A Taste of Sin

by Mason, Connie

  “Aye, and we’re prepared to retaliate in kind,” Rory said, garnering a roar of approval. “The Macdonalds are no cowards.”

  “Before you do anything, I intend to make a plea for peace. Wait four days,” Christy pleaded. “If no agreement can be reached, we’ll decide what to do next. The last thing we need is a full-blown clan war, and I think the Camerons realize that bringing British soldiers to the Highlands would be disastrous for everyone.”

  “We’ll wait, Christy,” Murdoch said, speaking for the Macdonalds. “But if the Camerons attack our village again, we willna sit on our hands.”

  “Fair enough,” Christy agreed. “You must defend yourselves. Return to the village. Set patrols to guard the livestock and remain alert. I’m hopeful that once The Cameron receives my message he will call a halt to the attacks.”

  The crowd dispersed. Even Rory left to take his turn at patrol duty. Christy and Margot remained alone in the hall.

  “Perhaps I should have asked Rory to stay,” Christy mused.

  “Calum willna attack Glenmoor,” Margot predicted. “He wants it too badly to destroy it.”

  “Aye, ‘tis my belief, too.”

  All was quiet during the next two days. Neither the Camerons nor the Mackenzies replied to Christy’s invitation to meet, and she began to fear they would defy her. At least they hadn’t renewed their attacks or stolen any more livestock. A tenuous hope for a peaceful solution sprouted in Christy’s breast. She began to think that her return to Glenmoor had encouraged the quiet that had prevailed for the past two days. She went to bed that night feeling that everything could be worked out.

  Her dreams for peace among the clans were shattered when she awoke in the darkest part of the night to the terrifying feeling that she wasn’t alone. Her worst nightmare became reality when the swath of moonlight piercing through the window revealed the hulking form of Calum Cameron looming over her bed. She opened her mouth to scream, and immediately a rag was stuffed between her teeth.

  “Did ye ken I wouldna come for ye? Ah, lass, ye wound me deeply. I waited a long time for ye to return to the Highlands.”

  Christy reached up and pulled the foul rag from her mouth.

  “Dinna scream if ye wish to avoid bloodshed,” Calum warned. “I’m not alone, lass, and this is a household of women and children.”

  “How did you get in?”

  “‘Twas easy enough.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Why, ye, of course.”

  “Neither my husband nor my bairn are in the Highlands for you to hurt,” Christy maintained. “Lord Derby and I are still married. I refuse to go anywhere with you.”

  Calum laughed softly. It was not a comforting sound. “It doesna surprise me that his lordship dinna get the annulment. I dinna care about the cursed Englishman or his brat. I’m taking ye anyway.”

  “I told you, I’m a married woman.”

  “Since when has that stopped a Highlander? Wife stealing is a time-honored tradition. I wanted to marry ye, but if I canna, I will steal ye. After I put my bairn in yer belly ye’ll belong to me. Yer English husband willna have ye once I’ve plowed in his furrow.”

  “You’re mad! Glenmoor belongs to Lord Derby. He’ll drive you off the land.”

  “I dinna need Glenmoor to control the clans. I’ll have ye. Ye’ll abide in my stronghold and bear my bairns.”

  “No!” Christy cried, leaping off the bed.

  She was no match for Calum’s superior strength. He had but to reach out to bring her into his brawny arms. The breath slammed from her chest as he tossed her over one gigantic shoulder. Her struggles hurt no one but herself as he carried her from the chamber.

  “Remember, lass, not a whisper if ye wish to prevent bloodshed,” he hissed.

  As he carried her down the stairs and out the open front door, several silent shadows followed in his wake, confirming his words that he wasn’t alone. Christy knew Calum too well to ignore his warning. Though she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, she fought the urge.

  Of all the scenarios Christy imagined, being stolen by Calum had been the one she had never considered.

  Chapter 18

  Sinjun was at his wit’s end. For three days Niall had done nothing but cry for his mother. Neither he nor Effie had been able to comfort the unhappy boy. And despite the wetnurse’s best efforts, the child wasn’t eating well. As a last resort, Sinjun sent for his sister. He remembered Emma’s calming effect on Niall the last time she’d visited, and he prayed she could work the same kind of miracle on the discontented lad.

