Randolph chuckled. “Well now,” he said, turning to look at her with a wide, surprised expression. “Maybe I should have waited for ye to kill him and then taken ye as my bride.” He shrugged. “But who knew ye to be so vicious.”

Ella stared at Gideon, blinking back the sting in her eyes. “No,” she yelled. “I would not do that.”

“The evidence shows your words to be a lie,” Gideon said, scorn in his voice.

“Perhaps ye should be thanking me for taking Cain’s bride away today,” Randolph called down. “He is in my debt for saving his life.” He laughed and nodded to Iain who pushed Pastor John to the wall next to them.

“The Lord is my shepherd…” the pastor murmured.

Randolph frowned. “Wrong prayer. But we hardly need ye.” He turned back to look out on the throng. “Ye all stand as witness along with Pastor John and God.” He grabbed up Ella’s hand, holding it to his chest over his heart. She was surprised she could feel it beating knowing how decayed it was.

“I, Randolph Mackay Sutherland, chief of Clan Mackay, take ye, Arabella Sutherland, from this moment forward, as my wife in the eyes of God and the Protestant Church, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance. This is my solemn vow.”

He looked at Ella. “Ye say the same,” he whispered. “Now.” He looked at Iain, and the man strode over to Jamie. Jamie pulled back but didn’t cry out. Terror sat in his eyes as Iain pulled out his short sword, holding it to Jamie’s thin neck. Even a slice would kill him.

Ella’s breath came fast along with her words. “I, Arabella Sutherland—”

“Face front and speak loudly,” Randolph instructed without moving his lips.

She tore her gaze from Jamie. Nothing mattered now, nothing but saving her brother. Cain thought she wanted him dead. He’d abandoned her to ride against her clan. “I, Arabella Sutherland, take ye, Randolph Mackay—”

“Mackay Sutherland, chief of Clan Mackay,” Randolph said.

Ella swallowed past the lump and cleared her throat. “Randolph Mackay Sutherland, chief of Clan Mackay, from this moment forward, as my…husband in the eyes of God and the Protestant Church. Till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance.”

Randolph reached over and pinched the back of her hand that lay below the wall. “This is my solemn vow,” he said, his words like a hiss. “Say it or he dies now.”

Jaw tight, she forced her lips to open. Behind her, the door swung open, slamming into the wall, and she tried to turn to look. Randolph yanked her forward, wrenching her arm. “Say it now!”

God forgive me. “This is my solemn vow,” she said.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cain’s arm held the heavy door aside.