The Angel and the Highlander

by Donna Fletcher

  It was a grueling journey and one Alyce couldn’t wait to see end. She was tired and irritable and at times angry and not even sure at what. One day it was her father her anger settled on, then another time it was Lachlan and sometimes she was angry with herself. She berated herself for refusing to accept her marriage to Lachlan and be happy, after all she loved him. What more did she want?

  As selfish or shrewish as it might sound, she wanted her life, her way. Everagis had given her a taste of freedom and she loved it. It hadn’t only been difficult and painful to say farewell to the women, it had been heartbreaking to leave Everagis. She felt as though she had left a part of herself there, a part she’d never get back again.

  Her musings were interrupted by shouts and she halted her mare. It was raining hard, the ground turning muddier and her cloak soaked through. She saw the men dismount and begin to lead their horses, which meant a mud hole ahead. She didn’t wait for help, though she knew Lachlan expected her to. It would only hold them up some more and she wanted this journey to end as fast as possible.

  She dismounted and her feet sunk into the thick mud. She shook her head and took the reins to lead her horse.

  “Slow and steady, girl,” she said and with some difficulty they moved along.

  They were doing fine when suddenly she heard a shout from behind her. She turned to see that one of the men had lost control of his horse, the animal’s one hoof having become stuck in the mud. She was frantically trying to free herself, but she only managed to bury herself more. The man’s angry shouts didn’t help and were beginning to upset the other horses around him.

  Alyce couldn’t stand watching the man’s stupidity and after consoling her horse and tethering her to a branch; she went to take control of the dangerous situation.

  “Stop shouting,” she ordered the man.

  “Get away from here,” he yelled and waved her away, which frightened the already frightened horse more. “Go! I know how to handle this idiot animal.”

  Alyce booted the man in the leg, grabbing the reins from his hands as he went tumbling into the mud. “You’re the only idiot animal around here.”

  He wiped the mud from his face, his eyes flashing wide and he made ready to get up.

  Alyce made a tight fist and shook it in his face. “Try it. Just try it and I’ll knock what teeth you have left out.”

  She didn’t wait to see what he would do; she turned to help the horse. First, she calmed the mare with a soft voice, so the mare would stop fighting and digging herself in deeper. Then she gently tugged on the reins and the horse slowly inch by inch began easing herself out of the mud.

  Alyce was familiar enough with animals to know that if the horse wasn’t free soon, she would panic again and sink even deeper. She needed a good shove to help her take that last step.

  She continued talking to the mare while bracing her hands on her chest. She pushed easy at first and then she urged the horse to backup putting all her weight into pushing against her.

  “You can do it,” she encouraged and urged, “Go. Go. Go.” And she shoved hard against the mare’s chest and with one sudden step the horse was out, and Alyce fell facedown in the mud.

  Chapter 25

  Lachlan couldn’t believe his eyes and wiped the rain from his face twice to make certain it wasn’t an apparition he witnessed. His pregnant wife was attempting to free a horse, and not even her horse, from the mud when she suddenly fell forward.

  He hurried as fast as he could, though the thick mud slowed down his steps. He cursed and muttered as he watched her face disappear into the muck. By the time he reached her she was struggling to get up.

  Grabbing her under the arms, he yanked her up and turned her around. He was struck silent by her laughter and the brilliance of her wide eyes that resembled bright moons in a pitch black sky.

  “Did you see that? Did you see what happened?” she said through her laughter.

  “I certainly did,” he snapped. “And it was a foolish thing to do. You could have been hurt.”

  Her laughter dwindled. “But I wasn’t, and the horse is free and I—” She poked his chest with a muddy finger. “Got to play in the mud.”

  “You fell in the mud,” he corrected.

  “It’s the way you perceive it,” she argued with laughter. “Besides I knew perfectly well what I was doing unlike your idiot warrior who caused the problem.”

