Gifts of Desire (28 page)

             
“Tis Laird McInnes”, Mairi answered under her breath. 

             
“Why is he
staring
at me
like that
?”  She was
getting
nervous now.

             
Mairi patted her arm.  “
Don’t
fret, he probably just wants to
know
who
you
are”, she paused.  “Unless,
you
know
him…
from somewhere?”

             
Ella
looked at her friend.  They had grown so close over the past few weeks that she sometimes forgot Mairi still knew nothing about her past.
  And she was kind enough not to ask.
  “No
, I’ve never seen him before today. 
You’re
probably right.
  I am still a stranger here.
”

             
Mairi shivered.  She would not say so to Ella, because she didn’t want to frighten her, but the look on McInnes’s
face did not bode well to her.  She did not think Ella was at all aware of how beautiful she was; how attractive to men
, especially with her full beasts, small waist, and softly rounded bottom
.
  Men would do ridiculous things to possess a woman like Ella.
  Had she per
haps never seen a mirror?  T
he McInnes had been looking at her like an object he saw and was determined to
take
, one way or another.

             
T
hey stayed there visiting
until it began to grow dark and they had to return to their tent.  At the
MacKenzie
camp, a big fire had been lit, and a number of the men were sitting near it on upturned logs, passing a flask of whiskey and telling tall tales. 
She scanned the faces, but
Ceann
was not among them. 
Maggie saw them returning a
nd scolded them into their tent, telling then they’d be ill if they didn’t rest after such a long journey, and
then the
festivities on the morrow.
  Giggling, they crawled into their bed rolls.
 
Mairi fell asleep almost instantly, but
Ella
lay awake for a long time.  Even after the music stopped,
and the voices died down,
her blood still thrummed with excitement.  She wanted to be out in the night, not encased in a
stuffy
tent. 
Mairi
snore
d
softly beside her, and s
he began to wonder where
Ceann
had gone.  She had not seen him since shortly after they arrived.  Not that she saw him every evening at Tulloch, but things felt different here
, among so many strangers
. 
A sudden thought occurred to her.  What if he was with a woman?  Maybe even now he was renewing an old love…
Her stomach pitched uncomfortably.  So this was what jealousy felt like.
  It was not a pleasant feeling, no wonder Ceann had lost his temper the other day in her room.
  She could not rid herself of the
disconcerting
thought no matter how hard she tried.  She knew that he was not
likely
to be with someone, given all that he had said, but then maybe he had only meant he wouldn’t
marry
.  Maybe he
still fulfilled his
other
needs with willing women.  How strange that the thought had never
even
occurred to her until now. 

             
She lay awake
still
, stewing, until she thought she would surely go mad if she didn’t know one way or another.  She peered carefully out of the tent.  The fire
s
had
all
burned down to coals, but she could see by the moonlight that
all
the men had either gone to their tents or fallen asleep where they
sat
.  There was only the sound of their snores
, and the faint wail of a restless bairn from another camp
across the lea
.  She crept
barefoot and silent
to
Ceann
’s tent, and listened at the entrance.  Hearing nothing, she lifted the flap just slightly and looked in.  He was there, alone.  She breathed out her relief; feeling like a leaden weight had been lifted from her chest.  He was sleeping, and the moonlight shone through the white fabric of the tent so that she could see his face.  He looked
…
different in his sleep.  His features were relaxed from their usual grim scowl, and he looked almost peaceful
, except for his hand resting lightly on the handle of his sword, ever-ready for battle
. 
Her heart squeezed tight in her chest. 
She wanted to go over and touch him, smooth the waves of
chestnut
hair that had fallen over his cheek,
and aye, kiss his slightly parted lips
, and stretch her body out along side his
. 
She wavered.  She almost went to him. 
B
ut
she lost her courage, and
instead
reluctantly
let the flap of the tent fall
softly
closed and
tiptoed
back to
her
bed.  This time
,
she slept.

             
The next morning
Ella
opened her eyes to find the day had started without her.  Already there was a clamor of activity outside, and the smell of
smoke
and
the mealy scent of
cooking
porridge
wafted in.  She and Mairi rose
quickly
and ran down to the river to wash. 
Maggie, who had probably been up for hours already, handed them each a b
owl of porridge
before going
off for a rare visit with her sister, who had
years ago
married into
a neighboring
clan. 
After all had eaten
and prepared
, it was
time for the games to begin. 
The pipes began to play, and e
veryone gathered at the edges of the gaming field,
the crowd thrumming
with anticipation
, the excitement contagious
.
 