  How could Christy have left? he wondered bitterly as he paced the room with Niall in his arms. Her lack of responsibility toward her child was yet another sin to add to Christy’s growing list of irresponsible acts. Though he tried not to think of her at all, his traitorous mind refused to obey. He recalled with pleasure bordering on pain their last hours together. He remembered her wanton response to his loving and wondered if her passion had been feigned. She’d told him she loved him. Sinjun didn’t believe it. She wouldn’t have left him and Niall if she loved them. Obviously her clansmen meant more to her than her own family.

  Niall’s lusty cries jolted Sinjun back to the present, and he wished Effie hadn’t gone to the market this morning. But truth to tell, even Effie’s devoted attention failed to fill the void of Christy’s absence.

  Never had Sinjun been so glad to see anyone when Pemburton arrived with Emma in tow.

  Emma knew by the frantic expression on Sinjun’s face that something was amiss, terribly amiss. “What’s wrong with Niall?”

  “Thank God you’ve come,” Sinjun said with heartfelt relief. “Do something. He’s been like this for three days.”

  “I came as soon as I received your message. Is Niall ill? Where’s Christy?”

  “Gone,” Sinjun said with such passionate venom that Emma was instantly wary.

  “What did you do to her, Sinjun? Christy would never leave without her son.” She held out her arms. “Here, give him to me.”

  Sinjun passed Niall over to Emma. Though Niall didn’t stop crying, his screams abated to a bearable level. Emma cooed to him a few minutes, then spoke to him in low, reassuring tones. She was rewarded when Niall’s pathetic sobs turned into sporadic hiccups, then stopped altogether. As Emma continued to croon to him, he lay his head down on her shoulder and fell asleep, his somber little face wet with tears.

  “He’s asleep,” Emma said. “Poor little lad was exhausted. I’ll carry him up to bed. Wait here, Sinjun, I want to know exactly what you did to Christy to make her leave.”

  Sinjun was sipping brandy from a crystal snifter when Emma returned. He saluted her with the glass and took a hefty swallow.

  “Is that necessary, Sinjun?” Emma asked reprovingly. “Drinking will solve nothing.”

  “Believe me, I need it.” He tipped his head and drained the goblet. When he reached for the decanter, Emma snatched it away.

  “What happened?” Emma was determined to get to the bottom of this even if she had to butt heads with her obstinate brother. She’d done it before. He knew how tenacious she could be when she put her mind to it.

  “I told you, Christy left.”

  “I repeat my question. What did you do to her?”

  Sinjun sent her a disgruntled look. “Not a damn thing. I tried to convince her to stay, but she was adamant. I even tried to change her mind by refusing to allow her to take my son with her. You saw tike results. She left anyway. Obviously those savages she calls clansmen mean more to her than her son.”

  “I’m lost, Sinjun. Start from the beginning. Christy must have had a good reason for leaving.”

  “You sit, I’ll stand,” Sinjun said as he began to pace. “It all started when Rory Macdonald arrived from Scotland. The Camerons and Mackenzies are feuding with the Macdonalds and Ranalds. ‘Tis all so senseless. I understand none of it. Rory insisted Christy was needed at Glenmoor to stop the fighting.

  “S
he is their laird.”

  “Whose side are you on anyway? I offered to go with her, but she said my presence would aggravate a volatile situation. She refused the offer of English soldiers to keep peace because she feared innocent blood would be shed.”

  Men are such dolts, Emma thought. Didn’t Sinjun realize Christy wouldn’t have insisted that he remain in London if she didn’t have a good reason? She couldn’t really fault Christy for not telling Sinjun about Calum Cameron’s threat to his life, but deep down she felt Sinjun had a right to know.

  “I never thought Christy would leave Niall,” Sinjun continued. “I was wrong.”

  “You’re often wrong, Sinjun,” Emma chided. “Christy loves Niall. If you weren’t so dense you’d realize that she loves you, too.”

  Sinjun sent her a startled look. “What makes you such an expert on my marital status? I thought you didn’t like Christy.”