  “It wasn’t your concern,” Lachlan said and almost smiled, for while she was covered in mud there was an appeal to her that Lachlan had a hard time ignoring. Perhaps it was her tenacious ability to find humor and courage in adversity.

  “Don’t even think of restricting me from helping a poor animal in distress,” she said, mud and rainwater flying off her hand as she shook a finger at him. “Your dictate will fall on deaf ears.” She hefted up her mud-soaked, rain-drenched cloak and skirt and headed to her horse.

  Lachlan followed on her heels. “My concern is for you and the babe.”

  Alyce didn’t answer until she reached her horse and had the reins in her hand. “Don’t for once think that I would do anything to harm our child. He is nestled safe inside me and I will keep him that way. I will always protect him, with my life if necessary.”

  “By falling in the mud?” he accused.

  “Mud provides a soft, protective cushion.” She shook her head. “Don’t you think I considered that before I took action? How can you claim to love me when you don’t truly know me?”

  “I could claim the same, since you knew full well your actions would upset me.”

  “Then perhaps neither of us knows each other.”

  “Then it’s about time we learned,” he said and took hold of her waist to swing her up on her mare. “Now stay there until we make camp.”

  He didn’t wait to hear her protest. He marched off, though his steps were anything but firm and confident. The mud made him appear the complete opposite and he could almost hear her snicker.

  How did he allow her her freedom, when it cost him his sanity? She was a strong, courageous and capable woman, but she was also his wife. While he didn’t wish to limit her, he also didn’t wish to live with a constant pit of worry in his stomach.

  There was no telling what she would do. She was accustomed to being answerable to no one and being in charge. How could he expect her to change her ways in only a few weeks? Angus Bunnock had repeatedly warned him, after the marriage papers had been signed and sealed, that his daughter was much like him, a leader. Angus had wished Alyce had been born a male, for he confided to Lachlan that she would make a better laird than he had. And while Angus had grown angry with his daughter for failing to accept the men he had offered in marriage, he understood why she refused every one of them. But it was his duty to see her wed, while he would have much rather seen her lead.

  Lachlan wiped the rain from his face in frustration. This return trip home was not going at all as he had planned. He had thought for sure they would have plenty of time to talk and settle some if not all the problems between them. It didn’t look as if that was going to happen.

  They would reach home in a couple of weeks and if the weather continued as it had, it would leave them no time to spend together. There were no answers to his dilemma. It would be slow and steady steps for them both and in time…

  He shook his head. She had warned that time would change nothing but then…

  He smiled. Alyce truly didn’t know how charmingly persistent he could be.

  They arrived at the Sinclare keep a tired, frustrated, rain-soaked troop all relieved and grateful to be home; all but one.

  Rain followed them right to the front door of the keep, it serving only to help Alyce find fault with her new home. She didn’t care for the desolate moors that surrounded the village and tall keep that blended in color with the gray skies. From what she could see of the village, it looked prosperous and well tended, and she was surprised by the flurry of villagers, all with generous smiles, who braved the torrent
ial rain to welcome the warriors home.

  She was dismounting when Lachlan’s hands closed around her waist and helped her off her mare.

  “Let me have the pleasure of—”

  “Playing the gentlemen?” Alyce finished.

  Lachlan pressed his cheek to hers and whispered, “No, just the opposite. I want the pleasure of touching you.”

  His seductive whisper sent a shiver racing through her, especially since his remark conjured up visions of his hands intimately roaming her body.

  “Tonight, we’ll finally have time alone,” he murmured and placed his hand in the lower curve of her back to guide her up the steps to the keep.

  She got angry at her traitorous body for responding to his suggestive words and simple yet intimate touch and she lashed out at him. “I’m hungry, dirty, and tired.”

  “I’ll feed you, wash you, and with gentle touches lull you to sleep,” he whispered.

  She attempted to protest, though why she couldn’t say, since his offer was excitingly tempting, but he was quicker.

