Bound by Secrets (Cauld Ane Series)

by Tracey Jane Jackson

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go with us?” Kade asked.

  Brodie shook his head. “No, we’ll be right behind you.”

  Kade nodded and ushered the group from the house.

  Brodie grabbed his keys. “Do you need to get anything, love?”

  Payton shrugged. “Depends. Are we walking to the loch?”

  He gave her a mock gasp. “And make my beautiful bride walk almost four kilometers? What kind of a mate do you think I am?”

  Payton laughed. “Apparently one who knows me well.”

  “I have the Beemer waiting out front.”

  “I love that we don’t have to have security here.” She slipped her arm through his. “At least, the kind you can see.”

  “Me too.” Brodie led her to the car. He held the door open for her and she slid inside.

  For once, Brodie drove at a reasonable speed. They arrived to find Heather and Abela already there with the group, a bevy of food set up in the gazebo, and Kade and Connall already filling plates.

  Brodie grabbed Payton’s hand. As they approached the group, applause began and champagne was thrust into their hands, followed by a demand for a kiss and a speech.

  Brodie kissed Payton, sliding his hand along her neck and almost making her forget they had an audience. Almost.

  Sorry, love, he said, and took a deep breath. That probably wasn’t the wisest choice, since now I want to take you back to bed.

  Ya think? She smiled.

  Brodie faced their family again and raised his glass. “Thank you for coming. Now, let’s eat.”

  Before Brodie and Payton could head for the food, Heather approached, her hand wrapped around the arm of a very tall, very handsome, blond man. Payton deduced it was her mate, Mikko.

  “Brodie, Payton, I’d like you to meet Mikko Aho,” Heather said.

  “Your Highnesses.” Mikko bowed and then smiled, reaching out to shake Brodie’s hand. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

  Brodie smiled as he shook his hand. “You, too.”

  “Thank you for keeping Heather safe when I was unable to.”

  “I was happy to do it,” Brodie said.

  Payton shook Mikko’s hand and forced herself to focus on the vision that came.

  Payton? What do you see, love?

  Nothing bad. Give me a second.

  Brodie’s hand found its way onto her lower back again and she relaxed, releasing Mikko from her grasp. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mikko,” Payton said.

  “Thank you for inviting me to your party. I look forward to getting to know you both.” Mikko smiled at Heather. “Especially if you can convince Heather to stop stalling.”

  “Mikko.” Heather shook her head. “My brother should not be bothered with our love life.”

  Brodie chuckled. “I’m on your side, Mikko. Never fear.”

  The couple left them and Brodie focused on Payton again. “What did you see?”

  “Just his love for his family and for Heather. He really wants to protect her, but she fights him on it.”

  “Hmm, sounds like someone else I know.”

  Payton grinned. “Then, she’s probably a bad-ass alpha female, too.”

  Brodie laughed. “No doubt about that. Come on, let’s join the party.”

  * * *

  Four hours before the alarm went off, Brodie was shaken awake by Payton’s scream. He reached for her, earning himself a punch to the face. “Payton, love, it’s all right. It’s me.”

  She continued to hit him until he wrapped his arms around her, pinning her to his chest. Payton, it’s me. Wake up.

  Brodie! she screamed.

  Wake up, love. You’re safe.

  Payton’s eyes fluttered open and she sagged against him with a sigh. “Sorry.”

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Aye, love.” Payton shifted so she was facing Brodie. “Bronwen.”

  “What about her?”

  “I just can’t shake this feeling that something’s very wrong. I haven’t heard from her in over a year and then she calls me twice?” Payton sighed. “It’s off.”

  Brodie smiled and wrapped his arm around her. “I’ve already figured that out, love. Alasdair’s looking into her.”

  “He is?”

  Brodie nodded and kissed her temple. “Cole’s watching her as well. And truth be told, I don’t think he minds this particular job.”

  She kissed his chest. “Well, she’s gorgeous, smart, and funny, so if he did mind, then he’s not a real man.”

  “Those gorgeous, smart, and funny women are certainly our downfall.”

