Bannockburn Binding (Beloved Bloody Time) (15 page)

Charbonneau realized Ryan was embarrassed.

Ryan stood up. “Welcome to the Agency, Charbonneau. Brenden and Justin will see to your training, with Pritti’s help. Brenden, we should accelerate the training where we can. Charbonneau is right. We are in need of travellers now and he knows French markers.” Ryan nodded to Charbonneau. “You’ll soon be earning your keep,
monsieur
.”

Chapter Eleven

The cot was tucked into a glen, with a stream running past it. Wildflowers growing amongst the reeds on the roof shone in the sun. It was quite a large building, considering the tiny one-room shacks that entire families lived in, elsewhere in the valleys. There were at least four windows, with actual glass in all of them, which was virtually unheard of here and now. Smoke curled up from the stone-built chimney. A large lean-to for farm animals hugged the northern wall, which would help insulate the building.

Despite the fear sitting deep at the back of her mind, Tally loved the place instantly. It looked cozy, homely and safe. The silence in the glen was broken only by the lowing of cows somewhere nearby and the quiet tread of the horses.

Rob halted his horse and caught at her reins to bring her alongside. “What do you think?” he asked.

“It looks wonderful,” she said truthfully. “And very quiet.”

He grinned and tugged both horses into motion again. “That was the idea.”

His abduction had been planned carefully and included a horse for Tally waiting in the next valley, with food in the saddlebag to keep her nausea at bay. A few hours of easy riding down into the lower valleys brought them to this glen.

“It even seems warmer here.”

“You’re a lot lower down here than that eagle’s perch you were in.” Rob slid from his horse, threw both reins over a rail and carefully helped Tally down to the ground. He kissed her before taking her hand and leading her inside.

The cot had five rooms that Natália could see, with the main room running the length of the front of it and four rooms leading off from it. The floor was solid wood. She had been expecting dirt. There was a good table and benches and a big stove glowing with embers.

A woman of mid-years was rising from the table where she had been peeling vegetables.

“This be Morag,” Rob told Tally. “She can neither read nor write and when she was a slip of a girl, the bloody English raped her and cut off her tongue so she could not accuse them of their crimes. Most in these parts think she’s a witch, but Morag has helped birth over one hundred babies and you’re more witch than she is. Morag is willing to help us, ‘til the babe is born…if you’ll be having her, that is.”

Morag was looking at Tally with wide, brown eyes. There was a calmness and confidence in them that helped still the last of Tally’s fear. “Yes, I would like that,” she told the woman. She looked at Rob. “Does this cottage belong to Morag, then?”

“It’s mine,” Rob said shortly, as Morag turned back to her vegetables. Then he grinned. “I told you I was kin to Robert the Bruce. These are my lands, given to me by the King. You have to start listening to me, woman. Especially if you are to obey my every word.”

“That’ll be the day,” she scoffed lightly.

He picked up her hand, his expression sobering. “I know you can speak to your friends, even from here. I know you could call for them if you wanted to and they could appear here instantly. I’m asking you not to, Tally. Leave them be. Let us be together for as long as we can. Then, when the babe is born…” He took a breath. “Then I’ll let you go.”

Tears pricked her eyes, for she could see the effort it took for him to make that promise. “I’ll stay as long as I can.”

He nodded. “If something does go wrong, something that even Morag cannot fix, then your army of experts can come. They can do that, can’t they? Jump here?”

“It would be no matter for them to jump here from the monastery,” she assured him. “They can be on standby if I tell them to be.”

“Good.” He slid an arm around her waist. “Then I have one last condition.” He glanced at Morag.

Morag moved with silent dignity to the last door along the wall and disappeared behind it. She shut the door softly.

Tally wound her arms around Rob’s neck, already responding to the pressure of his big warm body against hers. “Name your condition,” she coaxed, her mind more than half occupied with wondering what Rob had planned for the next hour or so.

“You must reach out to Lee and bring him here,” Rob told her. “And only Lee.”

Tally’s arms loosened. She stepped back, forcing Rob to let go of her. “You called him Lee.”

“He told me to.” Rob stood with his arms hanging loosely at his sides, quite calm. His blue eyes were watching her, but they held no strong emotion.

Tally cleared her throat. “Lee told me you kissed him.”

“Ah…” Rob smiled. “Now I understand your worry.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Overwhelming gratitude tends to make a man emotional. Lee showed me the way to solve this dilemma we’re all in, Tally. He gave me the clue.”

“He did?”

“That is why he must be here until the baby is born. That and he has enough medical knowledge to watch over you. There should be at least one expert on hand.” He grinned. “And
only
one.” Again, he stroked her cheek, but made no move to draw her close to him again. “Besides, he is your friend, too, Tally. Would you really deny him this time with you, back in the past, as humans?”

She bit her lip. “He told you about…that?”

Rob nodded.

“But…” She took a breath. “Do you understand how that might tempt us, Rob? Feelings and emotions are so much stronger back here in the past that we might find it overwhelming.”

“Is that why you have refused to travel back with him before now?” Rob asked.

Tally nodded. “It would confuse things between us if we were to give into temptation in the past. With Lee, I knew I would find him too difficult to resist.”

Rob picked up her hand. “Let’s just take it a day at a time, Tally. Trust me. This will all work out.”

He spoke so firmly, so convincingly, that Tally was inclined to believe him purely by his words alone. But she could see no clear path ahead and it scared her.

“Call for Lee,” Rob told her softly. “He’ll be worried by now that you haven’t returned from your walk.”

Tally hesitated. “Rob, are you sure?” she whispered.

He kissed her and Tally’s eyes closed and her mind shut down as her body melted against him. She clung to him, more than ready for Rob to do any wicked thing he wanted to. “More,” she begged as he lifted his lips away.

