Page 27 of Her Forbidden Highlander Husband

“Aye. Old Duncan probably forgot where he was heading.”

“Did he forget his wife as well? She doesn’t appear to be with him.”

“I hope she hasn’t taken ill,” Cam agreed. They both knew the pair were always together on visits to Dunardry.

“I was thinking of getting a trinket for Ev. I’ll head him off and set him on his way west.”

“Very well. I’ll see to the men once they’re fed.”

Liam mounted his horse and took off for the rumbling wagon. When he caught up with the man, he was surprised to see his grim expression rather than the normal smile on his face. It was clear something was wrong, and from the absence of his wife, Liam worried if he was now alone.

It was one of the parts of marriage Liam hated to think of. Hopefully, he and Ev had many years of health before them. He felt the two of them had come to an understanding in the weeks since they started taking their meals together. He hoped one day they might build on that.

“Ho there,” Liam called when the man didn’t stop. “Are ye well, Duncan?”

The man shook his head and broke into tears. “Nay, I’m not well at all. I’ve done a terrible thing.”

“What is it? Has something happened to Joan?”

The man finally stopped the wagon and nodded. “Aye. She’s been taken from me.”

“Was it an illness?” Liam asked, his heart going out to the man.

“No. She lives. Or at least she did when last I saw her. Two men hold her.”

Liam shifted in his saddle and he dismounted to come closer. “Someone has taken Joan?”

The man nodded.

“Did they say why? What do they want with her? Do they want money?” Liam didn’t have much, but he’d help if he could.

The man’s face crumbled again. “I shouldna done it, even for Joan. She’d hate me for it.”

“Hate you for what?”

“The men told me I must go into the village and find a little dark-haired girl named Gwendolyn and bring her to them if I wanted to see my wife alive again.”

Liam couldn’t breathe.

Duncan shook his head. “I carried out the deed as they told me, but when I met them at the edge of the forest, they took the child and left without returning my wife to me.”

“Where? Where did they take Gwennie?”

The man pointed back toward the village. “Other side of the village. By the woods. They had their own gig with two horses. The others rode separate.”

“How many men?”

“Six, maybe seven?”

Before the man had the full sentence out, Liam had turned and nudged his horse to get back to his men. He couldn’t take on that many men himself, and he’d not risk Gwennie by making a mistake.

“Mount up and follow me. They’ve taken my daughter.” Cameron joined the group as they galloped around the village, heading for the tree line.

When they entered the darkness of the forest, Liam stopped and called for silence. They needed to listen so they could tell where the kidnappers were. But all they could hear was the blowing of air from the horses.

“They must have crossed the wood to the fields.”

Liam agreed with Cameron, and they maneuvered through the trees and brush to the meadow on the other side. Unfortunately, the hills obscured their view in all directions.