Highland Hero (3 page)

Edina blinked and shook her head, only faintly aware of Lucais’s soft laughter tickling her ear. He had insisted that she and Malcolm sit in front of him when she had started to grow sleepy. Such closeness had distracted her only briefly, for she had been too tired to dwell on it for long. Now, however, as she woke up, she was acutely aware of how she was tucked up between his long, strong legs, her back warmed by his broad chest, and how his muscular arms encircled her as if in an embrace. She rubbed her hand over Malcolm’s back, trying to cleanse her mind of disturbing thoughts about Lucais’s embraces with thoughts of tending to Malcolm.

“There lies Dunmor,” Lucais announced, giving in to the urge to touch his lips to her soft hair, finding it as silky as he had imagined it would be.

A small chill of alarm slipped down Edina’s spine as she looked at his keep. It was set upon a stony rise, giving it a clear view of the surrounding lands. To the north was a tiny village, and hearty Highland cattle grazed contentedly in the fields surrounding the castle’s thick walls. It was a strong keep and, she thought with an inner sigh as they rode through the big, iron-studded gates, a rich one. It was one thing to think that a man was out of her reach, it was quite another to see the proof of that in one huge pile of stone.

The way the people of Dunmor boisterously welcomed Lucais and his cousins, and their elation over Malcolm’s good health, made Edina further question her suspicions about Lucais. The people would do what their laird told them to, but she knew he could never make them all pretend to be happy. As they dismounted in the heart of the crowd, Edina clung to Malcolm and struggled to regain some sense of belonging with the child, some sense of her right to be there. Her eyes told her that Malcolm would have all she had lacked as a child—love, ready ears for his questions, stories, and even his complaints, and ready arms to hold him close and soothe his hurts and fears. He might not be completely safe, however, she told herself, and soon felt a little more confident.

A small, thin young woman named Mary, who was all brown hair and brown eyes, was selected to show her to a room and see to her needs. Lucais made only one attempt to extract Malcolm from her arms, accepted failure with an apparent calm, and sent her on her way. As she followed Mary into the keep and up the narrow stone steps that led to the bedchambers, Edina looked around at the rich tapestries and fine weaponry hanging on the thick stone walls. She followed Mary into a bedchamber, looked at the big, curtained bed, the fireplace, and the sheepskin rugs, and shivered. She had never seen such wealth, and she felt intimidated.

After meekly asking for a bath, Edina sat down on the high soft bed and waited for Mary to fulfill that request. She took several deep breaths and fought to subdue her feelings of being small and unimportant. Edina knew she had just been overwhelmed by Dunmor, its wealth, and its air of contentment. This was the sort of place she had often dreamed of, and Edina decided that it was very unsettling to see one’s dreams come to life. The cynical part of her began to revive, and she also decided that such perfection was worthy of suspicion. Just because everyone and everything at Dunmor seemed perfect did not mean there could never be a snake in the garden. Edina was sure that Malcolm could have a very good life at Dunmor, but there could easily be someone behind one of the smiling faces she saw who wanted Malcolm’s life to be very short or who was willing to help the man who sought that. Until she was sure that Malcolm was completely safe at Dunmor she would stay with him.

“Are ye sure ye should have let her take the bairn with her?” Andrew asked as he, Ian, and Lucais washed in Lucais’s bedchamber.

“She willnae hurt the bairn,” Lucais said as he dried himself, surprised and a little alarmed at how confident he felt about that, for that confidence was not based upon any facts.

“So, do ye trust her now? Ye dinnae think she has anything to do with Simon?” Andrew donned his braies and poured himself and the half-dressed Ian some wine from a decanter on a table next to the huge bed.

“All I trust in is the fact that she willnae kill Malcolm, not whilst she is so completely surrounded by MacRaes.”

“Are ye sure? I think ye are beguiled by a verra bonnie pair of green eyes.”

Lucais wondered about ignoring that as he donned his braies and helped himself to some of the wine his cousins were drinking so heartily. As he sipped his drink and studied his cousins, who were sprawled so comfortably on his bed, he decided that the full truth would serve better. His strong attraction to Edina was a weakness. It might be a good idea to have someone watching him and Edina to ensure that he did not give in to that weakness and that Edina did not try to use it against him.

