Tears filled Cora’s eyes, and the Father dipped his hand in the basin of water and marked Duncan’s forehead. “Duncan Gregory Sinclair MacKay, I baptize ye in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May ye grow and shine in His love, be protected by the spirits and ancestors of this land, and be always surrounded by the love of the witnesses in this chamber.”
A thunderous applause filled the room and Alec reached out to take his son, who was now wailing louder than the cheers. Leaning down, he kissed his son’s head and took his wife’s hand.
As with every Scottish event, a great feast and party followed. Seated at the table, rocking her son back and forth, Cora leaned against Alec, who wrapped a protective hand around her shoulders. It had only been three weeks since she’d given birth, and he would have liked to see her in bed, but although she looked tired, she assured him that she wanted to be a part of the celebration. Still, he did not ask her to dance, and he glared at anyone who looked like they might.
The babe got passed around to uncles, aunts, and friends. The Thistles had been there for two months, even Lana, to see Cora through the birth and help out. Lana had, according to her father, been a terror during the first season and not a single man dared asked to marry her. Privately, he told Alec he thought his daughter had done it on purpose. Apparently now she wanted to marry a highlander.
Personally, Alec thought Calvin was pleased. Lana was still too young to be married, and Calvin wanted to keep his daughter close a little longer.
Grace visited frequently, usually when Connor grew tired of trying to handle her. She had men from four different clans constantly asking for her hand in marriage. She turned down every single one and started threatening Connor that she would challenge them to a duel if he approved of any behind her back.
“Who knew,” the King said loudly to Connor, “that it would take an English lass to finally get Alec Sinclair to settle down?”
The table laughed, and Kane winked. “Not an English lass. A MacKay. A MacKay who defeated two guards while chained to a wall. No English lass could do that.”
Lana snorted and rolled her eyes. “Really? How exactly do you think Cora did that?”
Even Alec turned to look at his wife. After all this time, she’d never gone into detail about what had happened that day. Alec had sworn that no matter what, even if Innes had forced himself on her, he would help her heal, mentally and physically, but she’d told him that it had never come to that.
“How did ye free yerself?” Jamie asked. “We have all wondered.”
Cora averted her eyes. “Well, I unlocked the manacles, and when the first guard tried to touch me, I simply locked the manacle around his hand and stole his sword and attacked the other. They weren’t ready for that. I had the element of surprise on my side.”
“Ye unlocked the manacles,” Alec repeated slowly. “How did ye do that?”
“With the key, of course.”
When everyone stared at her, Donna cleared her throat. “You must understand that her mother was a survivor. Before she could accumulate a more comfortable life,” she explained delicately, “she had to survive on the streets. She picked up a few skills, and to make sure that her daughter was never defenseless, she taught them to her.”
Alec’s mouth dropped open. “Ye picked their pockets for the key?”
“Yes. Innes had the key. I picked his pocket.” Finally, she looked up and shrugged. “I explained when we first met that I was a thief. It is not my fault that you did not believe me.”
“Ye deceitful little bride,” he growled, and while everyone laughed, he bent his head and kissed his beloved wife in front of everyone to see.
Duncan woke up and wailed.
Anger and fury kept her warm in the Scotland cold as she rode from the inn to the keep. It was later than Lana expected, nearly midnight, but she knew the way well. Over the past four years, she’d visited her honorary sister often so she could spoil her nephew and little niece. This was, however, the first time she’d made the journey alone.
Her parents thought she was spending the week with her friend Imogene. They’d be furious to discover that she’d hired a coach to see her safely through Scotland, but she had to ride on horseback through the Highlands. Thankfully, she rode through the Sinclair lands first, and Connor had graciously, even if surprised, let her stay the night and given her a three-man escort the rest of the way.
She was no fool. She knew the moment that he’d been alerted to her presence, he’d sent a messenger to Cora and Alec. Since her escorts were stopping every few hours, even forcing her to stop at the inn for dinner even though they were so close, she was well aware they were giving the messenger time to get there first.
So when torches lit up the border of his lands, and Lana saw Alec standing there, she wasn’t afraid. “Lana,” he said in a low voice. “Are ye well?”
She heard the underlying anger. In the past few years, he’d come to see her as his own younger sister and was protective of her.
She wondered what he would do if he discovered the real reason that she was there.
“Yes, thank you, Alec,” she said as though his was the most natural visit in the world. “I am sorry to arrive unannounced, but I hope you won’t mind my visit. I very much wanted to see Cora and the babies.”
Even in the barely lit dark, she could feel his suspicious gaze on her, but it wasn’t her brother-in-law that she was interested in. No, she was staring at another. The real reason that she was here.
Stephen Sinclair.
There was no mistaking the large man who sat rigid on his horse. She’d come to know that outline well and the anger in his dark gaze. Come to know it because for the last three seasons, he’d sat outside her house, in the shadows, staring up at her window. Because he so easily broke into the houses hosting parties and events and watched her from afar.
Her own highland stalker.
