Highland Brides 03 - On Bended Knee

by Tanya Anne Crosby

  Broc met her gaze.

  She nodded at his cousin. “You do not get a face like that by falling over a cliff, black eyes and bloody lips and swollen nose, and little else,” she pointed out. “Remember Lagan’s body when it was finally recovered… broken, all of it.”

  Broc thought about it only an instant, and knew she was right. His cousin had been acting far too strange lately, disappearing for long lengths of time and reappearing only to lurk in the distance, watching, always watching…

  Page rose then, brushing off her skirts. “I’ll leave you be,” she relented. “Talk to him,” she persisted, and then added, “You’re a wonderful man, Broc, and my verra, verra best friend. I don’t like to see you so sad.”

  She came to him, then, and bent to kiss him upon the pate of his head.

  Broc couldn’t respond. His throat was too thick to speak.

  “I know what it’s like to feel all alone in this world. I only came to remind you that you are not.”

  Broc dared to look up then, though his tears had begun to flow once more.

  His Laird’s wife smiled down at him.

  “You’re not the sort to wallow in pity,” she told him, and shook her head. “There is no crime at all in shedding tears, Broc. Remember that. Cry all you need to, and then get your arse up and go talk to your cousin,” she charged him.

  Broc remained stubbornly silent. He averted his gaze, staring once more at Merry’s grave.

  “Iain and I shall not go to sleep for some time if you wish to come talk,” she told him. He nodded. And with that she left him to ponder her words.

  Chapter 16

  “I’ll be damned!” Leith exclaimed.

  Colin shared his sentiment, but words failed him at the instant. He stared in shock at the sight that greeted them this morn.

  The field was swarming with men, all working on their fence. But they weren’t Brodies.

  “What the hell?” Leith said again and Colin thought he might be in shock.

  “These are Montgomerie’s men.”

  “Aye!” Meghan’s voice chimed in. “They are my husband’s men!”

  Colin and Leith both turned to see Meghan approach, her smile brilliant as ever.

  Leith’s brow rose. “And where is your husband,” he asked her, ever suspicious.

  Meghan cocked her head up at him, clearly enjoying this. Colin didn’t blame her. He was rather stunned by the sight of so many of Montgomerie’s men, but after being together with his sister and her new husband, he wasn’t the least bit surprised that Montgomerie was so willing to mend fences.

  Meghan’s hands went to her hips. “My husband, dear brother…” She nodded in the direction of the field of workmen. Colin turned and spied him. “… is out there. Where else would he be?”

  Leith turned as well, and spotted Montgomerie amidst his men, shirt off, and working alongside the rest. “I’ll be damned,” he said, and shook his head.

  “Our wedding gift to you and to Alison!” Meghan said. “And peace offering as well.”

  Leith was clearly speechless. He didn’t bother to thank her. He stood there, scrutinizing Montgomerie and his men, and said not a word.

  Colin eyed his eldest brother in reproach. “’Tis a verra nice gift, Meggie dearlin’.”

  Meghan’s enthusiasm dimmed a bit, when Leith did not respond. “He is not a bad man,” Meghan said, and her voice seemed pitiful suddenly, as though she would weep any moment.

  Colin reached out and dragged her into his arms, hugging her.

  “I love him,” she said, and Colin patted her back.

  “I know, Meggie, and I dinna blame ye, lass.”

  She peered up at him hopefully. “You don’t?”

  Colin shook his head, while Leith ignored them. Meghan cast their older brother a glance and then lowered her lashes.

  Colin cleared his throat, and Leith turned to look at him. Colin gave a meaningful glance at Meghan, and Leith frowned.

  “It was good gift, Meghan,” Leith said, if reluctantly.

  Meghan peered up at him. “You think so?”

  “O’ course,” Colin assured, tightening his embrace. Her smile returned. Colin nodded at his brother, urging him to say something more, coaxing him without words. He knew very well that Leith’s pride, most of all, was injured by her decision to wed Montgomerie. He had stood ready to do battle for her, as they all had, and she had come out of the chapel, clinging to his neck, forswearing them all, and had fled with Montgomerie that very night. Leith was having the toughest time of them all dealing with that perceived disloyalty.

