Highlander’s bride

Chapter 2

Dedicated to my dearest Avanti.. I love you, girl. You have always supported me and your sweetness has brought me back to the magical world where creativity meets reality crafting a fairy-tale. Thank you, my love. Muah!!

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She couldn’t have heard it right, obviously not. “What did you just say?” Gillian screamed at the huge highlander standing in front of her.  Finding her strength in the insult.

Gillian decided it was one thing not to be helped but to be compared and considered insignificant to a materialistic object, a carriage…was too much to bear. Was the man devoid of any emotions? How could he say that? But why the man against her rationality fascinated her; he was certainly biggest of the group. His broad shoulders could hide her, along with Mary and few other ladies behind him and the darkness seemed to crown him with a magical appearance, crowning him in its ethereal glory.

No, he wasn’t any pious man, he was the rudest man to ever inhabit the earth looking at the way he pointedly continued to ignore her.

“I….” Gillian was tossed in the infidel’s arms roughly,” Ouch!” She glared at him. As if on cue, Mary started screaming again.

Her kidnapper looked at his comrade holding Mary,” Shut her up, I can’t think with all that screaming.” The man nodded, as he put his hand on Mary’s mouth, Mary let out a loud squeal which made the man close his eyes and push Mary into the arms of one of the elder highlander standing in the hindsight. “You can take her along with you,” sounding very relieved. Gillian let out a loud gasp. She definitely hoped the elder highlander would be a good man considering his age and…just then…The man wrung Mary along his neck as if she was a rucksack.  Mary quietly fainted away, Gillian couldn’t even express her outrage, she simply thanked the stars above, at least Mary wouldn’t be witnessing this ridiculous scene.

Gillian glared at the audacity of the man, treating Mary as some kind of a burden. There weren’t any good or bad highlanders, they were barbarians; mean, bullying, bad people. She remembered what she had heard of them; people, who took what they wanted, had no heart, no sense of dignity. They were thieves of the worst kind. These looked like soldiers who could fight with anyone yet behaved in such horrible method.

“Now, what do you want?” her kidnapper asked the huge highlander.

The huge man took a casual stance and looked bored; any other person would have thought they were talking about taking a walk in the park rather than dealing with a life and death situation. But looking at his size, Gillian thought her kidnapper looked utterly terrified for a second as if having doubts about questioning the barbarian.

 “I’m meaning what I just said,” the highlander asked in a cool voice,” carriage’s ownership?”

Ignoring Gillian’s angry mutterings, the man heaved in a sigh of relief. The fear slowly ebbed from the kidnapper’s eyes; he looked confident now, sensing victory and looking forward to enjoy the spoils of unexpected loot. He snickered, looked at the barbarian who seemed to be their leader, must be the laird and interested in such the carriage.  Couldn’t he see the beauty of the woman in his arms? Or was the carriage worth something more than he had estimated. After all, the Scots weren’t fools.

“You don’t want the woman?” he bellowed at the laird.

“No.”

“You don’t care what I do to her?”

“Oh, you’re on the right path, trust me,” the laird laughed.

The kidnapper chuckled and holding Gillian’s hair in his hands, tore at them in order to make her face him, “You pretty, now belong to me.”  He knew he had captured a hellion when his gleeful nuance was met by deadly glare.

“The carriage?” the laird’s soft, smooth voice rolled over them.

“Is on our land hence along with the woman, ours,” the man’s voice sounded like a screech of dying bird.

“No.” The laird’s bored look underwent a radical change; he now looked ready for battle, furious and fuming.

“Alright, no need for a fight,” the man uttered, he didn’t want to risk losing his teeth, “you take the carriage, I take the woman.”

“Aye,” the laird and his men shifted forward as one large unit.

“Not so easy, I don’t trust you highlanders,” the kidnapper voiced,” I take a step back, you take a step forward. When I am out towards the road with my men, will you leave? Done?”

“Aye.”

Gillian couldn’t believe what she was hearing, suppressing an overwhelming urge to weep, she managed to regain herself, if the seemingly powerful man did not care about her plight, then it was upon her now to look after her welfare.

She had to think of something, but fast.

The man tightened his hold on her and took a step back. She had heard the scots were nasty hearted but this was beyond comprehension. How could he behave in such an atrocious manner? Didn’t her life, her very existence, her virtue mean anything to him? To them? Were they really that cold hearted. She tried pleading.

“Sir?” Gillian squeaked looking at the barbarian, “Please, help me.”

“Shut up, you bitch,” the kidnapper screamed in her face. Gillian’s eyes went wide with fright.

The laird ignored her pleas as he continued to admire ‘soon to be his’ carriage.

Just as they were about the reach the road, Gillian took a deep breath to embrace the stench of her kidnapper, asked him to lean towards her and muttered something to him which made him shook his head in gore disgust.  He suddenly held her as if he was holding hot, burning coals. Indecisive yet willing.

He looked at the laird and his men and looked at her, when she nodded, pure innocence reflected in her eyes. He let out a roar of anguish and dropping her, pushed her towards the barbarians and screamed at the top of his voice, “Trickery! Trickery!”

To the astonishment of all and sundry, the infidels ran off without looking back. Iain and his men couldn’t hide their surprise, then remembering his manners; he quickly moved forward to steady her.

“I need to see Mary,” Gillian whispered urgently.

Then her eyes, met his. Lord, what green eyes. Just like green mosses, the greenery that could seep into your very soul and soothe away all worries.  Gillian couldn’t seem to help but stare at the man, his muscles flexed and she stood enchanted.

