Derric dismounted, patting his horse as he led him to the burn. When he came up next to Dyna’s horse, he said, “You did a fine job, Mid-Four,” he said, leaning over to whisper in the beast’s ear. “You were right. ’Twas Alex Grant.”
Dyna snorted. “Are you not a big soft one around horses. How did I never notice before? What else do I not know about you, Corbett?”
He stepped so close that she thought he was about to kiss her, but instead he leaned into her ear. “You’ll learn someday how I can make you scream my name with desire.”
That deserved another snort from her along with a snicker. “You cannot wait to prove yourself, can you?”
He smiled, kissed her cheek and moved over to the burn to wash his face. “You have a fine horse, Diamond, if he could pick up a man’s scent that easily.”
She leaned against a tree and slowly nodded, staring at her beloved horse who picked his head up to nicker as if to give his own input into the conversation. “But now that I think on it, Mid-Four probably smelled Grandsire’s scent at the overlook. I’ll bet he and Loki met there to talk. ’Tis Loki’s favorite spot, too. When he was young, they’d have to drag him away from there.”
Derric fussed over the two beasts a bit more before giving her his full attention. “Bloody hell, but the power you cousins carry is a sight to see.”
“I wish I could see it again from a different vantage point. It never lasts for long,” she muttered. Then she shook her head. “I still can’t believe that I failed Grandsire.”
“How is it that you failed him?” He stood in front of her and brushed the back of his fingers across her cheek, her gaze locked on his.
“I was the one who knew he was in trouble. Do you not recall we were the ones who left Bruce’s camp first? I should have been able to catch Busby. Stop the bastard from taking him.” She massaged her forehead, sick with worry. Why hadn’t she anticipated that Busby would ride off with him? “He’s still out there with that sheriff.”
“Do you not recall that Loki stopped you?”
She hadn’t thought of that, but Derric was right. “True, but I still failed him. I—”
Dyna stopped, her eyes wide. They weren’t alone. Turning around, she heard another sound. She held a finger to her lips to tell Derric to stay quiet.
No one from the clan would be out here, they were too far outside the gates. She grabbed her bow and started to stalk away from the burn.
“Diamond?” Derric whispered, but she waved him back.
Then she saw him.
A gray-haired man ran away from them, climbing onto his horse’s back and heading in the opposite direction. Dyna ran back and leaped on her beast. “Sorry, Mid-Four,” she said, “but we have someone to chase after.”
“Who?” Derric shouted as he jumped on his horse to follow.
She yelled back to him over her shoulder. “My guess is that we’ve found my sister’s stalker.”
She pushed her horse and, to her surprise, caught up with the vagrant quickly. A few moments later, Derric appeared on the man’s other side.
He was an old man with long gray hair and a gray beard, something that she hadn’t expected at all. He had a decent mount so she guessed he wasn’t a reiver.
So who the hell was he?
The man looked from Dyna to Derric and wisely slowed his horse, coming to a stop between the two.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Dyna shouted.
The man was breathing too hard to answer. He didn’t speak quickly enough for her so Dyna reached over for the reins of his horse and said, “Fine. We’ll see what the Grant lairds think of you. And you better hope you’re not the man who’s been watching us.”
The man’s shoulders slumped, but he still didn’t say a word.
“What’s your name?”
He didn’t answer, just stared straight ahead.
“Answer me, fool,” Dyna commanded.
“I’ll not answer anyone until I see your laird and the mistress.”
“What do you want with the laird?” If she had her way, she’d slap the man until he spit out everything he knew.
The man stared straight ahead, and Derric said, “You best answer her or you’re about to feel the point of my sword, old man.”
Never looking at them, he muttered, “I’m on Grant land. One of the lairds is Connor Grant and his wife is Sela and they have a daughter named Claray. I came to see Sela. They know me.”
Dyna gasped. Claray hadn’t been imagining the man, after all. She’d always hoped her sister would be able to forget about the spiders one day. That she would find a man to marry so she could have bairns of her own. But the memories raged in her mind, tormenting her at unexpected times.
