Page 25 of Sins of the Highlander

“I thought ye said wolves hunted only by night.”

“Unfortunately, of the two of us, it seems only ye have the honor of always being right. There’s no tree big enough to bear your weight nearby,” Rob said as he put her down. He stooped and pulled out his boot knife, handing it to her haft first. “If they get past me, dinna let yourself be taken.”

Elspeth accepted the knife. Of all the horrors in the world, the fear of being eaten alive by a wild creature turned a body’s bowels to water quicker than anything.

Aye, she’d put the blade to her own throat first.

Chapter 8

Elspeth sheltered behind Rob, her insides quaking. The panting sound was unmistakable now.

Then she heard a sharp whistle and a shouted, “Ho, Fingal, dinna range so far ahead, laddie.”

A thin, shaggy deerhound appeared around an outcropping of rock.

The set of Rob’s shoulders visibly relaxed. He lowered his knife and chuckled. The hound loped toward him, teeth bared in a doggie grin.

“Ye know this beast?” Elspeth stiffened as it sniffed her with thoroughness, Fingal’s great head higher than her waist.

“Aye, and he’s meek as a kitten so long as ye pose no threat to his master.” Rob ran a hand over the deerhound’s spine from neck to tail. Then he cupped his hands around his mouth. “Angus, ye great bear! Come claim your dog, or we’ll fit him with a saddle and ride him back to your house.”

“I wouldna, if I were you,” came a gravel-throated reply. “I gave him leave to eat the last fellow who tried it.”

A man as shaggy as his dog rounded the same rocks. His hair and beard were the color of an old bird’s nest, and Elspeth suspected he might be hiding one or two in the tangled mess. As he came nearer, she realized that he topped Rob by half a head, and the MacLaren was a very tall man. His ugly face split in a snaggletoothed smile that might have terrified her if she hadn’t lived through the events of the last few days.

“What are ye doing in the forest instead of waiting for us by your boat?” Rob asked.

“Well, ye’re no’ there yet, are ye, and ye said ye would be,” Angus said. “I thought ye might need some help. Where’s Falin?”

“Halfway home, I expect. We ran into a spot of trouble with a wolf pack.”

“Ach, I thought I heard the demons early this morning.” The big man turned to Elspeth and bowed. “And ye must be the Lady Elspeth. Angus Fletcher, at yer service.”

“Ye know me, Mr. Fletcher?”

“Aye, but only by hearsay, ye ken. Robbie said ye’d be making this trip with us, but he didna mention ye were so comely.” The big man’s hairy ears blushed rosy red. “We’ve no lasses near so pretty as ye hereabouts. I’d be beholdin’ to ye if ye’d call me Angus.”

This giant was the first person she’d met since Rob abducted her. Elspeth decided to take a chance.

“Sir…I mean Angus, ye seem a gentle soul. I dinna know what your friend has told ye, but if ye would truly help a lady, then know that I have been taken against my will by Rob MacLaren,” she said, taking care to hold the gap in her skirt closed as best she could. “A boon I beg ye, please. Return me to the bosom of my family, and I promise ye’ll be rewarded for it.”

Angus glanced at Rob and then back at her.

“Weel, Robbie lad, ye’re no’ a liar. She’s a lady, right enough. Talks a fair treat, aye?”

“Talks a lot, ye mean,” Rob said sourly. “And she’s cast a shoe and needs to be carried. D’ye think ye could manage it, Angus? I’m fair done in just carrying myself.”

Without another word, Angus scooped Elspeth up, not slinging her over his shoulder as Rob had, but cradling her in his beefy arms as if she were a bairn.

“Now wait a moment, Mr. Fletcher—”

“Angus,” he corrected.

“Angus.” There was no point in antagonizing him if she wished to convince him to come to her aid, so she wouldn’t complain of the way he carried her. It was certainly better than the undignified way Rob had, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of meal. “Doing the MacLaren’s bidding is no help to me.”

“Och, I canna go against Rob. I owe him a debt, ye see.”

“My father will see your debt paid if ye help me.”