Highland Song by Tanya Anne Crosby Read Free Book Online Page B

come to accept him and he didn’t believe they would resort to thieving anymore—particularly since this particular booty was intended to benefit the youngest of the brood.
    Nay, something else was amiss here.
    Scratching his head, he turned and walked out of the barn, into the bright sunshine, only to find riders approaching in the distance. He squinted to see the banner, and spied the bright gold with the royal blood red lion rampant at its center. King David—and despite his poor reputation in these parts, he rode with only a handful of men.
    Baldwin offered him a look that was full of trepidation for despite Piers’ friendship with David, they both knew that David’s presence here meant trouble.
    Together they waited in the open field until the riders reined in before them.
    Piers noted the scowls upon his mens’ faces. “What brings you to these parts again so soon?” he asked.
    Unsettled, like its rider, David’s horse protested his weight and the anxious king dismounted and stood before Piers, hands upon his hips. His men remained mounted, sour faced and sweating. “We brought a prisoner from the Mounth,” he said without preamble. “A woman.”
    Piers frowned, as there were no women amongst them now.
    “ We lost her,” David said irritably, evidently guessing at Piers’ thoughts. “The canny wench unbound herself when no one was looking and smacked Dùghall straight in the head.” He inclined his head toward one of the men who sat, tense in his saddle, with a lump on his forehead the size of a man’s bollocks.
    “ Christ,” Piers said, though more as a response to the size of the lump on the man’s noggin. “Who was she?” She had to be a hefty woman to leave a mark like that.
    “ The sister of a northern rebel chieftain. She was to become a ward of the English court until she was old enough to wed. Alas, she escaped before we could reach Chreagach Mhor !”
    Piers was genuinely taken aback. “MacKinnon agreed to such a thing?” The MacKinnon laird he knew would no more be a part of such a scheme than he would have allowed his own son to remain a political pawn. He had, in fact, gone to great lengths to secure the return of his son—including stealing the daughter of his foe to barter for his son’s return. That he had made amends with David afterward was simply a testament to his temperament—and the simple fact that he’d fallen deeply in love with his English bride. But his good nature only went so far, and Piers was shocked that David would take such a risk again, when, King or not, his rule was not favored in these parts.
    David’s look darkened. Friends they might be, but he didn’t like his edicts questioned. “We have yet to tell him who she is,” he confessed. And suddenly realizing Piers would wonder why he’d risked Iain’s wrath when Piers was his strongest ally in these regions, he added. “ Chreagach Mhor was the only stronghold we trusted to hold the girl until an escort arrived from London.”
    Piers knew better than to laugh. “You need a fortress to contain the girl?” He glanced again at the lump on Dùghall’s forehead and came to his own conclusions, wisely holding his tongue.
    David’s furry brows collided. “I take it you have not seen her?”
    Piers shook his head. “Nary a hair on her head.”
    “ Damn! We have searched everywhere! Though I cannot believe she would have ventured this way.”
    Clearly, since they were alone, MacKinnon did not feel obligated to aid David search. Piers considered the wisdom in offering his own aid, but felt obliged to offer his liege a place to stay at least.
    “ Alas, we cannot,” David refused. “Should we find the lass we’ll be needing the MacKinnon’s gaol.” He turned to calm his mount, stroking its withers. “I’ll be picking hairs from betwixt my teeth with all the arse licking I must do—damned troublesome wench!”
    Piers thought about Meghan’s brothers, and how they had fought so desperately to