  “You can berate me later, preferably while I’m washing you,” he teased with a smile. “Right now, prepare to meet my family.”

  He pushed open the heavy wooden door and they entered the great hall. There was a bustle of activity and it took a moment for them to be noticed. Once they did, the women rushed to them.

  “Thank God you’re home,” a tall, slim woman cried out.

  Alyce could see the resemblance to Lachlan and knew the woman had to be his mother.

  “We were worried with the weather being so bad,” a petite beauty toting a lad not yet a full year in her arms acknowledged.

  “I told them you would be fine,” a red-haired beauty with startling green eyes and a babe swathed in a blanket cradled in her arms commented.

  “You’ve had the babe, Zia,” Lachlan said, thrilled, and peeked at the sleeping child.

  “I named her Blythe, after my mother,” Zia said proudly.

  A man that Alyce reluctantly admitted to herself was handsomer than Lachlan, and definitely his brother, slipped his arm around Zia.

  “Your wife looks exhausted. Introduce us so she can sit, rest, and eat.”

  “My brother Artair, the only sensible one among us,” Lachlan said, both men reaching out to lock hands.

  “Good to have you home,” Artair said and turned to Alyce. “Welcome to the family, Alyce.”

  Lachlan began introducing each one. His mother Addie, Cavan’s wife Honora, and Tavish, the twin named after Lachlan’s father. Zia and Artair and a yapping Champion, a loveable dog who came bouncing in the room from what Addie explained was his favorite haunt, the kitchen.

  “You need food, a bath, and rest, in that order,” Addie said and took her hand.

  Addie had Alyce seated at the table before the hearth with food in front of her before she could say a thing, and she didn’t hesitate in assuaging her hunger. Besides, she would rather her mouth be full, since she wasn’t in the mood to converse with Lachlan’s family.

  They were his family, not hers, and seeing them content and happy only made her miss her family more.

  “We are so pleased to have you as part of our family, Alyce,” Addie said, refilling her tankard. “We couldn’t wait for Lachlan to bring you home.”

  “This isn’t my home,” Alyce said bluntly.

  The table turned silent.

  “I do my duty as my father wishes,” Alyce explained.

  “That is good. You will be an obedient wife to my brother,” said the strong and commanding voice.

  Alyce turned expecting to face Cavan, laird of the clan Sinclare, and ready to speak her mind. However, the impressive height and width of him coupled with the way he tenderly cradled his sleeping son in his arms stunned her silent.

  Honora rose to take the child from him and placed him in the cradle beside his sleeping brother.

  Cavan went to his brother Lachlan and greeted him with a firm hand to his shoulder. “It is good to have you and your wife safely home.” He turned to Alyce. “Welcome to our family.”

  “I really didn’t have much choice in the matter,” Alyce said tartly.

  “Not many of us do,” Cavan said and slipped his arm around his wife as he nestled beside her.

  “You didn’t wish to wed your wife?” Alyce asked, knowing full well their story and expecting the laird to take insult.

  Honora laughed. “Neither of us wished to wed the other, but we found ourselves stuck.”

  Lachlan playfully poked Alyce in the side beneath the table.

  She jabbed him back and said, “And you accepted this fate without question?”

  “I had a duty,” Cavan said, “and so did Honora, and I thank the heavens everyday that in honoring my duty, I was blessed with the perfect wife.”

  “I have the perfect wife,” Artair challenged with a grin.

  “That’s true he does,” Zia agreed happily.

  “I hate to disappoint all of you,” Lachlan said and thumped his chest. “But my wife is perfection.”

  The three brothers raised and clanked their tankards together and gave a roar.

  The weight of the journey suddenly descended over Alyce and she found it difficult to keep herself upright. She soon had no choice but to rest against Lachlan and his arm went quickly around her.

  “You’re tired,” he said with concern.

  “It’s been too long of a journey,” Addie offered.

  “Especially since she is with child,” Lachlan said with pride, though concern remained.

