Highland Steel: Highland Chronicles Series - Book 3

by Rose, Elizabeth

  “A sword?” she asked, interested.

  “Yes. It was thought to be lucky. Or at least that is what all the men believed. Whenever they took the sword to battle, the MacKeefes came away victorious. They all shared the sword because, of course, the men are all vain and each of them thought they should be the one to have it.”

  “Did something happen to it?” she asked.

  “The Drummonds got a hold of it,” she said, seeming to be careful not to say too much. “It was Logan’s turn to have the sword and . . . and it was taken when it was in his possession.” Wren stood up. “Anyway, the MacKeefes went to battle with the Drummonds but the Drummonds won and kept the sword. So the MacKeefes think their good luck is gone now, because of Logan.”

  “Oh, that’s terrible,” said Rhoswen. “How did they get the sword to begin with? Logan hardly seems like the kind of man who wouldn’t fight to the death to keep what was his.”

  “That part is not my story to tell,” said Wren. “If you want to know how it happened, Logan is going to have to tell you.”

  “I see.” Rhoswen got up, picking up her gown. Looking down at it, she couldn’t bear to don it. She liked wearing the MacKeefe plaid. She felt good in it. It made her feel like part of a family, even if it wasn’t real.

  Wren must have seen her indecision, because of what she said next.

  “Why don’t you worry about changing later? Instead, can you find Logan and the others and tell everyone it is time to eat.”

  “Thanks,” said Rhoswen, wanting to hug the woman, but she wouldn’t. She didn’t want to get too close to any of the MacKeefes. Because if she did, it was only going to make it harder when it came time to leave.

  As Rhoswen left the kitchen, she ran into her sister who had stopped to play with a group of children on her way to the hospice to change. “Blaine, have you seen Logan and Newell?”

  “I think they are down at the water’s edge,” said the little girl whose name was Sophie. “My brathair is down there with my da as well.”

  “Your father?” asked Rhoswen, trying to remember who everyone was.

  “Hawke,” said the woman she’d met named Phoebe who was Hawke’s wife.

  “Thank you,” she said, heading down to the water.

  “Newell?” she called out, stopping in her tracks when she saw Logan and Newell sparring – with swords. Hawke was doing the same with Oliver who was a few years younger than Rhoswen’s brother. “What is going on here?” She ran down the hill to the water. “Newell, put that sword down before you hurt yourself.”

  “I won’t hurt myself, Sister.” Newell stopped and held up his sword. “Logan whittled swords for Oliver and me and now he and Hawke are showing us how to fight.”

  “They are?” she asked, her heart going out to Logan for taking the time to do this.

  “I think that’s guid for the day,” Hawke told Oliver. “Is the meal ready?” he asked Rhoswen.

  “Aye, that’s what I came to tell you.”

  “We’re havin’ haggis,” Oliver told Newell.

  Newell made a face. “I don’t like haggis.”

  “Ye dinna like haggis?” Oliver was the one to make a face now. “That’s because ye’re a Sassenach. Only real Highlanders like haggis.”

  “Oliver, that’s no’ nice,” said Hawke.

  “Well, it’s true,” said the boy.

  “Mayhap Newell just thinks he doesna like it because he doesna ken how to eat it,” said Logan.

  “What do you mean?” asked Newell.

  “There are things we add to haggis to make it even more delicious than it already is. Mayhap Oliver can show ye.”

  “All right,” said Newell, sticking his wooden sword through his belt. “I think mayhap I really do like haggis but just don’t know it yet.”

  “Well, let’s stop talkin’ about it and go find out,” said Hawke with a chuckle. The three of them took off, heading back to camp.

  “You whittled wooden swords for the boys?” asked Rhoswen.

  “Aye,” said Logan. “I thought it would be guid if Newell learned to fight the right way. And then ye wouldna have to worry about him.”

  “He seems to have made a friend with Oliver.”

  “Aye, they are goin’ to be guid friends, I’m sure. Plus, Hawke is helpin’ me train the boys. He needed help gettin’ close to Oliver, and I think mayhap it is workin’.”