  She frowned at him. “Your downfall?”

  He chuckled. “Upfall?”

  “Better.” She snuggled closer to him. “I don’t know why I was nervous telling you about her. I guess I thought you’d stop me from being her friend. I know your aversion to humans.”

  “Payton.” He lifted her chin. “Don’t ever worry about telling me things. I’ll always listen, and unless this woman does something to put you in danger, I would never ask you to give up your friendship.”

  “I know.” She settled her head in her palm. “I just don’t want to waste your time with my friend or family drama.”

  He shook her head. “You are never a waste of time. And your drama’s now my drama, so you need to remember that. Besides, a few wonderful humans have entered our lives of late, and I have no aversion to them.”

  “Yes, they are pretty great.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

  “What else happened in the dream, love?”

  “I’m not sure. Mum was in it. With Bronwen. But not together, the way I saw Anita with your mother.” She groaned. “Och, I’m mucking this up. It’s like they’re connected, but not together.”

  “Were your mum and Bronwen close?”

  Payton snorted. “Bronwen cannot stand my mother, and she’s always been very vocal about it. Not to Mum, of course, she was always polite when she was at my place, but overall.” Payton let out a groan of frustration. “None of this makes any sense. I thought Fiona said my visions would make sense.”

  Brodie smiled. “Your visions, sweetheart, not your dreams. Your dreams are something entirely different. But we’ll sort them out.”

  “You and your brothers all use ‘sort it out’ like those are the magic words,” she complained.

  Brodie chuckled. “Well, would you rather I say, ‘Payton, your dreams are ridiculous, nothing makes sense, and we’re all doomed to never know what any of them mean’?”

  “Do you think that?”

  “No. Not even close. We will sort it out. We always do.”

  “Do you now?” she droned.

  “Aye. Because it’s not over until it’s done, and you know it’s not done until it’s over.”

  “Deep.” Payton giggled. “Okay, fine. I don’t want to dwell on it in the middle of the night, anyway. Change of subject. What do we do about Heather and Mikko?”

  Brodie shrugged. “That I don’t know. They have to figure it out together. We did.”

  “Did we?”

  “Didn’t we?” he countered.

  “I’d like to think we were smart enough to,” she said. “But I think Fiona and Niall have been instigating us for a long time.”

  Brodie chuckled. “Aye, I suppose they have. I asked them to make sure you were taken care of. They took their job very seriously.”

  Payton giggled again. “Yes, they did. I can’t believe I didn’t guess. I suppose it was too much to dream that the great prince, Brodie Gunnach, would care about me. If I even dared to have the thought that you’d loved me, well, I may have exploded.”

  Brodie laughed. “Messy.”

  “Aye, so very messy.” She drew circles on his stomach with her finger. “Shall I tell you a secret?”

  “Yes, please. I love your secrets.”

  “I had a notebook, one that I’d hidden from Mum, that I would practice signing my name inside.” She signed her name across his chest. “P
ayton Gunnach, over and over. Pages and pages.”

  “Did your mum ever find it?”

  “No, thank the Lord above,” she said, emphatically. “Aileen, bless her soul, fibbed to Mum and said she’d miscounted what I needed for school, because Mum had a list, you know.”

  “Was she really that tight with money?”

  “Oh, aye. Worse.” Payton set her chin in her hand. “If I ever really needed something, and Mum had already said I couldn’t have it, I’d have to wait to ask Dad. He’d either just give me the money or find a way around Mum.”

  “What about Niall? He was supposed to help.”

  “You mean he was supposed to help using your money in the account you set up for me?”

  “Aye. It was there for a reason, Payton.”

  Payton sighed. “He did. Too much sometimes. Mum started to question things about our relationship, so we had to be clever. But he did help.”

  “Was your father anything like your mother?” Brodie asked carefully. “Closed off?”

  “No.” She bit her lip. “He’s very much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get person. He’s not much different when he’s interacting with Kade than he is with us. Perhaps he doesn’t hug Kade as much as he hugs us,” she amended.

