Page 13 of The Highlander’s Gypsy Temptation

“Aye, I... August’s sister Kezia and I were together and a child was born from it. Her mother died and left Mahala with August.”

“Would he truly harm his own niece?” she replied, trying not to show her surprise at the news.

“He would.” His tone was certain.

“She is why you took me. She is what he has over you. She is why you did not return home to Orkney. Now I understand everything...” His daughter was why he had been so cold and ruthless and was willing to give up the very reason for saving her, his humanity. She did not speak any of this out loud for fear of hurting him. He was hurting more than enough already.

He nodded. “She is.” The pain in his eyes was heartbreaking.

Idalia nodded her head slowly. “We can do this. I can hit you hard enough to make it bruise.”

“Ye will have tae do more than that, lass. Ye will have tae knock me unconscious.”

Idalia’s brows rose in alarm. “I am not strong enough to do that.”

“Ye are if ye use a rock or a tree limb.”

“I could kill you!” Idalia pointed out in alarm.

“Better I than my daughter. If I dinnae make it through this, ye must tell my brother Andrew about Mahala. He must come and save her.” Bran held her eyes in earnest.

“Will this plan cause harm to your daughter?”

“Nae if we are careful. There can be nay chance of August discovering the truth.” Bran bent down and picked up a rock of decent size. “Hit me,” he commanded.

Idalia shook her head. “I do not want to kill you,” she breathed.

“Then dinnae kill me, just hit me.” Taking out his knife, he cut his clothes in various places to make it look like he had been in a fight. He cut some small minor places on his skin. “Now hit me, then run. Run as if yer life depended upon it because it does.”

Taking a deep breath, Idalia raised the rock over his head and brought it down with a resounding thud. Bran fell to the ground at her feet. “I am sorry,” she whispered, then dropped the rock and ran.

CHAPTER SIX

Bran awoke to find all three guards standing over him. “Where is the lass?” the eldest among them demanded to know. His eyes were as cold as stone as he looked down upon Bran without sympathy. “What happened?” he gestured toward Bran’s bleeding head wound.

“We were attacked. Men took her. They accused us o’ poaching.” Bran prayed his face did not give away the lie.

“Why did they not take you?”

“I managed tae fight them off, but the lass hit me over the head with a stone from behind and ran in tae the arms o’ our attackers.”

The eldest guard nodded his head. He had already seen the stone with blood on it. “Can you ride?” he asked, helping Bran to sit upright.

“I dinnae ken.”

The guard nodded again. “We will go and search for her. Remain here and recover.”

Bran refused. “I must be a part o’ the search. I lost her. August will nae be forgiving.”

The guards snorted. “He will not,” they all agreed.

“I must find her for Mahala’s sake.”

The eldest among them studied Bran’s face for a moment. “August would not harm his own niece. She is of his blood and is all he has left of his sister.”

“He threatened to kill her if I did not bring the lass with the red crescent moon mark back to him.”

The guards shuffled their feet uneasily. This was the first time that any of them had heard of the threat against one of their own and a small child on top of that. “We will speak to August on your behalf. Mahala should not suffer.”