  “Truly,” Leith answered, at last, as he turned to watch Montgomerie at work. There was no denying Montgomerie was trying. He could have sent merely a handful of men, a small token, and yet he had not. He had sent what appeared to be an entire legion. And he was working right alongside them. With luck, the fence would be finished by the end of the day. “In fact,” Leith added, “we’ll butcher a lamb to celebrate peace this eve.”

  Meghan’s eyes lit once more. She pushed Colin away in her enthusiasm and leapt upon Leith, clinging to his neck. “Ye are the most wonderful brother in the whole world!”

  Leith embraced her and laughed. “Och, Meggie,” he protested, but Colin knew she had successfully pierced his armor.

  Colin laughed, as well. “What about me?”

  She peered back at him over her shoulder, still hugging Leith, and grinned. “Aye, well, ye are as well,” she assured him.

  “I should go help,” Leith told Meghan, and winked at her. “I cannot stand here and let that bloody Sassenach do all my work for me, now can I?”

  Meghan giggled. “Aye,” she agreed, but before he could go, she stepped up on her tiptoes and gently kissed Leith’s cheek. “’Tis a verra fine gesture, Leith Mac Brodie, to work beside my husband, and I thank you for it!”

  “Aye, Meggie, but it is my fence,” he reminded her. His expression grew sober. “All I want to know is are ye happy?”

  Meghan’s expression sobered. “Happier than I have ever been—I swear to heaven and below!”

  Leith smiled down at her. “That’s all that matters, then.” He bent to kiss her upon the nose, and then pried her hands from around his neck. “Now, I’m off to build a bloody fence,” he told her.

  Colin remained with Meghan, wanting to speak with her privately. She watched Leith until he joined her husband. They spoke but a moment, and then together began to work.

  Meghan sighed happily.

  Colin almost did, as well, though he was loathe to admit the moment moved him.

  His sister turned to face him with tears in her eyes.

  “I knew he would not turn Piers away! After all, you’re the most stubborn, ill-tempered brother I have,” she told him, nearly sobbing as she spoke. “I knew if Piers could win you, he could win Leith, as well.”

  “Och, Meggie!” Colin protested. He wasn’t certain he liked her description of him, but he had to admit it was mostly true. Still, it didn’t sit precisely well with him. Leith and Seana both had all but accused him of being selfish, and now his dear sister accused him of being ill-tempered and stubborn, as well. Damn, but what was there to like of him? No bloody wonder Seana wanted Broc instead.

  Meghan laughed. “God’s truth, I don’t know what Seana sees in ye, ye big lout!”

  “Ouch!” he said, because she’d hit so near to his own thoughts. “Aye, well, it is not me she wants,” he reminded his sister.

  She peered up at him. “Silly man!” she declared. “You’re all as blind as bats!”

  Colin frowned down at her. “You’re not verra good for my sense of pride,” he told her.

  Meghan grinned up at him. “Aye, well… ye could do with a little less o’ that anyway, Colin Mac Brodie.”

  Colin gave her a warning glare, but ruined the effect, he knew, with his smile.

  Meghan pushed away from him, giving him a sly glance. “Where is Seana?”

  Colin shrugged. He hadn’t seen her
all morning. He’d thought for certain she would come to retrieve her still.

  “I wondered about her da,” Meghan said. “What is the matter with him that he cannot feed himself?”

  Colin cocked his head. “What do ye mean?”

  Seana inhaled a breath and turned to watch her husband at work. “She did not eat a bloody thing yesterday.”

  “Och, well, ye dragged her away from the table, Meggie.”

  “Nay, but she brought food with her, dinna ye recall, but she did not eat it. She asked for a cloth and then tied it all up very neatly and set it aside. She said it was for her da. Is he unwell?”

  Colin tried to recall what she’d said. His brows drew together. “She did say he was getting old, but she didna tell me he was ill… or at least I do not think so…”

  Meghan lifted a brow. “Mayhap ye should go and check on them?” she suggested.

