Highland Hellcat (2010) (6 page)

“I meant what I said about considering ye mine, Brina Chattan. If ye will nae behave, I will keep ye secure so that ye do nae fall.”

She felt his leg near her feet and kicked at it. The only thing she gained from him was a soft grunt.

“I can see that yer father was no’ jesting about the fact that ye are nae meek.” There was a hint of enjoyment in his voice that kept her cheeks burning brightly.

“What I am is obedient to his promise that I serve the church. Ye should respect that. This is madness.”

“It is done, lass, and ye may sit up only if ye do nae hit me again.”

“Or ye shall lie on top of me like a brute?” Maybe it was unwise to offer him a suggestion of how to control her, but she couldn’t resist the urge to bicker with him.

His chest shook as he chuckled. “Well now, if ye act like a hellcat, I will treat ye like one.”

She sputtered with her outrage and strained against him once more. “I am no such thing!”

She could still hear him laughing, and it made her furious, but she was helpless against his strength.

“I think ye just might be, Brina, and I find that a pleasing idea.”

He sat up, pulling her along with him. His hand gently wrapped around her face to keep her ear turned toward him. It was a gentle yet firm hold that shocked her again with warmth and something like pleasure.

“Struggle, and I swear I will lie on ye until after moonrise.” His words were muttered in a husky tone edged in steel that sent a shiver down her back.

But his words weren’t what disturbed her the most. It was suddenly abundantly clear why girls promised to the church wore only undyed robes. The garment kept men from getting too close. She shivered, a ripple of awareness traveling along her skin. She couldn’t seem to stop it, only experience it, since she was still bound against Connor Lindsey. She couldn’t recall the last time a man of any age had embraced her; even her father had stopped hugging her once she had passed her tenth winter. She felt oddly agitated, as though sitting still were beyond her self-control.

Was that how the insanity began?

Perhaps she had judged Deirdre too harshly for succumbing to Melor.

Dusk fell, and she faced the deepening darkness with a growing sense of dread. Connor never eased his pace. The man seemed to know his way, even as the last of the light faded and the moon hid behind dark clouds. Once the sun was gone, the temperature dropped dramatically. Brina couldn’t see the snow flurries, but she could feel the icy flakes hitting her face. She shivered once more and reached for the hood of her cloak, which was lying down her back.

Connor lifted it and dropped it into place for her.

“I can take care of myself.”

One of his hands rubbed down the length of her arm, sending a fresh wave of sensation through her. She enjoyed it and couldn’t ignore that fact.

But that was wrong, so very wrong.

“Ye’ll learn, Brina Chattan, that accepting a bit of care from my hand will be something that ye anticipate.”

“Nay, I will nae.”

He turned his head, and she felt his breath brush her cheek.

“I promise ye, lass, ye will.”

***

Connor pulled his horse to a halt hours later. The darkness made it hard to judge the amount of time that had passed since he’d stolen her away from her father. He allowed her to slide off the horse, and pain erupted in her feet the moment when she was forced to support her weight. She stomped at the ground to restore her circulation.

“Ye can take yer ease, but we are only stopping long enough for me men to do the same.”

He pointed at an outcropping of rocks that were dark shapes in the darkness. Brina went toward them because the need to escape was still pressing down on her. She was moving too fast and stepped on a stone that rolled. A sharp sound escaped her lips as her ankle twisted painfully, but she hopped and made it around the rocks to the privacy that her body needed.

Relief flooded her. She found herself leaning against the rocks while the tension between her shoulders eased. She was suddenly caught up in the urge to weep. Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to allow them to fall.

There was no time for crying. She needed to think.

What it was time for was escape, and the clouds above her would help her achieve her goal.

***

“Now that was a right interesting bit of work to watch.” Shawe spoke softly, but there was no missing the question in the man’s tone. “Are ye looking to get locked in the stocks, then? The church does nae like anyone trifling with its nuns, especially when they come with a good dowry and are the daughters of powerful lairds.”

