“Aye.”
“Do ye think that is wise?”
“The woman climbs out of windows on the third floor. Aye, ‘tis best to keep her close.”
“Seems like a temptation to me.”
At that, Hamish didn’t answer. After all, he’d nearly sunk himself inside her warmth the first night she was there. She was a whole new level of temptation.
Tyree, as if he knew what Hamilton was thinking, narrowed his eyes. “Lad, if ye take her, ye will have to marry her. I will not have it any other way. I made ye laird because of yer honor. Doonae disappoint me.”
“I intend to marry her. I told ye that. But she is the stubborn one. Damnation, she cried this morning because I asked her to stay away from Theo.”
“Ye were jealous?”
“No, I wasnae jealous! I am looking out for her safety. Theo was here during Maggie’s murder. For all we know, he did it, and he’s found a reason to stay. Maybe he knows the truth of Grace and intends to kill her as soon as they’re alone.” There were so many possibilities, it was enough to make a man’s head spin, but damn it, he still had no proof. Theo had done nothing but be helpful and respectful since he’d stayed. For some reason, it bothered Hamish more than if the man had tried to burn the keep to the ground.
Tyree raised his eyebrows and snorted. “Perhaps, but I have known Theo MacDougal since he was a lad. Believe me, he is no killer, and he would have no reason to kill Maggie, even if the rumors were true and she was carrying his babe. He would take care of her even if he didnae marry her.”
“His father—”
“Is not him,” Tyree cut in with a steely look. “I amnae my father, and I am certain that ye arenae yers, whoever he is. If we judged every man by the actions of their ancestors, no one would be able to trust anyone.”
He was right, of course, but that didn’t make Hamish feel any better. In the back of his mind, he still saw his father striking at him while his son stood by with a stony look on his face. How could a man grow up with someone like Patrick MacDougal as a father and not be affected?
“I doonae like the two of them together regardless. If he discovers the truth of Grace’s deception, that she truly doesnae wish to wed me, he could tell the clan, and there is no telling how they will react. I have their trust, but it may not survive this.”
Tyree clapped him on the back. “I see no reason for ye to fear anything, so long as ye get that woman to the church.”
“Why did ye never marry, Tyree?”
When he didn’t say anything for a moment, Hamish glanced over to him and saw that the man was lost in thought. “Tyree?”
“There was a time when I thought I might wed,” he said finally. “But it didnae work out, and there was no other for me. Since I didnae have to marry for obligation, I simply didnae wed.”
“What happened?”
“Mistakes were made,” Tyree sighed with regret, “but there is no changing the past. Ye have an obligation to yer clan.”
It didn’t feel like an obligation to marry Grace, but it would be a challenge. “How do ye convince a woman who doesnae want to wed to marry ye?”
“I made ye laird for a reason. Figure it out.”
19
There was another flash of silver followed by the strangest glint, almost like sunshine.
But that was impossible. Darkness had already taken over, and the sun wouldn’t show itself for hours.
There was another flash and a scream.
That was her screaming. Pain swept through her body as she hit the ground. Groaning, she looked over and there was Maggie, still dead.
Dead, and yet gasping for help.
Turning her head, she looked up at her attacker. The face was moving as if it were nothing but smoke, shifting faster the more she tried to concentrate.
The blade rose, and there was that glint again in the moonlight.
This time, she would not get away. This time, she would die for certain.
* * *
Gasping, Grace awoke with a start and rolled instinctively, attempting to get away from the dagger that was no longer there. Falling right off the bed, she hit the hard floor with a thump and grimaced as her arm twisted under her.
Just what she needed. Bruises on top of her bruises.
Groaning, she took a deep breath to center herself and stood. Mentally, she took in her surroundings. This was her chambers. She was safe here. No one could get to her.
The activity outside her window told her that it was still early in the evening. Tired, she’d tried to go to bed early, but if the nightmare was any indication, there would be no sleep tonight.
And she would certainly never sleep easy wondering if another nightmare was right around the corner.
Instead, she stood and lit a candle. Sitting at the small desk, she pulled out a piece of paper and an inkwell. Determined to banish the nightmares and give her friend’s spirit some peace, she began a list of what she knew.
Maggie was on her way to see Lorna. Could very well have been pregnant.
Maggie was attacked first, as though she was the main target.
The attacker was a male.
Weapons were blunt internment and a dagger.
The attacker wore a cloak.
The last on the list gave Grace pause. Most of the highlanders here wore their plaid to keep them warm during the cold nights. There were, of course, plain cloaks, but they were lighter and cheaper. This cloak was heavy enough to billow out when the attacker moved and had a sheen to the finish beneath.
Silk, and with a hood large enough to hide his face. Either someone brought that with them, or they had it made while they were here. If the Hamiltons were like the Sinclairs, then there would be a short list of women skilled enough with a needle and thread to take on a job with such expensive material.
Satisfied that she finally had something to look into, Grace put away the ink and paper and went to the window. The outside fires were dying down, and the last of the stragglers were on their way home. Quietly, Grace wondered what Hamish was doing.
