Stolen by the Highlander by Terri Brisbin Page B

attending the wedding will go on ahead and be waiting by the church.’ The small stone building sat near the southernmost corner of the wall enclosing the keep, yards and other outbuildings. ‘Her father and few others will remain in the keep to escort her there when ready.’
    ‘But she’ll not be ready,’ Rob said.
    * * *
    They spent a short time going over the plan and then once more before they split up to enter the gates separately and disguised, so they would not be recognised. The sun was up in earnest when Brodie and Rob entered a little-used door and made their way up the stairway leading to Arabella’s chambers.
    Surprise was on their side as they opened the door and met her aunt and maid. In the few seconds before they recognised them, Brodie and Rob were able to get control over them and keep them from screaming out an alarm—to either the guards below or the woman in the other chamber.
    Once the two women were gagged and tied, Brodie lifted the latch and pushed the door to Arabella’s chamber open. Moving quickly inside while Rob stayed in the outer room, he found her standing, back to the wall, with a very interesting dagger in her hand. Aimed at him.

Chapter Six
    ‘I t was you!’ she said, turning her body to face him as he approached.
    ‘Aye, my lady,’ he said softly, easing his way across the distance between them. The one thing he needed to prevent her from doing was screaming and bringing the guards in on them. ‘Did you see me then at the clearing?’
    Keep her talking. Move ever closer. He thought those words over and over as he did both. Another step and pause.
    ‘I saw you from the window,’ she said, her gaze skittering over to it and back to him. ‘But, the clearing was empty.’
    ‘I am here now,’ he said, holding out his hand to her. ‘Give me the dagger, Arabella. I will not harm you.’
    She stared at him then, with bleak and empty eyes that filled with tears. ‘Is that how you killed Malcolm then? Tricked him into giving up his dagger and used yours on him?’
    Christ! He wanted to deny it, but could not. He still remembered nothing of her brother’s death. Rob scuffed along the wooden floor and whispered a word to hurry him along.
    ‘Give me the dagger, lass,’ he ordered softly.
    She raised her hand as though preparing to defend herself but it gave him the chance he needed. With a quick stride, he was in front of her, grasping the hand that held the weapon and twisting it down until she dropped it. Arabella gasped and opened her mouth to scream. It took but a second to cover it and nod to Rob.
    Brodie wrapped the length of cord around her wrists after Rob gagged her with a piece of cloth. He wanted to laugh as his friend apologised, but this was too grave a time for any humour. Within minutes, she’d been secured—hands, mouth, legs.
    ‘We are taking you from here, Arabella,’ he said, as Rob threw a tapestry pilfered from another wall on the floor before them. ‘Fight not and you will not be hurt.’
    He might as well have thrown water on an angry cat, for she bucked and twisted, trying to free herself. With quick, efficient movements, he and Rob placed her on the tapestry and rolled her inside of it. They carefully lifted the tapestry and the lady and carried her from the chamber, closing the door tightly behind them. Her father would not seek her out until just before the ceremony.
    Brodie and Rob walked quickly in the opposite direction and took the second stairway, the one used by servants now busy with wedding preparations, to the lowest floor of the keep. Once there, it took little time to find the secret doorway which opened into a long-forgotten tunnel. He’d played here as a boy and his uncle had planned to close it, but never had. Brodie doubted that anyone remembered this hidden path out of the keep that led to one of the storage sheds near the stables.
    The plan in place worked exactly as he’d hoped—his men were in their positions and executed