Ella
sat on a
wool
blanket
to watch
with Mairi and
Elizabeth
and a few other women
who held
wiggling
bairns on their laps
.  They were on a small rise, so even though they were farther from the field t
han most, they had a good view;
Mairi wanted to be sure to see her Robbie when he took the field. 
Elizabeth declared it didn’t matter because she never could watch when her husband Donnie was fighting.  She just shut her eyes and waited until it was over
, then patched him up as best she could
. 

             
Ella
watched the first part of the games without too much interest; she’d never been all that fond of sport.  Instead she
idly
wove a
necklace
for one of the children out of long stems of grass.  But when the
fighting began with the clash of swords echoing and the crowd cheering, she sat up and took more notice.  She was terrified that someone would be seriously hurt, but at the same time enthralled by the skill and
brute
strength
of the men wielding the weapons.
 

             
When Ethan appeared on the field, she held her breath, afraid to keep her eyes open as he fought.
  If anything happened to Ethan…
 
In some ways he reminded her of Malcolm
, like an older brother, and Ethan, she knew, wanted happiness for Ceann. 
She wanted that too. 
At the cheer of the crowd she finally
let out the breath she had been holding in a sigh of relief.  H
e had won. 

             
That relief was not to last long, as
a moment later
Laird McInnes
strode
on to the field, standing still with
his sword
raised
high in the air
until the crowd had quieted.
His words cut her to the quick.

             
“I challenge
you
,
Ceann
MacKenzie
, to a contest
,
your
lovely captive
as the prize
!”  The crowd roared with laughter and cheers, and
more than
a few bawdy remarks. 
Ella
realized her mouth had dropped open and abruptly closed it. 

             
She turned to
Mairi, incredulous,
and whispered, “Does he mean me?”

             
Mairi had a grim look on her face. 
“Aye, he does.”

             
“Oh, well
Ceann
doesn’t
have to
fight him then, because I won’t go with the McInnes.  He can’t
just
win
me.”

             
Once again, Mairi found herself eyeing her
new
friend
speculatively
, wondering where
exactly
she had grown up, that she didn’t know such simple things.  “Aye, he can win
you
, the lair
d hasn’t
claimed
you
,
you’re
just a
… well, a
captive
.  Now, by his h
onor, he has to fight.  He can’t
lose face, especially not in front of everyone here”, she swept her hand across the crowd.  “Some of the most powerful clans in the highlands are here.  If
our laird won’t
fight and show his strength, they’ll
assume
they can take anything they want from us.”

             
“Oh.” 
Ella’s face fell. 
She turned back to the field, and this time she kept her eyes open and could not tear them away. 

             
Ceann
was more than annoyed.  No
, he was furious.  How
dare
McInnes call him out like this! 
It was an old grudge that made him do so, and the grudge
was against his father
at that; it had nothing to do with him. 
The man was shameless.  And vile.
  Worse, he thought to take
Ella
away from him,
all
to spite a man
who no longer
even
lived
.
  He never
should have brought her here, she was far too beautiful.
  And charming.
  Already he had been approached at least twenty times by men who wanted to take her off his hands.  He should have locked her in the tower at Tulloch and left her there. 
Then he thought of Colin and groaned.  He couldn’t have left her, either.  His temper flaring, he took the field, glaring at his opponent. 

             
They were fairly evenly matched,
Ceann
thought, both tall and well muscled.  But there was no way in hell he was going to lose this
fight
.  There was no way in hell McInnes would ever have
Ella
, that damned old viper
. 

No one will take her from me!
 

             
The signal came. 
Ceann
growled and lunged forward with all his might.  McInnes blocked the blow and thrust at
Ceann
from the side.  The clash of metal could hardly be heard above the deafening roar of the crowd as the two men fought. 
Ceann
heard nothing at all, he was focused only on the man he had to best. 
He whirled away from the next blow and thrust again, the point of his sword catching McInnes
in the side.  The wound was shallow, but McInnes roared in anger and redoubled his efforts.  On his next lunge, he caught
Ceann
on the arm with the side of his blade, leaving a thin gash that
oozed red.