Connor nodded because he didn’t trust his voice. The church would indeed have him bent over in the stocks and possibly whipped if they caught him near Brina Chattan without an agreement from her father that one of her sisters would be taking her place at the abbey. She was not just another bride intended for Christ and lifelong servitude to the church. She was the daughter of a laird, and that meant the church could expect her father to send her with a sizable dowry, as well as look to the Chattan for protection should invaders come by sea to pillage the gold-laden abbey where young Brina was expected to make her home.

He smiled slightly, the corners of his mouth twitching upward, because he just couldn’t help but be amused by her temper. The lass had spirit, and that was something that he was drawn to. The aunt who had taken over raising his sister when their father was killed had always berated his sister for having any spark of defiance in her. Connor felt his amusement vanish, because thinking of Vanora always did that.

Vanora was held by the Douglas, and the clan made sure that she remained inside one of their strongholds. She was younger than he and had been born after his parents had married. The Douglas had tried to take the Lindsey land through her, claiming that his parentage was in question, even though his father had sworn on the church steps that Connor was his son. With a child on the throne, there was no one to force them to release Vanora, and he did not have the men to challenge the Douglas clan. His own arrangement with Deirdre Chattan was a move to reinforce his borders against another attempt by the Douglas to kill him and claim the Lindsey land.

He’d sworn that he would not see that happen.

But taking Deirdre to wife wasn’t a wise move. Not now that she had been exposed as Melor’s mistress. Any son she gave him would always be under suspicion. The gossips would cheerfully point out that if she loved the man enough to defy her father and the church to go to him, being married wouldn’t stop her from falling from grace again. The older women would point at Connor’s children with Deirdre and compare their features against his and Melor’s.

Connor drew in a stiff breath and looked toward the direction Brina had gone. The wind went still long enough to hear a distant crunch from dried fallen leaves, but there wasn’t a second. He pushed his feet into the rocky soil to give chase, because along with not raising his daughter to obey men, Robert Chattan had also taught her how to move silently through the night.

Connor would admire it, just as soon as he caught her.

***

“Ye didna listen to my instructions, lass.”

Connor spoke from the shadows, too close for her to do anything but recognize that her escape had been foiled.

“Why would you expect that I would? You are nae my laird, nor the man my father has promised me to.”

Brina tried to force her voice to be firm, but it quivered a tiny amount, betraying her unease. She found herself unsure how to deal with anyone who didn’t give her plain robe deference. Connor Lindsey emerged from the shadows and looked straight at her. She was keenly aware of the fact that he was intent on treating her like a woman who might be spoken to, flirted with, or even touched. That fact was as tantalizing as it was forbidden. The clouds broke, allowing the moonlight through, and it washed over Connor Lindsey. Her entire body responded to his nearness in ways that she had never realized were possible. Little prickles of sensation ran along her arms and down her body. Her breathing was no longer even, and her heart rate accelerated too. She shook her head, but her body refused to behave normally.

Connor frowned.

“Yer father promised me one of his daughters for my wife, Brina Chattan, and I plan to hold him to his word. Ye heard me say that plain enough.”

He reached out, and she gave a soft cry, but that did not stop him from latching onto her forearm. “Just as ye understood that I didna want ye moving beyond the privacy of those rocks.”

Brina drew in a stiff breath and opened the front of her cloak so that the undyed wool of her robes was illuminated by the moonlight. She turned a ghostly gray due to the moonlight, the same as the rocks that lay scattered on the landscape.

“Look at me, Connor Lindsey. I was promised to the church on the day of my birth. I am sorry about my sister’s lack of respect for her impending union with ye, but I cannae refuse to honor a promise made to God. Look at my robes. I belong at the abbey; I always have.”

He did as she said, his gaze traveling down her body, all the way to where her new boots peeked out at the hem and then back up, until he was looking at her face once more.

What she witnessed in his eyes made her shiver. Determination shone there so intensely, she felt the heat of it crossing the distance between them. Such a thing was impossible, and yet she would have sworn that it was true.

