The Highlander's Forbidden Bride(94)

Ronan was quick to explain that they had just come upon the spot where Cregan’s crew had stopped. No sentinels were posted, and it seemed that the chaos their mother had told him about was still going on.

Loud voices had him and Cavan suddenly dropping to the ground, and they watched silently through thick branches as Cregan dragged Carissa into camp. Ronan would have jumped up if not for his brother’s heavy hand on his back.

“Don’t be foolish,” he whispered. “We need to surround them.”

“Then hurry and have it done,” Ronan murmured, “for I will not wait long.”

When Cregan landed a hard blow to Carissa’s jaw, he was ready to jump again, but this time Dykar stopped him. “We’re almost ready, and she can take it.”

“I don’t care. I’ll not see her suffer like that.”

“If it were you, she would strike when the time was right,” Dykar said.

Ronan said nothing. He watched and when Cregan’s mouth hungrily connected with Carissa’s he jumped up, shoving away Dykar’s arm and marched straight into the camp.

“Get your hands off her and get ready to die!”



Carissa smiled. Her Highlander had come for her. He stood proud and strong in his plaid, with his claymore planted in front of him waiting for his opponent to face him. She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him and tell him how very much she loved him, but she restrained herself. She worried that such actions could do him or even her harm, and she would not chance losing her love.

Cregan turned around, planting himself in front of her. “She’s mine.”

“Not likely,” Ronan said with a laugh. “She belongs to me. She always has and always will.”

“I’ve already marked her with my lips,” Cregan boasted.

Carissa scoffed and craned her head past Cregan’s back. “You can’t call his smashed mouth against my lips a kiss.”

Ronan roared with laughter. “I guess you just don’t know how to kiss, Cregan.”

Cregan stepped forward. “But I do know how to kill.”

Ronan raised his claymore and stepped toward him. “What I’ve been waiting for.”

Cregan sidestepped him and gave a signal. His men surrounded Ronan in a flash.

“You idiot,” Carissa cried.

“See what she thinks of you now,” Cregan said on a laugh.

“Carissa doesn’t mean me,” Ronan said.

Cregan turned to glare at Carissa.

“Are you truly foolish enough to believe he has come here alone?” she asked.

“My men would have warned me—”

“What men, you fool? All your men were busy chasing me.”

Cregan froze as he finally realized what she was telling him. Just as he did, Cavan, Lachlan, Septimus, Dykar, and more stepped from behind bushes and trees and surrounded them.

Cregan shook his head, as if he could not believe what was happening.

“Carissa has a way of making a fool appear even more the fool,” Ronan said. “But don’t feel too bad. You were doomed as soon as you captured her.”

Ronan stepped forward until he was so close to Cregan that he could hear the man’s rapid breathing. “No one takes what belongs to me and, as I’ve told you, Carissa always has and always will belong to me.”

“Then she is yours,” Cregan relented wisely. “I’ll take my leave.”

“Not that easily you won’t,” Ronan said. “Carissa, go with my brothers and wait for me.”

She looked ready to object, and he glared at her. Surprisingly, she obeyed, though she detoured to give him a kiss first.

“This one time I obey you, Highlander, but don’t get used to it.”

Ronan laughed. God, he loved that woman. Life would never be dull with her around to challenge and to love him.

Cavan ordered the men to go and take Cregan’s men with them.

Ronan could see that Cavan was reluctant to leave him, but he didn’t need his big brother to help him this time. In the two years he had been away, he had become a man in his own right. He had matured with confidence.

He smiled, and Cavan bowed his head, acknowledging his brother’s ability and determination to handle Cregan on his own. So, with a smile, Cavan turned and left his brother to fight his own battle.

“There’s no need for either of us to die,” Cregan said. “I had thought that once I spoke with Carissa, she would see the wisdom of us uniting. Without her men, my troop pales in comparison to your warriors. I pose you no threat.”

“That we both know,” Ronan acknowledged. “But you dared to abduct not one, but two women I love, and for that you must suffer the consequence.”