Her flushed, puffy lips tilted. “I suppose ye Macleans are a little braw.”
He chuckled. “I’m glad to hear it.”
“Ye willnae use my real name, will ye?”
“Nay. It will be our secret.”
She nodded. “My da and I, we knew that if the clan was to survive, I needed to be his daughter.”
“Aye, yer stronger if he still had his heir.”
She searched his gaze. “I didnae come here for marriage, ye know.”
“Why did ye come here then?” he asked, not certain he really wanted the answer.
She glanced at her feet before meeting his gaze. “Revenge,” she muttered. “I wanted revenge.”
Chapter Six
Why the devil had she even uttered the word? Revenge. Leana made a disgusted noise. All these years of waiting for her chance and she’d given it up because of a trifling kiss. What was wrong with her?
She blew out a breath and twisted to face the tapestry hanging on the wall of the laird’s chambers, pressing her palms down on the wooden top, feeling the cool, uneven surface against her skin.
A kiss was all it had taken to reveal herself. A kiss that she would never forget.
A kiss that shouldn’t have happened.
But she couldn’t even blame the kiss. She’d been having doubts since her arrival here. The Macleans had never admitted to the attack or taken advantage of it. Even her invitation here had been one of mere interest. There were no forced negotiations and they’d treated her as though she were a guest rather than a prize to be handed out to Tavish.
Her only fear was, what if she was wrong? What if Tavish had taken her for a fool? What if they were all in this game? Toy with her heart, get her to reveal her innermost secrets, then use it against her clan.
If that were true, it was probably too late for her. He’d reveal her now.
Though, from the look in his eyes before he’d stormed off, how could it be? He’d been truly appalled by her words. Even when she’d said them, they left a bitter taste in her mouth. She’d seen what devastating loss could do and she had planned to inflict that upon him.
No wonder he loathed her. Nay, she believed Tavish to be innocent in all this and she was no longer convinced the laird had been involved either. Mayhap that made her a fool, but she couldn’t take a life without being certain.
Which meant she needed to find out for certain who set the blaze.
The door behind her squeaked open. She sucked in a breath, preparing to face Tavish but with little idea how to gain his forgiveness. Before she could turn, the world went dark. Fabric covered her face, muffling her scream and stifling her next inhale of breath. She went to snatch the bag from her head, but someone grabbed her wrist.
A man to be sure. His fingers were thick, rough and strong. She tried to wriggle from his grip and lash out with her other hand, but he snatched that one too and bound both wrists together, ropes pinching into her skin. She screamed again but she might as well have been screaming into the wind. The sound had little impact.
Hauled along by her wrists, Leana stumbled down the steps, nearly spilling onto the ground. Her captor dragged her upright, her arms burning in their sockets. She pulled furiously against his hold. Someone would spot her soon, surely?
Cold seeped through her boots and clung to the hem of her skirts. She tried to picture where they were but could only conclude they were still in the bailey. This had to be because of what she had told Tavish. Which meant no one would come to her aid.
She pulled harder against her bonds and her captor, kicking out and only hitting air. She heard a grunt of annoyance and an arm banded about her, crushing her to a solid chest.
Behind the sack, the world remained dark and breathing grew difficult. With the added weight of his arm crushing her chest, she became light-headed. The man moved her easily now, dragging her feet through the snow.
The roar of the sea soon echoed in her ears and her heart pounded fiercely. Mayhap this was it. This was how she would die. Flung into the sea after admitting her darkest truths to a man she had foolishly come to care for.
It would serve her right, she supposed. All her talk of revenge had been for nought.
The movement stopped. She braced herself for the splash of water, for a fight to get to the surface, but she landed hard on her rear, dampness seeping through her skirts from what felt to be cold stone. She drew in a stifled breath and tried to make out any sounds that could indicate her surroundings. The sea still roared but it was dulled. Footsteps moved about her and her wrists tugged briefly.
“I know who ye are.”
She jolted at the voice. So close. But gruff and unrecognizable.
“Ye’ll no get in the way of my plans,” he warned. “Everything is going to change soon.”
She jerked forward but came to a quick halt when her bonds pulled. “Bastard,” she hissed but the words were lost to the heavy fabric of the sack.
He chuckled. “Yer a fierce lass but ye’ll die here, and no one shall find ye, not even Tavish. I’d resign yerself to yer fate.”
Her heart gave a little jump at his name. That meant he wasn’t involved in her kidnapping. And if this man thought she’d resign herself to anything, he was an idiot. She hadn’t survived a deadly fire to die of starvation in what she had come to conclude was