“You’ve been spying on my family!” she said. “I’ll pin you to a tree by your bollocks for hurting my sister.”
He offered neither a denial nor a retort, and Dyna felt a sudden gush of elation. Claray wasn’t as sick as she’d feared, and she’d actually caught her sister’s tormentor. When she made it to the gates, she said to the guards, “Open up. I have Claray’s stalker.”
Her prisoner said nothing, allowing her to lead the man into the keep. They rode past the stables, across the famous Grant courtyard, through the bailey, and came to a stop directly in front of the steps. Her sire appeared in front of her, Alasdair and Els behind him. “What the hell, daughter? Who is this man?”
“This is the man Claray saw watching her. I caught him on the edge of our land, and he says he knows you and Mama.”
Connor Grant stared at the man. “Your name?”
“I’d like to see your mistress first. Then I’ll give you my name.”
“Papa, don’t listen to him. Bring Claray out, see if she recognizes him.”
The man stared at Connor. “I met you once. You were on the way to Lochluin Abbey when I caught up with you. I came back to advise you that Hord had found his way back and was after Sela.”
Something flickered in her sire’s eyes, but he gave no indication that he believed the man. “Get him down,” he said to Alasdair. “You and Els will guard him in the great hall, and I’ll send for Sela and Claray.”
“My thanks to you,” the older man said. “’Tis all I want.”
“I’ll keep my eye on you the whole time,” Dyna said, following her cousins as they escorted the man inside the keep. “I won’t let you get away with anything.” She would have argued with her sire that no additional escort was needed—that she could handle the situation given she’d found the man and brought him in—but a part of her knew he’d made the right decision.
She was too emotional. Too personally invested in the matter.
As she followed the others inside, Derric came up behind her, his hand on the small of her back. “Diamond, why don’t you allow your sire to take charge?” he said softly. “He’s laird, is he not?”
She glared at him but closed her mouth.
Her father, who had hung back to allow the lads to escort the stranger in first, said, “You’ve chosen a wise man, daughter. I know you think you’re doing what’s right, but you don’t understand the situation. Allow your mother to offer her opinion.”
They stepped inside the keep and her father sent all the servants out, asking one of them to fetch her mother and Claray.
Connor Grant questioned the man again while the servant left to retrieve them.
“Why are you here?”
The man nodded to the laird and said, “Forgive me, my lord, but I’m an old man. Before I leave this land, I had to make sure they were safe and well. I didn’t wish to bring up any bad memories or cause trouble. I was planning to leave on the morrow. You’ve taken good care of Sela and Claray. ’Twas all I wanted to know. If I could just speak with Sela, ’tis my only request. I promise I’ll take my leave after that.”
Dyna listened but couldn’t make any sense of his words. This man had implied he was from her mother’s past, yet to her knowledge, all of the men who’d ha
rmed and manipulated her mother were dead. So who was this man?
Her mother appeared at the balcony with Claray, and her sister let out a scream, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. When she recovered a wee bit, she pointed at the gray-haired man.
“’Tis him! Mama, ’tis the man I saw outside the gates. He was watching me. Mama…”
Sela Grant squared her shoulders as she peered down at the intruder. “Stay here,” she said to Claray, squeezing her shoulder. Then she descended the stairs, as regal as any queen in her castle, her blue gown trailing behind her. Her eyes never left the intruder.
When her feet met the bottom of the staircase, she stopped, still staring at the man.
“Sela, I just had to see how you were,” the old man said. Tears fell down his cheeks. “See if dear Claray was hale. I’ll pass on soon, but I had to know.”
Sela strode over to stand in front of him. “Vern?” she asked, her voice revealing that she did, in fact, know him.
He nodded. “You’re as beautiful as ever, my lady.”
