Flame (18 page)

Her dark blue eyes flashed at him as she
realized the futility of her actions, and she crossed her arms over
her breasts.

“So you have come back.”

“I told you I would.”

His eyes again wandered lingeringly over her
body.

“But I don’t want you to assume...” she
started quickly. “I mean, since I have come back tonight...”

Even her voice had the husky resonance of
some rare, unworldly creature. She was like some fine angel sent to
watch over the night dwellers of this dangerous and uncertain
world, Gavin thought, waiting for her to continue.

Obviously frustrated, she let out a long
breath and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “‘Tis
just what happened between us last night. I don’t want you to
think...”

“You don’t want me to think that I owe my
life to you!”

She nodded, and then shook her head. “Nay,
that’s not it at all.”

Gavin continued unperturbed. “And you don’t
want me to think that I should expect you to watch over me.”

She shook her head again. “I did not mean any
of that. I meant...”

“Oh, so I
do
owe my life to you and
you
will
watch over me and protect me,” he teased.

Joanna looked at him through slitted eyes.
She was quick to rile, Gavin recalled, thinking of their short
encounter last night. He liked that in her.

“That was not what I was about to say. You
are putting words in my mouth.”

“Then why not tell me what exactly was on
your tongue?” A bonny shade of pink had now settled on her
cheeks.

“I was...I am trying, but you keep
interrupting me.”

Gavin started toward her. “I promise to not
interrupt. Please continue.” She was watching him suspiciously as
he moved around her to the closed panel, coming close enough to her
that his arm brushed softly against her shoulder.

Checking to see that the secret door was
securely closed, Gavin turned and glanced at her slender shoulders
and straight back. More than anything else right now, he just
wanted to reach for her, turn her in his arms, and feel her lips
beneath his. As if reading his mind, she looked quickly over her
shoulder, giving him a withering scowl. He shot a smile at her in
return before moving away from the panel.

“You were saying?” he asked, walking toward
the small table that was spread with food. Gavin had used the
ordeal of the previous night as an excuse for retiring to his
chamber as the visiting bard had begun to sing what was sure to be
a long tale of the ancient Celtic hero, Cuchulain. Gavin’s guest,
the Earl of Athol, had seemed to take no offense at his host’s
decision. Striding out of the Hall, Gavin had sent Peter in with a
word to the cook to have some food sent up to his chamber.

And the cook had done as she was told,
providing a formidable spread of meat, fish, breads, sweetmeats,
and wine. But now, looking at the candles already half burnt in
length, Gavin realized that had been hours ago. Joanna had taken
her time in coming.

He glanced back at her and found her
attention focused on the table filled with food. Lifting the covers
off the dishes, he breathed in the aromatic scents of food that
immediately filled the room.

“Since you no longer recall your earlier
concerns, would you do me the honor of joining me for a bit of
supper?”

Joanna lifted her eyes slowly from the food
and stared into his face. “You need not have gone to all this
trouble just to question me. I have come back here of my own free
will, and with the intention of telling you whatever you wish to
know.” The young woman hesitated. “Though I am certain you will not
like nor believe some of what I have to say.”

Gavin was not quite ready to engage her in an
argument over Mater, so he stood behind a chair and waited. “But I
did go through to ‘all this trouble,’ and our supper is waiting. So
why not join me?”

“And your questions?” she asked, gnawing her
lip.

“Trust me, I shall not forget them.”

“And...” She held her chin high. “And is
there something else?”

He gazed at her with raised brows, shaking
his head questioningly.

“You know what I am speaking of. Beyond just
the answers to your questions!”

“You mean in exchange for this food?”

She nodded, and a smile tugged at the corner
of his mouth.

“Do you truly think me such a brute, Joanna?”
He gave the table a reproachful glance. Then, he let his eyes
travel the length of her appraisingly, noting how her body grew
even more tense beneath his scrutiny. Suddenly, he shook his head
determinedly. “Never!”

