will figure them out in time, but afore that, I shall make sure ye are as near to the head table as possible, Laird McKinnon. Everyone will see what a close ally ye are to Clan McAllister, which will strengthen yer position.”

“Miss Taylor, ye are an even finer lass than I gave ye credit for. It would be me pleasure and honor to sit so close to ye. We all ken that the good drink often runs out the further down the tables ye go.”

“Then we are in agreement,” Holly said. “Ye did Laird McAllister a favor today, and it has been repaid with the seatin’ arrangement for ye.”

“Wh-Wh-What?” Laird McKinnon blustered. “Now, ye cannae be thinkin’ that ye can repay me capturin’ the man who wanted to kill ye and Laird McAllister with seatin’ me closer to yer table. I would?—”

“A favor is a favor,” Holly interrupted. “It doesnae matter what the favor is. If we were to get into the finer details, we’d be here all day.”

Elias suddenly burst into the heartiest chuckle she had ever heard, and she felt it shaking the castle walls. He clapped Laird McKinnon on the back as he chuckled, and Holly could not help but crack a smile. Cole laughed beside her, even though he wasn’t sure what they were laughing about, and then Laird McKinnon burst into a loud chuckle, too.

Suddenly, Elias came for her, grabbing her with his bloodied hands, but she didn’t mind a bit. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her in front of Laird McKinnon and the child. Holly slipped into his kiss like slipping into sleep late at night. She melted as he kissed her, and everyone around them faded away for a few seconds until he broke their kiss.

“Nay one touches me wife-to-be or threatens to do so and gets away with it,” he told her.

Cole hopped on one foot, then switched to the other, all the while clapping his hands. It was the happiest he had looked since arriving at the castle.

“Ye constantly surprise me,” Elias continued. “And if ye can best our allies so easily, what will ye do when it comes time to best our enemies? We’ll make a formidable team.”

“Mayhap ye can teach me wife some of yer shrewdness,” Laird McKinnon suggested.

Elias laughed again, then took Holly by the chin. He tilted her head up slightly and kissed her again.

“Aye, ye’ll be a fine woman to have by me side,” he said.