Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

" W hat do you mean you are leaving?" Brian demanded as he stood in the grand hallway with Sir Kellan. "You are supposed to make sure none of these fools try to murder me!" he said belligerently.

Mae and Niall stood in a shadowed doorway watching the scene.

"It seems you overstated your case in your letters to the Laird. You were on the ramparts in a drunken state, and they saved you from your own stupidity. As to your humiliation by Lady Welles, you brought that upon yourself as well. Tis not my job to save you from you. I suggest you stop attempting to climb to the bottle of the whisky bottle and do the job the Laird sent you here to do."

"But—" Brian pouted, looking like an angry toddler ready to lay down on the ground and pitch a tantrum because they didn't get their way.

"Goodbye, Brian." Sir Kellan gave Cam a nod and then strode out the door with his men following behind him.

Mae never did learn their names, and she supposed it didn't matter who they were as it had no effect on her life, nor the Donalds. Dismissing the thought, she watched Brian storm out the door after Sir Kellan, still demanding to be heard.

"He's going to be a brat about this, isn't he." It was a statement of fact, not a question she needed answered.

"Aye," Niall agreed. "I'd best go follow him, make sure he nae trampled by the horses."

Mae reluctantly let go of his hand after giving it a squeeze of encouragement. Much to her dismay, she was right about Brian. Over the next several days, Brian's behavior grew worse and worse. He went through multiple bottles of whisky, to the point where the staff began hiding it from him, and harassed the women of the castle with renewed vigor.

Had this taken place in Mae's time, she'd have had him up on sexual assault charges and put in jail, or maybe one of the women would have defended herself with a weapon, causing him to die. She often dreamed of dragging him along in Dub Sith's taxi back to the Twenty-first century and exposing him to some women's lib. It seemed here that most of women just put up with his manhandling of them until one of the men stepped in to stop it.

So far he'd limited himself to grabbing, groping, and vile kissing, always being stopped before he could do much more, but Mae feared that one of these days he was going to find someone and corner them long enough to force them into sex. She'd done her best to inform the women in the kitchen to try and steer clear of him, but also how to defend themselves against him, should he try something. Most of them listened and began going about the castle in pairs.

Mae hadn't imagined that she would be the one he'd corner.

She had left the dining hall a week after Sir Kellan had returned home, and going up to her room for the evening when he accosted her. Nearly everyone was still in the dining hall, enjoying an evening of music and festivities, so the hallway on the second floor was quiet and deserted. She hadn't heard Brian on the stone stairs behind her, so as she hit the landing for the second floor, she wasn't prepared for him to rush her.

He'd grabbed her arms and dragged her into the dim lighting of the stone hallway, pushed her up against the wall and held her there as he began to attempt to capture her lips. Mae screamed, struggling in his grasp.

"Shut up and let me kiss you," he muttered; his breath smelled of whisky and onions.

"Get off of me!" she cried out as his fingers dug harder into her arms.

"Mae!" Niall's voice traveled up the stairs.

"I'm here!" she called back, then looked at Brian whose watery gaze was on her lips.

He attempted to lean in and kiss her again, but she turned her head. "Stop moving," he muttered.

"Stop touching me," Mae demanded, yanking on her arms trying to free them.

"Niall, stop, you cannae beat him," another voice joined in, but Mae couldn't see who it was, and she didn't know all of the guards well enough to know them by the sound of their voice.

"I'm nae going to beat him. I'm going to kill him," Niall's angry voice reverberated off the walls.

Mae knew she couldn't let him get to Brian. It would bring the whole Campbell clan down on their heads. She needed to do something. So she decided to do the one thing she knew would cause Brian to let her go. She brought her knee up and rammed it hard into his cock.

Brian's jaw dropped, his eyes began to water, and he let go of her arms to grab his crotch as he fell to the floor, crying out in pain.

"I told you to let me go. I'm not a Donald. You don't get to mess with me. You don't get to touch me, kiss me, nor grope me. You don't get to have me. Ever. And if you try that again, you're going to find a lot more than my knee in your nether region."

Niall, who was being held back by two of the other guards, started to laugh. "Well done, love. Remind me not to—what was that angry term you used before?" His brow furrowed.

Mae smiled. "Piss me off?"

He grinned. "Aye. Remind me not to piss you off." He glanced at the two guard that Mae now recognized as Lachlan and Rowan. "Once he's recovered his senses, help him back to the dining hall. I'll join you in a few minutes."

"Aye," Rowan replied, still chuckling.

Niall wrapped an arm around Mae and escorted her up to her room. "Are you really all right, love? He didnae harm you, did he?"

Mae shrugged. "I'm probably going to have some massive bruises on my arms, but other than that, no."

"I should have beat the bloody hell out of him at the very least," Niall growled. "You're mine."

Mae smiled, liking the way he said she was his. "I am, am I?"

He narrowed his gaze at her, his lips going flat. "You'd better be."

Her grin grew. "I am, just as you're mine."

A wide smile crossed his lips. "That I am, love." He leaned down and kissed her.

Mae wrapped her arms around his neck and held tight to him for the next few minutes, wishing he could stay with her. Unfortunately, he broke the kiss before she was ready.

"I'd best get back down there before he causes more trouble." He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. "You'll be all right on your own up here?"

Nodding, Mae said, "I'll lock the door. I'm sure I'll be fine. You'll come up later?"

"Will you wait up for me?" he countered.

"I can't promise I won't fall asleep, but if you knock, I'll answer." She smiled at him.

"Aye, that will do." He winked and took a step toward the door.

Mae had a hold of his hand and didn't let go. She tugged on him until he turned back toward her with a curious look. Smiling, she moved back to him, stood on her toes and kissed his lips. "Don't be too long," she murmured and then let go of his hand and opened the door for him.

"I'll be as quick as I can, love," he said and then he was out the door and down the hall calling over his shoulder, "close the door and lock it, love!"

Mae did as he asked and flopped down on the bed. She had been imagining a quiet evening in her room to rid herself of the headache she'd been feeling, but as she sat there, she realized it was already gone.

Her thoughts drifted over the encounter with Brian, and she realized she was going to need a bit more protection than just her knee. Next time he might be ready for that kind of an attack. She would need something nice and sharp to deter him from her the next time. A dagger perhaps? She'd have to discuss it with Niall when he returned. With that decided, she changed into her nightgown and settled on the bed with the book she'd been reading to wait for him to come back to her.