by Terry Spear
"Or any desire," Edana said, sounding a little disappointed.
"Nay, 'tis no' true." But what was true—he feared she'd truly bewitched him. And she had. Only now he believed it was not due to her fae abilities, but what he saw in her—the kindness and sweetness that was Edana. Not all wild Highlander as he had thought.
When they stopped for the night, Keary and his men camped also in the distance. Angus halfway expected Keary to attempt to seek an audience with her father before Angus had a chance to return her home. But it appeared that wasn't his ploy.
Angus watched as she laid her blankets on the ground next to Una's, when he desired to be the one warming Edana tonight instead. He took first watch, observing Keary's camp, the men either sitting or huddled near the fire, sleeping, while his own companions rested. Footsteps approached from behind and he turned.
Edana. He smiled at her as he rose from the log he'd been sitting on. "Can you no' sleep, lass?"
She joined him and shook her head. "I worry about what Keary will try to pull."
"I am certain he intends to ride in with us and ask for your hand in marriage. Does he know about your ability?"
"Nay, no' that I believe."
That would be the point Angus would make with Edana's father if he even considered marrying her off to Keary. "Would you like to sit with me a spell?"
"Aye. I will be right back."
He worried she had some business she needed to take care of and he would have to have one of the men guard while he watched over her, but she stalked back to Una.
Gunnolf raised his head off his blanket to see the matter, then looked back at Angus when the lass carried her blankets to where he stood. Gunnolf shook his head as if to say Angus had lost his heart to the lass.
Angus smiled at him.
Before she could spread out her blankets next to him, he was doing the honors. "So you are going to guard with me tonight?" he asked, smiling.
"Nay. But if I am close to you, I know you will be better able to protect me."
"Aye, but you told me you had fought off two men as big as me, so I may need your help as well."
She patted her leg. "I have my dirk now that you have that man's sword. I will protect you if need be."
His eyes shifted from her leg and met her gaze. "Did you still want that kiss?" He did. Ever since he'd laid eyes on her at the shieling, her damp chemise clinging to her breasts and hips and legs, when he'd awakened to find her resting heavily against his staff, when he thought he was about to be married to her in the kirk, when he rode with her, and when he slept with her the last two nights. Aye, the thought of kissing her was ever present in his thoughts.
"We are married," she said, sounding hopeful that he would kiss her, mayhap agree that they were truly married and the notion was no longer a ruse.
He leaned down then, cupping her chilled cheeks in his hands and brushed his lips over hers. She took in a deep breath as if he'd startled her. He meant to pull back, knowing he'd have to go slow with an innocent maid who had never had one offer of marriage—he didn't believe—when she clasped her arms around his back, lifted her face to his, and licked his mouth.
He was stunned. But her reaction to his chaste kiss was all that it took to press his mouth more firmly on hers. She melted against him, all soft feminine curves, and he was reminded just how well the lass fit with his body. And how much he would like to take this further.
She pressed her lips against his, her body tight to him, stirring his loins.
He was lost to her now if he hadn't been already.
She kissed him harder, her arms tightening around his waist, wanting more. Mayhap she wasn't as innocent as he thought. That had him wanting to kill the man who had kissed her before. Then she parted her lips. She could not want him to kiss her in the way he'd like to. They would have to work up to it. Be in a bedchamber at the very least. The lass could not know about such tawdry kisses.
He looked at her. Her eyes were closed as she licked at his mouth again. And then to his shock, she touched her tongue to the seam of his mouth and tried to gain entrance!
His body burned with desire and his staff pressed against her belly. He wanted her. But damn, he was supposed to be guarding the camp! He'd only meant to give her the briefest of kisses.
He parted his lips to see just what the lass had in mind to do. She slipped her tongue into his mouth, tentatively—which gladdened him because it again caused him to believe she was truly unsullied—and she caressed his tongue. That had him groaning. She was unraveling him one woolen thread at a time.
He could not hold back any longer and stroked her tongue with mayhap too much gusto because the lass's eyes opened and widened. He smiled a little, relieved to see she was still very much an innocent in the way of kissing, and then continued to teach her just how powerful that form of tongue play could be.
This time she moaned a little and clung more to him. He thought if he had not held her up, she would have melted into the soft green grasses at their feet.
He heard movement behind him and turned to see Gunnolf with his blanket wrapped around his shoulders. "'Tis my turn to guard."
It wasn't. But when Gunnolf glanced down at Edana, who was now looking at her feet, Angus knew Gunnolf meant to allow them more time together alone.
Bowing his head a little to Gunnolf in gratitude, Angus scooped up his and Edana's blankets and moved her back toward the campfire. He was well married to the lass, no matter what anyone else said, unless the lass did not wish it.
Even though, he would have liked to have kissed her longer, they needed to sleep, and he worried with them sleeping together, he would take this further than prudent.
This time when they reclined on the ground together, she rested her head against his chest and for a while they were quiet. But then she said, "I…like the way you kiss."
He wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to ask where she got the notion a lass kissed a man with her tongue. He stroked her soft cheek with his fingers. "We are married, are we no'?"