As if she’d conjured him from her mere desire to see him, there was a knock on the door between their chambers. Her reaction to it, just knowing who was on the other side, was confusing. How could one man so easily turn her inside out?
After taking a few seconds to compose herself, she headed to the door and opened it. “Aye?” she asked as she tried not to take note that he was obviously ready to sleep. His bare chest gleamed in the light of her candle, and the belt that kept up the pleats of his tartan was halfway undone.
“Everything all right? Ye lit a candle. I saw the light under the door.” Immediately, he craned his neck to look around her into her room.
“I am alone,” she told him. “I...”
“Aye?” he prompted. When she didn’t answer right away, he reached out and touched her cheek. “Ye are having nightmares again?”
Why was it that he was always around during her most embarrassing moments? “‘Tis nothing. I am certain that they will fade soon enough. Ye doonae need to trouble yerself.” She hadn’t forgotten how furious she was with him from earlier. He’d spent the whole day avoiding her, but then, it wasn’t necessary for him to keep an eye on her because apparently everyone else was. Every time she turned around, there was another stranger who wanted to greet her and tell her how happy they were to have her in the fold and couldn’t wait for her marriage.
Tavin only made things worse, as if he had orders to keep her as busy as possible so she couldn’t put all her effort into looking for Maggie’s killer. Not that it mattered. The day had been a waste of time. She’d gleaned almost nothing.
“Grace.” With a sigh, he reached out and took her hand. Blowing out the candle, he gently pulled her into his room and shut the door. “Ye can stay in here tonight. I willnae let anything happen to ye tonight, so ye can sleep soundly.”
Does he really think I am going to be able to sleep soundly next to him? Not a chance!
On
the other hand, she really didn’t want to be alone. Making a decision, she climbed into his bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. There was a ghost of a smile on his face as he reached for the belt of his tartan. Losing her nerve, she closed her eyes and waited. Finally, the bed dipped as he joined her.
“Hamish?” she asked, afraid to open her eyes.
“Aye, lass?”
“Are ye naked?”
He chuckled. “Nay, as much as I would like to be. I am wearing trousers.”
Grace tried to tell herself that she wasn’t disappointed. In the darkness, she opened her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. He stilled, and in a rather short time, he seemed fast asleep.
Annoyed, she frowned. Is lying in the same bed as me really so annoying that he would fall fast asleep? After a few minutes, she squirmed, trying to get comfortable. The bed was large enough so that they could both be in it and not touch, but she didn’t want to keep him awake by shuffling around. Unfortunately, the more she told herself not to move, the more she wanted to move.
“Grace,” he muttered and threw an arm around her, “go to sleep, lass. Ye have nothing to worry about here.”
Anchored against his warm and hard body, moving was no longer an option, but she was no closer to sleep. Memories of his kiss and his touch surfaced, and her body started to react strangely, just as it had before. Parts of her tingled and ached.
Finally, she sighed. “Hamish,” she whispered. She needed a distraction.
He grunted.
“Hamish, tell me about Theo.”
The man went unnaturally still next to her, and she quickly realized her mistake. “No, not like that. I mean tell me about yer relationship with Theo and his father. Tell me about yer mother.” Tell me anything! she thought desperately.
He was quiet for a moment before he finally turned on his back and pulled her to his side. “I doonae know Theo, and I only met my father once,” he acknowledged. “I doonae know the relationship between my father and mother, but oh how she hated him. Her hatred of him grew into her hatred of men in general, and she always kept to herself. She died when I was vera young, but she died with his name on her lips, so I went in search of him. I supposed I was desperate for a man to look up to, and I hadnae realized how right she was about him.”
“How old were you?” she asked.
“I doonae know, lass. Nine or ten, mayhaps.”
Nine or ten? Grace gasped. “And ye were traveling on yer own?”
“Aye. I had a good head for the land, and we had traveled so often. The MacDougal clan was larger back then. I was small and nimble, so I made the journey with little trouble. No one thinks twice about a small lad running around and assume there is an adult nearby. I reached MacDougal land and went straight to the keep, but there was a distraction.”
“What kind of distraction?”
“The Laird MacDougal was beating one of his clan members, and Theo was standing by to watch.” Hamish’s whole body was tense. “I tried to intervene, afraid that he was going to kill the man. He turned his rage on me, and I foolishly thought crying out my mother’s name would save me. It gave him pause, and then he started to beat me more viciously. It was clear that he knew exactly who I was. ”
It was obvious where this was going, and Grace’s heart started to break. “What did he say?”
“He called my mother a whore and told her that any offspring of hers should throw themselves off a cliff for fear that her weakness would then be his,” Hamish said grimly. “Then he told me that if I ever set foot on MacDougal lands, he would make an example of me as a trespasser.”
“Did Theo know?”
“I doonae know, lass. I ran as fast as I could, but I couldnae run far enough to escape the dying cries of the worker. His only crime was that he didnae have more crop to give to his laird.” His hand tensed around her arm. “I swore that it would be the last time I ran from Laird MacDougal and that I would get my revenge for my mother, for that one man, and for all the others that he’s wronged.”