“Call for Lee first,” he told her. “You need a doctor nearby. I won’t risk you or the babe.”

She sighed and cleared her mind, then reached for Lee, thinking of his face and eyes and body, and the particular mental signature that was his.

She felt his shock and delight at her touch and his underlying concern for her.

For Rob’s benefit, she articulated her side of the conversation.

“I’m safe, Lee. Rob has a new home for us to live in until the baby is born. One that is just for us. No one from our time is allowed.”

She felt Lee’s outrage and fear bloom.

“No one but you, Lee,” she added. “Rob wants you to join us here. To watch out for me and the baby.”

Silence. There were traces of puzzlement. Concern. A ripple of pleasure. But Lee was shielding his primary reaction from her. It was the first time Tally had ever felt anyone do that. She hadn’t known it was even possible to shield feelings from someone in your mind.

Show me where I am to come to
, Lee said, articulating his thought.

Tally looked around the room. “There is not enough open space here. Is one of the other rooms empty? He needs room in case he lands wide.”

Rob pointed to the door at the opposite end of the cottage to the one Morag had slipped behind. Tally opened the door. The room beyond was small, but it was empty, which would give Lee the space he needed.

Tally touched Lee’s mind again as she studied the room. She thought of the outside of the cottage, the valley it was in and the way they had come to get here from the monastery. Then she focused on the room again, on little details, building up the complete picture.

I have it. Stand back.

Tally stepped out of the room, but left the door open. Rob came up behind her.

A few seconds later, Lee appeared, standing almost on the same spot as Tally had been standing. He looked around, then turned to face the door. “You draw good images,” he told Tally. His gaze lifted and focused on Rob. “Well, I am here.” He lifted the pack he was carrying. “I brought some medical supplies just in case, but I can always go back for more. I warned everyone else to stay away. Do you have any further orders?”

Rob snorted. “It’s your fault, this. Being surly won’t change that fact.” His hand slid around Tally’s waist, comforting, heavy and familiar.

Lee moved through the door out into the main room and dumped the pack on the table, his cloak swirling around his ankles. “I said don’t lose hope, you great fucking idiot. I didn’t say go off on some hare-brained scheme to rearrange the world as you know it.”

“I’m following my ambition,” Rob said placidly.

Tally looked up at him, puzzled. What on earth was he talking about? Clearly, this was a conversation she had to be filled in on. “Rob?”

Lee turned to face them squarely, anger making his eyes narrow and his jaw clench. “Scaring the crap out of Tally for a week is following your ambition? Running away to some little glen in the middle of nowhere and hiding away from the world is your version of solving this?”

Rob patted Tally’s hip before dropping his hand from her waist. He stepped forward, took Lee’s face in his hands and kissed him, his lips firm and full on Lee’s mouth.

Tally caught her breath, her heart labouring with shock…and a swiftly built, powerful arousal as she watched the two men together. Neither of them was attempting to halt the kiss. It lingered and stretched as her body throbbed.

Until finally, Rob lifted his lips away and let his hands drop. Lee stood, breathing heavily, watching Rob with his eyes wide.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” Rob told him.

“Ah, fuck,” Lee shot a guilty glance at Tally. He sat heavily on the end of the bench and put his head in his hands.

Tally felt like her feet were frozen to the floorboards. Events were moving too fast for her to keep up with. She needed a map, or careful explanation. She needed a traveller of her own to interpret what was happening.

But underneath her confusion, in her heart, she knew. She just wasn’t sure she was ready to accept it yet.

Lee lifted his head from his hands. “I need a moment. Where am I…where’s my room?”

“Either of those doors,” Rob said, pointing to the remaining two doors in the middle of the long wall. “Pick one.”

Lee took six long strides toward the nearest door and pushed it open with a thrust of his shoulder. He came to a halt two paces inside the door. “What the fuck!” he exclaimed. “Is this a joke, highlander?”

Rob settled his ass against the table, his long legs stretched out over the bench. “No,” he said simply.

Tally finally stirred herself. She moved up behind Lee and slipped around him, into the room.

The two doors opened onto the same big room. Rob had obviously spent the last week tearing down the common wall of two smaller rooms to make one large room. In the middle of that large room was a very large bed covered in furs and a quilt made of glowing colours.

The bed was big enough for three, at least.

Tally clutched at her chest as her heart slammed up against her ribcage. She turned her head to look at Lee. It felt like her neck was full of metal parts grinding on each other as she moved. Her shock was mirrored on Lee’s face.

Lee turned and stalked out of the room and Tally moved slowly after him. Lee stood in front of Rob. “Were you planning on asking anyone if they wanted this, highlander?”

“Want what?” Rob replied.

Lee growled.

Rob held up his hand, his palm toward Lee. “Hear me out before you shed blood, vampire.”

Lee curled his hands into fists. “Speak.”

Rob held his hand out toward Tally. “You must hear this, too. And you must choose, as well.”

Tally took his hand and settled herself on the table beside him. Rob didn’t let go of her hand, but he looked at Lee, who still vibrated with anger. “I tried to give you my child, nine nights ago. You were right to accuse me of giving up, then.”

Tally caught her breath and felt Rob’s hand squeeze hers. He glanced at her quickly, but returned his gaze to Lee. Lee was the key to this—whatever
this
was, that Rob had in mind.

Tally suspended judgement and waited. She said she would trust Rob. She had to let this play out.

“Are you trying to give me your child again?” Lee asked dryly.

“Yes,” Rob said simply.

Tally couldn’t help it. The smile formed on her lips all by itself. There was such
symmetry
to the idea. Lee’s gaze flickered over to her, then came back when he saw her smile.