by Alisa Adams
Cat smiled at her aunt. “Thank you, Hextilda. Please tell the new cook, Agnes, that it looks delicious.”
Aunt Hexy cackled very softly as she winked at Cat. A wet nose poked out of her shawl followed by a pair of bright brown eyes and perky ears. The tiny dog sniffed at the bowl of food on the tray and retreated quickly to the inside of the shawl. Immediately Hexy’s breasts looked odd for one breast was strangely much larger than the other.
Cat started to say the small dog’s name but caught herself just in time. She cleared her throat and made a motion with her head as she looked meaningfully at her aunt’s right breast.
Aunt Hexy looked down and hastily adjusted her shawl to move and secure the tiny dog evenly between her breasts. Then she turned to shuffle back across the room with one hand holding her shawl tightly under her breasts as she walked past Rhona and out the door.
Rhona watched her go and then turned back to Cat’s friends.
“As I told ye, we cannae have guests with the sickness in the house. Ye will have to find lodging in the village,” Rhona said starchly as she held her hands together and stared at them all.
“Rhona!” Cat said with shock. “Surely we can—”
“Nay, Cat,” Kaithria said softly. “We have already anticipated this. We took rooms at the inn in the village.”
Cat heard Caden growl as he took a menacing step towards the housekeeper.
“Caden,” Cat said warningly.
Caden looked back at her. His shoulders eased and he nodded sharply to Cat. He turned slowly back to look at Rhona.
“Please go. We will take our leave shortly, but first, we will say good night to Lady Catriona so that she may eat and get her rest.” He stood there, looking down at Rhona.
Neither blinked as they both stared the other down. A sound like an animal growl came up from deep in Caden’s chest.
Rhona’s eyes fluttered. Her mouth turned down. With trembling fingers, she raised her mask to her face and turned and left the room.
“I do not like her,” Caden said.
Kaithria and Gillis did not look at him. They were hovering around Cat, who was stirring the contents of her bowl.
Caden came to peer over his sister’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“I cannae tell,” Cat said as she pushed the lumps around in the beige-colored stew.
“Smell it,” Gillis suggested.
Cat raised the stew to her nose and gently sniffed. She quickly put it down.
“Whatever it is, it is Aunt Agnes's first attempt at cooking,” Kaithria said softly. “Perhaps it tastes better than it smells?” Kaithria suggested.
Cat looked up at Kaithria and wrinkled her nose. “Aunt Hexy’s little dog sniffed it and hid back inside her shawl.” She giggled and lifted the bowl. “Here, one of you may try it.”
Caden pushed aside Kaithria and Gillis and took the bowl from Cat’s hands. He brought it up to his nose and sniffed. “Nay. Do not eat that.” He put the bowl on the table and then turned to Kaithria. “Can you talk to Agnes and ask her what she knows how to cook?”
Kaithria looked at her brother. “Me? Have you seen my new aunt? She is a giant. You ask her to cook something else. She and I get along very well. I shall not risk it by insulting her culinary talents, or lack thereof.”
Caden growled softly under his breath to his sister, “Catriona needs food.”
Kaithria whispered back, “I know this, but—”
Caden turned to Gillis. “Can Hextilda cook better than Agnes?”
Gillis threw her head back and laughed gaily. “Goodness, no! Please dinnae ask her to cook.”
“Agnes’s stew smells like her pipe ash fell in it!” Caden said gruffly. “Do you think she smokes her pipe while she cooks?” he said with disgust.
“Caden, ’tis fine,” Cat said. “I will have some of my oatcakes and then go to sleep. I am really not that hungry. Just very tired.”
Caden looked down at her. The room had darkened and she looked particularly fragile in the candlelight. “There is a full pitcher of water and a cup for you right beside your bed if you are thirsty,” he told her in a low, intimate voice. “I will be nearby.”
“Nearby? What do you mean, Caden? We have rooms at the inn.”
“I want to look around some more, that is all,” Caden said.