  Colin eyed her with narrowed eyes. It would be a perfectly good excuse to go and look for her. He’d been trying to talk himself out of it all morn as it was. He wanted to see her, but he didn’t have a reason—he eyed his shrewd little sister—until now.

  She had said she would go see Broc today; his gut turned at the thought. He didn’t want her to see Broc.

  Damn it, he didn’t want her to want Broc—he’d be damned if he was simply going to stand by and let her go to him without a bloody fight.

  He gauged the time. It was morning yet, but growing late. If she hadn’t come after the still, as yet, it must be because she was going to speak with Broc.

  Suddenly, he felt antsy to go. Mayhap if he hurried, he could catch her before she went. “You know, Meggie, I think you’re right. Besides, I do need to return her still,” he reasoned and hurriedly pulled Meghan into his arms, his mind already made up. He gave her a quick kiss upon the forehead. “Aye, that’s what I’ll do—I shall go’n return her still,” he reiterated, “and see in the meantime if all is well.” He turned to go.

  “Wait!” Meghan exclaimed. “What of the fence? Leith will wonder why ye left without helping with the fence! What shall I tell him?”

  “Tell him I went to return the still—tell him I went to see a sick friend—hell, I don’t care what ye tell him, Meghan!” And with that he hurried away.

  Meghan stood there grinning after him, watching him go. And then humming a merry tune, she went to see how her brother and husband fared.

  “Where did Colin run off to?” Leith asked, as she knew he would.

  Meghan smiled sweetly. “He’s in love,” she disclosed, and winked at her husband.

  Leith made an impatient face. “Och! Again!”

  Meghan cast a glance in the direction Colin had gone.

  He’d forgotten the still.

  He’d fled into the woods without Seana’s still.

  She smiled to herself. “Mayhap for the last time,” she said, and then kissed her husband full upon the lips.

  “What was that for?” he asked.

  “For serving uisge beatha at our wedding,” she replied.

  Piers screwed his face, clearly confused, and Meghan giggled.

  “Women,” Leith said. “Confusing lot they are.”

  “Aye,” Piers agreed, sharing a companionable look with her brother, “but hell, for kisses like that, if ’tis whiskey she wants, ’tis whiskey she’ll get.”

  The two of them laughed together, and the sound of it was like a balm to Meghan’s soul.

  Life was verra good, she decided.

  Verra verra good.

  Chapter 17

  Seana slipped out of the cairn before her da awoke. She’d checked on him quickly, left him some food to eat—everything that was left from yesterday because she didn’t have a chance to give it to him last night before he’d fallen asleep He had no idea what she was doing, and probably wouldn’t like it if he knew she was campaigning for a husband in order to give them a better life. She couldn’t tell him, but after all was said and done, she was certain he would be happy if Seana was happy.

  And Seana would be very, very happy.

  She was bound and determined to be happy.

  So why did she suddenly feel so sad over the possibility of wedding with Broc Ceannfhionn?

  Och, and he hadn’t even agreed to have her!

  She stared at what remained of her da’s still, contemplating her own idiocy.

  She really should have gone to retrieve the pot still this morn, but she hadn’t the heart to go. Seeing Broc seemed more important. The uisge could wait. Her da could not. Though, in truth, she felt guilty for selling uisge so poor in quality. She hadn’t even given the last few batches time to age. Her da had warned her time and again, that if she did not give the faeries their fair share of the water of life, that their wrath could be terrible to those who drank the spirits.

  In fact, her da had chosen this place in the forest, because he’d claimed to feel their presence strongest here, and though Seana thought it ridiculous, she had to admit, that betimes, she thought she felt them, too. And on clear, warm nights, the forest seemed alight with their twinkling magic. Skeptical though she might be, she couldn’t begin to explain what her eyes sometimes saw. For some things in life… there was simply no explanation.

  For example, she had no idea why she felt nothing but emptiness right now.

  Even the absence of her da’s pot still seemed somehow to add to her sense of displacement.

  Och, but she was a bloody chicken heart, she chided herself. And sitting here wasn’t going to get her any nearer to her goal.

