Seduced by a highlander by Paula Quinn

Author:Paula Quinn [Paula Quinn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Histoire
ISBN: 9780446552370
Published: 2010-09-15T01:15:19+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

It wasn’t at all odd to hear one or more of her brothers shouting for her aid before Isobel even rose from her bed. Usually it was John or Lachlan calling to report some trouble Tamas had instigated, but this morn, things were different. It was Tamas’s pitiful wails that brought Isobel to her feet and out the door. When she stepped into the hall, doors were opening on every side as her brothers, and even Tristan, rushed from their rooms to answer the call for help.

Seeing her youngest brother lying prone on the floor outside his room nearly stopped Isobel’s heart, and her breath.

Patrick reached him first, swearing an oath when his bare foot stepped on one of the many thistles spreading outward beneath Tamas’s fallen body.

“What in blazes…?” Patrick swore again, kicking the thorny blossoms out of his way.

Isobel followed, and when the path was made clear, she bent to Tamas and tried to help him stand.

“Nae!” he bellowed. “They’re in my feet! Get them out, Bel! Get them out!”

Horrified, she scanned Tamas’s small nightdress. From front to back, he was covered in thistles. Some were still intact, while others had fallen apart, their tiny needles sticking out of the thin wool that covered him.

“They are in my bed,” Tamas cried. “And on the floor. When I put on my boots so as not to step on them, they were in there, too! And then…” He sniffed. “… And then I tripped over that and fell into the rest!” He pointed to a limp length of twine hanging from one end of his doorframe.

Isobel regarded the disassembled trap with fury coloring her cheeks. She looked directly at Tristan and found him standing by his door, a slight smile curling one end of his mouth. “How could ye?”

To her surprise and dismay, John stepped forward. “He—”

“He had it comin’,” Tristan cut him off. “He’ll be fine, though his feet might be sore fer a few days.”

“MacGregor,” Patrick growled at him, “the sitting room. Now.” He continued to bark out orders as he followed Tristan to the stairs. “Cam, carry Tamas to Isobel’s room—and Lachlan, get that grin off yer face and get to work feeding the horses. John, ye come with us.”

John cast Isobel a worried look but did as he was told and marched, along with Tristan, down the stairs.

“Patrick will make him pay,” Tamas whined while his brother carefully lifted him off the floor.

Behind them, Isobel clenched her hands and glared down the stairs. Was this Tristan’s idea of making peace? Oh, she was a fool! He was nothing but a vengeful savage, just like his father.

“Cam,” she said after he helped lay Tamas in her bed. “Go to the sitting room and tell me everything that is said. Make certain Patrick does not strike Mister MacGregor again. More bruises will only keep him here longer.”

When he left, Isobel set about tending to her brother’s hands and feet first. She removed as many spikelets as she could, but some were too small to take out with her fingers.

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