  Brodie chuckled. “No, probably smart of him.”

  “My father’s always been loving, but now that we have this,” she swept her hand above them, “I think he might be a little bit sad.”

  “How so?”

  “I think he might miss his mate. If it were me, I don’t think I could marry someone else if I lost you. I think I’d curl up into a hole and never come out.”

  “Your father did do that.” Brodie linked his fingers with hers. “For a long time.”

  “He did? How long?”

  Brodie stroked her back. “For more than twenty years. Angus pushed him to speak to your mum, but of late, I think he regrets that.”

  Payton smiled sadly. “I think he does too.”

  “Not that he regrets that you’re his sister,” he rushed to say.

  “Oh, I know. I feel sometimes that he and Kenna are closer to me than my full siblings. At least, I like them better, anyway.” She bit her lip. “I’ve only met the other sister, Gillian, a few times, but never at our home. She does invite me to every dinner when Mum is excluded, but it’s rare that Mum would ever let me go without her, so I feel like it’s only when I need anything medical done, or Mum’s not around, that I can spend any time with her. Of course, Angus’s brother Nevin lives in Iceland, so I rarely see him. He hasn’t been back here in ages. I don’t think either of them like my mother very much.”

  “Perhaps not,” Brodie agreed. “Your father and Angus go to Iceland at least once year, and Kenna’s there sometimes twice, as is Gillian, so it could be that Nevin just doesn’t see the need to visit here.”

  “True.” Payton nodded. “I think I may take Angus up on his offer for me to go with him next time.”

  Brodie smiled. “I’d love to spend an extended amount of time in my homeland. A few days here and there just isn’t enough. We could spend time with your family and explore.”

  “I’d love that.” She giggled.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Oh, just Angus said little kids stare at the four of them when they go out together sometimes. Invasion of the redheads, probably.”

  “It’s remarkable how much you and Angus resemble each other.” Brodie kissed her. “Not that I think he’s beautiful, by any stretch of the imagination.”

  Payton giggled. “Well, you have to admit, he’s kind of pretty for a man.”

  “I don’t have to admit anything.”

  “He’s also a really good big brother. He’s always on my side.” She grinned. “Or he makes me think he’s always on my side, anyway.”

  “As it should be. And it’s one of the reasons I like Angus. I worry sometimes that you’re not cherished the way you should be.”

  Payton sat up and straddled his hips. “You shouldn’t be. I have a very scary watchdog type mate.”

  “You do, do you?”

  She nodded, leaning down to kiss his chest again. “Aye. He’s quite old and thinks he knows everything, but he’s extremely loyal to me.”

  “That he is,” he said as he sat up, gripping her hips. “And he might be old, but he still has moves.” He ran his tongue over her collarbone, kissing her neck as he slipped his hands under the lacy boy-shorts.

  “Yes, he does.” Payton sighed, dropping her head back so Brodie could get better access.

  “Oh, there’s more.” Brodie took his time making love to her, showing her a few moves she hadn’t seen yet, and proving that age was just a number.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  AFTER BEING ABLE to catch another few hours of sleep, Payton headed to the shower while Brodie made a phone call. She hadn’t seen him since.

  She was standing in the bathroom attempting to pull her hair into a ponytail when Brodie strolled in, jeans slung low on his hips and his chest bare. She bit her lip in an effort not to sigh out loud. Sexy didn’t even begin to describe him. “Where have you been?” She tapped her temple. “You didn’t answer me.”

  “Sorry,” he said, kissing her neck as he slid his arms around her from behind. “I was on the phone with Ali.”

  “For half an hour?”

  “Aye. He’s concerned about the coronation, and he’s juggling several plates with security and whatnot. He’s trying to sort out how to keep everyone safe, Kade’s trying to keep Samantha happy, and Sam just wants the ceremony canceled altogether.”

  She glanced at him in the mirror. “But Kade wants the Cauld Ane to accept her, and in order for that to happen, she must be crowned in front of everyone.”