At first, she had assumed that her father had reached out to Alec and asked for his help after that one little debacle. She’d tried to tell him that there wasn’t anything to worry about. The son of a duke had gotten a little randy with her in the gardens and grew a little belligerent when she’d told him no. Apparently he’d made a bet with his pasty and spoiled little friends about taking her by the end of the season, and he would not be denied.
Until his manly bits met her knee and his nose met her fist.
The next year, the first event of the season, there was Stephen Sinclair.
“Of course,” Alec said in a resigned voice. “We have a chamber prepared. Have ye eaten dinner?”
“We stopped at the inn.”
He read the annoyance in her voice and raised his eyes to the heavens before he smiled and turned his horse.
So Lana Thistle did not arrive to the massive MacKay keep alone. She arrived with nearly a dozen men escorting her. So much for being subtle.
Alec might have kept his temper, but Cora did not. “Lana Thistle, what the devil do you think you’re doing?” she demanded as soon as they walked in. One by one, the guards began to slink away, and even Alec made a hasty retreat as Cora hurried down the stairs with little Maria bouncing on her hip.
“Oh, look at you,” Lana cooed as she reached out to take her niece. “You have gotten so big! You’re just the most gorgeous thing I have ever laid eyes on.”
Even with a gaze that would stop even the toughest highlander in their tracks, Cora handed her niece over. “Do Mother and Father know that you are here?”
“Shouldn’t she be in bed?” Lana asked as she deftly ignored the question. “It’s so late.” Unable to help herself, she yawned.
Her sister narrowed her eyes. “Do you think that’s going to make me feel sorry for you? Acting all exhausted?”
“It’s a yawn,” Lana said with a wry grin as she handed Maria back over to her mother. “A yawn does not mean exhaustion.”
“No, but a trip from England does.” Cora softened her features and then reached over an
d hugged her tightly. “You have no idea the terror that I felt when I got Connor’s message. What happened, Lana? If it’s Mother and Father, you would have sent a message, so it must be something that you didn’t want them to know about.”
“Nothing happened,” Lana assured her as she returned the hug. Between them, Maria wiggled and protested. “Honestly, I am fine. I just needed to get away from London and get some fresh air. I will write to Mother tomorrow and explain, and I’m sure they’ll be furious, but please let me stay for a week or two. I won’t be any trouble.”
Behind her, Stephen snorted, but Lana ignored it. She would deal with him later.
“All right. Stephen, will you see Lana to her room? I need to feed Maria before putting her back to bed.”
“Aye,” Stephen said before he snagged her elbow and walked her to the opposite staircase. Her heart pounded in her chest when they were alone, and she waited to see what he would do.
“Ye could have been killed,” he hissed in a low voice as they walked through the halls. “The roads are riddled with highwaymen.”
“I hired skilled footmen,” she said calmly as she jerked her arm away. She was not there to be led around like a child. “We did meet some trouble, but they were so skillfully dispatched that it barely took any time at all.”
“And did those footmen escort ye into the Highlands?” Stephen demanded, knowing full well the answer was no. Lana didn’t possess the kind of wealth it would have taken to hire an Englishman to protect her in the Highlands.
“I rode directly to the Sinclairs with no trouble, and they provided the escort.”
“Lana….”
“Don’t you dare lecture me!” Enough was enough, and she whirled around. “I have seen you, lurking in the shadows, watching me, following me. Obviously everyone around me thinks I cannot handle myself for I have a watchdog escorting me through every season. I intend to put a stop to that right now. I have defended myself before, and I will do so again.”
He stepped closer, and suddenly, everything inside of her melted, and she flushed as desire sparked inside of her. Desire that she didn’t even know existed until that night she stumbled on him after another exhausting and stifling ball. Out in the gardens, she’d escaped to get some air, and there he was, yet again.
Oh, she’d been furious to see him. Without a word, she’d walked right up to him and planted a kiss on his mouth.
Innocent. Naive. She didn’t know the fire she’d been playing with until he’d hauled her up against his hard body and turned that kiss into something more, something wicked, and it had followed her for two years, but he’d never done it again.
“What are ye really here for, my little English lass?” he asked in a husky voice.
Teasingly, she slid her hands up his chest until she could feel his own erratic heartbeat.
And then she shoved, hard, and he stumbled away.
“I am here, Stephen Sinclair, to get away from the prancing idiots of London and snag myself a highlander husband. If you know of any who might be interested, please let me know. Have a good night.”
Then, she slipped into her chambers and closed the door firmly in his face.
A highlander husband.
Stephen gritted his teeth and rode like the demons were chasing him. It was the third night in a row that he had taken the night shift for the perimeter patrols, and he knew that Alec was questioning his reasons, but he could not sit across from Lana Thistle at the table and watch her flirt with the men. He could not look at the window at night and not wonder if he was going to have to tie himself to the bed to keep from going to hers. He could not see her in the early morning, the sun glistening on her lovely blonde hair, and not wish viciously that he could kiss her again.
So he stayed as far away from her as he could. If Cora had any sense in her head, she would send her sister straight back to England to her comfortable life where everyone adored her.
