by Willa Blair
And then she was in his arms, and he was crushing her lithe body against his chest as though he were trying to absorb her body into his. He pulled back to gaze into her stormy blue eyes, his hands still holding her shoulders.
“Are you all right, Abby? Did they hurt you?”
She shook her head no. “I’m fine, Ian. They just took me to a small cottage and left a guard outside. What about you? How is your head?”
“It’s fine. I’m fine, now that you’re here and I know you’re all right.” He pulled her into his arms again, breathing in the lavender scent of her hair.
“All right, Mackenzie. You see that I’ve not harmed her. Now sit down so we can return to the matter at hand.”
Ignoring Ewan, Ian pressed his lips all too briefly to Abby’s before guiding her to sit beside him on the bench.
“What is he talking about?” asked Abby as she settled in beside him, her thigh pressing against his.
“Did Alannah tell you anything about the feud?”
“Yes. She told me that her aunt Catriona had married a Mackenzie man against her father’s wishes. He disowned her and then she found out she was with child. She died giving birth to the baby, who also died, and then he vanished. His kinsmen thought that her family killed him, and they’ve been in a feud ever since.”
Such a matter-of fact explanation of the cause of a thirty-year feud, thought Ian. He gently touched her cheek before continuing. “Alannah said that it was Duncan Mackenzie’s disappearance that led to this feud, aye?” Abby nodded.
“Aye, well, I guess you could call it coincidence, mo mhùirnìn.” Abby smiled at the endearment, distracting him for a moment. “As you know, although you likely did not make the connection, Duncan Mackenzie is my father.”
Abby’s jaw dropped. “What? How…? How can that be? I mean, you aren’t from…here. How can your father be the same Duncan Mackenzie?”
“Whilst I was preparing to come after you, my father felt the need to confess some of his deepest, darkest secrets.”
“And you never knew that he came from… here?” She clearly meant more than just the location.
Ian gently took Abby’s chin, raising her face so he could look into her eyes. “Nay, we never knew. I could hardly believe it when he told me, as frantic as I was over your disappearance.” He still couldn’t believe any of this was truly happening.
“It is time for you to tell me this tale, Mackenzie,” said Ewan impatiently.
Clutching Abby’s hand, Ian settled back in his chair. “My father was devastated after Catriona’s death, and he left one night, thinking only of getting far away from any reminder of his loss. He traveled in this direction for awhile, but didn’t want to chance meeting Catriona’s father or any of her kin, so he hid until he could pass through this area late at night. He continued south, and he eventually ended up at a small village near the border. The weather had been bad, the journey long, and Da was weak with chill and exhaustion.”
Ian was improvising, but he figured he couldn’t go wrong in saying that. “The horse was not much better, and having more sense than my da did, he led them to a farmhouse. Da tumbled from the horse just as the farmer’s daughter came to the door.
“They took him in and restored him to health. He’d lost a lot of weight and was ill with a fever. When he recovered, he stayed on to work for the farmer as payment for the debt he owed him. This was pleasing to the farmer’s daughter, Laura, because she had developed a fondness for my da.
“Da was still getting over Catriona’s death, but after many months of working on the farm and spending time with Laura, he fell in love with her. The farmer was thrilled, for Da had become like a son to him. They married, and within a few years, my father took over the farm.”
He looked around the table. Everyone had been listening raptly to his tale, which was pretty damn good, if he did say so himself. He met Ewan’s steady gaze. The other man seemed to believe him, but Ian couldn’t be sure.
“So you’re saying that Duncan Mackenzie left here, sick with grief for Catriona, and told no one he was leaving? Did he not know they would fear something terrible had befallen him?” Ewan seemed merely curious, not disbelieving.
“Aye, that’s what I’m saying. He wasn’t thinking of anything other than his grief and his guilt. After all, he got her with child, and she died from it. He blamed himself. Nothing else mattered to him, not even his kinsmen. I didn’t even know until a short time ago that he had been married before. He never mentioned her, and he never looked back to his old life.”
“How did you meet Abby?”
