The Magnificent Rogue

by Iris Johansen

  “Where the devil are you going?”

  “I wonder if I can hear …” She threw open the window, and wild music drifted up to her from the glen below. “Yes, I can. Do you?”

  “The bagpipes?” He nodded. “Have you suddenly developed a liking for them?”

  She nodded dreamily as her gaze traveled over the men, women, and children still moving about in the torchlit glen. “When Gavin isn’t playing them. They’re part of Craighdhu.” She looked at him over her shoulder.

  And Robert was all of Craighdhu. He was the silences and the mysteries, the passions that excited her and the cozy fires that warmed her. She felt a surge of love for him so strong, it almost took her breath away. “Can’t you see that this is how it should be?”

  He didn’t answer, and she turned to face him, a touch of defiance in her stance. “I tell you, I was right to do this.”

  He smiled slowly and held out his hand. “Then come and do it again.”

  He would not admit this passion he had for her was not a mistake. Well, she mustn’t ask for too much. She had only begun and had already won a great deal tonight.

  She smiled as she started toward him, unconsciously keeping pace to the faint martial strains of the bagpipes drifting from the glen. “I intended nothing else.”

  At noon the next day Jock, Jean, and Gavin boarded the fishing boat that was to carry them to the coast of Ireland. Robert and Kate were at the dock to bid them good-bye.

  “May fortune bless you,” Kate said as she gave Gavin a hug. “Be careful.”

  “I will.” He turned to Robert. “I won’t tell you where we’re going. I want you to be able to tell Malcolm in all honesty that you’ve no knowledge of us.”

  “I would have no problem lying to Alec,” Robert said, then thrust out his hand and added gruffly, “Be careful, damn you. Don’t trust anyone.”

  “We won’t,” Jean said as she drew closer to Gavin. “Gavin has a trusting nature, but I’ve learned how men can become corrupted by fear. You’ll not hear from us for a long time, but I hope you won’t forget us. We do not wish this separation to last forever.”

  “Jeanie, no!” Gavin said. “You know we cannot come back to Craighdhu.”

  “We can,” Jean said as she met Robert’s gaze. “If he will let us.”

  Robert gazed at her a moment, then smiled faintly. “Perhaps. We will see what time brings.” He turned and took Kate’s elbow. “Good journey.”

  They stood watching on the dock as the ship sailed out of the harbor and put out to sea.

  “They look so happy,” Kate said wistfully. “I’ve never seen anyone as full of joy. Surely, God will protect them.”

  “Well, I’d bank more on Jock than any deity,” Robert said. “God sometimes forgets to keep an eye out for men like Alec Malcolm, but Jock never does.”

  “But Ireland should be safe?”

  “It would have been safer a year ago, before Alec had men in every town along the coast.” He saw the anxiety in her expression and said, “I won’t lie to you. Jock will find him the safest haven possible, but they will be in danger as long as Alec lives.” He frowned. “Stop looking like that. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “You didn’t frighten me. It just doesn’t seem fair that things are going so well for me and not for Gavin. This morning when I woke up, I felt so full of—” Love. No, it was too soon to tell him that. She substituted the word he would accept. “Hope.”

  He smiled. “Spring is the time for hope.”

  She shivered beneath the weight of her cloak. Last night on the green it had seemed much warmer, but it was always cold here at the dock. “It doesn’t feel like spring.”

  “Perhaps not to a puny Sassenach like yourself, but the sun is shining and the ground is warming. We may even have an early blooming of the heather.”

  She looked at him skeptically.

  “You don’t believe me?” He lifted her onto Rachel’s back. “Come, I’ll prove it to you.”

  Her spirits lifted higher when she saw the mischievous smile he gave her over his shoulder as he mounted his horse. “Where are we going?”

  “The barrens.”

  “But I have to go to the weavers and tell them—”

  “You’ve told them quite enough. I found out yesterday that I have a minor insurrection on my hands.”