She stared up at him and didn't say. Then she took a deep breath and cuddled against him again. "If you wish it."
"Do you wish to be married to me, Edana?"
"You dinna mind that I am different?"
"Och, lass. I love that you are different."
She offered a sweet and grateful smile.
"Your da willna object, will he?"
She shook her head and looked away from Angus.
That made him suspicious. "Did you have a quarrel with him?"
She didn't say.
"Edana?"
"He isna happy with me. He would like naught better for me than if I left and didna return."
That had Angus frowning. Tibold, chief of the Clan Chattan, loved his only daughter. Angus couldn't imagine why they were at odds or why she would think he wanted her gone, when in truth, he wanted her returned at all haste.
Unless it was as his companions had said. Her da had hoped Angus would find her and then marry her and indeed would take her off his hands.
"Is your da upset with you concerning what you heard? From your brothers?" Angus asked. She had said her father had not listened to her. So what had happened?
She shook her head.
"What then?"
"I canna speak of it."
Angus thought about that for some time, but couldn't come up with anything.
"We are married," he said, matter-of-factly. "A husband and wife must share everything with each other. Because…they are married. So tell me, what was the quarrel between you and your father?"
She looked up at him, her eyes swimming with tears. And her sadness undid him. He stroked her hair soothingly. "Och, lass, dinna fret. We will work whatever it is out."
"Nay. He…he…" She turned her face away again.
He let out his breath and caressed her arm, loving the feel of her body warming his, but wanting to clear up this matter between his…wife—he smiled at the notion—and her father. He didn't want them t
o be estranged.
"I can guess all night long what it might be about. I can imagine all kinds of things you might not wish me to conclude. Can you no' tell me, your husband?"
"You will think me silly."
"Your da didna, I take it."
"Nay, he was angry with me. Wished me to leave."
"He wanted you back. He sent a messenger all the way to Craigly Castle to have you returned at once. He worried about you, lass. He loves you."
"He doesna," she said softly, and brushed at her cheek.
He touched her face and felt tears there. "Ah, lass, dinna cry."
"He…he…I…" She shook her head.
"Does your maid know?" He thought mayhap her maid could speak of the trouble when Edana could not.
"Nay. I mean, aye, but you canna ask her."
He waited a heartbeat, about to tell her that he longed to hear what had distressed her so, but then she blurted out, "He was in bed with a scullery maid!"
So taken aback, Angus didn't know what to say. Had she seen her father and the maid kissing—and that's how Edana had learned the intimate role the tongue could play between a man and woman?
"I…am sorry, Edana." He didn't know what else he could tell her to lessen her upset. She had to have been shocked to the marrow of her bones.
"She doesna even like my da!"
Then the realization dawned. Her father must have seen Edana witness the debacle, was horrified, and lashed out at her.
"So he knew you had witnessed them together."
"Nay. The maid did, and she must have told him."
He knew he shouldn't ask. But he still wanted to learn how she knew to use her tongue to elicit such a response in Angus. "Were they kissing?"
"Nay, they were no'."
Then where the devil had Edana learned about kissing?
She continued to explain that she had always visited her da's chamber if some matter was most urgent, any day or night. Even after her mother was gone. She had never expected to find him…
Her words abruptly stopped.
He rubbed her arm soothingly. "This is why you believe he doesna want you home any longer?"
She nodded.
"'Tis no' why you have agreed to marry me? Because you believe your da doesna wish to see you any longer?" He hoped it was not, because he could think of nothing else but being with the lass as husband and wife.
"Nay," she said softly against his chest.
"Are you certain?"
"Aye." She released her breath. "I dinna wish to see him."
"Do you wish for me to speak with him on your behalf?"
She finally shook her head. Then she nodded.
"Sometimes unfortunate situations occur…," Angus said.
"Nay, despicable."
He paused. "Aye. But I fathom he was just as shocked to learn you had witnessed him with the woman."
"Naked," she said, nodding.
Another pause. Just how much had the lass witnessed? He began rubbing her arm again. "So when I speak with him—"
"No' about that," she quickly said.
"About what you heard from your brothers and that we could use some men to help locate them and have them released?"
"Aye."
Good. He didn't wish to speak to her father about what Edana had witnessed. But then he wanted to make it clear that he understood how she was feeling. To a point. The feelings would be different for a man beholding such a thing. Yet, he still had been angered with his own father because he knew how much he hurt his mother by tupping other women.
He kissed the top of Edana's head. "My own father had a number of…indiscretions. He was deep in his cups more often than no'. I chanced upon him once with a maid in the stable. Being the youngest of my brothers, I was mayhap more appalled than they might have been."
"Oh, Angus. I am sorry. But your mother still lives, so it was worse for you."
"Nay, lass. The hurt is still there. You lost your mother no' so long ago. 'Tis understandable to see how you would feel. No' that I mean to excuse him in any manner, but sometimes a man like that who has been with a woman for a very long time, may need a woman's…comfort."
"You…think they were only sleeping together? Naked?"