At the end of his shift, he rode his stallion until they were both exhausted, so he did not give in to his desire to haunt the halls of the keep in hopes of catching a glimpse of her. To his surprise, when he reached the stables, he found Cora and Alec preparing their own mounts. It was just a few hours after dawn, far too early for them to be out.
“Everything all right?”
“Stephen, just the man we were looking for!” Cora’s face lit up with delight as she mounted her horse. “Alec and I are going to take a few hours for ourselves. Mary is watching the children, but I know Lana had her heart set on a ride this morning. She wants to explore the ruins of the old keep. Would you escort her? I don’t think she knows the way.”
“Me?” Damnation. “Is there someone else?”
“Cora, Stephen has been out all night,” Alec reminded her. “We’ll ask Kane.”
Cora nodded. “That’s a wonderful idea.”
The hell it was. If Lana was determined to seduce her way to a highland husband, it was not going to be Kane MacKay. “I’m not tired,” he said shortly. “I’ll take her.”
His laird shot him a dubious look. “Are ye sure?” Stephen nodded shortly, and Alec shrugged. “All right, I was going to give ye the night off anyhow. We will be done by noon.”
“Or not,” Cora said with a sly giggle.
It was hard not to see what was going on here. Alec and Cora, with a toddler at their heels during the day, an infant crying in the night, and a clan to maintain, didn’t find much alone time anymore. Obviously, they planned to make up for lost time that morning.
Dismounting, he rubbed his stallion down, fed him, and left to go find Lana.
Knocking on her door, he was stunned when she opened it hastily with a relieved smile on her face.
She was half-dressed.
“Lana,” he said stupidly as he eagerly drank her in. She had shimmied into her dress, a lovely dark green, and had worked her arms into the sleeves, but the shoulders sagged over her arms, and she clutched the bodice at her chest. One tug, and he’d have her nearly naked.
Her eyes widened, and she squeaked. “Stephen. I thought you were Emily. She was supposed to come help me dress, but it’s been nearly an hour. I can’t do the buttons myself.”
Male voices lingered in the hall and drew closer. Soon, they’d have company. Without thinking, he maneuvered himself inside and quickly shut the door before more people got an eyeful of her.
“Turn around,” he said gruffly, and when she complied, he instantly regretted it. In Scotland, women dressed for the cold, and there was no way that the thin chemise she wore under her dress would protect her from anything. Before he did something that he truly regretted, he roughly pulled her dress up before doing the buttons.
Every time his knuckles skimmed along her back, she shivered.
“What are you doing here?” she said finally. “I haven’t seen you in days.”
“Patrolling. Night shift. Saw Cora. She wanted me to take you to the ruins. Said you were planning on going today.” Great. Now he could barely string a coherent sentence together. His fingers seemed to grow even thicker as he wrestled with the buttons.
It wasn’t the only thing thickening.
“Cora said I wanted to go to the ruins today?” Lana said carefully. “That was kind of her.”
Finally, he was finished, though he could not help but take another second to gently run his hand through the strands of her hair. Why the bloody hell wasn’t it up in a braid? Was she trying to kill him?
Then, furious with himself, he quickly took care of the problem for her, winding her thick strands into a simple twist before he tossed it over her shoulder. She caught it quickly and turned to stare at him.
“Ribbon?” he asked her.
“Right. I suppose you get your practice from undoing women’s braids and their dresses.” Her cheeks pinked a little at the words, but she didn’t lower her gaze as she snagged a ribbon from the dress and hastily tied the end of her braid.
The brazen lass was going down a dangerous road. “Actu
ally, I had a younger sister that I raised on my own, but ’tis interesting that is what is on yer mind.”
“Everyone always talks about Jamie being the dangerous one, but Jamie was not the one who kissed me senseless two years ago.”
So she did remember the kiss. Good. It was a kiss that haunted him. Those soft lips. The sweet taste of her mouth. The little whimper caught in her throat.
For two years, he’d obsessed over little more than Lana Thistle and the kiss he’d stolen from her. While she was on English soil, he told himself that he would not touch her again. She was destined to be a countess or a duchess.
But she wasn’t on English soil anymore, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep his hands off her.
“Lana. What did ye come here for?”
She gave him the prettiest smile. “I told you. To find a highland husband.”
“Why?”
“Because I want someone to look at me the way that Alec looks at Cora.”
“And no one in England does that?” They were all idiots if that was the case.
“No.” She frowned. “Cora used to think that she would ruin my seasons because of her mother, but ever since people found out that I was related, if not by blood but by love, to a powerful highland laird, they’ve been falling all over themselves to impress me, to wed me, to trap me. I have had enough.”
“Ye think here, in Scotland, ’twill be any different? We play into politics, lass, and here, we play for keeps. Or have ye forgotten how Alec and Cora wed? The clans know how Alec cares for ye.”
Lana just shrugged. “I’ll know if someone wants me for Alec’s power.” Brazenly, she reached out and touched his chest. “Or if someone wants me for me.”
She was playing with fire. No one knew that he was in her room. He could pull her down to the bed, hike up her skirts, and play out the fantasy that he’d been having since she was eighteen years old.
Highlands’ Forbidden Deeds Page 17