  “Exactly.” Brodie shook his head. “Does she realize we’ll all be there for her? Physically and emotionally there?”

  Payton turned and looped her arms around his neck. “Of course she does. But the training she’s having to deal with at the moment is daunting. She’s a small-town southern girl, suddenly thrust into the role of queen, and grasping the language and customs is a lot to take on. Especially when you have to learn everything in less than a year.”

  “I can only assume I don’t really know everything she has to learn, eh?”

  “Not even close, Brodie. You were raised in this, and even I was, to an extent, at least the Scottish and Icelandic cultures. We’re immersed in it, but she’s American, and although she’s very smart and incredibly eager to learn, she’s led an even more sheltered life than I have. And that’s saying something.”

  “Very true,” Brodie agreed. “She’s able to speak Icelandic quite well, though.”

  Payton raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, passably,” he admitted. “She certainly understands everything.”

  “A wee bit better than passably, I’d say,” Payton said. “But I think she feels some pressure because of how beautifully Pepper has picked it up.”

  Brodie smiled. “I can understand that. Pepper speaks it better than any of us.”

  “I know she does. What a waste all those language classes I took were! I could have had fun knowing I’d speak Icelandic as soon as you bound me.”

  “Það er gott að þú skemmtir þér ekki, að mínu mati. Þú nýttir tímann betur í að þrá mig.” (It’s good that you didn't have fun, in my opinion. Pining for me was much better use of your time.)

  “Þrá eftir þér tók of mikið af tíma mínu þá þegar.” (Pining for you took up too much of my time as it was.) Payton giggled. “Go get a shirt on before I ravage you some more.”

  He grinned and headed back into the bedroom. “Are you packed and ready to go?” he called.

  “I’ve been packed and ready, love. You’re the one who’s been talking on the phone like a teenage girl.”

  He moved back into her line of sight and donned a T-shirt. “I had important business to attend to.”

  She slid lip gloss over her lips. “Oh, I’m su
re teenage girls think their phone calls are just as important.”

  He moved toward her, grasping her around the waist and lifting her off her feet. “I wouldn’t know, since I’ve never been a teenage girl. Now, teenage boys, on the other hand—”

  “Have filthy minds,” Payton retorted as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

  “Filthy minds are not limited to teenage boys, love,” he said, and carried her into the bedroom, dropping her onto the bed. He leaned over her and lifted her shirt, exposing her stomach.

  “We don’t have time for this, Brodie,” she said.

  “Of course we do.”

  “No, baby, we don’t,” she insisted, attempting to wriggle away from him, but he held her hips in place.

  “It’ll just take a minute.”

  “When has it ever taken you a min—” She was so shocked by his mouth connecting with her stomach, she let out a squeal, but when he pressed harder, blowing on it and making a loud spitting noise, she couldn’t stop her giggle. “What are you doing?”

  “You’ve never had a zerbert?”

  “A what?” He repeated his move and she guffawed with laughter. “Oh, my…Brodie!” He chuckled and then did it again, and Payton grasped his head, attempting to stop the tickling. She didn’t know what was worse, the stubble of his beard, or the blowing of his mouth. “Okay, okay. I can’t take it anymore.”

  “All right, sweetheart.” Brodie grinned and leaned over to kiss her quickly, pulling her from the bed. “Torture’s over…for now.”

  “Save that kind of torture for the bairns.”

  He nodded, stroking her cheek. “I can’t wait to have wee bairns with you.”

  “Same.” She grinned and zipped up her suitcase. “What time’s the plane leaving?”

  The family plane had been scheduled for Brodie and Payton’s week away, and was at their disposal. Payton was typically the one to make the schedule, so not knowing everything was somewhat unnerving.

  “Wheels up at eleven.”

  Payton glanced at her watch. Ten a.m. “We should go then, eh?”

  “I’ll take this down,” he said, and grabbed her suitcase.

  Payton threw a few last items into her makeup bag and headed downstairs as well. She had just stepped outside when one of the security SUVs drove up and Alasdair climbed out. As did someone very unexpected.