No, he knew that wasn't what they had been doing. Not the whole time. That meant she had not witnessed her father tupping the wench. That was good. Now how to get himself out of this. He knew she'd be upset with her father all over again, but if she believed he only needed to be comforted after his wife had died…
Edana shook her head against his chest. "Nay. They would not have been naked."
He smiled at her insight and loved her. "Would you wish to reside with me at Craigly Castle?"
"Aye."
"Your father may wish you to remain at his keep."
"He doesna. If I see that woman as much as smirk at me, I will yank out her hair."
Angus again smiled, recalling the fiery lass who had fought the lass and lads taunting her. He'd much rather see her ready to fight, than sad. Though if her father had fallen for the wench, Edana could only make things worse.
While they stayed with her father, Angus would have to keep Edana in hand.
Chapter 10
The next morning with the sun's appearance warming the windy day, Edana noticed at once that Keary's men had left before her own party could continue on their way to her home. Her heart stuttered. "Keary is gone," she said to Angus. "We must hurry and catch up to him before…before he convinces my da that I want to be with him and conveniently leaves out the fact that you and I are already married."
"Aye, lass, but he will have a time explaining why he is asking for your hand and you are nowhere in sight."
They quickly ate a piece of brown bread to break their fast and Angus helped her to mount his horse—borrowed horse.
It was nightfall when they reached Rondover Castle, the torches casting light on the gray stone walls, the portcullis shut. Which meant Keary had not told her father that she was on her way here with Angus.
When they reached the portcullis, a man on the wall walk shouted, "Is that you, Edana?"
"Aye, Pwyll," she said.
"'Tis Angus MacNeill, my cousin, friend, Gunnolf, and Edana's escort," Angus shouted, "bringing the lass home."
"Good," the guard said, hurrying to get two more men to open the portcullis to admit them. He gave Seumas and Kipper a disparaging look. "The chief wishes to speak with the two of you. But his daughter first. And, Una, your father wishes to speak with you as soon as you returned home as well."
"What of Keary?" Edana asked, as Angus helped her to dismount, then she held onto his hand as Una stood on the other side of her, not making a move to see her own father. Allison was nearby, ringing her hands.
A couple of lads ran out to take the horses' reins and lead them to the stable.
"The Laird of Lockton is supping with your father," Pwyll said, motioning to the other guards to close the iron grate. "He has offered for your hand in marriage and your da has accepted."
"Nay!" Edana shouted, yanking her hand free of Angus's and ran with all haste for the keep.
Una raced after her, but Angus caught up with Edana and took hold of her arm. "'Tis all right, lass. We are married. We had witnesses. He canna have you."
Allison joined them. "I would prefer no' to see my half-brother," she said in a small voice.
"Una, can you take Allison up to my chamber? I will be there forthwith," Edana said, half expecting that if her da was angry with Edana before, he'd be twice as mad when she said she had married another man when he had arranged for her to wed Keary in her absence.
"Aye," Una said, and hastened to take Allison up the stairs.
To Seumas and Kipper, Edana said, "You dinna have to go with us. Mayhap it would be better if you didna see my da just yet."
Casting each other a look and appearing relieved, they nodded to her and headed for the barracks.
With her back stiff, she stalked toward the gr
eat hall, her heart pounding, her face hot with anger as Angus stayed close by her side—which she appreciated more than she could say. When she entered the large hall, everyone was talking and eating until a few at one of the low tables saw her and Angus. Then the voices died down, first at one table, then at another as heads turned to look in their direction.
Her father rose from his table, a leg of squab in one hand, his knife in the other. "Edana," he said, his voice a whisper.
She swore he had a few gray hairs mixed with his dark brown locks since the last time she'd seen him, his blue eyes widening to see her. She couldn't read his expression. Shocked to see her, aye. He didn't appear to be angry, and for that she was glad.
Keary quickly jumped to his feet, all smiles. "My bride to be."
Was that why her da wasn't upset with her? He'd already offered her hand in marriage to Keary? And he thought she'd accept?
She narrowed her eyes at her father. "I am married to Angus. We both pledged ourselves to each other," Edana said, stalking toward the high table. "As soon as I have packed my things, we will leave for Craigly Castle and you will never have to see me—"
"A word with the two of you—Angus, Edana," her father said, cutting her off. "In private." His face and eyes darkened, but Angus's hold on her hand gave her strength.
"I wish to join you," Keary said.
"Nay," Edana said, knowing full well her father would not like her deciding who he would speak with, but she didn't want Keary in on the discussion.
Keary directed his comment to her father, but he still kept his eyes on her. "The lass will be my wife. I will speak in this matter."
Angus shook his head. "We have well consummated the marriage. The lass is my wife. Keary, we told you this already, before you imprisoned my cousin and me in your dungeon."
Her father looked from Angus to Keary.
"'Twas a slight misunderstanding. You were freed."
"No' by your orders. If we hadna found a way to escape, we would still be there. And Edana would have been forced to take you as her husband."
"In…private," her father said.
"I am a laird. You have naught to give the lass," Kearly said. "You are the youngest brother to James and have no land, no title, naught at all."