Gillis smiled secretly at Kaithria as Kaithria shrugged her shoulders imperceptibly. She smiled down at Cat as she moved the tin of oatcakes where Cat could reach them.
Kaithria stepped up to the bed. She leaned down and kissed Cat on the cheek. “I will see ye tomorrow,” she whispered. “Sleep sweet, Cat.” Then she stepped back as Gillis came forward.
Gillis leaned down and took Cat’s hand. She smiled down at Cat for a moment, nodded, and then she too kissed her cheek. “Rest well. We will be back in the morning.”
Both Kaithria and Gillis walked silently out of the room, leaving Caden alone with Cat.
Cat looked over at Caden. His arms were across his broad chest, as the muscles strained the white linen shirt he wore. He stood with his feet braced apart, his chin and jaw rigid as he stared at her. She thought he looked angry.
“Why are ye staring at me like that?” she asked defensively.
“Do not do that to me ever again.”
Cat cocked her head sideways and stared right back at him.
Waiting.
“You terrified me.” He knew his voice shook, but he could not help it. It seemed he had no control over his emotions when he was around this slight woman. How could such a tiny female have this power over a soldier, a warrior like me? he wondered.
Cat’s mouth dropped open slightly. Caden’s face was so tense, so rigid. Her eyes trailed down from his face to his chest. The V of his shirt was loose and open. His skin glowed like bronze wherever the candlelight touched it. His hands were fisted against his chest, but she could see that his hands and even his fingers were strong and thick. And his arms, where his sleeves were rolled up, revealed bronzed, taut muscle.
She wanted to touch that inky black, gleaming silky hair that fell loose to his shoulders. She wanted to run her fingers through it, letting the midnight-black strands slide languidly through her fingers.
He came slowly towards her, like a big, prowling cat, stalking its prey. She held her breath as he knelt down beside her bed.
“Why do I always find myself on my knees with you, Catriona?” he whispered thickly.
She trembled. He saw it. He also saw the palest pink blush that stole up her cheeks.
She laid her head on her knees and stared back at him, holding her arms around her bent knees. Their eyes were on the same level as she blinked her long lashes and peered at him through their black fringe. “I dinnae mean to scare you, Caden,” she whispered. “I scare myself. I dinnae like being weak. I want to feel well and alive again,” she said fervently.
Caden rose from his knees and sat on the bed facing her. She wore a lacy, embroidered bed jacket over her chemise. It had a high, ruffled collar of more lace that framed her delicate pointed chin. She looked impossibly feminine and fragile sitting there in that large bed. And so pale.
She raised her head off her knees and looked at the big Highlander who seemed to steal all her breath away. She swallowed as her heart sped up at the look in his eyes. She knew her own reflected the same desire. But she also knew she could not show it. She could not let this beautiful man inside her heart.
“I am dying,” she whispered.
“Nay.”
“You should go.” Her heart felt like it broke in two when she said those words.
“I will not.”
“Caden, dinnae do this.”
“Do what Catriona? What am I doing?” he demanded gently in a hushed voice as he lightly touched one of her curls.
“Making me feel. Making me hope…” she said with a quivering smile.
“Catriona...I vow...I…” He growled low in his throat.
He stopped trying to talk and inst
ead cupped the back of her neck with one big hand and gently pulled her face towards him as he moved closer to her. His breath shuttered out of his body as his mouth hovered over her lips. He moved his lips lightly over hers, feeling her tremble where her body brushed against his. He sipped at her lush top lip, holding it between his own lips, then he did the same with the other one. He heard her whimper and move closer as she gave his lips the same treatment. He felt her modesty as she copied his movements with an innocence that made his heart swell. She stared into his eyes as their lips joined.
It was nearly his undoing.
Watching her watching him.
Caden growled and pulled her even closer, wrapping his free arm around her waist and bending her back over his arm, reverently cupping the back of her head with his fingers entangled in her curls. He licked and sipped with his tongue along the seal of her lips, begging for entrance to the velvety warm interior of her mouth.
