Reckoning (Book 4 of Lost Highlander series) by Cassidy Cayman Page B

stammered.
    “Milady,” the man gurgled through the blood that poured out of his nose. “What has become of ye? How have they made ye so depraved?”
    Lachlan almost wished she’d give him a healthy dose of her acerbic tongue, but her uncharacteristic silence unnerved him. Surely this fool hadn’t touched a nerve with her?
    “Dinna listen to him, Bella,” he said.
    “He doesna understand,” she whispered, backing up and shaking her head.
    Pietro grabbed her arm and pulled her away, while the man shouted more insults. Lachlan punched him in the stomach to get him to shut up. A moment later Pietro returned without Bella and looked wildly at him.
    “What do we do?” he asked, his voice laced with the panic that was rising up in Lachlan. “That’s Bella’s second cousin. She thinks he’ll tell everyone he saw us.”
    “I shall,” the cousin coughed from his doubled over position. “I shall tell everyone, ye fornicator, ye adulterer, ye whoreson follower.”
    Pietro dropped his head into his hands. “Is he insulting me or you?” he asked with a desperate laugh.
    Lachlan didn’t have the first idea and for a long moment he and Pietro just stared at the man, still muttering oaths against them.
    Lachlan grabbed the man’s chin and twisted his face around to force him to look at him. “Stay put, aye?”
    He motioned for Pietro to follow him a few paces away. “I’ll admit I’d like to hit the wee bastard a few more times, but I canna see killing the man for seeing something he shouldna have seen.” He glared at Pietro, hoping the unspoken rebuke that they shouldn’t have been doing anything worth seeing was understood.
    Pietro looked chagrined and lost all color. “Dear God, no,” he said.
    “Will ye murder me, as ye murdered the laird?” shrieked the cousin, stumbling away at a crooked run.
    Lachlan swore and caught him by the scruff of his neck before he’d gone five paces. “I will kill ye,” he said seriously, “if ye try to run off again. Do ye understand?” He shook the man until he nodded. “Do ye believe me?” he demanded and the man nodded quicker this time. He turned to Pietro, sorry he had to see him at his most ruthless. “Get some rope, or whatever ye have that we may tie him with.”
    They bound him to the trunk of the tree, extracting information from him with threats and a few slaps. It was true, he and his brother had seen Bella acting in such a way with Pietro that it cast doubt on her marriage to Lachlan.
    At first they thought her a victim of the monster Ferguson, and was only seeking solace with Pietro. When he followed them and saw that Lachlan not only knew about their relationship, but seemed to encourage it, he decided Pietro was as wicked as any Ferguson, and that poor Bella was probably lost to her family, and indeed, God.
    He decided to be the hero and kill Lachlan, freeing the Glens once and for all from his evil. He hadn’t yet decided what to do about Pietro and Bella if his plot succeeded.
    “That’s a verra entertaining tale, lad,” Lachlan said, shaking his head in disgust.
    He would deserve to be dead if he let this gnat get the better of him, but he was glad for Bella and Pietro’s sake he hadn’t, because her cousin seemed just unhinged enough to kill them, too.
     They found Bella standing by the horses and looking forlorn. She couldn’t meet Lachlan’s or Pietro’s eye, and as much as he wanted to rage at them both, he couldn’t do it.
    “What’s done is done,” he said gruffly. “We must move forward.”
    “Are ye going to kill him?” she asked.
    “Dinna be daft,” he said. He closed his eyes against their expectant looks, and wondered if it would hurt them so much to come up with some answers for once. “We must get him away,” he said finally. “I think I could help one of the men sneak away tonight. Perhaps Raff. He wouldna be missed right away, as quiet as he’s kept himself. He could take this one back to my land, hold him until