Binding Vows(86)
A howl retched from his gut. He kicked Durk into a faster pace.
****
“How much farther?” Tara asked, trying to stay in the saddle, which wasn’t easy considering their speed. Tara wasn’t convinced the rate they traveled was good for her baby and started to voice her concern. They’d been riding for over two hours, and she was beginning to think they were lost. Matthew hadn’t said a word during their journey. He ignored most of her questions, making the time even more uncomfortable. The weight of his silence sat heavy on her shoulders.
“Matthew, I need to slow down,” she said, tugging at the reins.
He rounded back to her. “We should hurry.” He forced her horse to a faster pace.
“Matthew, enough! Laird MacCoinnich knows I’m pregnant. He wouldn’t want harm to come to me or the baby.”
He continued to pull on her horse’s reins.
“I insist we slow our pace,” she yelled. She kept 256
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the words she wanted to toss at him in her head.
To Tara’s relief, Matthew resigned and rode beside her.
He said nothing.
She watched him out the corner of her eye. His back was rod straight, his gaze glossed over. His look was familiar, but she was having a hard time placing it. Was he angry? In shock? What had he seen to make him so stoic? “Do you know why they sent for me?”
He sneered at her, then moved his eyes forward.
“I think it best they tell ye.”
“That bad huh?”
He said nothing.
The woods were so thick she could barely see the sun through the trees. The smell of rain blanketed the forest and rotting vegetation. Tara thought she heard a waterfall in the distance. That meant a stream must be nearby. She wondered if it was the same stream that followed along the village border.
Most times she would love the heavy scent of oak and moss, mixed with the pine. But the knowledge that she rode toward danger kept her from enjoying the forest. She wished Duncan was here. Despite the knight beside her, she was desperately alone.
Tara needed a distraction from the silence. She glanced at Matthew and picked a topic she knew he would ramble on about. “What species of birds do you find in these woods, Sir Lancaster?”
He stared ahead in utter silence.
“Did you hear me, Sir Matthew?”
“We’re almost there. See the cottage?”
Thank God. Matthew was wigging her out. She couldn’t wait to see her in-laws.
A clearing gave a glimpse of a structure that was close to shambles. The walls leaned and the roof appeared as if it hadn’t been thatched in years.
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Why on earth would Ian and Fin be here? More to the point, how had Lancaster come upon them like he said? There was no noticeable path leading this way, and it certainly wasn’t in the direction of any neighboring village. At least none she knew about.
The closer they got, the more uneasy she became. “Ian? Finlay?” she called out.
No answer. Alarm bells started to chime inside her head.
“They must be inside,” Matthew said.
Her eyes darted all around. She stood up in her saddle to get a better look. “Ian? Finlay?” she yelled louder, cringing at the panic she heard in her voice.
There were no horses. No sign of the men. She was close enough to the cottage that whoever was inside would hear her.
But no one came out with her calls.
It wasn’t right. An icy cold crept over her entire body, except for her hand, which started to burn with a radiant heat. The tips of her fingers grew hot where she had pricked them with Myra’s and Amber’s.
Something is wrong.
Something told her to get away. Tara turned her mount and kicked her into a full run.
Matthew came after her.
Over her shoulder, she saw his expression change from catatonic to murderous.
She didn’t get far before Lancaster was beside her. He grabbed her, dragged her off her horse and across his lap. Within seconds, he held her hands in a grip like a vice.
She kicked and screamed. The horse bucked, sending them both to the forest floor.
Winded and frantic, she scrambled to her feet.
Skirts lifted to her thighs, she bolted. She made it a 258
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few yards before Matthew tackled her to the ground.
Spitting dirt from her mouth, Tara struggled to get up. His knee planted firmly in her back, held her in place. She had no leverage to fight off her attacker.
Tara managed to turn her head just in time to see him raise a fallen branch over her.
His blow to her skull stopped her fight. Her last thought before darkness overtook her was of Duncan.
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Chapter 23
Tara woke face down on a musty dirt floor. Her head ached. Blood had dried on the back of her neck.
Rough rope bound her hands and feet. Cloth covered her eyes. A small slit in the bottom of the fabric afforded her a glimpse of light from a fireplace.