Page 60 of Captured by a Laird
Robbie swallowed and David could see that he regretted his rash move, but he was too stubborn to drop to his knee and beg forgiveness.Damn that Hume pride.
“Drop your sword,” David said in a low voice, wishing to hell they did not have an audience. “We both know you’re no match for me.”
Robbie’s eyes were still angry, but he seemed to realize the depth of the hole he had dug himself into and laid his sword on the ground.
“Ye know ye must be punished,” David said.
“Aye,” Robbie said, his tone defiant.
David could have had his brother muck out the stables for disobeying his order not to leave the castle if that was all he’d done. But challenging his laird in front of all the men required a severe penalty. Robbie wanted to be treated like a man, and so he would be.
“How many lashes would ye say ye deserve?” David asked him.
CHAPTER 24
Alison was in the kitchens with the cook when she heard running feet coming down the stone steps to the undercroft. A moment later, Will burst into the kitchen.
“Alison! Help me!” The usually implacable lad was frantic and out of breath.
“What is it?”
“David is going to flog Robbie,” he said, fighting tears. “Please, ye must stop him.”
Alison dropped the wooden spoon she was holding and hurried out of the kitchen with him. “Where are they?”
“In the courtyard,” Will said. “Robbie challenged David in front of all the men.”
They raced up the stairs and across the hall.
The moment Alison pushed through the outer doors, she saw David and Robbie at the center of a large circle of men. They stood too close together, and she could feel the fury radiating from their bodies from thirty yards away. Whatever was about to happen, Will should not see it.
“Go back inside,” she told him. “I’ll do what I can.”
She watched from the top of the steps of the keep for a moment, uncertain what to do. They were nose to nose, glaring at each other, but they had not come to blows yet. Perhaps their good sense would prevail.
She saw a sword on the ground beside Robbie and remembered how quickly David had disarmed her. How foolish of the lad. He was nearly as tall as David, but gangly and thin as a long-legged colt, while David had the build and grace of a Celtic warrior god.
Despite how angry David appeared to be, surely he would not have his brother flogged? She gasped in horror as Robbie’s hand shot out and he shoved his chieftain in front of half the Hume warriors.
Alison picked up her skirts and ran.
***
A bloodcurdling scream filled the courtyard. David knew it was Alison before he turned to see her flying down the steps of the keep and across the courtyard. The men leapt out of her way as if she were a raging banshee.
“Don’t touch him!” she shrieked, and threw her arms around Robbie.
Robbie was as startled as David. His eyes went wide and a scarlet blush crept up his neck.
“Alison, go inside!”
Alison turned around to face him, but instead of obeying his command, she stood in front of Robbie with her arms stretched out to the sides, as if she meant to protect him with her body.
Christ!David was in the grip of such rage that he did not trust himself to touch her.
“Remove her.” At his nod, two of his men gingerly took her by the arms.
“The devil take ye, David!” she shouted, as they had dragged her kicking and screaming to the keep. “Ye cannot do this! I will not let ye!”