Dyna watched in mute shock as her mother reached for her father’s arm. “This is Vern. He’s the man who protected Claray when Hord kept her captive.” She reached up to cup the old man’s cheek. “He kept an eye on her and always let me know how she was doing.”
Connor nodded. “I thought I recognized him, but I needed to hear it from you.” He turned to a serving lass and said, “Get a trencher and an ale for our guest.”
Claray crept down the steps, her eyes on Vern, her hands not releasing their tight grip on the railing. Tears poured down her cheeks as she made her way over to him. She came to a stop a few steps behind Sela, her hand on their mother’s elbow. “Mama?”
Dyna couldn’t watch any more. “Mama, this man has been watching Claray. Mayhap he was going to kidnap her, steal her away from you. He’s guilty of causing her many sleepless nights.” Horrified that her parents were welcoming this vagrant into their home, her voice reached a feverish pitch she didn’t even recognize. “The nightmares came back, she thought the spiders were back.”
The look in her mother’s eye—her look of ice, or so Dyna’s father had always called it—stopped her mid-sentence. Her mother never looked at her like that. She stepped back until her legs hit a bench at the trestle table.
“Dyna, this man saved me from death, and he saved your sister from Hord. If not for Vern, we would not be here, you would not be here.”
Vern’s gaze shot from Dyna to Sela and then settled on Claray. “I just wanted to know that you were both hale. I’m sorry, Claray, if I frightened you. I didn’t realize you’d seen me. I didn’t think you’d remember me. You were so young when Hord held you captive.” He moved to a chair and sat down, his breathing labored. “They told me I have less than six moons before I pass, that I should take any last journeys now. I had to see you, Sela. I should have come to the door, but I meant what I said. I didn’t wish to upset anyone.”
Dyna fell onto the bench beneath her, so confused she didn’t know what to think. Had she gotten everything wrong again? Dyna wasn’t used to her impulses steering her wrong, but that’s all they seemed to do lately.
Claray reached for the old man’s hand. “I remember your voice.” She looked at her mother and said, “’Tis not a clear memory, but there’s something about his voice that is soothing.”
“Because they kept you from your mama, and I often rocked you to sleep. I’ll leave you now. I’ve seen what I needed to. Claray, you are a beautiful lass, and I hope you’ve been able to get past all that happened to you. I did what I could to help you both.”
Her father pulled out a chair and said, “Nay, Vern, you’ll stay the night with us. Welcome to Clan Grant. I’m grateful to you for all you did for my family, and for telling me about Hord. I made sure the bastard would never torture Sela or Claray again.”
Suddenly, it was all too much. Dyna had made a mistake, and her grandsire was still missing, and apparently the only person she’d saved Claray from was someone who was fond of her. Emotions rushed through her, bubbling over, and tears streamed down her face. She sobbed and sobbed because all her efforts had come to naught. She hadn’t saved anyone.
Derric strode over and lifted her into his arms, and she buried her face into his shoulder. He carried her to the door of the keep, but he stopped on the threshold and said, “Dyna, your sire is here and would like to speak with you.”
She lifted her head from Derric’s shoulder and looked at her sire. “I’m sorry, Papa.”
“For what? You’ve done naught wrong. I think you’re exhausted. Derric, take her up to her chamber and she can sleep.”
“Nay,” Dyna said, gripping Derric’s arm. “I’d rather sleep under a tree outside the gates. Please, Papa. I cannot be in here right now.”
“As you wish. Take care of her, Corbett. I’ve sent three patrols out, and we’ll be sending several more patrols for my sire in the morn. Rest up, Dyna. We need you.”
Once they were near the stables, Dyna said, “Derric, take me away from here.”
He lifted her onto a fresh mount, grabbed the reins of another horse that had already been saddled, and mounted behind her. Alasdair waved them on.
They rode out through the gates and headed off Grant land.
Dyna said, “Find me a place to sleep, then I’m going after Grandsire.”
“I had a feeling that’s what your plan was, Diamond.”
