Highland Dragon by Kimberly Killion

was today. He’d been respected by his clan before he married that whore, and she betrayed him with the MacLeod. Dalkirth had belonged to the Kinnon ancestors for decades and he would see his soil in English hands before a MacLeod dare own a blade of his grass.
    He finished the flagon of ale then wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. The ruckus outside his solar door reminded him of his present task. The girl’s father had arrived. He crossed the chamber and pulled her up by her hair. She yelped then he forced her hand beneath his plaid and pressed her icy palm against his semi-hard erection. She blanched, and he thought she might swoon. Not giving her the opportunity, he gripped her around the waist and threw her atop a feather tick buried beneath shrouds of drapes.
    A high-pitched scream rang out of her mouth at the same time the chamber door burst open and slammed against the stone wall.
    “Let her alone, m’laird!” Niall Kinnon yelled as Kinnon’s warriors threw him into the room. He scurried to his feet and rushed across the floor to get to his daughter. “She’s all I have left in the world.”
    Laird Kinnon motioned for his guest to sit.
    “I mean ye no dishonor, m’laird, but I’d rather stand,” Niall said, while pushing his daughter behind him.
    With a single nod, Kinnon dismissed his men standing beneath the doorframe, then returned his attentions to Niall. “Do ye decline your laird’s hospitality? Like ye refused my order for an audience? Your daughter would be safe in her bed had ye come when I summoned ye.”
    He marched over the planks of his solar and rammed his fist into Niall’s gut, sending him to his hands and knees. “A Kinnon warrior does not fall after one blow. Get up! Ye are a disgrace to my clan. I should strip ye o’ my name and your bitch daughter, too.”
    He kicked him in the ribs. “Get up, ye worthless cur.”
    Gasping for air, Niall stood clutching his side. He stared remorsefully at his daughter and took a place at the trestle table. He didn’t turn away the silver flask of whisky Kinnon offered him. Instead, he took a hearty sip followed by another.
    Laird Kinnon joined him in the drink, giving him ample time to comprehend the seriousness of his situation. “Ye pledged fealty to me a decade ago. I took your family in when ye had nowhere to go. I’ve been verra good to ye and trained ye beneath my own sword. After all I’ve done, why have ye betrayed me?”
    Niall’s eyes widened. His skin turned ashen. Knuckles whitened around the flask. He took another gulp. Kinnon recognized fear easily.
    “Answer me!”
    “I have not betrayed ye, m’laird.”
    Kinnon was sick to death of the lies. He crushed Niall’s head to the table. Blood spilled from his nose and mouth. “Ye lie! I have protected these lands for my kin, and my warriors repay me with lies.” He pulled his sgian dubh from his stocking and held the blade firm behind Niall’s ear.
    His daughter cried out.
    “If ye e’er wish to hear her screams again, ye will tell me who leads the rebellion against me,” Kinnon threatened.
    Niall’s head shook and sweat gathered at his temple. “I dinnae know. I swear it. I dinnae know.”
    More damned lies. Kinnon launched off him and grabbed the girl by the back of the neck. Holding her tight in front of him, he pressed the blade against her breast. A dab of crimson bled into her sark. “I’ll cut out her heart and feed it to ye raw if ye dinnae answer me.”
    “Please, have mercy, m’laird.”
    “Give me the traitor’s name, and I’ll release her.”
    Niall pinched his eyes tight. His loyalty to the enemy sparked a fury in Laird Kinnon that summoned the beast inside him. “I’ll give ye the time it takes me to rape your daughter to reveal the traitor’s name then I’ll kill her in front of ye.” With a rip, the girl’s bodice hung from her waist.
    Niall’s eyes flooded with unshed tears. His head fell and his lips moved in prayer. “Kendrick.