If his intent was to make her realize just how alone she was—and how far from the protection of her clansmen—he had succeeded.
She swallowed back her fear and tried to keep her head. “I don’t suppose the queen would be pleased to see ye touching me.”
“No, I don’t suppose she would,” he said, his teeth gleaming white. “That’s why I’ll make sure she doesn’t know about us. Nothing could be easier.”
She ran her tongue over her dry lips. “ ’Tis time I was leaving.”
“Come, lass, I deserve a reward for having to bed that Tudor cow.” He cupped her face and dragged his thumb across her bottom lip. “And don’t fret. If ye have a child, I promise I’ll claim it.”
Her mouth dropped open at this blunt statement of his intentions.
“Ye are a conniving bastard,” she hissed in his face. “Ye just want Knock Castle for yourself, same as the rest of them.”
“I can assure ye, lass,” he said, taking hold of her shoulders and pressing her against the wall, “Knock Castle is not all I want from ye.”
If she could have reached her dirk, she would have gutted him. As it was, she struggled against him, but he held her fast.
“Ye are a beauty,” he said in a husky voice, as his mouth inched closer to hers. “And I find I’m partial to pretty virgins.”
CHAPTER 24
Ian’s every nerve and muscle was taut with tension as they rode into Stirling. He had expected to find Sileas and Niall on the road, but the pair had moved fast, damn them. After days of hard travel and worry, he felt like a hide that had been stretched and beaten on a frame.
“We’ll check all the taverns and inns,” Connor said. “They’ll be staying in one of them.”
“If they haven’t gone there yet, we can still keep this quiet,” Connor said.
Fear pulsed through him. “I don’t care if I’m a laughingstock all across Scotland. I must find her quickly, before she comes to harm.”
If harm had not already found her.
“They can’t have arrived in Stirling more than half a day ahead of us,”Alex said. “Sileas cannot walk into the palace and receive an audience with the queen. More than likely, they’ll make her wait a day or two—if they let her see the queen at all.”
Ian agreed, reluctantly, to look first in the town. After stabling their horses at the first tavern they found, they went inside—and finally had their first bit of luck.
“Take the room upstairs on the end,” the tavern keeper said, as he tucked the coins Ian gave him into the leather bag at his belt.
“Have ye seen a couple of lads, one almost as tall as me, and the other a wee thing with red hair?” Ian asked.
“Mayhap.” The tavern keeper narrowed his eyes at Ian. “Why would ye be looking for them?”
Ian’s heart beat faster. He wanted to grab the man and shake what he knew from him, but he was grateful for the tavern keeper’s unexpected protectiveness toward the wayward pair.
“My brothers had an argument with our da and ran off,” Ian said. “I’ve come to bring them home.”
“ ’Tis good you’ve come,” the man said, as he poured a cup of ale for another customer. “The big one looks like he could handle himself in a fight, but there are plenty of other dangers in Stirling, if ye know what I mean.”
Ian did. Praise God he had found them.
“Which room are they in?” Ian said, starting toward the stairs.
“The younger lad might be up there, but the tall one left some time ago.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Funny thing, he’d found himself a pretty lass and said they was going to visit the queen.”
People on the street moved out of Ian’s way as he strode toward the castle. Connor was beside him, matching him stride for stride, and the other two behind them.
“Mind your temper,” Connor said, as they drew near the gatehouse. “If ye draw your blade, twenty guards will be on ye before ye can say her name.”
They told the guards at the gatehouse they were looking for a clanswoman.
“She was with a big lad of fifteen, and she’s so high,” Ian said, holding his hand to his chin, “and has flaming red hair.”
“Couldn’t forget that lass, now could I?” one on the guards said. “Ach, she’s a fair one.”
Ian took a deep breath to keep from punching him.
“If that were my wife, ye can be sure I’d keep her home,” another said.
Ian gritted his teeth while Connor and Alex talked the guards into letting them pass, then they hurried to the King’s House. As soon as they got past another set of guards at the door, he saw Niall.
His brother’s eyes widened as Ian and the others crossed the hall to him, but he stood his ground.
“Where is she?” Ian grabbed Niall by the front of his shirt. “Tell me now.”
“A servant took her to the queen’s private parlor,” Niall said, and Ian saw the worry in his eyes. “He said men
