Prologue

PROLOGUE

" Y ou know what we planned, Keira?" Marion McTavish asked as she held her daughter's hands tightly. "We need to escape from this place because one day I think your father will do something very bad to us. I am sorry to say this, lass, but he is a very wicked man."

Keira nodded. She was not supposed to know, but she had heard from her playmates, the children of the servants, who knew all the gossip, that her father had stolen things, although she did not know what those things were.

At only nine years old, she did not have a great understanding of the world, but she knew right from wrong not only from the holy books but instinctively. She felt it as surely as she felt the wind on her face, and she knew that her father was a bad man, even though he tried to hide it under a fa?ade of kindness.

"So we will wait until he goes to Edinburgh and go away then." She paused and looked deeply into Keira's eyes. "But you must not tell anyone, not even one of your friends, because if your father finds out, we will be in very great trouble. Promise me, darling."

"I promise, Mother," Keira replied solemnly. "When is Father going away?"

"Next Sunday, Keira," her mother replied. "That is all you need to know. I will come and help you pack a few clothes, and we will go with Malcolm."

Keira's brow creased with puzzlement. "Why is Malcolm coming with us, Mother?" she asked.

Marion gazed at the troubled, innocent little face before her. Was Keira ready for this knowledge? Marion had been having a love affair with Maloclm McKnight for months while still being obliged by her marital vows to submit to her husband's attentions. Archie McTavish had married her merely to give him a son, but if the baby inside her was Malcolm's, she did not want him to be raised by a cruel despot like Laird Archie McTavish. Even if it was the laird's own child, she did not want her precious infant falling into his hands, so she had decided on a plan of escape.

Not long now, she thought as she gazed at her daughter, and a wave of love and tenderness swept over her. They had to get away.

Keira suddenly looked anxious. "May I take Wee Marion with me?" she asked as she cuddled the rag doll she had named for her mother. Wee Marion was the love of her life, and Keira never went anywhere without her.

"Of course you may," Marion replied, laughing as she pulled Keira into her arms. "She is one of the family, after all."

"We will soon be gone, hen," Malcolm McKnight whispered as he took the hand of the woman he loved more than life itself and raised it to his lips.

He was a strong young man, not much older than Marion, and they had loved each other since their gazes locked across the floor of the great hall in Glenmar Castle. She had been dancing, and he had been standing guard at the edge of the floor, but both knew that something momentous had happened between them.

A day later she had sought him out on a pretense of needing a guard to ride with her to the village of Glenmar to visit the seamstress to repair a dress. This was an errand that could have been done by her maid or a servant, but she told everyone that she wanted to pick some flowers for Vore Tullye celebrations, which was two days away. The mistress of the castle was a good target for bandits, so she took a guard with her.

Accordingly, they saddled their horses and rode over the drawbridge into the pine woods nearby. There was a clear path through it, which they rode on for a hundred yards or so before Marion turned her horse into the forest. They walked further in amongst the trees until they could no longer see or be seen from the path, then they dismounted.

Malcolm stared at the beautiful young woman before him uncertainly, not knowing quite what was expected of him. "Milady?" he asked. "What?—"

She walked forward and put a finger over his mouth. "As soon as I saw you, I knew you had to be mine," she said softly. "Do you feel the same way?"

Malcolm gazed down into her dark brown eyes and swallowed nervously, a thousand different thoughts tumbling through his mind at once. What would happen if he so much as kissed Lady Marion and anyone found out? If he made love to her, he would most certainly be put to death, and she would be cruelly punished. His traitorous man's body was betraying him, but he had to ignore the hardness of his arousal. He had to say no.

Marion saw that he was going to refuse her by the way his expression changed, and she cursed herself for being so stupid. What had she been thinking? He was a young man with his whole life before him, and she was about to ask him to do something that might end it.

"I am so sorry," she said regretfully. "I should never have said that. Please forgive me and forget I said anything."

She turned away but was suddenly jerked backward as Malcolm's hand caught her wrist, and she was pulled against the hardness of his chest. Marion had only a second to look into a pair of dark green eyes before Malcolm's mouth swooped down on hers, and she was kissed more thoroughly and more sensually than she had ever been kissed in her life. She clung to him, feeling the hardness of his manhood against her belly and the sweet ache and wetness between her thighs that was her woman's response. She wanted him desperately.

When they broke the kiss, they were both almost breathless.

"That shouldnae have happened," he murmured. "You are a married lady. What if the laird finds out?"

"The laird will not find out," she replied, then stepped forward and kissed him again.

For a few seconds he hesitated, then he growled, swept her into his arms, and set her down with her back to a tree. She made no complaint as he kissed her again and kneaded one of her breasts gently with his big hand.