  Addie clapped with joy. “More grandbabies. I’m so very blessed.”

  Everyone else took turns offering congratulations while Alyce was overcome with a longing for her home and her sisters. She wanted their comfort not these strangers, and damn if tears didn’t threaten her eyes. She fought them, but she was so exhausted it took the last bit of strength she had to keep them locked away.

  Addie stood as did Honora and after Zia handed Blythe to Artair, she stood as well.

  “We’ll get you washed and settled in bed,” Addie said.

  That did it for Alyce. She didn’t want strangers tending her. She wanted the women who had faced the roughest of times with her and remained strong and ready to care for each other.

  Alyce bolted up, tears clearing paths down her muddy cheeks. “I don’t need your help, nor do I want it.” Hit with a sudden pain, her hand flew to her stomach. Her eyes turned wide, and she didn’t know what to do or who to turn to.

  Lachlan had her up in his arms in seconds.

  Zia was quick to order Lachlan to take his wife up to their bedchamber.

  Lachlan hurried out of the hall with his wife in his arms. “Zia is an excellent healer. She will take care of you.”

  Alyce kept silent until they entered his bedchamber. “Put me down,” she commanded sharply. “The pain has passed, I’m fine.”

  He eased her to her feet. “Perhaps but it is best—”

  “I need a bath and sleep.”

  “After Zia has a look at you,” he said calmly, but firmly.

  Zia entered just then followed by Addie and Honora.

  Alyce was quick to make her wants known. “I don’t need your help, a bath and bed is all I need.”

  Lachlan looked ready to object, but his mother spoke first.

  “I’ll see to having a bath made ready,” Addie said and Honora offered to help, leaving only Zia.

  “Have you had pains before this?” Zia asked, remaining by the open door.

  “A good healer and friend told me what to expect. I do not need another opinion,” Alyce said coldly.

  “Zia is—”

  “Going to leave you to enjoy your bath and rest,” Zia finished. “If you have a question or care to talk I’m here for you.”

  “That was rude,” Lachlan said as soon as Zia closed the door behind her.

  “I don’t need, nor want their help,” Alyce said, guilt stabbing at her. Zia seemed like a good woman as di
d the others, and she knew she was being prickly but she was annoyed.

  “You’re not even giving this a chance,” Lachlan accused. “I understand your anger and that you miss your home, but it’s time to create a new home for you, me, and our babe.”

  “That’s easy for you to say when you have your family around you.”

  Lachlan rubbed the back of his neck. “Give my family a chance. You may find you like them.”

  He was right. Alyce knew he was right and yet she would continue to argue with him if she didn’t hold her tongue. The need to lash out remained strong, though she knew it would do little good. She should simply accept her fate…

  She shook her head and almost screamed aloud. She had forged a different life for herself and one she favored. She loved Lachlan, but how could she be someone she wasn’t? What now was she to do with her days?

  “Go away!” she yelled at him.

  “Let me help—”

  Alyce groaned, grabbing the sides of her skirt. “Don’t you understand I don’t want your help? I beg of you. Go away and leave me in peace.”

  “You are my wife—”

  “Not tonight,” she said bluntly. “Tonight I sleep alone.”

  Chapter 26

  Lachlan paced in front of the fireplace in the great hall. A fire kept the chill and dampness out, the weather still proving temperamental, though the rain had stopped leaving behind overcast skies.

  He had shared breakfast with his family, having intended to see if Alyce would join them, but Zia advised against it. She cautioned that Alyce needed rest after such a strenuous journey.

  He heeded her advice and now waited for her to wake, everyone having left him to go about their daily duties.

  Champion suddenly pounded in the room followed by his dog Princess, though her entrance was more of a royal prance. Addie followed them in.

  Lachlan bent down to what most masters would expect, an exuberant welcome. Not so Princess, she sat regally in front of him expecting him to welcome her, which of course he did.