“Many called me bastard because my mother refused to wed my father for two years after I was born. Even when she did marry him, there were plenty who claimed she had refused him because of her shame in knowing that I was nae his son.” He raked her with his eyes once more. “Look at me, Brina, and see a man who is laird against all the rumors and swearing of many men. I will have the Chattan wife I spent so much effort negotiating for. One who is honorable and still pure, so that my own son will nae have to hear whispers about his blood.”

For a brief moment she felt compassion for his plight. She shook her head to dispel the feeling.

“I must honor my father’s word to the church. If I fail to do that, how could anyone have any faith in me? Any daughter who doesn’t obey her father is one who will fail to honor a husband.” It was a solid fact that had been drilled into her since she was a baby. Honor was not something that could be sidestepped upon occasion.

“I cannae fall from grace, even if yer cause is a just one, Laird Lindsey. My place is waiting for me at the abbey.”

“Ye have honor, Brina Chattan. I don’t doubt it.” There was a rich timbre in his voice that sounded like approval. Compliments were another thing that she had not had many of, for she was expected to be humble when it came to pleasing those on earth.

“But that is only another reason why I will nae change me mind. The church can make do with yer sister.”

He spoke with a solid authority that reminded her of the way her father set down his orders to his men. Connor Lindsey truly was a laird and was used to being in command of all those around him. Her pride refused to relent. He was not her laird.

“I will nae wed ye, and that’s my final word on it, Laird Lindsey.”

Her emotions spun out of control in an instant. She lifted her arm and flung off his distracted hold. Her action gained immediate response. He lunged at her, flinging her back against him and clamping his arms all the way around her body. Her arms became trapped against her sides, and he lifted her right off her feet with his greater strength.

“Now, lass, ye have nae given me a chance to prove how much ye might enjoy being my wife.”

“I have no intentions of allowing ye to touch me. Unhand me this instant!”

He chuckled, his chest vibrating against her back. She felt his breath brush the side of her neck, and sensation rippled across the skin. She shivered, but it had nothing to do with the temperature.

“We do nae seem to making much progress with words, lass. Maybe we should try a bit of action.”

A kiss landed on her neck, his lips pressing gently against the same spot that had registered his warm breath. She jerked, straining away from him.

“Ah… ye are nae so unaffected, now are ye, Brina? There is naught but a cold bed waiting for ye at the abbey.” His lips returned to her nape, this time lingering longer on the spot. He trailed several more kisses down the length of her throat, until he reached the neckline of her gown.

“In my bed, there will nae be any clothing to interfere with my kissing yer sweet flesh…”

Her imagination exploded with images of him stripping away her gowns and continuing to press hot kisses against her body. All the way down until he reached her breasts. Heat coursed through her, threatening to drown her in sensation that she could not deny that she found pleasurable.

But it was the same thing that had seen Deirdre fall to ruin.

She kicked and twisted, trying to regain some distance so that she might think.

“Ye cannae do this! Ye would shame me the same way that Melor did to my sister.”

The arms around her suddenly tightened. She could feel the change, and she heard the stiff intake of breath that revealed his displeasure.

“Do nae compare me to a Douglas, Brina. Those bastards have raided Lindsey land and stolen my sister.”

“But ye are stealing me. If ye detest them so much for doing that, ye must set me free.”

“What I need to do is take ye to Birch Stone, where I can experiment with just where ye enjoy being kissed without worrying that yer father is going to ride upon us at any moment.”

She tried to shove her elbow back into his belly. “I will nae go with ye!” He avoided her blow, but she swung her balled fist down into his groin and felt her hand connect with his soft flesh.

“Christ Almighty, ye’re nae suited to the life of a nun at all.” His arms opened for a moment as he bent over. Brina made it one long step before a hand hooked into her loose overgown and yanked her back. She stumbled and lost her balance, falling backward.

Connor rolled onto his back, taking her along with him, and then up rolled up and over her so that her back was against the ground. He lowered enough of his weight to pin her and still her struggles completely. In one short moment, he made her his captive with his greater strength. It was horrifying and terrorizing, because never before had she ever felt so helpless.