Ian looked over at his Abby. A lock of her tawny hair had fallen out of its braid and was hanging in her eyes. He reached up and gently tucked it behind her ear, his hand lingering on her cheek. She reached up her hand to cover his and smiled at him. He couldn’t believe that it had taken a journey 400 years into the past for her to smile at him again.
“Mackenzie? I asked how you met the lass.” Ewan’s voice was impatient.
“When Da took over the farm, he developed a reputation for his fine horses. He sent me to travel around in search of horses to add to his stock, and I happened upon Abby’s village. After meeting Abby, I knew she was the one I would marry.” He was staring at her as he said it, willing her to hear the truth in his words. She looked shocked, her face paling beneath his stare.
Finally, she regained some of her composure. “Your father is certainly alive and well, so we can end the feud, can’t we?”
“Aye, well that’s just it, Abby. They’re not going to end a 30-year feud just because I give them my word that Duncan’s my father. I need some kind of proof. I have a dirk with his name engraved on it, but I need more than that.”
Abby was silent for a moment, and then her face lit up in a broad smile. His heart flip-flopped at the sight.
“Ewan, Ian looks just like his father. Can you send a message to the Mackenzies to arrange a meeting? If anyone there remembers Duncan, they will take one look at Ian and know he’s his son.”
Ewan got up and paced the room in silence, clearly deep in thought. Ian put his arm around Abby. Her body was stiff and tense. “Let me rub your shoulders, Abby.” He shifted position so he straddled the bench and motioned for her to do the same, pulling her into the cradle of his thighs, hoping he’d be able to control his body’s reaction to her proximity. He lifted her long braid and draped it over her front so it was out of his way and began rubbing at the knots in her shoulders.
****
As Ian’s strong hands gently worked the tension out of her muscles, Abby grew very drowsy, her head dropping forward. She should tell him to stop so she wouldn’t fall asleep, but what he was doing felt too good. His hands stopped working their magic, and she looked up to see that Ewan had finally stopped pacing and returned to the table, but did not sit. He opened his mouth to speak, and then snapped it shut again, his face draining of color as he stared at Abby.
She glanced down to see that when Ian had lifted her hair out of the way, he’d caught her chain as well, lifting the pendant out from under her neckline. She realized that in the flurry of excitement over Ian’s tale, she’d forgotten to share her own.
“Ewan, what’s wrong?” asked Ian.
Ignoring Ian’s question, Ewan turned to one of his men. “Fetch Alannah here, now.” The man nodded once and left the room, and Ewan took up his pacing once more, stopping every so often to stare at Abby.
“Abby, do you have any idea what’s goin’ on?” Ian leaned forward to murmur in her ear, and his breath stirred the fine hairs along her neck, sending a shiver through her body. She turned to face him, and he gazed with interest at her pendant, reaching up with one hand to lift it for a better look. “Is this new? I’ve never seen it before.”
“You’re not the only one who has a bizarre connection to this place, Ian,” she whispered back.
“What are you talkin’ about?”
Before she could reply, there was a thunder of hoofs
outside, and a moment later Ewan’s man returned with Alannah in tow.
“Abby, are you all right?” she asked, her face pale with concern.
Before Abby could do more than nod, Ewan strode over to Alannah. “Show me your pendant,” he demanded.
Alannah glared at Ewan, clearly resenting his tone, but did as he asked. She reached into her neckline and withdrew her pendant, holding it up for him to examine it. After a moment, he glanced at Abby, his expression much softer than it had been. “Come here, lass, and let me see the pendant you wear.”
Abby got up from the bench, reluctant to leave the safety of Ian’s arms, even though she didn’t think Ewan would harm her.
She held up her pendant for Ewan to scrutinize. He stared at it for a moment, and then looked back at Alannah’s, bringing them as close to each other as possible.
“Fraser, what are you about?” asked Ian impatiently.
Ewan ignored him and stared at Abby. “Three pendants for three daughters,” he said as if telling the story to himself. “Each with three intertwined Celtic horses, and each with different colored stones. Lass, are you Sorcha’s daughter?”
