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She couldn’t resist pulling Alec into her ar over us”
He let her kiss his forehead and brush his hair out of his eyes before he squir out for us?” He was too ionna help us walk through the wall?”
“Yes,” she replied
He shook his head “I think maybe the baron made you daft when he hit you”
“No, he didn’t ry”
“But, Gillian, people can’t walk through walls”
“We’re going to open a secret door This used to be irl,” she told hiot scared or lonely, I would open the passageway and run into her room My father would become very upset with me”
“How come?”
“Because the passage was only to be used in dire circumstances, and he didn’t want anyone to know about it, not even his faithful servants My lady’s h, and she used to tell ured out there had to be a hidden door because she kneas afraid of the dark and wouldn’t have ventured out into the hall during the night Do you see that chest in front of the wall? My father put it there to discourage me He knew the chest was too heavy for me to et to the door”
His eyes greide “You disobeyed your papa”
“It seems I did,” she answered
He found her adhed until tears cauard would hear the noise, she put her finger over her n for him to quiet down
“But if the door goes to your sister’s rooet out of there?”
“The passage also leads to the staircase that goes down into the tunnels below the castle If it hasn’t been sealed, it will take us outside the walls”
“Then can we leave now? Please?” he asked
She shook her head “We one to bed He’s had so ht send one of the servants to check on us before nightfall, and if we aren’t here, she’ll sound the alarm”
He slipped his fingers through hers and held tight, all the while staring at the wall, trying to figure out where the door was When he turned back to Gillian, he was frowning again “What if the baron sealed it?”
“Then we’ll figure out another way to leave”
“But how?”
She didn’t have the faintest idea, but she did know that she had to get Alec out of Dunhanshire before the Highlander arrived “We could trick the guard into co inside—”
In his excitement he interrupted her “And I could hit hi out his plan by pounding the bed with his fists “I’d make him bleed,” he assured her “And if I stood on top of the chest, I could rab his sword, and then you knohat? I could slice hi,” he ended with a boast
She had to resist the urge to hug hiht think she was laughing at hi you are,” she said
He grinned with pleasure over her compliment and lifted his shoulders as he nodded
Were all little boys as bloodthirsty in their fantasies as this one? she wondered One leefully planning gruesoe She didn’t have any experience with children—Alec was the first she had been around for any length of tihly inadequate, yet at the same time, she also felt tremendously protective She was all the little boy had separating him froer
“Does it hurt?”
She blinked “Does what hurt?”
“Your face,” he answered as he reached up to touch the side of her cheek “It’s swelling”
“It stings a little, that’s all”
“How coot a scar under your chin?”
“I fell down the steps It happened a long tio”
She patted the bed beside her and said, “Why don’t you stretch out beside et some sleep”
“But it isn’t night yet”
“Yes, I know, but we’re going to be up all night walking,” she explained “You should try to rest now”
He scooted up close to her and put his head down on her shoulder “You knohat?”
“What?”
“I’ry”
“We’ll find so to eat later”
“Will we have to steal food?”
Fro forward to the possibility “Stealing is a sin”
“That’s what my mama says”
“And she’s right We won’t steal anything We’ll just borroe need”
“Can we borrow horses?”
“If we’re lucky enough to find a sturdy one and no one’s around to stop us, then yes, we’ll borrow a horse”
“You could get yourself hanged for stealing a horse”
“That’s the least of my worries,” she said as she shifted in the bed Every inch of her body throbbed, and there sied arm down to her side and felt a prick, and only then remembered the surprise she had for Alec
“I have soht”
He bolted upright onto his knees and squeezed his eyes shut “What is it?”
She held up the dagger She didn’t have to tell hi The joy in his eyes
“Brodick’s dagger,” he whispered in awe “How did you find it?”
“You told rabbed it from the chest on the way out of the hall Keep it inside the leather sheath so you won’t accidentally cut yourself”
He was so happy to have his treasure back, he threw his arms around her neck and kissed her swollen cheek “I love you, Gillian”
“I love you too, Alec”
“Now I can protect you ’cause I got my knife back”
She s to be my champion, then?”
“No,” he giggled, drawing out the word
“Why not?”
He pulled back and told her what he thought should have been obvious “’Cause I’m just a little boy But you knohat?”
“No, what?”
“We got to find you one”
“A champion?”
He nodded solemnly
She shook her head “I don’t need a protector,” she assured him
“But you got to have one Maybe we can ask Brodick”
“The mean one?” she teased
He nodded again
She laughed softly “I don’t think”
“We’ll ask Brodick,” he said, sounding very grown up “’Cause you knohy?”
“No, why?”
“You need him”
CHAPTER FOUR
They didn’t like the uard surrounded the young MacDonald soldier, towering over hioyles as he sta in his boots Three of the warriors were rendered speechless by the announceed by what they immediately surmised was trickery on Laird MacDonald’s part Everyone in the Buchanan clan knew the , son of a bitch, and therefore refused to believe a word he said The fourth Buchanan warrior, Dylan, had the opposite reaction to the news Though he also believed Laird MacDonald to be a sneaky, lying, son of a bitch, he was so aer to hear the details
Aaron, the roup, shook his head in denial and er repeat every word
“’Tis as I said before,” the young MacDonald soldier insisted
“Then say it again,” Aaron co close so that the man would have to crane his head back in order to look hie again”
The MacDonald soldier felt like a trapped rabbit Robert stood behind hiainst his sides All the Buchanan warriors were at least two heads above hiht alone