Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,13

watch her for an hour while she remained motionless.

So he didn’t.

No one saw the shadows coming up behind her.

Chapter Four

She was praying. It was so peaceful, so quiet—and then there was a hand over her mouth, and she was snatched away without a sound. She tried to scream but the hand was pressed so hard to her face she could barely breathe. Who would do this? Where was Galeren? He said his duty was to watch her. Could the hand possibly belong to him? He said he didn’t want to be her friend. She didn’t know why. Mayhap he didn’t like her. She didn’t know the captain or his men. Perhaps it was one of his men.

She was shoved and her feet left the air. She landed on her side and hit her head on something hard.

She prayed. God, protect her!

She looked up and saw a man she had never seen before. He was dirty and wild-looking and he wore a smile that frightened her.

The sound of swords clanging came into focus. Men were fighting. She prayed it was Galeren and his men. She closed her eyes as her abductor leaned over her, and she prayed for Galeren’s victory.

“You a virgin, Miss?” the man asked in a gravelly voice.

Oh please, Lord, don’t let him rape me. Her heart felt as if it would burst! What could she do against him? Could she kill him with her bare hands? She would begin with his eyes.

She made the sign of the cross and he laughed.

“Is this moment worth your eternal damnation?” she asked of him.

“Aye. I will make certain it will be.”

He tore her scapular and part of her chemise underneath.

“Nay!” She clawed at his eyes, ready to gouge them out—and then he was gone, lifted off her by an exquisite warrior angel with death in his eyes.

She watched for a moment while Galeren pulled the man to his feet. He looked surprised and then pleased at the condition of the man’s eyes. And then he delivered a savage swipe of his bloody blade to the man’s neck.

Silene squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted to scream. She’d never seen death before. She never wanted to see it again. She heard two things hit the floor, one much smaller than the other. She felt ill thinking about what they were. Her body shook. She was afraid to open her eyes.

Something soft like a blanket fell on her—it smelled like woodsmoke and the forest and rain. Like Galeren.

She opened her eyes to find him swooping down on her and wrapping her in his plaid. He slipped his arms beneath her and lifted her, cradling her to his chest.

“Fergive me. Fergive me.” His deep voice played like a haunting melody across her ears. “Are ye hurt?”

Why did his asking for forgiveness make her tremble harder and want to weep in his arms?

She thought of the violence against her, and of what the man had planned to do to her. She thanked God for sending Galeren.

“Yer head is bleedin’!”

“It hit a rock. I think.” She looked up at him, trying to hold back her tears. “Thank you.”

“I should have been watchin’ ye, lass,” he said, sounding heavily burdened.

“Captain Galeren,” A flash of her imagining what it would be like to touch him forged through her, making her feel warm and…guilty. “I forgive you. You saved me.”

He lifted his gaze and smiled at her as they entered the camp. She almost smiled back and then looked around on the ground and gaped at what she saw. Nine men lay dead in the fallen leaves, bloody and in pieces. She cried out and buried her face in the captain’s léine.

“We need to move oot of here now,” the captain ordered, his chest rumbling beneath her ear. “Morgann take my horse. Padrig take the sister’s.”

Both men hurried off. Mac quickened his pace toward them. “Is she hurt?” he asked when he reached them.

“Aye,” the captain let him know, motioning to her head. “We need to get her oot of here and take a look at her wound.”

Mac leaned forward and had a look at the blood on her wimple and veil. “Dinna worry, Sister. We will fix ye up. Why is she covered in yer plaid?”

“Because the man I killed tore away her habit and ripped her chemise.”

Mac’s face transformed from his perpetual angry expression to one of raw fury. He ran both of his palms down his face and then tugged on his hair. “Captain, she is a