“Stop…” she continued, digging her boots into the soft earth, making him drag her. “You said I have a choice.”

“I said there are two choices, not that they are your two choices.” He trudged through the forest, kindly walking around the thick brambles instead of dragging her through them. She didn’t seem to appreciate his kindness, as she tried to hold onto any tree she could reach to slow their progress.

“Mo chreach,” she yelled. “’Tis my capture, ’tis my life. It should be my choice if there are two.”

“First of all, prisoners get no choices,” he said, glancing back at her. The purple flower still tossed about, tangled in the hair that had come free from her long braid. “And secondly, I have decided there is only one choice.” He paused, holding back a low limb so it wouldn’t smack her in the face, not that she noticed. “Ye will wed me, and the union will join both our clans under my rule.”

She shook her head as she stared directly into his eyes. He watched annoyance pinch her lips, lips that were soft and so incredibly expressive. “I do not care if I am a prisoner or not,” she said. “You said there were two choices.” Her free hand swung up to show two fingers in a V. “When did the first choice disappear?”

Cain leaned in close so that they stared straight into each other’s eyes. He let the coldness settle back into his gaze. “The moment ye fooled me with a kiss.”

…

The horse that had refused to move for her before surged under Ella as Cain clasped her before him, his muscular arm like a steel band around her middle. He’d tricked her out of the tree by placing the horse underneath. She clenched her teeth. They had both tricked each other, but ultimately the man had won. This time. But the next contest would end differently.

Bent over the neck of the white horse, Ella could see the sprawling fortress of Girnigoe Castle where its granite walls clutched the land, keeping it from falling into the North Sea. Massive stables sat on both sides of the road before it, most likely to house the hundreds of horses they kept. Her fingers curled into the fine mane of Cain’s horse. Lord help her, she was trapped between the soaring castle before her and the powerful Sinclair monster behind her.

Nothing can hold you if you’re smart enough. She repeated Kenneth’s words in her mind like she had all her life, especially after her mother died and Ella was left to live in Alec Sutherland’s cruel grasp. Ella had learned the ways of escaping from nearly every trap and lock as she grew up, but she’d never been in the clutches of the sons of Sinclair before. They are only human. She repeated the words like a prayer, squeezing her eyes shut for a second.