Page 22 of The Cruel Highlander’s Healer (Highlanders’ Feisty Brides #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

T he clopping of hooves was the first sound that Eliza noticed. The second was the jostling of her body to and fro.

She groaned, the sound tugging from so primal place within her. A body was behind her on the horse, their arms on either side of her as they held her firmly in the saddle while gripping the reins. Whoever they were, Eliza could feel the warmth radiating off of them.

Where am I? Why am I on a horse?

Was it Conall behind her? Were they riding back from town, and she nodded off?

Her eyes began to peel themselves open, but her vision was blurred. The night was also quickly descending, the sky above them a dark, fierce purple as the sun-streaked its final lament of the day across the sky. It made it harder for her to make out any of her surroundings.

“Stop all that groanin’ and movin’,” a voice growled from behind her.

It was terrible and familiar, and the jolt of fear cleared her sentences, the memories of moments before her world went dark rushing up to greet her.

Alistair meeting her at her door, claiming there was an injured foal. The stable. The rag pressed over her mouth.

“Where are ye takin’ me?” she asked, fear hiking the tone of her voice.

“That’s nae yer business,” he growled again.

Eliza didn’t argue. Instead, she started moving her body with the shifting of the horse, matching it stride for stride. Tightening her core, she pulled her body away from Alistair’s.

Then, she struck. Immediately, she flung her body to the right, trying as hard as she could to break through his grip on the reins.

But she failed.

All she served to do was to spook the horse, who whinnied and kicked out its hind legs as it trotted.

“Knock it off!”

Alistair yanked on the reins, his arms flexing as they held her in place while they worked to get the horse under control.

Alright, so that willnae work. I’ll just have to figure somethin’ else out.

Slowly, the horse settled, its whinnying no longer filling the night air. And they were trotting away once more.

“Where are ye takin’ me?” she asked again.

“We will nae be goin’ far,” Alistair explained. “But daenae worry. I willnae be hurtin’ ye. I need ye alive for the exchange to happen.”

This is good. Keep him talkin’. Maybe I can sort out a plan while he’s yappin’.

“What exchange?”

“For Abigail.”

Alistair said the name as if it meant something to her. And Eliza thought that maybe it did. The name Abigail in association with the MacKinnon clan did tickle something faint in her memory.

But she could not identify exactly where she knew it from.

“Who is Abigail?”

Alistair snorted from behind her.

“Who is Abigail,” he parroted, his tone indicating he thought she was a downright fool for even having to ask. “She is the Lady of MacKinnon Castle!”

She was Conall’s mother! That was the reason that it rang a bell for Eliza. Her conversation with Conall a couple nights prior popped back into her mind. He’d said he’d had to have her imprisoned and his sister sent away to a monastery shortly after the death of his father. Why would Alistair be bringing her up now? Why would he want to exchange Eliza for Abigail?

“Why do ye want to exchange me for her?” she asked, focusing again on keeping him talking.

They were approaching a small outcropping of woods. Most of it was cast in shadow, but the horse showed no sign of letting up, and Eliza had a feeling that those trees were where they were headed.

Maybe, when we’re off the horse, I’ll be able to overpower him, take the horse and run.

Alistair didn’t answer. Eliza relegated herself to wait in the silence that followed, the air filled with only the sound of the horse’s hooves hitting the ground.

Just as she suspected, they entered the trees. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, the canopy of leaves above them obscuring the little bit of light still left.

Not far into the trees, the line of them broke, and the horse stepped through them into a small, well-defined meadow. Alistair tugged on the reins, stopping their steed.

This is me chance.

The moment Alistair slid from the horse, she’d kick her heels and grab the reins from him. She’d ride off, leaving him…

Alistair shoved her to the side, sending Eliza careening off the side of the horse. The grass below her was soft and lush, but she still hit it with a jolt that stole her breath.

Dazed, she stared up at the sky as she fought to pull air into her lungs. The first stars of the night twinkled above her, but Eliza could not move.

The noise of Alistair dismounting from the horse and tying it off at a nearby tree filled the night. And still, she could not move.

Finally, blessedly, Eliza was able to catch a breath. She pulled it into her lungs in a heaving gulf.

She fought to put her elbows beneath her, pushing herself up so that she could see as she glanced around her. But before she could make sense of everything and before she had time to react, Alistair was upon her.

His weight pressed down on her chest, and once again Eliza had to marvel at just how much she had underestimated the man. He was much heavier than he seemed.

Swinging her shoulders, Eliza tossed about, bucking and shouting like a wild cat as she tried to move the man off from on top of her. Something scratchy and rough wrapped around her wrists.

Rope.

“Stop fightin’ me,” Alistair grunted.

He may had been stronger and heavier than he looked, but Eliza was terrified. That gave her enough strength to put up a fight, and he was struggling with getting the rope wrapped securely around her wrist.

