Page 78 of Surrendering to her Highland Captor
His words came out harsh and tired, but there was an underlying curiosity to it as well, as though he truly wanted to know just what James had planned.
“Aye,” James answered coolly. “I am too far away to reach ye. But he is nae.”
With his left hand, James pointed behind him. Taryn searched the crowd until she found what had given James so much confidence. She nearly collapsed at the sight of Lachlan and Aila, sifting through the crowd only a few paces behind James. Just like James, Aila had her sword raised high, warding off any villagers who might grow restless or overly confident and get in their way. Lachlan, however, paid no attention to the crowd. His gaze was solely on the Laird, Aila’s bow stretched taught in his hands with an arrow notched in the string aimed for her uncle.
Moving ever so slowly, Laird McGregor raised his opened hands in a sign of surrender. He took several steps back, putting more space in between him and Taryn. The executioner followed suit, lifting his gloved fingers off Taryn’s shoulder.
James lowered his sword just enough to be able to jog through the parted crowd, making it to the front of the platform with ease.
“What do ye think ye are doing?” her father shouted, indignant at James’ boldness. “Get away from her.”
James, halfway up the platform, didn’t have the means to fend off Jonah as he grabbed for James’ shoulder. Taryn whimpered, the thought of her freedom being stolen once morewhen it was so close now. But she needed not have worried. Before Jonah could do anything but reach the fabric of James’ coat, he grunted in shock. Rowena screamed, piercing and painful. It took Taryn a few slow blinks to see just what had sent her father falling to his knees. Lodged deep in his shoulder was one of Lachlan’s arrows. He had already notched another one by the time her eyes found her friends.
Blood poured out of her father’s wound, but the sight elicited no emotion from her. James summited the platform, spun to face the crowd, and pointed his sword in their direction.
“Does anyone else care to test just how serious we are about this?”
Silence answered him, to his satisfaction. Slowly, he turned to face the Laird, who still had his hands up and head bowed in surrender, then to the executioner who had the good sense to get off the platform all together.
Finally, he turned his eyes on Taryn. Her knees buckled. With her hands still bound behind her back, she would have fallen on her face had James not been there to catch her.
“Woah there, love. Everything is all right,” he murmured.
She leaned into his chest, breathing in the familiar scent of everything that was him. The tears she had been so desperately trying to keep contained fell from her eyes, dampening his shirt. He only pulled her in closer, hugging her to him as they both let out the breath they had been holding.
“Let’s get ye free, aye? And then we will deal with everything and everyone else.”
Nodding, Taryn was grateful for how gentle and kind he was being with her. She was in sore need of it after the time she had spent in the prison.
“Ye are going to have to let go of me so I can cut the ropes on yer wrist,” he urged, trying to extract himself from her grip.
“I thought I had lost ye,” she whispered, not yet ready to pull away. “I thought I would never see ye again. I never thought I would see my family again. Thank ye for bringing them to me. Thank ye for coming to save me. I still cannae believe ye are really here.”
“Ye and me both,” James admitted. “But I am here. Ye are safe. I will never let anything happen to ye. I swear. Trust me Taryn, all I want to do right now is scoop ye up into my arms and ride far, far away from here. But we have an entire clan to deal with, starting with yer uncle. So please, let me go so I can untie ye. The sooner we deal with this, the sooner we can go.”
Sucking in a steadying breath, Taryn picked up her head and stepped out of his embrace. She cursed every inch of space that she put between them. At least, she did until James flashed her a smile, his stunning green eyes glowing. It was only a flash, but it was enough to make her stand still so he could step behind her and run his blade through the ropes around her wrists.
As soon as the braided knots gave way, James stepped right back to her side, tucking her into his arm.
“Let me make myself abundantly clear,” he spoke, addressing the crowd, staring directly at her parents as he did so. “Should anyone be foolish enough to lay a single hand on this woman, I can promise ye that ye will lose that hand, if nae yer life. She is under my protection and that of the Kincaid and McKenzie Clans.”
Taryn had so many questions to ask, starting with just how James had managed to turn strangers into allies, but they would have to wait.
“As for ye,” James said, turning his attention once again to Laird McGregor. “I never thought I would live to see the day that a traitor and a coward would be ruler of this clan.”
Gasps ricocheted throughout the crowd, but James didn’t care.
“When I was a lad, my father would tell me story after story of all the great McGregor Lairds who had come before my time. It was those stories that inspired me to serve my clan as a warrior, to give my life to protecting these people. And yet, today, ye were willing to murder one of your own, yer own niece at that, as if that could get ye out of the mess we are in. A madman made some wild demands of ye and because ye dinnae have the spine to stand up to him, ye were going to do as he said.”
Turning back to face the crowd, James looked out on all the familiar faces, appalled at all he saw present.
“Anyone willing to stand by and allow such a heinous crime should be imprisoned for their negligence. This is nae how McGregors should behave. This is nae who we are.”
Taryn watched as part of the crowd agreed with James, their faces awash with relief and gratitude for his intervention. She tried to commit their faces to memory, to know who was on her side. The others grew even more outraged.
“What of our families?”
“How are we supposed to defend ourselves from the Englishman now?”