“Now, if this were food from the kitchens of
my cook at Ferniehurst Castle--or even a dish served at Ambrose and
Elizabeth Macpherson’s...”

As he’d hoped, at the mention of those names
from her past, Joanna brightened immediately. “Do you know
them?”

He stared at her, mesmerized by the radiance
that emitted from her. This was the first time she had smiled since
he had seen her, and suddenly she lit up the chamber.

“They happen to be my closest friends,” he
answered finally. “In fact, I might say that they are the
only
friends I have.”

“Then you must be quite difficult to get
along with!” She frowned. “Are you?”

“Considering the fact that we’ve only
recently met, I would be a great fool to answer such a question,
would I not?” Gavin pulled the chair back and made a courteous bow,
inviting her to sit. “Why not keep my company during this dinner
and then decide for yourself about my...suitability as a
companion.”

She started across the room and then
hesitated, studying him with a somewhat guarded expression. Then,
at last resolving the issue that was holding her back, she nodded
and closed the distance between them.

Gavin didn’t realize that he had been holding
his breath until she began to sit. Watching the soft, golden braid
that now trailed down her back, the span of creamy skin showing
above the neckline of her dress, the Lowlander openly admitted to
himself that learning the truth about the past six months was not
the only thing on his mind.

“I hope you are not planning on standing
behind me while I eat!”

“I...well…I plan to do no such thing,” he
said as casually as he could, taking his own seat beside her. His
knees brushed against her skirt, and he noticed how quickly she
adjusted herself in her chair, moving it until a discreet distance
existed between them. Then she turned her deep blue eyes back to
his face. He flushed, suddenly feeling again like a lad at the
abbey school, and the thought raced through him that a man could
happily drown in the depths of those eyes.

“So you know the Macphersons?” Her question
was punctuated by a growling noise from her stomach that had the
sound of a charging boar.

As the color abruptly rose in her face, Gavin
was reminded of the sight of wild flowers in an open field. A noisy
open field, he thought wryly, but a bonny one, nonetheless.

“Aye, I have known the family for many
years.” He turned to the food and began to serve her. “Though I
must admit that Ambrose was the one who introduced me to the rest
of the family.” Placing a heaping trencher before her, Gavin next
reached for the pitcher and filled their cups with wine. She stared
at the food but hesitated to start, so Gavin reached for a piece of
bannock cake and tore it, handing her half. This was all the
encouragement Joanna needed.

“And you?” he probed.

“I have only had the pleasure of getting to
know Elizabeth and Ambrose.” She paused and closed her eyes after
she took the first bite. The expression of pure pleasure on her
face made Gavin envy the food she ate. With the longing of a
pauper, he watched her full lips pause as she savored each bite
before taking the next. What he wouldn’t give to have those lips
against his.

By His Wounds, Gavin thought with a start, if
he didn’t say or do something to distract himself from this line of
thinking, he would be hauling her on his lap in a moment.

“You...” he stumbled, searching for something
to say. “You never met Alec Macpherson and his wife Fiona at
court?”

She opened her eyes and glanced at him with
some embarrassment. “I am sorry, what was it that you asked?”

“I said I...I wondered that you were not one
of the legion of women at court who spent their time mooning over
John Macpherson.”

The severity of her scowl almost made him
laugh. “This was not what you said! You said something about
Ambrose’s older brother and his wife!”

“So you did hear me! And yet you pretended to
be lost on the moor somewhere.”

“I was just testing your honesty,” she
replied casually, turning her attention back to the food before
her. “And your temperament.”

Gavin leaned back and watched her with
amusement as she started again on the supper. “So I failed!”

“Aye, miserably,” she answered, swallowing a
mouthful. “But I’ll disregard it this time and give you another
chance.”

He gave her a bow of the head. “And I will
take that chance!”

Joanna gave him a small smile as she took a
sip of wine from her cup.

The warrior felt the hunger stirring within
him, but he knew that food would offer no remedy for it. His eyes
brushed over the soft lines of her throat. He could see the flicker
of her pulse beneath the ivory skin. Clenching his jaws together,
Gavin leaned back and crossed his arms over his massive chest,
watching her as she continued to eat.

