“On the boat,” Angus gasped.

“Which boat?”

“Hugh’s,” Angus said. “He put her there to keep her away from Magnus.”

“If I find ye laid a finger on her, Angus,” Alex said between clenched teeth, “I’ll come back and gut ye.”

Alex had no time to tie Angus so he picked up the nearest rock and hit him on the head.

*  *  *

Glynis’s wrists were raw from struggling to get the ropes off, but she kept at it. She glanced over her shoulder at her surly keeper, wondering if there was a way she could get his dirk off him. He had an oil lamp beside him, but the fog was so thick that she could see little more than his dim outline, sitting with his legs propped up on the side of the boat.

Somehow, she must get free and warn Alex and the others before they fell into Hugh’s trap. She had not seen a village or even a cottage when they were sailing to the camp. Once she escaped, she would have a long way to travel before she found someone to help her, but she would walk to hell and back if she had to.

Suddenly, there were shouts and the sounds of fighting on the beach. Glynis could not see what was happening through the fog and darkness, but she had not heard a boat arrive. It didn’t surprise her that the pirates had started fighting among themselves. Hugh and Magnus were uneasy allies. Neither trusted the other, and with good reason.

“Arrgh…”

The horrible gagging sound was close. Was that her guard? Glynis leaned forward as far as the rope would let her and squinted into the darkness at the far end of the boat.

The figure of a man slowly emerged from the night fog, carrying his long claymore blade before him. Even before she could see his face, she knew who it was.

She was alone on the boat with Magnus.

*  *  *

The others were still caught up in the battle, and Alex could not wait for them. He ran through the dense fog, sucking the heavy air deep into his lungs. When he reached the edge of the loch, he saw a wavering light over the water.

God, no! One of the boats was aflame.

Alex splashed into the water. The three pirate boats loomed out of the fog like ghost ships, dimly lit by the glow of fire on the middle ship. Alex could just make out the carved serpent head affixed to its bow. It was Hugh’s ship that was burning.

He clamped his dirk between his teeth and swam the rest of the way to the boat. He found a rope hanging over the side near the burning bow. As he hauled himself up, he strained to listen, but he could hear nothing over the crackle of flames and the sounds from the ongoing battle on shore. When he rolled over the side into the boat, he fell onto something soft.

A body. His mind whirled at the possibilities, and a cold fear settled in his belly. Magnus must have killed the guard. Through the flames, he caught glimpses of the back of a man. Then he heard a deep, angry voice. Magnus’s voice.

“Ye made a fool of me before all my clan,” Magnus said. “That is why they took the chieftainship from me. They lost respect for me because of you.”

“They took the chieftainship from ye because ye were cruel to your own people.”

Ach, that was his wife—arguing with a vicious man with a blade in his hand.

God help him, Magnus was far too close to her. Alex moved forward cautiously, knowing he would have but one chance. If Magnus heard him coming, he could kill Glynis before Alex could reach her.

“All my troubles started with you,” Magnus said, waving his blade in the air like a madman. Flames were licking at his feet, but he was so enraged he didn’t seem to notice. “I should have dragged ye back by your hair and fooked ye til I got ye with child.”

Alex crept forward, his own rage barely under control.

“Everyone was already laughing at me because of what ye did,” Magnus said. “So when I heard ye didn’t leave Shaggy’s with your father, I went looking for ye. I couldn’t let my wife run off with another man.”

“I’m no your wife!” Glynis said.

Alex sensed Magnus was about to attack her. The fire was so hot now that sweat rolled down his face as he crept closer. He must take his chance soon.

“It was while I chasing after ye that they took the chieftainship from me,” Magnus shouted. “They never would have had the ballocks to do it if I’d been there. Because of you, they took everything from me!”

When Magnus swung his arm back, Alex was already running through the flames.

*  *  *

“Glynis!”

Everything seemed to happen at once: Glynis heard Alex’s voice shouting her name; a dirk flew through the air and landed with a thunk above her head; and Magnus flung his arms out and arched back, howling in pain.

Through the flames, she saw Alex charging across the boat toward them with his hair flying out behind him. All the saints be praised! He looked like one of the legendary heroes of his tales.

