Chapter 3

3

" S top it," Archer growled. When they managed to reach the foot of the stairway, he crept into the manor's first landing. Lucky for him, only a few men had tried to stop his entrance. Archer had taken them down with ease as these were not even skilled swordsmen, and he could make a clean escape while Laird O'Kane kept the English man occupied outside the manor.

Only if she stops squeaking like a squirrel in her attempts to scream.

She pounded her fists some more into his back, and he set her on her feet, steadying her with both hands on her waist when she staggered back a little.

"Keep shut, or ye will ruin our exit," he silenced, meeting her blue eyes fully when she whipped her head up. Her struggling had made some strands of her hair escape from the chignon it was wrapped into, and Archer noted a tiny scar on the left croon of her neck when his eyes flickered over her again.

"I apologize," she said, her full lashes fluttering close briefly. Her hushed words instantly ruffled his senses and stirred a tingle in his nerves. The sensation made him frown a bit.

Archer did not notice her features when he first found her in the study, but now as he stood closer to her, he did.

Every angle of her face was delicate— angelic and smooth like she was carved out of some painter's drawing board. Her perky nose wriggled, and the tiny rose plump of her lips drew into a thin line just before she frowned. "But I do not know who you are and why you have come to get me. Did my brother send you? Are you here because he sent you?"

Archer didn't know if she was brave or just plain stupid. Why else would she challenge me right now?

He shoved aside the spark of curiosity stirring his interest and said to her. "I am nae one's messenger, and I suggest ye keep shut and come with me, or I'll be forced to carry ye on my shoulder again."

Archer moved towards her, and she extended a hand to back away from him. "My sisters," she replied. "I cannot come with you without them. They are in the wine cellar on the other wing of the manor, and I must find them."

She moved past him while rattling her words out, but he moved quickly, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back to him again. The move plastered her against his body swiftly, and her eyes went wild. They rounded into saucers as she drew in a deep gasp.

Archer froze when the softness of her breasts pressed against his hardened chest. Color flamed her cheeks like wildfire in the dry forest, and neither of them moved for a second.

He didn't move because his pulse took a speedy dive. Archer had never experienced a thrill like that before.

"Let me go," she ordered and shoved her hands flat against his chest to break free. Archer heard footsteps thudding towards them in that second, and he swept a hand over her mouth to silence her instinctively.

Her brows wriggling together proved her confusion, but it eased up when a singing voice calling her name followed the thuds of footsteps drawing closer to them.

"Maeve…Maeve," the man sang as he kept coming closer, his pace slow but steady while he continued singing out his words. "I know you are hiding somewhere. You know better than to hide from me."

Maeve's eyes shot open again, but this time as Archer stared into them, he realized the wildness there was terror. Her skin paled slowly as her eyes searched his with a pleading stare.

Archer could almost hear her say the words ‘help me' as her eyes stayed pinned on his. Her lids pinched tight at the sides when she closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. Her hand on his chest squeezed his leine tight between her fingers, and he stayed that way.

"You'll be in so much trouble if I find you, Maeve, Maeve…There will be severe consequences if you do not come forth right now."

Archer riled up with the need to protect her from the man approaching, whoever it might be, and he moved his body slightly so he covered her with his larger frame and pinned her to the wall behind him.

Whoever approached them slowed his pace, and Archer did not hear anything for the next few seconds before he turned and retreated. The silence stretched on for a long second, so Archer could make sure they were alone again before he slowly took his hand off her mouth.

Archer saw her firmly pressing her lips together once he did, and her cringe still stayed while she held onto him tight. The light tremors wracking through her petite body made him wonder what exactly the Earl did to make her so terrified of him.

Once again, his mind spun with his curiosity, and he dampened the thoughts because he could not afford the distraction. Not when his plan to get her and her sisters out of the Hampton's manor grew more dangerous by the second.

"He is gone," Archer whispered to her, so she could relax, and he brushed a hand tenderly over the side of her face before he could stop himself.

The urge to protect her suddenly moved through him and stripped his nerves of every annoyance they felt earlier at her resistance. As his eyes raked over her face and took in her harried expression, he felt a twinge in his heart.

Maeve bit down on her lower lip again, and he feared she would hurt herself. Archer was drawn to their plumpness as her teeth nibbled over her lips repeatedly. For the first time in his life, he was stuck staring at one object while holding his breath.

Her eyes slowly opened, and he saw tears floating around her blue orbs when she looked at him again.

"We are safe for now," Archer whispered, barely hearing his own voice through the roar of his pulse soaring higher with every second he wasted away.