  “That was nice of you,” she said with a smile. “But why did you do it?”

  “I guess it’s because I like ye and yer siblin’s and just want to get to ken ye all better.”

  “Thank you,” she said, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him on the mouth. Once again, she felt a tingle of excitement wash through her.

  When she pulled away, he was looking at her in a way that made her think he wanted her, and somehow she hoped so. And just when she thought he was going to kiss her again, he pulled back and cleared his throat.

  “Well, I suppose we shouldna keep everyone waitin’. Cold haggis isna nearly as guid as when it’s hot.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Disheartened that the kiss hadn’t gone further, she walked back to camp with Logan, with no other purpose than to eat haggis.

  Chapter 13

  Logan burst into the small house he shared with Caleb later that night, collapsing atop the bed, throwing his arm over his face. His wolf followed him inside and curled up on the floor next to the bed. All during the meal, he couldn’t stop looking at Rhoswen. He never should have let her kiss him again, because all it did was make him randy. And randy was the last thing he needed right now. He needed to keep a clear head so he didn’t make stupid mistakes like the time he bedded Ranulph Drummond’s daughter. It ended up badly, and he’d never forgiven himself for being so careless.

  “Och, I am so full from that haggis that I’m goin’ to sleep for days.” Caleb entered the room with his pine marten in his grasp. Jack jumped up and sniffed the air. “Logan, ye ken yer wolf canna stay in here overnight. I dinna want to wake up to find out that Slink has been devoured in his sleep.”

  “Go on, Jack,” said Logan with a wave of his arm. “Sleep outside. Mayhap someday we’ll have our own place and ye willna have to leave.”

  The wolf trotted away and Caleb closed the door behind it.

  “What’s the matter with ye?” asked Caleb, putting Slink down on the bed and starting to undress. “Ye look like a man who has somethin’ on his mind.”

  “I do,” he admitted. “I think I am fallin’ hard for Rhoswen.”

  “Bluidy hell, dinna tell me that ye are fallin’ for a lass that is no guid for ye again.”

  “There’s nothin’ wrong with Rhoswen.” He pushed up on one elbow. “And I canna help it if I like her.”

  “Ye dinna even ken her, Logan.” Caleb threw his plaid over the table and pulled his leine over his head.

  “Well, ye dinna even ken Bridget yet I see the way ye fawn over her.”

  “I’ve kent her for months now,” said Caleb, throwing his tunic on the floor and falling back on his bed. He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. “I ken everythin’ about her from the way her blue eyes light up when she plays with the children to the way she holds her spoon in two fingers when she eats or the way she licks her lips when she gets nervous.”

  “Oh, please, spare me the details. If ye are so infatuated with her then why havena ye bedded her by now?”

  “Ye think I should?” Slink walked over Caleb’s chest. He grabbed the animal, petting it while he once again daydreamed about the chronicler’s daughter.

  “I think ye are ridiculous is what I think.” Logan sat up on the edge of the bed and ran his hand through his hair.

  “I wonder if she screams out when she reaches her climax or if she whimpers like a puppy or mayhap doesna say a word at all,” said Caleb. “And although she seems to try to hide it under those baggy clothes, I ken she has breasts that are full and firm and hips that I’d like to run my hands over as
I –”

  “God’s eyes, stop it!” shouted Logan. Listening to Caleb was only making him want Rhoswen more and more. He was already hard beneath his plaid after kissing her. If he stayed here any longer listening to this fool fantasize about bedding the chronicler’s daughter, he was going to have to pleasure himself since he’d been thinking about Rhoswen in much the same manner. He got up and headed for the door.

  “Where are ye goin’ this late?” asked Caleb.

  “I’m goin’ down to the loch for a swim,” he grunted.

  “Oh, missin’ Rhoswen are we?” Caleb chuckled.

  “Leave me alone,” said Logan, slamming the door to the hut as he left and headed down to the lake.