Iain stood transfixed, he had never seen such violet eyes ever in his life; dammit she was a very pretty gel. Earlier he couldn’t look at her being far off but now, she looked like an angel, even in the black garb she looked as delicate as a rosebud, if he didn’t know any better he would say he was enthralled by her beauty but above all impressed by her courage and spirit. He desperately wanted to know what she had said to dispel the infidels the way they did. It was unheard of, them running away without taking their loot. Hell, she was an Englishwoman she wasn’t supposed to be having her wits around with her or courage. Her concern for the older woman whom she addressed as Mary seemed so out of place. Weren’t the Englishwomen known to be as cold as frost?

Aye, they were.  

She stood up straight and let the man finish his rude perusal as she felt him take his sweet time glancing from the feet to her head.  Gillian raised her chin up a notch. She mulled over the things she had wanted to say to him but at that precise moment everything seemed a big blur. All she could do was gawk at him. He stood with his feet wide apart, arms crossed. He was too masculine, too in control. A man who seemed to be in command, a man she oddly felt safe with.

She shook her head slightly, ridiculing her notions. Safe with a man who wanted to trade her with the carriage. Definitely not! Gillian gave him one fleeting glance and found him standing and still observing her as she took a step towards the older man holding Mary now in his arms and staring at her as if he had found something oddly mesmerizing.

Gillian was met with a single command that emanated from the man, whom Gillian now considered their leader, “Stop at once.” His burr when directed at her sounded exotic. Was she taking leave of her very senses?

Gillian stopped gave him her most perplexed look and in a condescending tone said, “Excuse me, sir. I know you are most eager to look at the carriage. Please do not let me stop you.  I need to check on my friend.”

This time she met his outstretched, blocking hand.

Gillian dragged in a deep breath, in order to steady her growing irritation. She couldn’t answer yet but the strangest thing was she wasn’t frightened of either the leader or his men. She couldn’t explain the reason about the way she felt.

“Sir, please,” Gillian waved her hand over to Mary who now lay on the ground with the men sprinkling water on her face.

“What is your name, lass?” The man spoke to her.

“Lady Gillian,” she let out a little sigh, thank goodness he wasn’t going to toss her over his shoulder, “what is your name, sir?” Gillian decided to be polite for proprietary sake.

“Iain.”

“I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Iain,” she announced with a quick curtsy.

Iain rolled his eyes heavenward in exasperation, “Is that all you have to say to me?”

“I’m afraid till the time I don’t have a look at my friend, that is all I wish to convey to you,” she nodded her head regally and snuck a glance at Mary.

Iain was shocked. No woman had ever dared to speak to him in such an offhand manner. He had taken heads off for lesser words said to him.

“Cease, Gillian, your friend is being taken care of. You have nothing to worry, I would like you to stand here and answer a few questions of mine, if you may.” The way he called out her name made her skin tingle. Oh, it had nothing to do with that man; it was the cold that was making her feel so. Gillian surmised as she rubbed her arms to get warmth back into her body.

“Is it imperative?”

“Yes.”

Gillian realized he was albeit a man of few words. She remembered the carriage incident and stood with folded hands to fight her battle. He was willing to trade her for that..that thing.

“I am not going to take up much of your time, Iain,” she began with fury dancing in her eyes,” First of all, I would like to convey to you what I truly think about you sir.”

He nodded, closing his eyes briefly praying himself to be patient.

“I think you’re a truly mean hearted man. I man who in the world would trade a living being for a carriage, a simple carriage.”

He shrugged and answered with a grin, “It’s a fine carriage.”

“How dare you sir, how ungentle manly” Gillian flew into rage and started pacing. Iain was charmed, the lady got feisty when in anger. It brought about a new light to her eyes, making her violet eyes almost call upon him.

“Laird, we should leave,” Gillian heard a voice call out. Soon they were surrounded by his men, with Mary in the elder’s man’s arms.

When Gillian looked at him in concern, he nodded, “I am Patrick, and your friend is fine, she is just sleeping.” Gillian nodded her thanks. 

“Duncan, aye, we should.” Iain answered looking curiously at the exchange that played out between Patrick and Gillian. He had never seen Patrick being concerned about a woman till now.

“Mi lady,” the man called Duncan called out.

“Please call me Gillian,” Gillian replied as she nodded her greetings to everyone. Few grunted, others nodded.

“What are we going to do with them, laird?” Duncan thought addressing his laird was much safer.

Patrick came forward, deposited Mary in the hands of another soldier and whispered few words in Iain’s ear which made Iain curse out in anger.

“Mi lady, we want to know what you were doing here at this time of the night.” Duncan asked Gillian with a soft, placating tone.

When Gillian paused and mulled over her options, she heard Iain’s thundering voice ordering her to answer.

“No need to get so angry, Iain. I was simply thinking if I should tell the truth or dally out a false story,” Gillian spoke innocently making Duncan, Patrick and the rest of the soldiers laugh out at her dilemma.

“You will always speak the truth,” Iain spoke putting an end to the guffaws.

Gillian looked at Iain, with a mischievous smile in place, while heat bloomed onto her cheeks making her seem rosy and really soft, said” Iain, I simply claimed to be your intended bride.”

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Hello, my lovely people.

I have missed you so much. I am back hopefully with a bang. *winks* did you miss me? *cuddles* I know, I made you wait for eternity. I am so sorry. *touches ears* I have no excuses but I can say just one thing in my plea for forgiveness. I love you. I love you…I love you… Thank you so much for always being there for me! I fervently look forward to replying to all the beautiful messages, just give me some time; love. *Hugs*

And please do let me know if you super love the chapter by commenting. I will be eagerly waiting for them. Thank you…*blows a pretty kiss*

Warmest Regards,

HIndia150