Magnus, a famed warrior himself, recovered in time to block Alex’s sword, though his arms shook and his knees bent with the effort. When he turned, she saw the dirk sticking out of his shoulder. Remembering the one above her head, Glynis reached up and worked it out of the wood. Turning the blade toward her, she sawed awkwardly against the ropes holding her wrists. It seemed to take forever, but at last she cut through them.

Glynis backed out of the way as the men fought in the cramped space, knocking over barrels of ale and sending captured pigs squealing. Their swords clanked and scraped the wood of the boat as flames rose higher around them. As the heat seared her face, Glynis feared they would all be consumed in the blaze.

Her hands shook, but she held the dirk in front of her, looking for a chance to stick it into Magnus. But the two men were moving too quickly for her to be sure she wouldn’t strike Alex by mistake. And then Magnus was charging straight at her through the flames, his face contorted with black rage. Just before he reached her, Alex jerked him backward by the back of his shirt.

Pain seared Glynis’s leg. When she looked down, her skirts were on fire. She leaned over and beat at the flames with her hands. But her hair swung down over her shoulders. When it caught on fire, she shrieked.

Alex appeared out of the flames at a full run.

The next Glynis knew they were flying through the air. They hit the water hard, knocking the breath out of her. The last sound she heard as they plunged beneath the surface was the sizzle of flames meeting the water.

She swallowed water and came up coughing. Water streamed down her face, and the charred smell of burned hair filled her nose as Alex carried her to shore. She rested her cheek against his chest and listened to the reassuring sound of his thundering heart.

“Mo chroí, did he hurt ye?” he asked. “Are ye all right?”

“I am now.”

Alex came to a halt. “I love ye so much. I couldn’t bear it if I lost ye.”

She let the words wash over her. Alex loved her.

“You’ll never lose me,” she said. “Never.”

CHAPTER 54

No more whiskey!” Glynis pushed away the cup Alex held to her mouth.

Duncan, Ian, and Connor were all hovering over her as well, like a bunch of mother hens.

“A burn is the worst kind of wound,” Alex said. “No need to be brave now.”

She’d let the men ply her with whiskey—the man’s cure for everything—last night, but she wanted to arrive home sober, for heaven’s sake.

“My leg barely pains me at all now,” Glynis said, though it hurt like the devil. “I won’t have our daughter see me stumbling off the boat.”

“Ye won’t stumble because ye won’t be walking,” Alex said, in a tone that told her there would be no arguing the point.

“Ye have quite a gathering of folks to welcome ye home,” Ian said.

Glynis ignored her husband’s protests and stood. It looked as if everyone from the castle and the nearby cottages had come down to the beach to greet them. She smiled up at Alex and squeezed his hand.

When Alex carried her off the boat, the people waiting on the shore cheered—which very nearly made her weep. Alex set her on her feet as Sorcha ran up. Glynis dropped to one knee on the sand and held out her arms to her daughter.

“Mother,” Sorcha said, as she threw her arms around Glynis’s neck. “I knew da would bring ye home.”

As she held Sorcha tightly against her, Glynis did shed a tear now. She would always remember this moment when she heard her daughter’s voice for the first time, calling her Mother.

“Your mother has a battle wound that proves how brave she is,” Alex said, as he helped Glynis to her feet again. He rested his hand on Sorcha’s head. “Wait til ye see it—it’s a beauty.”

Glynis laughed because she knew he meant it.

“We’ll bid ye farewell now and join our men on the other ship,” Connor said.

“Ye can’t stay?” Glynis asked, looking from Connor to Ian and Duncan.

“We must deliver Angus and Torquil to the new Clanranald chieftain for their punishment,” Connor said. “The Clanranalds, at least, will have justice.”

“I know ye feel badly about Hugh escaping again.” Alex clasped Connor’s shoulder. “But I appreciate what ye did.”

When Alex had carried her to the shore from the burning ship, they had met Connor running hell-bent toward the loch. They learned later that Connor had been fighting one-on-one with Hugh, when Hugh told him that Glynis was on the flaming ship.

“Ach, ye didn’t need my help,” Connor said.

“But ye thought I did,” Alex said. “Ye left Hugh to help me save my wife.”

“You’d do the same for me.” Connor paused and then gave him a crooked smile. “If I had a wife.”

“It’s time ye did,” Alex said. “Shall I make ye a list?”

The other men laughed so hard that Glynis suspected she was missing part of the joke.