“She does indeed have the most beautiful pair of green eyes I have ever looked into. I find most everything about the lass verra intriguing and alluring. My instincts tell me that she has naught to do with Simon, but I am not sure I should completely trust my instincts concerning her. Those instincts are also telling me that I want to lay her down in the heather and not rise from her slender arms for days.”

“Oh,” Ian said in a small, hoarse voice, causing both of his older cousins to laugh.

“Do ye think your loins could overwhelm your wits?” asked Andrew. “Do ye think that is why ye believe that she willnae hurt Malcolm whilst she has him alone with her?”

“Nay. She could have struck the child down back in the forest ere we could have stopped her. She did not. That could mean that she is honestly trying to protect the child, or she knew we would immediately kill her and has no wish to die. That holds true here as weel. To survive she must get away from here or continue this game.”

“And so we watch her closely to see if she does try to leave with the child or if someone tries to come to her.”

“Exactly. We watch her every minute. She is never to be without a guard. Ye need not be too secretive about it, as I am sure she expects it, but a little subtlety would be good. Then she might think she can elude us and we will finally see with our own eyes if she can be trusted.”

“A good plan, but there is one little flaw. There is one place where we cannae watch her, certainly not with any subtlety—her bedchamber.”

“We will have eyes there, too. I will ask Mary to bed in there with her. It was my mother’s bedchamber, and there is a place for a maid to sleep close at hand. It is not something that will raise any great suspicion on Edina’s part.”

“And what will you do if she is in league with Simon?”

“If she is in league with Simon, I fear we will be given little choice about her fate. It will eventually come to the point where we must choose between her life and Malcolm’s. I may lust after her far more than I have ever lusted after a woman before, but ye need not fear that I will hesitate in making that choice, and making the right one. The moment she sides with Simon, she will be the enemy.”

Chapter 3

It was not easy, but Edina smiled at Mary, set a sleepy Malcolm in the woman’s arms, and walked out of the bedchamber she had shared with the woman and child for a week. Her mind told her that she was foolish to worry, that she could at least trust Mary not to hurt the baby, but her heart was not ready to agree. The one who sought to harm Malcolm did not appear to be within the walls of Dunmor, but he was out there somewhere she was sure of it. The watchful attitude of everyone at Dunmor confirmed that feeling. She was not the only one who scented the danger to the child. It was past time for her to step away from the child a little, however. If nothing else, she needed to take the risk to see if anyone tried to take advantage of it. Keeping a constant watch on Malcolm while the people of Dunmor kept a constant watch on her was not getting anyone anywhere, not even in deciding who could be trusted.

As she stepped out into the sunlit bailey and took a deep breath of the clear summer air, Gar trotted up to her and she patted his head. The dog still allowed no one to go very far with Malcolm, but he showed no other signs of wariness. The animal had, in truth, settled in quite well at Dunmor. He saw no threat and that made Edina relax a little. She really needed a little rest from her self-appointed post as Malcolm’s guardian. To ease the final pangs of guilt she felt about leaving the child alone, however, she ordered Gar to go to her room and watch the baby.

Enjoying the warmth of the sun, she walked around the bailey. Lucais had graciously sent word to her uncle to let him know why she was at Dunmor and assuring the man that she was safe. Her uncle was not a loving man, but he did have a strong sense of duty and she knew he would be concerned about her. She no longer had to worry about him, and could put all of her attention on the matter of Malcolm’s continued safety.

After a thorough examination of the bailey, all the assorted buildings, and even venturing onto the walls to survey the surrounding lands, Edina found a shaded, secluded place near the walls of the keep and sat down. It was pleasant to be outside alone—if she ignored the way Ian shadowed her every step—and she wanted to enjoy it for just a little while longer. A cool breeze snaked its way around the walls, and she closed her eyes, savoring the way it took the summer heat from her skin. She was feeling drowsy and content, when she suddenly sensed someone was staring at her.