  “Christy and I had a long, rewarding talk that day Julian and I visited, the day we learned about Niall. I discovered many things about your wife during the course of our conversation. She’s a wonderful mother. I understand she’s done things that are difficult to forgive, but she had a reason.”

  He made a rude sound deep in his throat. “I suppose she told you why she lied to me and tried to deceive me.”

  “As a matter of fact, she did.”

  Sinjun regarded Emma with disbelief. To his knowledge, Emma and Christy had only shared a few private moments. How had Christy made such a loyal friend of Emma in so short a time?

  Hands on hips, legs spread wide apart, Sinjun glared at Emma, his face composed in stern lines. “If you know something I don’t, you’d best tell me.

  “If you hadn’t been so stubborn Christy would have told you everything you needed to know. Instead, you treated her like someone beneath your contempt and threatened to take Niall away from her. What a hypocrite. All the time you professed to hate Christy, you were bedding her, weren’t you?”

  Sinjun regarded Emma with more than a little shock. “Emma! You’re too outspoken for your own good.”

  “Oh, pooh, Sinjun, don’t be such a prude. These are modern times. I know more than you give me credit for. Now, will you kindly answer my question?”

  “You don’t deserve an answer. What passed between me and Christy is private. I suggest you tell me what you know before I turn you over my knee for a well-deserved spanking.”

  Emma bristled indignantly. “I’m much too old for that. But I’m going to tell you anyway because I believe you should know the sacrifices Christy made in your behalf. Where should I start?”

  “From the beginning. Why did Christy lie about Niall? Why did she demand an annulment when it was the last thing I wanted? The last thing I thought she wanted?”

  Emma took a deep breath and repeated the story just as Christy had related it, leaving nothing out. Sinjun’s face turned from outright disbelief to cautious acceptance as the tale unfolded.

  “‘Tis true, every word,” Emma vowed when she finished speaking. “I believed Christy, and so should you. Why else would she leave her child behind? To prevent you from going to the Highlands, that’s why. She feared for your life and did what she thought right to keep you safe.”

  “Why didn’t she trust me to take care of myself?” Sinjun argued.

  “Perhaps because she knows Calum Cameron. You’ve said yourself that Highlanders are a breed apart.”

  “Aye. They’re savages who steal from their neighbors and fight among themselves. They think nothing of taking what they want.”

  “‘Tis my understanding that Calum wants Christy,” Emma hinted slyly.

  A terrible rage seized Sinjun. “He can’t have her! Christy is mine. Bloody hell! If he lays one finger on her I’ll kill him.”

  Sinjun began to pace, his tortured mind awhirl. Everything was perfectly clear now. All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Calum had started the feud for a reason, and that reason was to bring Christy back to the Highlands where he could get his hands on her. What a stupid fool he’d been not to listen to Christy’s explanation when she’d been willing to give it. All he’d been interested in was punishing her for deceiving him.

  Despite his low opinion of Christy, however, his need for her had never waned. Guilt plagued him. Christy had welcomed him in her bed, aware that he was using her. If that didn’t prove her love, nothing did. Would she ever forgive him? Had his arrogance killed her love for him? He prayed it was not so, for he knew now what he’d been denying since the day Christy had entered his life.

  He loved her.

  Loved his own wife before he knew she belonged to him.

  “What are you going to do?” Emma asked.

  “Go to Glenmoor. No telling what Cameron has in mind for Christy. She has three days’ head start. With any luck I won’t be too far behind her. I’ll travel by horseback, ‘tis faster.”

  “You can’t mean to go alone!” Emma said, aghast.

  “Aye. Christy was right about English soldiers. There is much unrest in the Highlands right now. Bringing soldiers into the fray could ignite a potentially explosive situation at the cost of innocent lives.”

  “I beg you, Sinjun, talk to Julian before you leave. He’s away right now but should return in a few days. He’ll send men to accompany you. Not soldiers necessarily, but men trained to fight.”

  “Do you think I’m incompetent? I realize I’ve wasted most of my life in idle pursuits, but things are different now. I’m perfectly capable of handling this on my own. Besides, I can’t wait for Julian to return. Can you and Aunt Amanda stay here with Niall while I’m gone?”

