Page 90 of His Forgotten Highland Bride

Skirting along the woods, they continued on. They were riding too quickly to look into the forest. She understood. Ronan wouldn’t have ridden through the woods if there was an easier path. He’d been in a hurry to get home to her. And because of that, he may have been injured.

She made an impatient sound, and Gabe looked over.

“We’ll find him. You’ve never seen a tracker like Norman. He’s a spook when it comes to talking to people, but he’s the best at reading prints and determining which way an animal would go.”

“But it’s not a stag we’re looking for. It’s a man who wouldn’t think like a deer.”

“Patience, my lady. We’ll find him. We won’t stop until we do, even if we end up back at the MacKenzies’s.”

It turned out she didn’t need to gather all that much patience. It was only an hour later that the group stopped.

Dismounting, she heard Norman say, “Here.”

Pushing through the horses, Brenna couldn’t help but call out, “Ronan? Is he alive?”

But when the men parted, she saw the tracker bent down by a small shelter made from branches. A dark spot on the ground indicated a past fire.

“It’s new. Surely from last night. It burned out,” Norman said while pointing at two logs that hadn’t burned through.

“Where is he?” Brenna asked.

Norman moved to the other side of the burned wood and bent down again. At first, Brenna thought it was ash, for it was the same dark color as the place where the fire had been laid. Stepping closer, she saw it was not blackened earth, but bloodstained.

“He’s injured. He stopped because he was bleeding.”

“Nay. He wasna bleeding when he got off his horse over there. There are other tracks coming from deeper in the forest. Someone met him here. And then someone was dragged off. Whether it be the laird or the other person, I can’t say.”

Brenna could barely swallow around the lump in her throat. Her gaze met Will’s pained expression as four terrifying words hissed across her lips.

“Ewan has my husband.”