  So why couldn’t she make herself get up and go?

  She sat on her favorite log, and contemplated that very question.

  Without forewarning, My Love suddenly leapt up onto the log beside her and mewed in greeting.

  Seana gasped in startle, and only kept from scolding the imperious little beast for the sheer fact that the cat had never come so near as it was this instant. She held her breath, afraid to move even, lest the cat hiss at her in outrage and flee.

  Seana stared at the cat.

  My Love stared back, blinking up at her, and then dismissed her to gaze at the empty place where her da’s pot still had been.

  “Rotten cat,” she said, not quite able to allow herself to hope it had come to her out of any sense of kinship. For all Seana knew, it was just another way for the scraggy animal to try her nerves—to come so close and then to hie away, leaving her with her hand in mid air, spurned again.

  She turned away, determined to ignore it, but the wicked beast mewed and brushed against her leg. Seana peered down at it in surprise.

  Hesitantly, she reached out to place her hand atop its sleek black coat. My Love did not move, nor did she flee as was the usual case, and Seana found herself holding her breath as she stroked the cat’s back.

  “Well, I’ll be!” she declared, and grinned. My Love nuzzled her leg and Seana dared to lift the animal up into her arms, cuddling her.

  “Ohhhhhhh, my!” she exclaimed, overjoyed. “Oh My Love!” she cooed. “I knew ye’d come to me some day!” She truly did not know why she should feel so deliriously happy that the cantankerous beast had finally deigned to approach her, but she truly was.

  Despite all the times the silly beast had enraged her with its aloofness, she felt a surge of love for it. “My sweet Love,” she murmured joyfully, lifting the cat to her face, nuzzling it gently.

  She couldn’t wait to tell her da!

  “Soooo long I have waited to hold you!”

  Colin stopped cold at the sound of Seana’s voice.

  His heart sank into his stomach.

  He was too late.

  She had gone to Broc and Broc was no fool. How could he possibly turn his heart from Seana?

  “I knew ye’d come to me, someday,” he heard her say with a breathy sigh, and her voice came directly from beyond the brush where he stood.

  He listened for Broc’s voice, and didn’t feel the first inkling of relief when he didn’t hear it.

>   Gadamned bastard was probably nibbling at her throat like some bloody leech! He ought to put a fist against that bloody mouth!

  “Oohhhhhh,” he heard Seana exclaim, and he didn’t think, only reacted at the sound of it. He burst into the glade through the bushes, and tripped over the log where she sat.

  It landed him flat on his face.

  Seana shrieked in startle.

  There was a mew of outrage and something landed atop his head, scratching the devil out of him. It dug its claws into his brain, ready to leap away, but Colin yelped and turned, covering his face, rolling over the animal in his surprise. With a yowl, the beast freed itself and bounded away. Colin saw its black arse disappear into the brush and turned to look at Seana, bemused.

  She was standing there in shock, staring down at him.

  Colin stared back.

  It was a cat.

  A bloody cat!

  Relief surged through him. It wasn’t Broc.

  He couldn’t keep from grinning up at her in relief.

  “I’ll be damned,” was all he could think to say in that moment. He felt too giddy with relief even to be embarrassed that he was left with a mouth full of peat and bloody claw marks in his back.

  Seana turned to stare longingly at the bushes and bracken where the cat had vanished. Her gaze returned to him and her expression didn’t reveal the least bit of pleasure in seeing him.

  God’s truth, he didn’t even care about that.

  She wasn’t with Broc.

  “Och, Colin!” She cast her hands up into the air and spun away, obviously disgusted with him. “Look what ye’ve gone and done!” She sat again upon the log and set her elbows upon her knees, her face in her hands, and pouted beautifully. She cast him a harassed glance, and Colin would have laughed in sheer pleasure at the sight of her save that she might have swung her foot to kick him then, and he truly would have shriveled nuts.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, though he wasn’t even precisely certain what had happened, nor why she was so irritated with him—or for that matter what he should be sorry for. He couldn’t be more pleased with her this moment and his grin was insuppressible.