Page 155 of The Laird's Masked Passion
Colin stopped several paces away. “Ye asked me tae come alone.”
“And ye did.”
Robert pulled Elspeth closer. She flinched when the blade shifted against her side. Colin’s hands remained loose. Every part of him wanted to cross the distance and tear Robert apart with his bare hands. Instead, he stood still.
“Ye have me,” he said. “She is nay longer needed.”
Robert laughed softly. “That is where ye are wrong.”
His gaze moved over Elspeth’s face with deliberate cruelty.
“She is the only reason ye are here.”
Colin kept his attention upon Robert, though he watched Elspeth through every breath.
Robert continued. “I thought tae kill her quickly once. A useful message. A bride dead before the marriage settled.”
Elspeth’s chin lifted.
“But then I heard what ye did at the feast,” Robert said. “How ye abandoned yer men tae reach her. How ye nearly died because she bled.”
Colin said nothing. A bird called from somewhere beyond the ridge. It was too early.
Nae yet.
Robert smiled wider. “So I changed me mind.”
The knife pressed harder. Elspeth’s breath caught. Colin felt something inside him go cold.
“What dae ye want?” he asked.
“Tae watch ye understand.”
Robert leaned nearer Elspeth’s ear.
“I will cut her slowly. Nae enough tae kill her at first. I want ye tae hear her beg. I want ye tae ken there is naething yer name, sword, or precious clan can dae.”
Elspeth’s face paled. Still, she did not look away from Colin.
Trust me, he tried to tell her without words.Wait.
She drew one careful breath. Robert mistook it for fear.
“She will die before ye,” he continued. “And ye will live long enough afterward tae remember every sound.”
Colin let the silence stretch. Behind Robert, a shadow moved briefly near the broken wall. One of theirs, almost in position.
“Ye speak a great deal fer a man who claims victory,” Colin said.
Robert’s eyes narrowed.
“Did me faither teach ye that?” Colin asked. “Tae mistake cruelty fer power?”
The smile vanished.
Good.
Anger made men careless.
