When a Laird Loves a Lady (Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts Book 1) by Julie Johnstone Read Free Book Online Page B

the dirt, but was now struggling to sit up.
    “Put me down,” Marion shouted.
    Iain ignored her for a minute as he
stared at the man who was now standing with Rory Mac’s help. The man wobbled,
but Rory Mac steadied him, and then the man looked at Iain. For the second time
since coming to Newcastle, Iain stared in shock at Neil MacLeod. He strode,
with Marion still cursing and hitting him, toward his clansmen.
    “Neil,” he growled, then quickly
softened his tone when he realized Neil had blood on the left side of his face.
    Neil moved his hand toward his ear
and winced. “Froste, the clot-heid, took my other ear and my sword.” He groaned
and swayed again.
    “Put me down!” Marion demanded
again. “I can help him.”
    Iain set her on her feet. “Be quick
about it,” he ordered, wanting to be gone from this place.
    Marion pulled up her skirt,
displaying her slender ankles, which Iain found himself staring at until he
felt her stare on him. He pulled his gaze to her face. “How can I help?”
    She held the edge of her skirt out
to him. “Tear this. I need to dress his ear.”
    Iain complied, then handed the
strip of material to her.
    She took it from him with wary
eyes. “Do you have any spirits?”
    “Aye. For cleansing the wound?” he
asked.
    “Yes.”
    Iain took Neil’s arm and nodded to
Rory Mac. “Fetch it.”
    Rory Mac tipped his head and rushed
off. Iain turned to Neil. “What are ye doing here? Ye did nae mention a word of
coming. How do ye ken Lady Marion?” As he waited for Neil to answer, Marion
rushed over to the knight Iain had felled. Beside the man was Neil’s sword. As
she struggled to lift it, Neil spoke.
    “I dunnae, nae truly,” he said,
giving Marion a disgruntled look. “My cousin Angus has been her father’s stable
master for years, and he recently sent word to me asking me to bring her back
to Scotland to the MacDonald clan. It was nae till I got here that he told me
the whole of it, that she was to marry Froste against her wishes. He begged me
to take her to safety, and I could nae refuse.”
    “I’m so sorry,” Marion cried to
Neil, dragging the sword behind her as she moved toward them.
    Iain turned to help her, but the
murderous look she gave him told him she wished to get the sword to Neil on her
own. And she did. Her fortitude impressed Iain as she heaved and huffed and
finally lifted the sword toward Neil. “I’m sorry you lost your other ear
because of me.”
    Neil tried to take the sword, but
he faltered, and Iain quickly snatched it from Marion. Neil frowned but nodded.
“It was nae your fault,” the Scot said to Marion. “It is Froste’s fault. He’s
wicked.” They all glanced at Froste, who still lay in a swoon. Neil’s gaze
locked on Iain. “May I borrow your dagger?”
    Iain knew the man wanted
retribution, and rightly so. He handed his dagger to the Scot, and then helped
him hobble over to Froste, releasing Neil when he seemed steady. Marion made
haste behind them.
    “What are you going to do?” she
whispered, her voice filled with fear. Did she think Neil would kill a man who
could not defend himself?
    Neil paused and glanced back at
her. “I’m going to take out his tongue so the man can spew no more evil
orders.”
    When Marion swayed, Iain reached
out with his free hand and seized her arm to keep her upright.
    “Ye should look away so ye dunnae
faint,” Neil commented.
    “I assure you I do not faint,” she
said, sounding irritated, yet the fingers she had lifted to her temple
trembled. “Neil.” Her voice had taken on the soft tone that Iain recognized at
once as one of persuasion. “It seems a bit much, almost evil, to take his
tongue. Is there not another way to get your retribution?”
    Neil tilted his head in thought and
then finally said, “I suppose.”
    As Neil bent down, Rory Mac
approached and gave Iain a questioning look, which Iain answered with a shrug.
Suddenly, Neil plunged Iain’s dagger deep into Froste’s favored