  * * *

  Rhoswen tossed and turn atop her pallet, unable to sleep. Her brother and sister had been sleeping for hours already, and the entire MacKeefe Clan had turned in, since they always got up early to do chores.

  Rhoswen wanted nothing more than to rest, but her mind was in too much turmoil to do so. Every time she closed her eyes, she either thought about kissing Logan, worried about little Lockie and her siblings, or heard her father’s voice telling her she had to kill Ranulph Drummond.

  “Aaaah,” she said, sitting up on her pallet to find her hands balled into fists. Part of her wanted to believe that everything was going to be all right. But common sense told her that if she didn’t get Lockie now, he’d be dead before long. She’d lost too many people she loved lately and barely had any family left. She had to get her nephew. But now that they’d lost the sword, she had nothing to give to the Drummonds in trade.

  “I dinna ken what to do,” she whispered to herself, feeling like she needed to walk in the fresh air to clear her head. At home, she used to walk the battlements when she was upset or when she missed her mother and sister. The cool wind in her hair seemed to blow away all her troubles. Mayhap if she walked down to the water, the Highland air would do the same for her and then she’d be able to sleep.

  She quietly got up, dressing in her own gown since it took longer to don the MacKeefe plaid and she didn’t want to wake her siblings. Pulling the gown over her nightshift, she slipped into her shoes and tiptoed to the door. There was a MacKeefe shawl hanging on a hook. She took it and wrapped it around her shoulders and stepped out the door. Once outside, the breeze blew her unbound hair, already making her feel better.

  “Trapper, get in here,” she heard Ethan calling out the door of the house where he lived with his family. She didn’t want anyone to see her, so she slipped around the back of the hospice and hurried down the hill toward the water.

  It was a beautiful spring night, with not a cloud in the sky. The full moon shone down on the hills and reflected off the sparkling water of the bay. She made her way down to the shore, slipping out of her shoes, liking the bite of the cold water against her feet as well as the sand between her toes.

  A large splash in the water scared her and she gasped. Spinning around, she quickly scanned the area. Then she noticed an animal on the shore, heading in her direction. Rhoswen froze in fear. It looked like a wolf in the moonlight. Now she regretted coming out here by herself. She didn’t even have her sword with her and had no means of protection.

  The animal came forward, growling lowly, causing her to back away. There were no rocks or sticks in sight, and she was too far from her shoes to grab them and throw them at the wolf or even put them on and run. Now, she’d never be able to outrun the wild animal in her bare feet.

  “Stay away,” she warned it, with her arms stretched out in front of her and her palms facing the beast. “Leave me alone.” The animal lowered its head, growling again and came even closer.

  “Jack?” she heard Logan’s voice in the night and then more splashing of water. The wolf turned its head and ran back down the beach.

  “Jack,” she whispered, releasing a sigh of relief. Then she laughed. What a fool she’d been. She should have recognized Logan’s wolf. But to her, all wolves looked alike so there was no way she could have known.

  “Who’s there?” came Logan’s voice. He emerged naked from the water and looked down the shore in her direction.

  “It – it’s me, Logan,” she called back.

  “Rhoswen? Is that ye, lass?” He hurried down the beach toward her, not bothering to don his clothes. There was enough moonlight that she could see his naked body . . . and it intrigued her. “What are ye doin’ here? It’s no’ safe for ye to go out at night alone.”

  He walked up to her, having a conversation, apparently forgetting he was naked.

  “I – I needed some fresh air.” Her eyes focused on his sturdy chest. Water glistened against him, running a path down his body. Crisp ringlets of blond hair stuck to his chest, looking more of a brownish color since he was wet. His nipples were flat with little raised bumps in the middle from the cool night air.

  “I’m glad Jack told me ye were here.” He came closer.

  “I – I thought the wolf was going to hurt me. It growled at me,” she told him, finding it hard to concentrate since the fact he was naked was very distracting. It made her wonder if all the Highlanders acted this way.

  “Naw, that’s just Jack’s way of tellin’ me when he sees someone or if he senses trouble. He doesna mean ye any harm.” Jack ran up to them and sat down at Logan’s side looking up at him in admiration. Logan turned and bent over to pet the animal, giving Rhoswen a side view of his bottom end. She found herself looking.

