Seducing the Highlander by Emma Wildes Read Free Book Online

looked weary, but his handclasp was strong. “I rode almost all night. I need a drink, maybe even a good bucketful, for my throat is dry as dust.”
    “It’s bloody good to see you,” Ian responded with a smile, “and we’ve whiskey and ale aplenty. Rossie knew you were coming, because I have sentries posted everywhere and one of them reported it. She’s got food at the ready, anticipating your hunger.”
    “Bless her,” Robbie McCray said with a low laugh. “I might marry her yet, you know. I cannot figure out another way to steal her away from this old castle.”
    “She can’t be more than two score years older than you,” Ian observed dryly. “And as she has always had a weakness for handsome, worthless rogues, she might just oblige you.”
    “Is that why she has an uncommon fondness for you?”
    “It might be.”
    “If she agrees to run my household with the efficiency she runs yours, I’ll propose.”
    “Come inside.” Ian led the way to the table, where Angus was already seated with a tankard before him. Robbie wasn’t lying about his thirst, for he drained his first glass in barely more than a gulp, and immediately poured a second. And when a serving girl brought a steaming platter of meat, he devoured his food in record time. Ian and Angus ate a little more leisurely, and he waited for them to finish. When the plates were cleared away, Robbie sighed, rubbing his jaw. “That was damned good. Hell, I’m tired.”
    “What brought you here so neck-or-nothing, lad?” Angus asked bluntly, impatience one of his trademark qualities. “What news do you have?”
    Robbie, the son of Ian’s uncle who now languished in the Newcastle jail, sobered at once, losing his easy smile. “I petitioned officially to have my father released, as you wanted me to, Ian,” he said abruptly, “using the proper channels, jumping through their infernal English hoops. I proved that two of the accusations were false, but the magistrate has been purely bought, beyond question. A dismissal of the formal charges was denied and my father is still being held. Damn all, I told him to not bloody do business with the vermin English.”
    “Held for murder,” Angus spat out, lifting his ale and drinking heartily. “It’s as ridiculous as asking Queen Anne to kiss my arse.”
    “A man who uses a cane and can barely walk across the floor,” Robbie agreed, his fury evident in the set of his mouth. “The charges argue that he supposedly cut down a young, healthy buck with a sword thrust in the back. If the judge even bothered to see my father, he would realize it was a ludicrous accusation.”
    “I am guessing Frankton didn’t do the evil deed himself, but hired some vicious killer.” Angus ventured, “Perhaps if we could put out the word that we would pay a tidy sum to the person who could give us information on this carefully planned scheme, we could gain the truth. The baron clearly wanted Thomas’s estate, as he is the one who approached with the offer to do trade and lured Thomas into his clutches. Never trust an English bastard, I say.”
    “With Frankton as the only supposed eyewitness to the heinous crime, the charges cannot possibly be pressed forward once he is dead.” Ian’s voice was calm, his hand steady as he reached for his glass. But inside, his fury raged at the injustice, and he could feel his cousin’s fear for his frail father. As laird, it was Ian’s responsibility to care for his people, and this unjust imprisonment of a man he revered grated on his pride and nerves. The only thing Thomas had been guilty of was a failure to realize Frankton’s reputation was well deserved.
    Robbie toyed with the handle on his cup for a moment; then he said heavily, “Any word that bastard has figured out you have the girl yet, cousin? He is keeping her abduction quiet, but he was in London when it happened, so it could be the news was delayed getting to him.”
    “We were over a hundred strong. The baron