“That is an awful burden for one so young,” Grace whispered as she ran her hands over his chest. She hoped to soothe him, but the muscles rippled beneath her touch and caused her mouth to go dry. She tried to focus on the conversation. “But now ye are laird, Hamish. Ye have to think of others, and ye doonae know what kind of man Theo is. Surely ye arenae thinking of punishing the son for the sins of the father? Ye and he are blood.”
“Grace, he is acting laird, and already, he has conquered land that is not his.”
“He purchased Loch Moran with the blessing of the king,” she argued. “He seeks to protect.”
“Enough,” he growled tiredly. “I willnae argue about this, Grace. Ye will stay away from him, do ye understand me?”
This was obviously important to him, and she really had no reason to speak to Theo unless… “I will do my best to not be alone with him or engage him in conversation, but if I discover that he has knowledge of Maggie’s killer, then I will speak to him.”
“While I am there,” Hamish said.
“Aye.” She could sense how important this was to him. “While ye are there.”
The room fell quiet, and she was nowhere near sleep, but she could tell that neither was Hamish. Whether it was the story that had him wide awake or something else, all she knew was that his fingers were moving slowly up and down her arm, and his heart was beating more rapidly.
“Tell me about yer dreams,” he said finally. His tone was harsh, as though he was speaking through gritted teeth.
The last thing she wanted to do was talk about her horrid dreams when he was right there next to her. So hard and hot. Her body was telling her to touch him more, to explore him. His fingers had stilled, so she tried to force herself to relax. “They are mostly the same, but there is something that I feel as though they are trying to tell me. Something I cannae remember, and ‘tis so frustrating!”
“Ye cannae force it, Grace. It will come to ye.”
“It will?”
“Aye, ye just have to think of something else, and then it will come to ye.”
“What other things?”
He was quiet after that, and she knew what he was thinking. It was the only thing that she was thinking. Slowly, she shifted, spreading her legs, and straddled him. From the soft light of the moon, she could see his eyes widen, but she was already here, encouraged by her own needs. Naked beneath her shift, she could feel the hard outline of his erection nestled between her thighs, and she took a deep breath.
“Like this?” she whispered.
“Ack, lass, do ye have any idea what ye are doing? What this will mean?”
“Aye.” She knew exactly what it meant. That he would be her first lover, and she would be as free as a widow, with nothing to burden her any longer.
“And ye are all right with this?” As his hands settled on her waist, his gaze searched hers. “This will change everything, Grace.”
“I have made up my mind.” Leaning down, she pressed a soft and innocent kiss to his lips. “I want yer touch. Yer body. Yer mouth.”
Suddenly, before she could even process what was happening, he flipped them over so that she was sprawled out beneath him, his weight bearing down deliciously on top of her. “My tongue?” He growled. “My fingers?”
“Everything,” she whimpered. She was on fire.
“Aye, will ye give me everything?”
Hot and desperate, she sucked in her breath and nodded. “Everything.”
There was nothing left to say as he bowed his head and took her mouth. His whole weight came down on her, and she didn’t hesitate to wrap her limbs around him. Never before has she thought she’d ever need a man, but tonight, she needed this man.
His hardness remained between her thighs. The hem of her shift had fallen to her waist, and his trousers were rough against her skin, but she couldn’t stop moving against him, seeking more. As his tongue thrust into her mouth, he growled and slid down her body, his mouth moving
down the column of her neck, his tongue tantalizing on her skin.
“Ye are a witch,” he hissed. “There is no other explanation for how I respond to ye. God help me, Grace, want of ye drives me mad.”
She knew just how he felt. When his mouth settled over her breast, tonguing her nipple roughly beneath the fabric, all she could do was arch into him and whimper for more. “Hamish!” It was astounding how quickly her body responded to him, how skillful he was at bringing her pleasure.
“Ah, Grace,” he murmured as he slid even further down her body. Holding her breath, her eyes widened as he stared down right at her sex. Embarrassed, she tried to close her legs, but he shook his head and touched her. “Ye have no idea the kind of power ye hold over me.”
Hold over him? She was going to die if he didn’t help her. “Please!” she gasped.
“Ye want to feel as ye did last night?” he teased as he slowly moved his finger up and down her. “Aye?”
A blush covered her from head to toe. “Aye.”
“My pleasure.” Rather than increasing the pressure of his finger, he leaned down with a wicked grin, and when he settled his mouth over her, she knew just what he meant by using his tongue.
The climax hit her hard as he flicked his tongue over her, and she nearly levitated off the bed as waves of pressure rocketed through her, but he held her down, torturously pleasuring her until she was gasping and aching and begging for more.
She didn’t even hear him remove his trousers in the dark or noticed that he was naked when he slid back up her body. As he nudged his hardness at her opening he pulled her shift above her head until she was as naked as he was.
“Are ye certain?” he asked breathlessly, his eyes dark with need.
She nodded. She’d never been so certain of anything in her life. With a growl, he moved into her, slowly at first, pausing as she winced in pain, but when she adjusted, he slid even further, filling her.
“More,” she begged. “Ah, Hamish, more!”
“Slowly, my sweet.” He kissed her. “I doonae wish to hurt ye.”
Highlands’ Forbidden Deeds Page 49