She acquiesced, opening her mouth and welcoming his tongue with her own. Her breath shuttered out as their tongues met for the first time, wrapping around each other, tasting, licking, as Caden greedily plunged in again, and again. As she breathed out, he breathed in the air she gave him, filling him, surrounding himself with her taste, her smell, the silk of her skin, the velvet of her tongue, the soft plumpness of her lips.
Cat drew a breath and slowly pulled away, instantly missing his heat, the spicy, exotic scent of him, the mesmerizing heady taste of his lips, and his tongue against hers.
She opened her mouth to speak but he put a finger against her lips.
“Don’t,” he growled gently. “Don’t say anything.” He moved off the bed, his eyes never leaving hers. He stood up and looked down at her. “Where is the fierce girl who loves life? Do not give up,” he growled in a thick, harsh voice as he took a step back.
Cat nodded, staring wide-eyed at the big, dark-haired Highlander looking at her so intensely.
“Is there no guard for you?” he asked suddenly.
“Nay,” Cat said with surprise. “There were men around the grounds, but I havenae heard or seen anyone. Perhaps they ran from my sickness too.”
Caden frowned at her answer. “I want to look around those woods that make up the perimeter of your house. You have the sea and bay and burn on the front, but the other three sides are deep woods. They must be checked.” He swallowed again. “I will be back. Get some rest, fierce one.”
With those words, Caden turned around and walked quietly out of the room.
7
Caden wanted to look around the grounds and woods around Sanside House.
He was also very curious about Catriona’s windows being locked from the outside.
He walked down to the first-floor hall towards the back of the house and quietly let himself out through a side door. The night was silent with a large sliver of the moon showing just enough light for him to see by. He could hear the sound of the waves lapping the shore of the bay and the gentle rushing of the burn that he had ducked Catriona in. He walked quietly around the house until he was under the locked windows of Catriona’s bedchamber. He looked up at them, trying to find a way to climb up to unlatch the windows. He could not see any way to get to them. Had they been locked since the old house had been renovated for Catriona to live in?
He silently padded across the grass to the paddock that the horses were turned out in. He could see them grazing quietly in the peaceful night.
The mule Aunt Agnes had given him to ride was easy to spot. She was huge, with large ears that stuck straight up off her head so that she stood out from the old warhorses.
“Iris!” Caden called under his breath. But the mule did not move from her grazing. She kept her head down, contentedly eating the grass, though her ears pricked in his direction. Caden called again, and again she ignored him.
Caden sighed. He knew she had heard him. He went through the wooden gate into the paddock, grabbing one of the large halters that hung there. He approached the mule carefully, not wanting her to trot away from him for then he would have to follow her to the far ends of the field in the night. When he reached her side she raised her head and looked at him. He held his hand, palm open, outstretched to her. There was a small piece of Catriona’s oatcake in his palm. The mule nickered quietly and then made a soft wheezing hee-haw sound under her breath. Caden stopped at the sound. It was very odd; part horse, part donkey. The mule sniffed the treat he was offering. Then she ducked her head under his hand and bumped it roughly, sending the treat falling into the deep grass. Caden looked at her quizzically.
“You don’t like treats then?” he said softly. “Very well. I shall remember that.”
Caden put the halter on her there in the pasture, attaching the lead rope to either side of the halter on her face. When he went to grab some of her mane to vault up on her she made the odd braying sound again, very softly but more drawn out while tossing her head in anger. Caden paused, but then went to grab her mane again to try to vault up on her once more there in the open field, but this time the mule scooted her haunches away from him, scuttling sideways.
But it was what she did next that had Caden baffled. To his great surprise, the mule sat down on the grass.
Like a dog! Caden thought. He furrowed his brows. Mules, he thought with disdain.
“Iris! I need your help,” he hissed at her as quietly as he could.