“I failed my sister, but I’ll not fail my grandfather. I cannot wait until morn.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Derric found a spot under a tree and placed several furs under it, settling Dyna on it. She fell asleep before he finished settling the horses.
He sighed, staring at the lass he loved, a feeling so deep and all-encompassing he could scarcely believe it. Right now, she was too exhausted and heart-sore to recognize what she’d accomplished by finding Claray’s stalker. The situation may not have been what she’d expected, but she’d allowed her sister to put a crushing fear behind her, plus she’d forced Vern to reveal himself, something he clearly hadn’t intended to do.
If he were to guess, Dyna was probably more upset about the look her mother had given her in the hall. They’d sort it out—he’d never seen a closer and more loving family than the Grants. The bigger question, for him, was why Connor had given Derric leave to take Dyna outside the gates.
But he thought he might know the answer to that, too. Knowing Dyna as he did, Connor had likely known damn well that she would get up in the middle of the night and go after her grandsire. By encouraging Derric to escort her, he’d guaranteed there would be at least one person to assist her.
Connor Grant was a wise man.
And he hoped he would have the chance to ask the man if he had his approval to marry his daughter. That is, if Dyna agreed. She was a stubborn lass.
He fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Less than an hour later, he awakened feeling an arousal stronger than anything he’d ever experienced. He looked down, surprised to see a hand had snaked underneath his trews and was stroking him.
Dyna gave him a wicked smile when he looked up at her. “Diamond, if you keep that up, we’ll finish. This will not be one-sided either. You will finish.”
She let her hand drop from his hardened sex and removed her tunic, tossing it off to the side. Moonlight bathed her breasts in a soft glow, and he couldn’t stop himself for reaching for her, but she stepped back.
“You’re a tease, are you?”
She smiled and slid her leggings down over her legs with a wriggle, turning sideways to give him a tantalizing view of her bottom before she stepped out of her clothing, now gloriously nude.
He was out of his trews in a second, and he whipped off his tunic and tugged her close, wrapping his arms around her so they were skin to skin. “So you wish to finish this, lass?”
“Aye, I do. I love you, Derric Corbett, and I wish to be with you always. Handfast with me?” she said, r
unning her hands across his bulging biceps.
“I thought the man was supposed to ask the woman to marry. Or are you balking convention again?”
She grinned. “You did not answer. Accept or reject my proposal first.”
“Naught would please me more. Will you marry me, Dyna Grant?”
“Aye. It is done. Now finish this.”
His lips captured hers in a searing kiss, his tongue parting her lips so he could taste all of her. Groaning, he pulled back. “Bloody hell, Diamond. You’re enough to drive a man daft. Do you know how many times I’ve thought of this? Thought of how I hurt you, how I wronged you?”
“’Tis as I said. You didn’t wrong me.”
“But—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “I want you. Now.”
He smoothed a plaid on the ground, and she lowered herself onto it, bringing him with her. Derric was on top of her, but he hadn’t settled himself between her thighs yet. Determined to give her pleasure first, he whispered, “I promise you’ll not want to push me away this time. It should not hurt.”
“Derric, I need to see this finished. I need to know what ’tis like.”
He kissed her again, slanting his mouth over hers, then he trailed a line of kisses down her neck to her breast, suckling one and kneading the other as she arched against him.
Her hands roamed his body, his buttocks, his hips, his upper arms, something he found highly arousing. Her need was as great as his, which gave him an idea—he rolled onto his back and settled her on top. She stared down at him for a moment, questioning his move. “Diamond, you’ll be in control.”
“But I don’t know what to do.”
“You’ll figure it out. Kiss me,” he said, his hand going to the vee between her legs, pleased to find her slick with need already. He thrust a finger inside her liquid heat and swallowed her gasp. He couldn’t stop from moaning as her passion reached a feverish pitch from his caresses. His hands found her backside and caressed her there as he eased her over him.
The Scot's Quest (Highland Swords Book 4) Page 17