Abby cringed inwardly, not wanting to lie again. And it wouldn’t be her last. She would surely be punished for this somewhere down the line. No, Abby. You’re doing what you must do to survive. So is Ian. If you have to tell a few lies along the way, so be it. After all, what’s the alternative? A chill ran through her, and she wrapped her arms around herself.
Ian came to stand beside her, resting his hand against the small of her back. The heat of him seeped into her, warming her from within. She glanced up at him, and the pride she saw radiating from those green eyes gave her courage.
“Lass? Abby? I asked you if you are Sorcha’s daughter?”
Abby squared her shoulders and met Ewan’s gaze. “Yes.”
Ewan’s men buzzed with excitement once more. He ignored them and stared at her incredulously. “Where have you been all these years, lass? No one’s heard from her since she left here over thirty years ago.”
Abby cleared her throat. “England.”
“Sorcha ended up in England?” Ewan looked disgusted at the very idea of it. “Why in hell would she go there?”
Alannah spoke up. “Ewan, as you know, Auntie Sorcha was furious with my grandda for the way he treated Auntie Catriona. Her husband wished to seek his fortune elsewhere, and she wanted to get away from here. It seems she succeeded in doing so, aye?” Alannah turned to look at her cousin.
“Yes. That’s where she went with…my father, and that’s where I was raised, which is why my English is far better than my Gaelic.” And by ‘better,’ I mean that my Gaelic is nonexistent, she thought wryly. “Ian promised me that once we were married, we would do some traveling through Scotland, so I could see the beautiful places my mother spoke of.”
“How did you come to be wandering out there by yourself, lass?”
“After he asked me to marry him, Ian returned home to tell his parents. But another man in my village had been after me to wed him for a long time, and when Ian was gone, he saw his opportunity. He came up behind me one day while I was out in the field, and forced me to come away with him. I don’t know how many days he and his men had me with them, dragging me farther and farther from my village before I was able to escape. Ian tracked me here.”
Ewan’s jaw had tightened and his fists clenched during Abby’s improvised story. It occurred to her now that he was not a bad man after all, but one who would do what he had to do to keep his people safe. And whether she liked it or not, she was now included in the group that was under his protection.
“But why didn’t you just tell me who you were that first night? Did you not know where you were?”
Abby shook her head. “No. My parents never really spoke of where they’d come from, at least not to me. I had no idea you were…my kin. All I knew was that I was hurt and scared, and I did not know enough Gaelic to explain my circumstances to you.”
Ewan dragged his big hands through his auburn hair, making it look wilder than it had before. He began to pace once more, clenching and unclenching his fists as he strode back and forth like a restless lion.
Ian guided her back to the bench, and they sat with their backs to the table. He held her close to his side, his hand absently stroking her arm. Alannah sat on Abby’s other side, her face expressionless.
When Ewan finally spoke, it seemed as loud as a gunshot in the tense, silent room. “You look like her,” he murmured. He cleared his throat and continued. “Like Alannah, I mean. I never knew Sorcha, for she left before I was born. But you look like Alannah…and her mother. I didn’t notice it right away, but now that the two of you are side by side, it’s plain to see.” He returned to his seat at the head of the table.
“All right. I will send someone to fetch Auld Andrew Fraser so he can lay eyes on his long-lost granddaughter. I will also send a messenger to the Mackenzies, requesting a meeting and telling them I may have a way to end the feud for good.”
****
“And what of us, Fraser? Is it back into the dark pit for me with my hands in irons, and Abby to be treated like a prisoner as well?” Ian couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice, though he knew it was unwise to pick a fight with Ewan Fraser.
“Abby is kin, and will be treated as such. She is free to move about the village, and if ’tis agreeable to her, she can continue to stay with Alannah. Abby, what say you to that?”
“What will you do with Ian?”