He did not want to deal with a stubborn mule. He looked over at Catriona’s warhorse that had stopped grazing and was watching them with interest. The horse melded into the night sky, showing only his outline as the moonlight glimmered off his black coat. Caden could make out his huge feathered hooves when he stomped them at him, as well as his incredibly long mane as he shook his head in warning. He was letting out warning huffs of air as he watched Caden with his neck held high.
“Iris, get up!” Caden said firmly. “Or I will ride that old warrior over there! I mean it, you big, ugly mule!”
The mule stared at him and made a sharp annoyed neigh mixed with the wheezing hee-haw. But she got up. This time Caden jumped on her back before she was fully standing. She threw her head up in surprise as her ears rotated back towards him. She wheezed an alarmed hawing noise. Caden wasted no time, he dug his heels sharply into her sides.
Iris did not budge.
“Sards, Iris! Move your giant mule butt, now!” he growled.
The mammoth mule just grunted. It was clearly an angry, annoyed sound. Caden sighed again and sat there, thinking. He tried again, this time gently nudging her with his heels.
Caden leaned forward towards her ears. “Walk on you statuesquely splendid, stunning girl,” he crooned in a deep whisper into her long, straight ears.
Iris made a soft grunt and walked on passively, letting him direct her with the reins. He steered her through the gate of the field where he stopped her and turned her just enough that he could reach back and downwards to close the gate behind them.
“Good girl, Iris. Now let's go check the perimeter of this house, shall we?” She made a higher-pitched agreeable grunt and quietly trotted willingly away from the grassy field and the three watchful old warhorses.
Caden rode the mule towards the wooded area that surrounded Sanside House on three sides. It faced the bay and the burn, but the woods were a good place to watch the house.
He took the mule deep into the woods, trotting quietly along as he watched the house and grounds from the cover of the trees. The house was mostly dark, with only a few lower-level rooms lit up. He saw a woman and a man talking in a room on the first floor. He thought the woman must be Rhona, for she had a mask hanging at her chin. The man appeared to be angry as he was gesticulating wildly at her. Rhona threw her mask at him and stormed out of the room with the man following.
Caden gently nudged Iris on. He wanted to see if he would be able to follow where they went in the house, but the rest of the rooms that faced outward were dark. Where did the man come from? He wondered how he had not seen him in the
house when he had been looking around for Catriona’s room. His eyes scanned the windows and doors until he saw the man leave the house out of a back door and walk rapidly towards the woods farther ahead of where Caden and the mule were watching. He was fairly short, with an unusual amount of facial hair—a beard and probably a mustache as well. The moonlight briefly shone off his red hair.
Caden backed Iris deeper into the woods behind some bushes, watching the man intently until he was out of sight. The man had walked deeper into the woods and headed up a hill that Caden knew overlooked the sea.
Caden felt a sharp tug on his hands. Iris was pulling on him. Caden peered through the darkness of the woods in the direction she was looking. She was trying to take him towards a path that led through the woods. It seemed to circumnavigate the house. Will this lead to the path the man took?
Caden was curious as he walked along the faint path. It was not well worn; it looked new. Someone had been here recently. Just enough times to start to make a visible path through the leaves. But why? He urged Iris along the path, looking left and right, as he watched for anything out of the ordinary. The path did seem to lead in a circle around the house. He heard a noise behind him and pulled the mule off the side of the path into the brush.
The dark shapes of two large horses came down the path from the direction he had just come. They were dark, large horses with cloaked, hooded figures riding them. He could hear their voices. They were women.
He nudged Iris back out onto the path.
“Kaithria! What do you think you are doing?”
The horses stopped as Kaithria and Gillis looked at him defiantly.
“You didn’t think you were going to go looking around by yourself did you?” Gillis demanded.
“We are helping you,” Kaithria said quietly.
“That mule is unusually large,” Gillis noted. “She is larger than our horses, Kaithria!”
“That is true, Gillis. I had no idea she was as large as she is.” Kaithria studied Iris with interest.