  She glanced at him warily, but he was still smiling. “Well, you deserved it. Within four years our own people will be making the finest woolens in all of Scotland and Ireland.”

  “If you have your way.”

  “Why should I not have my way when the way is right … and profitable?”

  “A good question.”

  “And you won’t have to worry about a thing,” she said quickly. “Leave it all to me. I’ll take care of everything.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of. You obviously have a taste for running things. Who’s to say you won’t decide I’m dispensable to Craighdhu?”

  She gazed at him uncertainly. “You’re joking?”

  He chuckled. “Aye, I’m not afraid of being ousted by the clan. I believe I still have some small value in their eyes.”

  “They love you. I could never replace you.” She suddenly grinned. “But in a year you will not be able to replace me either. You’re right, I like running things.”

  “Well, you can forgo it for one day.” He turned his horse and nudged him into a gallop. “I want to show you something.”

  A short time later they had left the town behind them, but it was over an hour’s ride before they reached the northern tip of the island.

  He dismounted, helped her down, and then led her up the steep, sloping hill leading to the edge of the cliff. He pointed downward. “Spring.”

  Seals. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of seals moving on the black rocks below. Sparkling blue water washed against the dark rocks burnishing them to an onyx shimmer. Scarcely an inch of rock remained unoccupied by sleek brown-black bodies. Males and females, babies with big gentle eyes and sleek, soft coats, plunging into the water or basking lazily in the sunlight.

  Kate laughed in delight. “I wouldn’t think they would come back this early.”

  “They usually come a little later, but they’re good, hearty Scottish seals. Not at all like—”

  “Puny Sassenachs,” she finished. “They come here to give birth?”

  Robert nodded. “And to breed. The females birth and then mate only a few days later.”

  “And don’t give birth until the following year? That must mean they’re with child almost all the time.”

  “They don’t seem to mind.”

  “The babies are so sweet.” She watched two baby seals flopping after their mother, their grunts of protest sounding almost human when they couldn’t keep up with her. “Can we go down to them?”

  “Not unless you want considerable damage done to your enchanting person. The mothers are very protective.” His smile faded. “You know, when I come back from Spain, I wasn’t sure there was a God.”

  She looked at him, shocked. Even at the worst of times, she had never doubted the existence of a Supreme Being.

  “In this world where Protestants and Catholics are tearing each other apart, vying to find who can be crueler, it seemed unreasonable, if there was a God, that he would let that happen in His name.” He gestured to the scene of sea and earth and life below. “But that’s God, Kate. That’s the God that makes sense.”

  “Yes, that’s God.” She felt as if she were bursting with love for Robert at this moment. She loved the man of thought, the bold warrior, Gavin’s friend, her lover, every facet, every movement, every breath he took.

  He kept his eyes on the seals as he asked, “Do you ever dream anymore?”

  “Not since I came to Craighdhu.” She breathed in the salty air. “There’s magic here.”

  He turned to look at her.

  “Home,” she said simply. “I knew it the first moment I saw it.”

  “My God.” He
was silent a moment. “Then I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at your determination to stay here.”

  “I will stay here.”

  He shook his head. “It cannot be. I’m warning you, Kate, what ever happens between us, you cannot have Craighdhu.”

  “I’ll persuade you otherwise. You’re not usually so blockheaded. There’s no reason why we can’t live in harmony here.”

  “There’s every reason. Why the devil will you not—” He broke off as he saw the stubborn set of her chin. “Why am I wasting my breath?” He took her hand and turned her away from the cliff. “Let’s go back to the castle.”

  “Why? I like it here.”

  “We’ll come back another time.” He smiled crookedly. “It may be spring, but it’s too cold to take you on the ground, and I feel the need to have you demonstrate just how harmonious we can be together. I trust you have no objection?”

  She looked down at the baby seals on the rocks below. If all went well, God might grant her a babe herself by the time the seals came back next year. “No objection at all.”

