Page 84 of Promised to the Forbidden Laird

“Roy!” she screamed.

A fist struck her across the side of the head. Light shattered behind her eyes. She stumbled but did not fall. Fingers closed around her arms. Donaldina kicked, scratched, and struck at anything within reach. One man caught her around the waist while another forced a cloth between her teeth and tied it cruelly behind her head.

They dragged her toward the trees. A horse waited beyond the final fence, its reins held by a fourth man.

Donaldina fought harder. She twisted one arm free and clawed at the fastening of her shawl. The pin tore loose. Wool slipped from her shoulders and fell upon the muddy track. One of the men tried to seize it.

“Leave it,” another hissed. “We have nae time.”

They lifted Donaldina onto the waiting horse. She threw herself sideways before the rider could mount, nearly striking the ground. A man caught her skirts and shoved her back across the saddle. Rope tightened around her wrists. The horse lurched beneath her.

Donaldina looked toward the town. Lantern light glowed beyond the buildings. Music still played in the square, bright and thoughtless, while somewhere within the crowd Roy would turn and discover that she was gone.

The rider mounted behind her and drove his heels into the horse. They plunged into the woodland. Branches struck her face. Darkness swallowed the path, the town and every sound of the festival.

Only her shawl remained behind, pale against the mud beneath the distant lantern light.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Roy knew she was gone before anyone told him.

He had been listening to Hamish argue with the captain of the town watch over the northern road when the knowledge settled beneath his ribs, cold and absolute.

Something had changed.

The festival continued around him. Fiddles played. Boots struck the stones in time with the reel. Laughter rose beneath the lanterns, bright enough to disguise danger from those who had never learned how quietly it approached. But Donaldina was no longer within the square.

Roy turned toward the dancers. He searched first for the deep blue of her gown, then for the dark braid he had watched move across her back throughout the day. He saw merchants, villagers, children weaving between tables and MacNicol women gathered near the fire.

He did not see her.

“Where is Lady Donaldina?” he asked.

Hamish stopped speaking.

The guard captain glanced toward the crowd. “She was beside ye during the opening dance.”

“That was an hour ago.”

Roy moved before the man could answer. He crossed the square swiftly. The crowd seemed to thicken deliberately around him. People bowed, called greetings and attempted to draw his attention toward prizes or cups of ale.

He ignored them. Donaldina was not near the musicians. She was not speaking with the festival steward. She was not beside the old basket seller who had watched them all day with the satisfied expression of a woman already planning their children.

Roy reached the food stalls. “Mairi.”

Donaldina’s companion turned at the sound of his voice. Her smile disappeared when she saw his face.

“Where is she?”

“I thought she was with ye.”

The cold beneath his ribs sharpened. “When did ye last see her?”

“After the dancing. She spoke tae two merchants near the fountain, then—” Mairi looked around, confusion becoming alarm. “I dinnae ken.”

Roy seized the nearest guard by the shoulder. “Close every road from the town.”

The man stared at him.