“So back to my question,” he probed, reaching
over and lifting his cup of wine. “About the Macphersons.”

“Aye, I met Fiona and Alec, but only once, at
Elizabeth’s studio. And nay, I never mooned over John Macpherson.
But then again, I never met him, and I know many who do
think...highly of him.” She raised a brow and looked seriously into
his face. “Now that you mention it, I must say that Ambrose failed
me in not introducing me to his younger brother, the good Lord of
the Navy, when there was a chance. But if he had...and if he be
anywhere near as handsome as his two older brothers...” Joanna
gazed at him with the innocence of a lamb. “Who knows, perhaps I
might
have joined the moonstruck legions at his feet.”

Gavin glared at her for a moment. “You have a
devil in you, Joanna MacInnes.”

“And you seem to bring it out in me.”

“I asked a simple question.”

“Aye, a question tainted with your mischief.
You deserve worse than you received.”

“Humph,” he snorted. “To be told a
Highlander, particularly one as ugly as John Macpherson...not that
I do not feel a fondness for his family...well, to be told that the
lout is
handsome
...!” He looked at her with shock. “If you
are implying that he is superior to...”

“You just have to learn to accept your
flaws.” She patted his arm gently with a bandaged hand. “But, being
a Lowlander and a Border man, to boot, you surely must be
accustomed to such comparisons.”

Gavin growled at her, and Joanna quickly
snatched her hand away.

“Well, perhaps I shouldn’t be so harsh. I
shall try, in the future, to be more gentle.”

With a pitying look, she hid a smirk as she
turned her attention back to her food.

She had a sense of humor. She had charm. And
she had beauty. By His Wounds, Gavin thought, what had she been
doing locked away in these vaults for the past six months? Add
those qualities to the wealth she brought to a marriage, and she
became the kind of woman that men fought over, so often to the
death. Men with power and wealth of their own--men like Athol and
Gordon. Perhaps men like himself, Gavin admitted grudgingly. But
never before, he added quickly, had he ever had the inclination or
the desire to pursue any woman.

Well, not for the purpose of marriage, he
thought wryly, his eyes once again taking in her perfect features,
her stunningly feminine form. But though Joanna brought out the
deepest feelings of lust in him, already he felt that there was
something more in this woman, this almost otherworldly creature
whose very portrait had captivated him. He had only kissed her
once, and yet some insatiable thirst had plagued him since, a
whispering in his brain telling him over and over that he must have
her. That he
would
have her. Not simply tonight or tomorrow,
but for a time beyond the present--perhaps far beyond the here and
now.

Joanna looked up for a moment, and he found
himself again drowning in the violet blue of her eyes. For perhaps
the first time in his life, Fortune had condescended to smile on
him, in bringing Joanna into his life. Something deep inside
him--something he had felt stirring from the moment he had first
laid eyes on her portrait--was telling him that he had been brought
to the Highlands for a purpose. Now more than ever, Gavin felt the
certainty that he and Joanna had been brought together for a
greater design than just bringing justice to those who had murdered
her parents.

He took a deep breath and wondered if he
should dare hope for such a blessing.

“‘Tis quite unusual,” she said quietly,
looking up and catching his eyes again. “I mean you from the
Borders, being so friendly with a Highland clan!”

“Well, my ancestry is tainted with a wee bit
of Ross blood from my mother’s kin, so ‘tis probably a weakness on
my part.” This time it was she who growled, a response that pleased
him immensely. “But what you say is true,” he continued, looking
away. “I know ‘tis rare indeed for a Lowlander to trust the wild,
thieving blackguards that roam these hills. Exceptions do exist,
though.”

Gavin didn’t need to look up to feel the
daggers that were blazing from her eyes. He reached for the pitcher
and filled his cup, swirling it in his hand. He noticed now that
she was already finished with nearly everything he had served her.
She must have gone without a solid meal for days, Gavin decided,
perhaps weeks.