  “Of course. I’ll send a maid to inform Aunt Amanda of the arrangements.”

  “Effie and Gavin will remain behind to help. Thank you, Emma, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Take care of yourself, Sinjun. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you or Christy.”

  “Stay out of trouble, hoyden,” Sinjun said affectionately as he placed a tender kiss upon her brow.

  Emma’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “Staying out of trouble is boring. Plenty of time after I’m married, should I ever decide to take a husband.”

  Sinjun rolled his eyes heavenward, wondering if a man existed who could handle his spirited sister. “Just try to behave while you’re taking care of my son.”

  “I’d never do anything to hurt Niall. I love him too much.”

  Sinjun left immediately to prepare for his journey to Scotland.

  Christy paced the length of the room and back, frowning at the locked door. She was a prisoner. How could she have let this happen? At least Calum had left her alone after he’d locked her in the room. At first she feared he’d try to force himself on her, but he’d merely locked the door and left her to fret and worry in solitude.

  The room was neat and clean but small in comparison to her chamber at Glenmoor. The room was on the second floor, too high from the ground for her to jump from the narrow window. She knew there were other Camerons in the house, for she heard voices and sounds of activity below. Tired of pacing, she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled a threadbare blanket over her nightgown. She wondered what her kinsmen would think when they found her missing and prayed they wouldn’t act precipitously and launch an attack before she had a chance to talk some sense into Calum.

  She’d been stunned to realize how easily Calum had gotten into Glenmoor. She shuddered to think what would have happened had Sinjun been there. He would have been slain in his bed, without a chance to defend himself. No matter what happened to her, she knew she’d been right to keep Sinjun away from the Highlands. And though she hated to admit it, Sinjun had been right to keep Niall safe in London.

  Christy heard a commotion outside and rushed to the narrow window. What she saw chilled the blood in her veins. The Macdonalds and Ranalds, armed with a variety of weapons, were gathered in the courtyard. Facing them were Camerons and Mackenzies, all armed to the teeth. Christy’s heart l
eaped into her mouth when Rory stepped forward, looking as fierce as an ancient warrior.

  “Release our laird,” Rory demanded.

  Calum came forward to meet Rory. “What made ye think we have The Macdonald?”

  “No one but ye would kidnap her from her bed. ‘Tis a terrible thing ye did, Calum Cameron. If ye dinna return her unharmed, there will be bloodshed. Are ye willing to place yer kinsmen’s lives in jeopardy?”

  “The laird willna be harmed,” Calum promised. “I’ve done nothing that hasna been done before. Ye all know that wife stealing is a time-honored tradition. Once I put my bairn in her belly her husband willna want her back. Ye have the word of The Cameron that she willna be harmed.”

  “Bring Christy out,” Murdoch said, stepping forward to lend Rory support. “We dinna trust ye, Calum Cameron. Yer giving us no choice but to fight for our laird’s freedom.”

  Christy heard every word and knew what would happen if the Camerons and the Macdonalds clashed. Lives would be lost, women and children would suffer without the support of their men should they perish in battle. She couldn’t allow it. Leaning out of the window, she cupped her mouth and yelled at the top of her lungs to the angry men congregated below.

  “Macdonalds! Ranalds! Heed me!”

  “‘Tis The Macdonald!”

  All eyes turned upward to the window. Calum’s expression was murderous as he yelled, “Get back, Christy. This is between me and yer kinsmen.”

  “No! I am The Macdonald. My kinsmen trust me to do what is right for them.”

  “Speak, Christy!” Murdoch shouted. “If ye tell us to rid the world of Camerons and Mackenzies, so be it.”

  “There will be no bloodshed, Murdoch,” Christy called down. “I’ll handle this on my own. Go back to your homes. Rebuild your cottages. You have nothing further to fear from the Camerons, isn’t that right, Calum?”

  Forcing Calum’s hand might not be a good idea, but her kinsmen were treading on dangerous ground. A full-scale clan war could go on for years, resulting in serious repercussions for future generations. This was all so senseless. As for wife stealing, it had been done in the past and would continue as long as clans feuded, but she wasn’t about to let Calum have his way in this.