eyes when he looked at the man. Other things fell into place that had been buried beneath worse memories of that day: the priest tripping over robes that were far too long for him; his attempt to follow, rather than lead them up the stairs to sprinkle the bed with holy water—before Ian threatened to toss him down the stairs.
“Ye are as easily fooled as your mother was,” Murdoc said.
She was indeed a fool.
“Ian and I said vows to each other, and that makes us husband and wife under Highland custom.” She swallowed. “And no matter what ye heard, I could be carrying his child.”
She instinctively put a hand over her abdomen as the truth of her words struck her.
“Ye think I care whose child it is?” Murdoc shrugged. “But if Angus doesn’t want to claim your brat as his own, well, babes die all the time.”
She gaped at him openmouthed. She hadn’t believed even Murdoc capable of such evil.
“If ye aren’t pregnant now, ye soon will be,” Murdoc said. “One way or another, ye are going to give me the MacKinnon child your mother should have. We need that child to have a clear right to the castle.”
“I promise ye, Murdoc, ye will never have your hands on a child of mine.”
“Don’t think ye can escape this time, because I’ve blocked the tunnel.” He gave her a hard shove. “Go help get food on the table. The men are hungry.”
Ian pulled his plaid over his head as he passed within sight of Dunscaith Castle on his way to the church.
Luck was with him, for he found the priest alone on his knees before the church’s simple altar. “Sorry, Father, but this cannot wait.”
The priest crossed himself and got to his feet.
“Are ye that desperate to confess your sins, Ian MacDonald?” Father Brian asked, as he brushed off his knees.
“No, Father. I haven’t time for it.”
“I thought as much,” the priest said. “ ’Tis a shame, for I suspect it would be a good deal more interesting than what I usually hear.”
“One day I’ll give ye hours of confession over cups of whiskey, if ye like,” Ian said. “But right now I need a different kind of help.”
“What kind is that?” the priest asked.
“Are ye on good terms with the MacKinnons?”
“Whether I am or no, I serve all the clans in these parts,” Father Brian said with a shrug. “As a matter of fact, I was planning to visit the MacKinnons next, as I do every year.”
“Will the MacKinnons let ye into Knock Castle?” Ian asked.
“If they have sins to confess or weddings to be blessed, they’ll open their gates to me,” Father Brian said. “Why do ye ask?”
Ian’s stomach knotted at the priest’s mention of weddings to be blessed. He hated to think that Murdoc’s plan to wed Sileas to Angus might serve as the key to the gate.
“Murdoc MacKinnon is holding my wife at Knock Castle,” Ian said between clenched teeth. “I need to get her out. Will ye help me, Father?”
When the priest did not answer at once, Ian said. “He plans to give her to Angus MacKinnon.”
“Ach, not Angus. I’ve seen what that man has done to young lasses,” the priest said, his eyes snapping with anger. “What would ye have me do?”
“We’ll talk on the way.” Ian hoped a plan would come to him soon. God had sent him Father Brian, and that was a start.
Ian crossed himself before he left the church.
CHAPTER 36
Sileas’s eyes widened when she saw the woman leaning against the wall by the stairs that led down to the kitchens.
“Dina,” she whispered. “What are ye doing here?”
“One of the MacKinnon men took a liking to me,” Dina said. “I had nowhere else to go.”
“I’m sorry for it.” Though Sileas had reason to wish the worst for Dina, she was unhappy to see any woman living in this hellhole.
“I am sorry to see ye here as well,” Dina said.
“Will ye help me then?”
“I can’t get ye out,” Dina said. “They’re keeping guards at the gate.”
“Then I need to find a way to divert them until Ian comes for me,” she said.
“You’re that sure he’ll come for ye?” Dina asked.
“I am.”
“I wouldn’t have done what I did if I knew ye wanted Ian,” Dina said. “Since ye weren’t giving him what he wanted, I saw no harm in it.”
They were interrupted by Murdoc’s bellow from across the hall. “Where’s our dinner?”
When his metal cup hit the wall by Sileas’s head, she and Dina started down. It was dark on the stairs, but