“Ye want me to what?” Eliza snarled. “Just lay here like a demure wee lass and let ye tie me up? Well, think again! I am nay damsel!”

“Blimey, would you shut UP!”

The sound of Alistair’s shout echoed in the night air around him. Eliza opened her mouth to yell back.

Mayhaps, if I can yell someone may hear me. They’ll find me. Or I’ll escape. I have to.

A crack filled the air and pain exploded, clouding her vision. Alistair had reared forward, headbutting her square in the nose.

For the first time in mere moments, Eliza found herself too stunned to speak or even breathe. Tears sprang unbidden in her eyes, falling rapidly and tracing lines down her cheeks and she blinked to try to clear them.

Her nose ached, a sharp stinging pain that had her gasping. When it finally subsided, slowly fading to a dull ache in the center of her face, Eliza’s wrists were already bound.

“Was that so damned difficult?” Alistair hissed at her.

His weight left her as he stood. She saw the shadow of him pacing throughout the clearing, moving back and forth. His silhouette appearing and disappearing as he crossed the path of trees in the background. But it was full dark now.

Eliza could make out very little of his expression.

“Why do ye want to trade me for Abigail?” she asked again.

Alistair may have bound her wrists, but he had not bound her mouth. She would get answers, one way or another.

“Why trade me for Abigail?” Alistair mocked, making his voice high-pitched as he tried to insult her. “Do ye ever just stop jabberin’!”

His dark form stopped walking, but Eliza couldn’t tell if he was facing her or not. The moon had not yet risen, so the world around them was in total darkness.

“I will stop askin’ if ye just answer me!” Eliza fired back.

Even though he couldn’t see her, she glared at him anyways. In her mind, they were staring at each other, so she kept her gaze hard.

“I am in love with her,” Alistair said eventually.

Some of the fight and animosity had left his voice, but not all of it. And the more that he spoke, the more Eliza began to realize just how much bitterness and resentment had been festering within this man.

“I admired her from afar for years,” he continued.

He resumed his pacing. And slowly, more and more of him became clear. Either the moon had started to rise, or more stars had come out. But Eliza did not want to look. She did not want to take her eyes off the man who occupied the meadow with her.

“When the Laird died, that’s when I thought me chance had come. I would finally approach her after all these years. After she grieved the death of her husband. But then, that MONSTER,”

He yelled the word, and its echoes rippled out into the world. Over and over again, the word trickled through the night sky. A few birds that had made nests in surrounding trees took flight, startled by the sudden sound, their caws mixing with the menace of his words.

“He locked her up in those dungeons to rot,” Alistair continued, frothing with the rage he’d held in for what seemed like years.

Something shifted in the trees behind him. Just a flicker of a shadow, but it was enough to catch Eliza’s attention.

Her eyes darted in its direction, but she couldn’t quite make it out. It was nothing more than a fluttering in the breeze, but she didn’t know what.

“Why did he throw her in the dungeons?” she asked, turning her attention back to Alistair.

He leveled his gaze at her, and even in the dark Eliza could make out the flash of his flinty gaze.

“Because of lies.” He hurled the final word, hissing the s on the end with more vitriol than Eliza though possible.

Another flash of movement behind Alistair, and this time when Eliza glanced toward it, it came more into view. Her heart jumped, excitement and worry fluttering through her.

Distract him.

“What lies?” Eliza asked, her voice coming out in a rush. “What do ye plan to do with me?”

“It’s simple,” Alistair answered with a shrug, wild eyes fixed on Eliza’s face. “I will tell the Laird I’ll give him ye if he releases his maither.”

The shadows behind Alistair grew nearer with each word that he spoke, and Eliza sent up a quick prayer that the horse didn’t spook or that Alistair didn’t turn.

“If he releases her, I’ll take her. She and I will ride away, and he’ll never have to deal with her again. She told me so.”

“When did she tell ye?” Eliza asked.

She had to keep him talking. The shadows were growing closer. The time to act was coming soon. At least, she thought it was.

“I’ve been guardin’ her for a while now,” Alistair explained, his chest puffing up with pride. “The Laird trusted me to guard her. The fool! And we’ve been talkin’. We fell in love.”

Eliza couldn’t stop the snort she let out, and Alistair’s eyes flared wide.

“Daenae laugh!” His voice rose with hysteria, flashing in the brightening moonlight. “It’s true. She loves me.”

He marched forward, bringing himself closer to where Eliza sat on the ground. She smiled up at him, a feral flashing of teeth.

“She loves me!” Alistair insisted again, spittle flying from his mouth as he screeched. “She told me so! She told me that if I get her out, we’ll run away together. I just need to use ye first. The Laird will make the exchange. Ye’ll see.”

“That will nae be happenin’.”