Ewan stared hard at Ian before replying. “Until the meeting occurs, you will remain under guard.” Before Ian could protest, Ewan held his hand up. “You won’t return to the pit. You can sleep in the cottage Abby used last night, but there will be a guard watching over you. I am tired of this feud, and if we have a chance to end it, then I won’t risk you changing your mind and sneaking away in the night.” He looked at Ian and Abby. “You can see each other, though as I said, a guard will be there at all times. Is this agreeable to you?”
Ian nodded. “Aye. As long as Abby is here, there is no reason for me to leave.”
“It’s settled then. I will go prepare the message to be sent. Alannah and Abby, the two of you are free to return to your cottage or to stay here, whichever you want. Mackenzie, you can roam within the village, but do not try to evade my men.”
“Can I see to my horse? I’m sure he must be daft by now.” He had heard Jack’s furious neighing the day before, and knew the horse must be beside himself by now.
Ewan grinned suddenly, the sight so surprising that both Abby and Ian gaped at him. “That black devil you call a horse is tame as a wee kitten since your lass there worked her magic upon him. I’ve never seen anything like it. He charged toward the fence like he would break it down and then stopped at the last moment and laid his head on her wee shoulder.” He cast an admiring glance over at Abby. “Aye, he’s in the barn. Go to him if you wish, but until I can spare enough men to accompany you, you cannot go riding.”
As Ian, Ewan, and the women stepped out into the bright sunshine, there was a vicious growling sound. A wolf was headed their way at full speed, its fangs glistening in the sunlight. Ian instinctively grabbed Abby’s arm and pulled her behind him. He tried to do the same with Alannah, reaching for her with his other hand, while Ewan scowled down at her.
“Dammit, woman, call off that beast!”
Alannah dodged Ian’s arm and headed straight for the wolf! “Alannah, what are you doing? Get away from it!” Ian launched himself after her, fumbling uselessly at his hip for the dagger Ewan had confiscated.
“Ian, it’s all right. That’s Conall. He won’t hurt her.”
Ian turned to look at Abby in shock. “Who’s Conall? What are you talking about?”
To his shock, Alannah dropped to her knees in front of the wolf, her arms outstretched. Ian lunged for her, pulling his arm out of Abby’s grip. He stopped short when Alannah threw her arms around the beast. He stared s
tupidly, mouth agape, as the wolf licked her face, eliciting a delightful giggle from the usually somber Alannah.
Ian took Abby’s hand and pulled her to his side. He nodded his head towards Alannah and the wolf. “That’s Conall, then?”
“Yes. He’s very protective of her, and I guess he must have gotten worried when we didn’t return last night. He’s not fond of Ewan, and he doesn’t know you, so that’s why he was growling.”
Alannah rose to her feet and walked towards them, Conall at her side. The wolf started to growl again as they approached, but Alannah put her hand on his furry head. He stopped growling and looked adoringly at Alannah, whining softly.
“Conall, Ian is a friend. He will not hurt me, so stop your growlin’.” Ian cautiously extended a hand for the wolf to sniff. Before long, he was gingerly patting the wolf’s head, not entirely certain the animal wouldn’t suddenly decide he was hungry for man-flesh.
After making reluctant friends with a dangerous carnivore, Ian headed for the barn, eager to see Jack. When he entered, it took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the darkness within. As Ian made his way down the aisle, he was suddenly shoved from the left, and staggered a step or two before catching his balance.
“Hiya Jack. How you doin’?” Ian greeted his horse affectionately, opening the stall door to examine the stallion. He appeared to be in good shape, shoving his muzzle eagerly into Ian’s chest. Ian was admittedly mushy when it came to his horse, and he was not ashamed to throw his arms around the stallion’s sleek neck and give him a big hug.
****
From the doorway to the barn, Ewan watched the happy reunion between Mackenzie and his horse. He could tell a great deal about a man from the way he treated his horse, and observing the scene in front of him, he could see that Ian was certainly devoted to his beast. The black brute of a stallion was as gentle as a puppy with Ian. That horse would have killed all of his men had Ewan not ordered them to get out of the paddock. He’d been stunned to watch Abby coax the enormous beast into the barn the night before.