Cautiously, Edina opened her eyes and looked up. Lucais towered over her. There was a look of curiosity mixed with amusement on his face as she staggered to her feet. She frowned when he suddenly stepped closer, pressing her against the wall.

“What do ye want?” she asked, inwardly cursing the huskiness in her voice as his long body lightly brushed against hers.

“Ye have taken a rest from being Malcolm’s constant guard?” he murmured as he closely studied her flushed face.

“I feel I can trust Mary and I have set Gar at his door.”

“Ah, aye, the ever-faithful Gar.”

“Howbeit, I believe I have been idle long enough.”

He just smiled when she shifted slightly, silently asking him to move so that she could leave. Lucais was pleased to catch her alone, unguarded, and out of sight of the others. He had watched her for a week, whenever he and his cousins were not hunting Simon. Her voice, her eyes, even the way she moved, stirred him. She had begun to invade his dreams, dreams that had him waking up in a sweat, hungry for her. No matter how often he had told himself it would be a big mistake to give in to the attraction he felt for her, he had not been able to put her out of his mind. He had caught her watching him enough to make him think she felt the same interest. Now, Lucais decided, was the perfect time to test that theory.

“Malcolm is probably still asleep.”

Edina gasped when he leaned forward and touched his mouth to hers. “What are ye doing?”

“Something I have thought about since the day ye first marched into my life.”

That was a flattering thought, and it made her relax a little. A moment later she realized that had been his intention. She tensed when he put his lips against hers again. She knew she ought to hit him or kick him, and sternly remind him of the respect owed a lady. The problem was, with a disturbing and increasing frequency since arriving at Dunmor, she had thought about kissing him. Here was her chance to know if her idle dreams matched or exceeded the real thing. In a moment of what even she saw as pure recklessness, she decided to let him play his little game with her for a while. As he pressed his lips harder against hers, she curled her arms around his neck.

Her heart raced as he pulled her into his arms, lifting and pressing her body more fully against his. When he nudged at her lips with his, she opened her mouth, groaning with delight when he began to stroke the inside of her mouth with his tongue. The way he moved his big hands over her body, nearing but not overstepping the line to real intimacy, fired her blood. Her senses swimming, she clung to him and returned his kiss.

When his heated kisses slipped to her throat and he shifted so that her body was caught in a suggestive position between his body and the wall, Edina finally grasped at a thread of common sense. She pushed him away, and her sigh of relief when he immediately obeyed held a hint of regret. The kiss had been far more stirring than she had ever imagined, blinding her with the depths of the passion it roused within her. There was a flushed, taut expression on his face that told her he had felt much the same. That was dangerous, and, realizing that, she found the strength to step out of his reach.

“I believe that was enough of that,” she muttered, taking a few deep breaths to completely steady herself.

“Oh, aye?” Lucais leaned against the wall of his keep and smiled at her. “To me it tasted like just the beginning.”

“I came here to protect Malcolm, not to become—” She hesitated, not sure how to word what she wanted to say.

“Not to become my lover?”

“Of course not.”

“That kiss we just shared told me elsewise.”

It probably had, but Edina had no intention of admitting to what she had felt, and his arrogance in thinking he knew annoyed her. “That kiss was but idle and reckless curiosity. It was also the only one ye will get.”

She turned and walked back to the front of the keep, trying not to look as if she were retreating, but eager to get back inside its thick walls as quickly as she could. Lucais’s soft laughter followed her, and she resisted the urge to return and kick him. His kiss was still warm upon her lips, still alive and heating her blood. Edina knew it would be very unwise to get within his reach until she had overcome that.

Lucais smiled, straightened up from the wall, and frowned when he was suddenly confronted by a grinning Andrew. “How long have ye been here?”

“Only long enough to catch a few words and see the lass hurry off,” Andrew replied, his blue eyes alight with laughter but his expression serious.

“No harm in stealing a wee kiss.”

“Nay, although I think it was more than that. Ye were both flushed and unsteady. Aye, it may have been only a kiss ye stole, but I think it has left ye verra hungry for more.”