Her tongue darted across her lips, and she drew in an audible breath. Her hand fell from his chest when she noticed how tight she clung to him.

"We must leave this place at once," Archer said to her slowly, hoping she understood every word he said. "Do ye understand me?"

"I cannot leave my sisters behind. I will not!"

"Ye arenae leavin' anyone behind. My men got them out of here first while I came to find ye," he explained to her while glancing over his shoulders.

"I must confirm. I do not know or trust you, sir. Do not expect me to…"

Archer released a string of heated curses in Gaelic when she still refused him, and without giving her the chance to object, he scooped her into his arms again and began hurrying towards their exit.

He had expected some sort of resistance when he stormed into that study to find her, but never would have imagined she would fight him this feistily.

It took him a fortnight to map out this area with his men and plan this break-in. While Laird O'Kane distracted the Earl and his son, Archer's main task was to get the Gibson sisters out safely with three of his men.

The hollering wind clawing away at him could not deter his plans.

Maeve's fight left her after some time, and now, she lay limp against his shoulder, trembling.

Sometime later, when he finally reached a little campfire created to signal their hide-out, he slowed his steps.

"Me Laird," Archer's man-at-arms Jensen called out on-top of his voice, and Archer answered in Gaelic to let Jensen know it was him. Maeve chose that moment to resume her fight, and Archer finally set her down, freeing himself from the burden of her weight.

"How dare you, sir?" she queried at the top of her voice. "You must take me back at once. My sisters are in there and…"

"Maeve," a tiny voice called now, silencing her attack on him. "Maeve!"

She spun around with a sharp cry, and Archer watched two girls run towards her, their skirts swaying around them with every step.

"Oh, thank goodness," Maeve sobbed as she hugged them tight, lowering herself to a squat.

Jensen moved to stand beside him as he took in the scene, and Archer tried to ignore the lump forming in the base of his throat.

"Laird O'Kane?" he asked Jensen, his voice tighter than he would have preferred it to be.

"Maeve…Ayda…Erin…" Laird O'Kane thundered from behind Archer right then, and the three sisters spun around almost simultaneously.

"Flynn," they chorused, Maeve's voice the loudest before they ran to him, their sobs louder this time.

"A happy family," Jensen commented with a low chuckle as Laird O'Kane hugged his sisters individually, kissing their foreheads. Archer's chest grew heavier as he admired them.

Laird O'Kane and his sisters had one thing he had never experienced even when he was younger— love. Archer grew up tough. That made him strong enough to be the kind of laird their brother could run to for help.

Now, he had fulfilled his end of their deal, and it was time for Laird O'Kane to make good on his promise. Sighing, he reached to his side to touch his sword's head. The move was a force of habit. Archer liked to fiddle with his sword at intervals. It helped him make sure it was right by his side at all times.

His fingers stroked over his sword once, and he stared hard at Laird O'Kane and his sister, still in their tight embrace, till his temples began to hurt.

"Me Laird?" Jensen questioned, making Archer turn around to look at him. "Yer brooch is missin'."

Archer looked down at his chest then and noted the empty spot where his clan's silver carved brooch was pinned earlier.

He let out a string of curses before turning to Laird O'Kane and his sisters. "All right that is enough. We need to get out of here now."

Laird O'Kane pulled away from his sisters as Archer marched to them. "Ye helped me save me sisters," Laird O'Kane began, bringing his arms around Archer for a hug. "I cannae thank ye enough, Laird Devlin."

Archer froze when Laird O'Kane's body made contact with his. He frowned, put both hands on Flynn's shoulders, then drew himself away to put some distance between their bodies.

"I understand yer moment of celebration, Laird O'Kane, but we dinnae have the time for it. We must leave this place at once. We must ride for the highlands right now, else there may be nothing to celebrate when that English lord finds us."

Flynn smiled. "He doesnae ken who ye are. There is nae way he can…"

"Nae…he can," Archer interrupted fiercely. "He can because I lost me brooch somewhere in his manor. It is a symbol of me clan's identity, and he shall identify me once he asks the right questions."

Flynn's eyes drew together to show his understanding, and now that Archer had his full attention, he clapped his hands together.

"We ride out at once. Does everyone understand?" Archer waited for a moment then continued, "And ye shall ride with me, Me Lady."

"What?" Maeve questioned, her brows drawing together when his gaze skimmed over to her. Archer didn't get the chance to say a thing to her before her knees gave way, and she sank limply to the ground.