He looked to Dougall, who nodded, “Aye. I’d be honored.”
The women went into the kitchen and Zeke followed.
“Are ye going to help?” Helene asked.
“No, I just wanted to be sure you were all safe. I know Munro is gone, but I…” he looked at Brenna. He didn’t quite know what to call the pull that led him to follow her, but he just needed to.
“You don’t need to explain yourself,” Sara said. “We don’t mind the company. Do we ladies?”
“We willnae be able to speak freely about Zeke if he’s here,” Brenna teased.
“If yer going to stay, ye might as well make yerself useful. Would ye mind going with Brenna out to the root cellar?” Helene asked.
“Sure,” Zeke said.
Brenna joined him and he put his arm around her waist.
“Hey, you two,” Sara called after them with a wicked grin, “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She winked at Zeke, who shook his head and laughed.
“Aye. Mind what yer going for. Brenna ye ken what we need. No doddling.” Helene, hands on hips, looked from one to the other with one eyebrow raised. .
“We won’t be long,” Zeke reassured her.
He took Brenna’s hand and led her outside into the garden, where she took in a deep breath of fresh air.
“Finally, I have you alone for a moment. How long before Helene comes looking for us?” he asked.
Brenna giggled at this.
“Come here,” Zeke said.
There was no hesitation at all, Brenna was in his arms in a split second, her bright eyes and fresh face gazing up at him. How could he possibly help himself? He bent his head until his lips found hers and enjoyed the sweetest of kisses.
“Where’s the root cellar?” Zeke asked, coming up for air.
Brenna pointed to a door nestled into a rock wall.
He let her go, taking a moment to watch as she walked to the door of the root cellar before following her. A flash to Brenna’s right caught his eye and too late, he saw Nevil Munro at her side, holding a knife to her throat.
He unsheathed his sword.
“Stay where ye are.” Nevil ordered. Me men have surrounded the house. “I’m taking her back where she belongs. Her fatherwill bargain with me or… well, I’m nae sure what will happen to her. I havenae made up me mind.”
“You won’t get away with this, Munro,” Zeke growled. “Let her go.”
Dougall appeared at his side, sword drawn.
Logan and Hamish came barreling around the side of the house drawing Munro’s attention away from Brenna long enough that she was able to spin out of his grasp and run.
“Go inside,” Zeke ordered, although he should have guessed she wouldn’t. Instead she stood far enough away to run if she needed to.
He advanced on Munro, while Dougall, Logan and Hamish engaged his men. They were outnumbered, but as Logan explained to Zeke, the MacKenzie men were the best swordsman in the highlands. They were easily defeating more than twice as many men. Zeke was focused on Nevil, who had taken his fighting stance.
All the work he’d done with the MacKenzie men and Duff back at Castle Treun, paid off. He knew exactly what to expect from Munro, but the opposite couldn’t be said. Zeke drew on his experience at the studio to throw Munro off his game. He remembered to breathe and to focus. This had the effect Zeke wanted. He was seeing everything as if it were happening in slow motion, giving him the opportunities he needed to exploit the holes in Munro’s tactics. The loud clang of sword on sword along with the grunts and groans of the men were the only sounds. Munro was tiring and Zeke knew he had him right where he wanted him. With one last parry, Munro found Zeke’s sword at his throat and he surrendered. Zeke disarmed him, being sure to take every one of his weapons in the process. The other men, seeing their leader had surrendered, did the same.
Cailin, Cormac and a dozen MacKenzie warriors arrived just in time to see Munro’s men forced to sit on the ground, their weapons in a pile at Zeke’s feet.
“I told Helene to take me horse and get help,” Hamish said.