  “I see that now,” she said.

  “I’m actually kind of glad ye’re here.” He stood up, and when he did, her eyes dropped below his waist. She couldn’t help but gasp when she saw his erection.

  “I can see that, too,” she said, wetting her dry lips with her tongue, feeling as if she couldn’t even swallow.

  “I like that,” he said, stepping right up to her now and reaching out, putting his fingers under her chin and lifting her eyes to his.

  “What do ye like?” she asked, feeling her body warm at his touch.

  “I like that ye licked yer lips when ye looked at my manhood. That tells me ye’re interested.”

  “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to –” Her words were cut off with his mouth covering hers in a passionate kiss. She closed her eyes, melting under his touch. Reaching up, she put one hand on his broad shoulder while she held the shawl closed with the other.

  “Never apologize for wantin’ to make love with a man, lassie. It is only natural.” He kissed her again, slipping his hands around her waist and pulling her up close against him. She felt his aroused form poking at her and it only made her want him.

  “Mmmm,” she said, slowly relaxing in his embrace. “And is it natural to be walking around naked in the middle of the night, too?” She looked up at him and smiled.

  “For me, it is. It’s nothin’ new,” he said, flashing a bright white smile that was illuminated in the moonlight.

  “Well, I find it odd.”

  “Nay, it’s no’ odd. It’s . . . excitin’.” He reached out and gently cupped her cheek. Her eyes closed and she leaned into his caress, feeling her knees becoming weak beneath her. “Why dinna ye try it?”

  “What?” Her eyes sprang open. “Me? Naked? Nay, I couldn’t.”

  “Why no’?” he asked. “It’s only natural. After all, it is the way we’re all born, and nothin’ to be ashamed of.”

  “I suppose you’re right but –” She looked around. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re out in plain sight,” she said with a shaky voice.

  “It’s the middle of the night. No one will see us. And I noticed ye didna deny the fact ye want to lay with me. Or am I wrong?”

  Why did he have to ask this? Yes, she wanted to couple with him more than anything right now. She was eight and ten years of age and much too old to still be a virgin. Most girls her age were already married with children. Lately, she’d been feeling an emptiness within her. What she really needed was a man in her life. She didn’t want to go through life
all alone. Rhoswen couldn’t deny the fact that coupling with him intrigued her, but neither did she want to sound like a strumpet by admitting it either. And certainly, she didn’t want her first time making love with a man to be on the ground out in nature!

  “I don’t know if I can do it,” she told him, stalling for time.

  “Do what? Get naked?” He chuckled. “It’s easy, I assure ye. Here, let me help.” His hands covered hers and he gently pried her fingers from the shawl, letting it drop to the ground at their feet. She felt the waves washing over her toes as the water slid over the shore and then once again receded. The inward and outward motion of the waves only made her think of two people doing the same thing during the dance of lovemaking.

  Logan’s hands slowly slid down her back and cupped her bottom, giving her a squeeze. A moan of delight involuntarily left her lips. She felt him raising the hem of her gown upward, and a cool breeze hit her legs. All the while, she held her breath, letting him do it. Then he lifted her gown over her head in one motion, throwing it to the ground. She stood there now in only a thin shift.

  “Relax, lassie. It’s quite fun if ye just give it a chance.” He cupped her breasts right through her shift, and put his mouth over one mound, nipping at her through her clothes.

  “Oooh,” she said, her head falling backwards as he slid a hand beneath the neckline of her shift and rolled her nipple between his fingers. Her breathing deepened. She was on fire. When he reached for the hem of her shift next, she felt as if she had to stop him.

  “Wait, Logan,” she said, causing him to drop the hem. He kissed her atop the head, talking into her hair.

  “Och, lassie, please dinna change yer mind. I am so hard for ye right now that I’m about to burst.”

  “Nay, I didn’t change my mind about coupling. But I don’t want my first time to be down in the dirt.”