  “You fool!” Alec snarled as his hand cracked against his son’s cheek. “Can I trust you for nothing?”

  Duncan fell to the stones of the courtyard, and before he could rise, Alec kicked him in the ribs. “I leave Kilgranne for only a short time, and you let this happen. How long has she been gone?”

  “Two weeks.” Duncan scrambled away from another kick and rose to his feet. “I couldn’t help it. Gavin snatched her away before we knew he was here.”

  Alec doubted the truth of his words. Duncan was soft as a woman where his sister was concerned. He would never have dared defy Alec if he’d been here at Kilgranne, but he was capable of working behind his back. “Where did he take her?”

  “How should I know?” Duncan asked evasively.

  “You should know because you should have pursued them,” Alec thundered. “But since you did not, I’m sure you’ve gathered rumors from the families in the glen. Did he take her to Craighdhu?”

  Duncan hesitated.

  “Duncan, I need an heir, so I cannot kill you, but I will make sure you do not rise from your bed for a month if you fail to answer me.”

  “They’re not at Craighdhu,” Duncan said reluctantly. “They were there only to wed before they moved on.” He added hastily, “Or so I hear.”

  “And what else do you hear?”

  “That they sailed from Craighdhu on a fishing boat the day after they wed.”

  “To what destination?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Alec believed him this time. Gavin was no fool and would not bandy about such news. But there were always ways to find out information. The MacDarren clan were closely linked to families here on the mainland as well as on the island itself. Someone would know.

  Someone would be persuaded to speak.

  And what then? It went without saying, the boy must be punished for his actions and his daughter learn the penalty of defiance. Dammit, if Gavin and Jean were still at Craighdhu, he might have had the opportunity to seize the prize fate had offered him, the prize that was now in Robert MacDarren’s possession. Since Robert had sent the newlyweds away, he had no excuse to call on James for help to invade Craighdhu, and the island was impregnable without the assault only the king could provide. Yet there must be some way he could use this temporary defeat to his advantage.

  He had only to seek it out.

  A glory of purple heather covered the slope leading to the edge of the cliff overlooking the barrens.

  Kate stared in wonder at the stunted growth that had been transformed from brown ugliness to a symphony of graceful lavender stalks.

  “Beauty to feed the soul,” she murmured. “I didn’t believe it when you told me.” She slipped down from Caird and ran up the slope. “It’s … wonderful.” She stood on the edge of the cliff and exultantly held out her arms and let the sun stream down on her, the scent of heather and sea surround her. “Dear God, I love this place.”

  “Well, don’t love it so much you fall off the cliff. You look like you’re going to take off and fly.”

  “I might. It’s a day bright enough for miracles.” She glanced back over her shoulder to find him still at the bottom of the hill quietly watching her. “Someday I might see if I can.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me if you could, if you willed it so.”

  “But isn’t it wonderful, Robert?”

  “Wonderful.” He smiled indulgently as he took a blanket from his pack and then followed her up the slope. “But then you find everything about Craighdhu wonderful.”

  “It is. And if you don’t see it, then you’ve become entirely too jaded and critical. It’s fortunate I’ve come to show you Craighdhu’s true worth.”

  “I’m humbly grateful for your condescension in doing so.” He spread out the blanket, then sat down beside her and looped his arms around his bare knees.

  He looked a barbaric, primitive figure, she thought contentedly, all gleaming bronze skin and tousled black hair. She loved him best like this, with no trace of the wary, cynical man she had first known. He had taken to wearing the kilt almost constantly during the two months since Gavin’s wedding and had shed his shirt during the ride to the barrens. She felt a sudden urge to touch him, to reach out and stroke the tight, corded muscles of his abdomen, but she restrained the impulse. Not yet. That would only lead to passion, and she wanted to savor this special moment. “And you’re never humble. I never saw a man with less doubt of his own self-worth.”

