A Forbidden Night with a Scot (Sins in a Kilt #1)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

T he stench of the tavern permeated everything in its path—the air around Samuel, the table where he sat, even the patrons themselves, it seemed. All of them were the kind of people Samuel had avoided all his life; drunkards, brigands, all sorts of criminals who would quickly team up to attack Samuel if they knew who he was. But Samuel had no other choice. This was the only place where he could meet his scout, who had come to the MacCallum lands after a successful mission nearby.

The MacCallum lands were safe, Samuel knew. Laird Gavin MacCallum was a good friend, a man on whom Samuel could rely. Still, it was always safer to meet in such places. One could never know when one was being watched by an enemy.

Samuel twisted the cup in one hand, looking at the oily ale that swirled inside, and fiddled with his necklace with the other. He had not taken a single sip from it the entire time he sat there, too disgusted by the filth that surrounded him in that place. He didn’t dare bring the cup to his lips. He only looked around, waiting for his scout to appear so he could get out of that place.

And then his gaze fell on a man who had cornered two women. From where he sat, Samuel could neither hear what they were saying nor see their faces, but he could tell the man’s presence was unwanted and he was not going to let the two women suffer in his hands.

Pushing off his chair, Samuel walked over to them, fingers already clenched into a fist. When he got close, though, he saw that the two women were, in fact, more than familiar to him—none other than Alicia and Katherine, Gavin’s daughters. At first, he could not believe his own eyes. What were the two of them doing in such a place in the middle of the night?

As he approached them, Alicia slapped the man in the face and before Samuel could reach them, he had grabbed her arm. Fury bubbled up inside him, and before he knew what he was doing, he was dragging the man out of the tavern and throwing him into the street, his lips curling back to reveal his teeth in a snarl.

“Ye should have run when ye had the chance,” Samuel said, throwing himself at the man before he had the chance to run or attack him first. One hand curled around his shirt once more, holding him in place as the other delivered blow after blow to his face, not a single grunt of exertion escaping him as he delivered his punishment.

The man’s nose broke with a sickening crunch under his knuckles. The blood that spouted from it coated Samuel’s hand in an instant, drops of it flying to his face as he continued his assault until the man hung limply in his grip, every breath he took through his parted lips labored and pained. A few more punches and Samuel risked truly killing him, he thought, so he tried his best to rein back his anger and let go of him, letting his body collapse to the ground.

When he turned around, Alicia and Katherine were right behind him, watching.

“I’m sorry ye had tae witness that,” he said sincerely. He should have made sure to drag the man away from them, to take his vengeance away from prying eyes. Now, Katherine shook from head to toe, her hand covering her mouth as if she could hardly contain her nausea.

Alicia, on the other hand, seemed entirely unaffected by the violence she had just witnessed. She stood there, motionless, gazing down at the man with disdain written plainly on her face, her dark eyes betraying no sign of fear.

“Why are ye here?” Samuel asked when neither of the sisters spoke. He pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped at the blood on his face, though he doubted he could effectively clean his hands of all of it. “It’s the middle o’ the night an’ this place is dangerous. Surely, ye ken that.”

Alicia and Katherine exchanged a glance, but once again, they remained silent. Naturally, they were hiding something, but Samuel couldn’t begin to guess at what that could be.

At least until he noticed that Alicia had her hands behind her back, as if she was holding something there. With a roll of his eyes, he snapped forward, grabbing the item from her before she could pull back from him.

“Och!” Alicia shouted and rushed at him, trying to take the item back, but all Samuel had to do was raise his hand, holding the package above his head. “Give it back! Now!”

“I dinnae think so,” said Samuel, chuckling softly at Alicia’s attempts to grab the item. She jumped once, twice, three times, desperately trying to reach it, but Samuel didn’t give her the chance. Once she realized she would never manage to take it back, she gave up with a frustrated groan, throwing her hands up in the air. Samuel took a few steps to the side and tore the wrapper open, his eyebrows jumping up when he saw the contents of the package.

The Canterbury Tales?

He had to suppress a laugh. He didn’t know what he had expected to find in the package, but this book was certainly not something he would have ever guessed he would find.

All this trouble fer a book… what a strange lass Alicia is.

He was certain this was all Alicia’s plot from the start. Katherine had always been the meek one, too concerned for Alicia’s well-being to let her get in trouble alone but too cautious to start the trouble herself.

When he looked back at the two girls, waving the book in his hand, both of them turned beet-red, their cheeks visibly flushed even in the moonlight. Katherine swayed where she stood and her hand shot out to grab Alicia as she tried to steady herself, much to Samuel’s amusement.

He wasn’t going to be too cruel with them, though. Just enough to teach them that they shouldn’t be alone in such a place.