"I have been wanting tae do that since the first time I met you," he whispered. "I cannae help myself. Tell me tae stop, Marion, please."

"No." Her voice was a whisper, but it was firm and definite.

"Are you sure?" he asked doubtfully.

"Hurry before I change my mind," she replied.

Malcolm bent down to lift up her skirt, and a moment later, they were joined together in mutual passion.

After that, they stole every moment they could to be with each other, and if anyone suspected, no one mentioned it.

Neither could pinpoint the moment they fell in love. It was as slow as the changing of the seasons, and neither declared it, although they both knew.

Something changed one day, however, when Marion came to Malcolm in the woods. She was flushed and tearful, obviously upset.

"My sweetheart, what is wrong?" he asked as he put his arms around her in a tight embrace. "What has he done?"

"He struck Keira," she sobbed. "She is not badly hurt, but she fell down and bruised her knee. But oh, Malcolm, what will he do next?" She gazed at him with eyes that were full of desperation. "I must leave him, Malcolm. I must get away."

"I will help you," he said angrily. He was boiling with fury. "And I will come with you. I cannot bear to think of you and Keira being treated this way."

Marion looked out into the darkness with fear-filled eyes. They had been planning her escape from Glenmar Castle for months, but although she knew every step of their plan by heart, she was still terrified. What if it all went wrong?

They were hiding in a dark stall in the stable, the furthest one from the entrance, and waiting for a signal from Malcolm. They were as concealed as they possibly could be. Nevertheless, Keira was trembling with fear.

"Is he going to find us, mother?" she asked anxiously.

She was clutching her doll as if her life depended on it, and her big eyes were full of terror.

Marion did not want to lie to her daughter, but she did not wish to scare her any more than she had to. "We are going to do our best to make sure we get away," she whispered, "so we must be very quiet."

At that moment they heard a faint whistle and crept outside into the passage that led out to the courtyard. There, they paused. There was no one there. Malcolm should have been standing waiting for them with two horses already saddled, but there was no sign of him. Marion was puzzled, then she had a sudden realization as she looked around and saw that a ring of guards had suddenly appeared around her and Keira. Keira shrank back and hid behind Marion's skirts.

Out of the circle of men stepped her husband, grinning smugly from ear to ear. "Nice to see you again, my wife," he said politely. "Going somewhere?"

Marion was dumbstruck. It was late at night, already dark, and she could not think of a plausible excuse for leaving the castle. "No, I was not going anywhere," she replied, raising her chin defiantly.

"I see. You were not going anywhere with Keira." He stepped closer and pinned her with a narrow-eyed stare. "Do not take me for a fool, my dear. I am many things, but I am not stupid. Did you really think that you could dally shamelessly with one of my guards and remain undetected?"

"I do not know what you are talking about!" Marion said defiantly.

"Yes, you do!" the laird sneered. "You gave yourselves away every time you looked at each other! You were seen in earnest conversation many times."

"I talk to dozens of people every day," Marion replied scathingly. "Do you suspect me of dallying with all of them?"

"No. Just him." The laird turned and nodded, and two of the guards entered, half-dragging a beaten and semi-conscious Malcolm between them. He was bruised and scratched with several deep cuts on his arms and legs, and blood was running down his face from a cut below his eye. He was moaning piteously, and Marion cried out his name before running to him and drawing him into her arms. However, he was too weak to stand and fell down at her feet.

Malcolm looked into Marion's eyes as she bent over him. "I love you," he said, so faintly that she could hardly hear him.

She bent to kiss him once. "I love you," she whispered.

He let out a long, slow sigh, and after that, he did not move again. She closed the eyes that were still gazing at her, then stood up and faced her husband.

"I will never forgive you for this." Her voice was as hard as ground glass.

"I will not lose any sleep over it," he replied, his lip curled in contempt.

He took hold of her elbow to turn her around, then realized he had forgotten about Keira.

Keira was not only terrified, but she was also mystified too. Who was the guard that was lying at her mother's feet? What had he done, and why would he not wake up? She clutched her doll tighter and cowered back as her father approached her. She had already had a beating from him today, and she did not want another.

"Don't worry, Daughter." The laird's voice was meant to be soothing, but Keira was not fooled. Her father did not care about her.

"Where is mother going?" she asked fearfully as she watched one of the guards take hold of her mother's elbow to lead her away.

Marion looked back at her and made a brave attempt at a smile, even while her heart was breaking. "I love you, Keira!" she called.

"I love you too, mother!" she called back before her mother disappeared from sight.

"She will be back in a wee while," her father told her, but as Keira looked up into his eyes, she realized that she was never going to see her again.

And she never did.