  “Your acquaintance with men has been very limited to date. I hardly think you’d say your Sebastian was lacking in self-esteem.”

  “True. But you Scots are far more arrogant. I’ve decided that it’s the primary trait of your nationality.”

  “Then, as the daughter of the queen of all the Scots, you should have more than your share.”

  Two months ago the mention of her mother would have sent a faint uneasiness through her, but nothing could disturb the euphoric state she was in today. “Oh, I do have my share of arrogance. But we women have need of that quality when men are constantly trying to subdue us. It’s our only way to survive.”

  “Your mother didn’t survive.”

  His tone was still casual, but she could detect the slightest hint of grimness and quickly directed their badinage in a more cheerful direction. “But Elizabeth has survived for over thirty years, and you say she’s the most arrogant woman on the face of the earth.”

  “Or in heaven or hell,” he said grimly.

  “Yet she tried to be kind to me.”

  “Not kind enough to make sure the guardian she chose was adequate for the task.”

  “You resent her still? I think you condemn her too harshly. She was only doing what she thought best for me.”

  “Elizabeth seldom considers the good of any individual when her own good or the good of her country is in the balance.”

  “Then you should approve of her. You said you would not follow my mother because she was a woman of impulse.”

  He scowled. “I do not approve of that red-haired bitch.”

  She had never seen him like this, she thought in amusement. He was like a sulky little boy. “Because she bested you and made you do her will.” She grinned. “But would you follow her in battle?”

  “I told you I fight only under Craighdhu’s banner.”

  “But if you had a common purpose? Would you?” she persisted.

  “Aye,” he growled.

  She clapped her hands in delight. “And you would not follow James, and he is a man. You see, arrogant women do have a place in the world.”

  “It’s not her arrogance, it’s her mind and will that have value.”

  “But how else could she prevail? Meekness does not serve a ruler well.”

  “I’m tired of this talk of Elizabeth.”

  Her lips twitched. “Because it reminds you of how she bested you?”

  He was suddenly straddling her, l
ooking down into her face. “You’re right,” he murmured silkily. “The thought of being bested arouses my temper and makes me want to dominate everything and everyone around me. Would you care to be dominated, Kate?”

  She frowned. “I’ve never liked it before.”

  “But I’d do it quite differently from your Sebastian. Let me try.”

  “Oh, very well. If you think I’ll enjoy it.” He had never done anything she did not enjoy. It was all pleasure and joy. Her hands slipped under his kilt to cup his hard buttocks in her palms. “I’ve decided I like this garment. It’s very convenient.”

  “I noticed you’ve found it so. I admit I’ve worn it more in the last month than ever in my life.” His lids half closed as he smiled wickedly down at her. “But then I could scarcely do anything else. I wouldn’t want your immodesty to go unmatched.”

  He meant the habit she had taken to of wearing a minimum of underclothing herself, as she wanted to make herself available to him at all times. She chuckled. “Well, you would not give me a kilt of my own.”

  “Because I didn’t want to let my clansmen know what an eager wife I have. It would only have made them unsatisfied with their own lot.” He leisurely unbuttoned her gown to the waist and then parted it to bare her breasts. “Aye, very eager.”

  Her breasts were beginning to tauten beneath his gaze. “Then do something about it,” she demanded.

  He shook his head. “I like to look at you.”

  From his position on top of her she was aware that he would like to do more than stare, but he sat there, unmoving, intent, watching her body ripen.

  “Oh, I like that,” he said softly. “What a woman you are. It takes only a look and you respond.”

  He swung off her and began to undress her, taking his time. She tried to help him, but he stopped her. “No, let me. I told you I was in the mood to dominate.”

  “How can you dominate, if you wait on me?” she scoffed.

  “By controlling the speed of the play.” He now had her naked except for her silk stockings and the leather garters that held them in place above the knee. He untied the garter on her right limb and began slowly to roll the stocking down her leg, his fingers trailing a feather-light path along the flesh of her thigh.