“Will ye tell Faither?” Alicia asked, her voice barely more than a mumble.

Samuel had no intention of telling Gavin any of this, but it was entertaining to imagine the conversation between the two of them. His friend would surely lose his mind and his temper if he found out the truth, and Samuel could imagine him pacing up and down his study, mumbling to himself just as Alicia had done now, but in fury rather than embarrassment.

“I willnae tell him if ye promise that ye will never dae such a thing again,” Samuel said. “Ye cannae leave the castle in the middle o’ the night tae visit such taverns. What if I hadnae been here? Did ye ever stop tae think about what could have happened tae ye?”

Once again, neither girl spoke and Alicia didn’t even try to fight the terms of his deal, which was odd for her. Usually, she was quick to argue, hating anything that restricted her freedom, but now she remained quiet, her gaze lowering to the ground between her feet.

She must ken the danger she could have found this time. She doesnae seem scared, but she is.

An’ she certainly doesnae want her faither tae ken any o’ this.

“Fine,” Alicia said with a sigh, dragging her gaze back to Samuel. “Thank ye fer yer assistance, Laird MacLachlan. I will have the book now, please.”

As she spoke, she approached and tried to grab the book, but Samuel was quick to pull it above his head once more, holding it there. In an instant, Alicia’s face twisted into a mask of fury, a groan of frustration escaping her.

“I paid fer that book!” she said. “Ye cannae simply take it!”

“O’ course I can,” said Samuel. “An’ I ken old habits die hard, but I think ye can both call me Samuel now. Ye’re nae children anymore.”

“If we’re grown lasses, Samuel , then we can read any book we wish,” Alicia said without missing a beat. His given name dripped venom as it came from her lips. “Give it back. It belongs tae me.”

“I dinnae think ye’re in any position tae make demands when ye’ve just been caught out here in the middle o’ the night,” Samuel pointed out. “I could still tell yer faither the truth.”

He wouldn’t, of course, not only for Alicia’s and Katherine’s sake, but for Gavin’s, too. He didn’t want to send his friend to an early grave.

“Ye promised ye wouldnae say anything,” Alicia reminded him, scoffing in disbelief that Samuel would take back his word like that. “How can ye make a promise an’ then take it back?”

“I gave ye a stipulation.”

“Tae never dae such a thing again,” Alicia said. “Nae tae relinquish the book.”

By God’s bones, she’s right! I should have thought twice afore I gave her that stipulation.

In fact, Samuel knew he should always think twice before telling Alicia anything. She was too clever for him to speak without thinking, and whenever they bickered like this—which was every time he saw her—she always had the upper hand in the end. Up until the last time, he could have claimed his wisdom couldn’t be challenged, as Alicia had still been a girl. Now that she was grown, it was difficult to claim he still knew much better than she did.

“Ye are insufferable,” Alicia said.

“I could say the same about ye.”

“Is this fightin’ truly necessary?” Katherine called. She was still standing a few steps behind them, still shaking like a leaf. With a sigh, Samuel walked over to her and placed a gentle, comforting hand on her shoulder, trying to soothe her fears as best he could.

“We’re nae fightin’, Katherine,” he said, giving her a small smile. “We’re only havin’ a discussion.”

“Are we?” Alicia asked as she approached, deftly undoing Samuel’s brooch from his jacket and leaping away from him before he could grab it back. “A brooch fer a book,” she said, pinning it to her dress. “A fair deal.”

Samuel chuckled, easily letting it go. He had more use for the brooch than he did for the book. The only thing he would not allow her to take was the necklace around his neck—a family heirloom given to him by his father as a young man, who had instructed him to gift it to the woman he would eventually love.

“Ye’re a wily wee thing, Alicia,” he said.

“An’ ye’re findin’ joy in irritatin’ me, Samuel .”

“Where is the man?”

Samuel and Alicia turned to look at Katherine, the alarmed tone in her voice startling him. He looked around, noting that the man truly seemed to be gone, no sign of him anywhere.

“He must have fled,” Samuel said. Looking at the ground, he saw a trail that led towards the door of the tavern, as though someone had dragged themselves all the way there.

He had hardly managed to finish his sentence, though, when that very same door was thrown open. No fewer than four men stood there, and among them, Samuel saw the man he had attacked, swaying on his feet as two of them supported him.

Och, this cannae be good.

“Run,” Samuel told the two sisters, pulling himself apart from them so that the men would target only him. When neither Alicia nor Katherine moved, he turned to look at them, this time shouting. “I said go!”

It was only then that the two girls fled, their feet stomping against the ground as they ran. Samuel didn’t have the luxury of time to wait for them to disappear before he turned back towards the men, tossing the book to the ground and pulling out his sword.

Four against one… well, I’ve had worse odds.