Highlander Enchanted (21 page)

Relieved the danger had passed, she dropped her hand.

He motioned to the clothing draped over one of her arms.

Isabel retreated to the dressing screen in a corner and did so. The thick, wool dress would protect her from the winds of the Highlands and the oiled cloak repel the drizzle, assuming Cade remained in control of his emotions on their journey home. When she was finished, she left the screen to see him at the window again. She allowed herself to examine his body once more, disturbed by the combination of lust and fear bubbling within her.

“The wedding contract must be sent to my uncle,” she said quietly. “He will know how to handle it.”

He shrugged.

“And … he will be required to send what aid you ask him for. Gold, or if you order it, the knight guard of Saxony.”

“I doona invite more English t’my lands.”

“They are Saxony’s, which makes them yours.”

He shook his head.

Isabel was quiet, suspecting he had no insight into the size and wealth her father had commanded. Cade was driven by the need to help his people, not to amass lands.

“How much gold?” he asked.

“How much do you want?” she returned.

He laughed. “My weight in coins!”

“He or my stewart will send it.”

Cade faced her. “Ye seek t’deceive me, Lady Cade.”

“I do not.”

He folded his hands across his chest. “Yer a woman of many secrets, Lady Cade.”

“’Tis a secret only to you how wealthy I am.” She lifted her chin.

“I doona speak of gold. How came ye t’have a writ with the King of England’s seal?”

“Does it matter, what secrets may remain, if your people are safe?”

“It shouldna,” he agreed. “But it does.”

“My secrets are more dangerous than yours,” she told him.

He lifted his eyebrows. “Black Cade may not agree.” His intent gaze left her fevered once more.

“Black Cade has not carried treasonous writs with him through two countries!”

A smile turned up the corner of his mouth. “Ye will reveal this, Lady Cade.”

“I cannot.”

“I canna protect ye if I doona ken all I must about ye and what danger ye bring t’my kin.”

At once fearful of what he would do when he learnt her final secret and surprised he meant to protect her, she clamped her mouth closed, irritated by his reason.

“But not this night.” He returned to the window. “Niall awaits us.” He held out a hand to her.

It had not dawned on her he meant to escape through the window. “This is your plan?” she asked, approaching.

Ignoring her doubt, he took her hand and pulled her to stand before him. She sucked in a breath. They were close enough for their bodies to brush, and she waited as he deftly tied a harness out of the rope. He draped it around her and adjusted it. She stood perfectly still, attempting to ignore the silky movement of his muscles visible through the open ties of his tunic and his forearms, and willing her body not to react to his heated strength. His hands lingered on her body before he tested the rope.

Rain pelted her back, accompanied by a gust of cold air. Both soothed her fevered body and helped clear her thoughts.

“This is not the wedding night I expected,” she said without thinking.

He chuckled. “My deepest apologies, Lady Cade.” He glanced at her face then back, movement stilling.

Cade lifted her chin. By the time she realized what he intended to do, his soft lips were already pressed to hers. Alarm ran through her at the gentle kiss, a combination of renewed fear of the beast who tore apart men in the Great Hall, and fascination with a sensation she had secretly dreamt of but never felt. How was someone his size, with the wild streak she had witnessed, so gentle?

He lifted his head and cupped her cheek, studying her intently, as if he waited for her to admonish him. Isabel could do no such thing. Her eyes were on his lips, her cheeks warm and her surprise too fresh for her to be guarded.

He gave a crooked smile and lowered his lips to hers once more.

This time, his kiss was more than a light touch. He claimed her mouth in a way befitting his savage image, gentle always yet commanding as well. Too flustered to know what to do, she felt her body shift closer to him of its own accord. His lips were warm and plush, the softest part of the hardened warrior, if she had to guess. With patience and insistence, he guided the kiss. After dwelling on her plump lower lip with nibbles and licks, his tongue flickered out to trace lightly over her mouth before he did something she was not expecting – and slid it between her lips.

Isabel froze, uncertain if such a kiss would be considered a sin. The sensation of the tip of his hot tongue in her mouth was new, and she dwelt on his flavor – roast meat, wine, and man, a combination that warmed her lower belly and sent an unnatural hunger racing through her blood. She began to kiss him, marveling over the intimacy of such an exchange, and also scared by her own body’s reaction to him. She rested against his hard frame, tentatively placing her palms against his chest to feel the warmth of him through the soft material of his worn tunic. One of his arms went around her, and he pulled her into his body.

Cade lifted his head, his grey-blue eyes pinned to hers.

Unable to think, uncertain how to react, Isabel remained against him, gazing up at him with no small amount of astonishment. The first time he held her, soon after they met, she had been awed by his strength, and she found herself sliding once more into admiration and lust. If she let him, he would support her completely, protect her from the nightmare she had created. She had always felt safe around him and in his arms, she was in a world within a world where nothing that could possibly come between them.

Was it a sin to lust after one’s husband?

“That will have to do for tonight,” he said huskily and brushed his thumb across her lips. “I like having ye in my arms, Lady Cade. I look forward t’having ye in my bed.”

She flushed from the top of her head to her toes under the intensity of his look. Already her mind was racing with thoughts she doubted Father Henry would approve of.

Isabel straightened and lowered her gaze, clearing her throat. She was not able to wrangle one thought into sticking in her head, so she remained quiet.

Cade released her and began adjusting the harness once again. She watched him, too unsettled by the kiss to know what she was supposed to do, and saw the faint tremble in his fingers.

He was not the kind of man to be affected by a kiss. From what she had just experienced, he had kissed many women before. She started to look up at him, uncertain what could make the man before her less than steady on his feet, when she realized blood had seeped through his tunic. Angry red blotches were everywhere, and she recalled with some alarm how his torso had been sliced up by the knights.

“You are hurt,” she said, concerned.

“’Tis nothing.”

“Nothing?” she echoed, eyebrows shooting up. “Laird Cade, you are soaked through with blood.”

“Your kiss numbed the pain.”

She flushed, hearing the tease in his voice. “You cannot ride like this.”

“I can and will, Lady Cade,” he replied, smiling beneath her glare. “I am pleased yer concerned for my life.”

“Someone has to rescue me,” she retorted.

Stepping away, he gave an exaggerated bow. “At yer service, my lady.”

She pursed her lips.

He went to the bed, where the weapons were laid out in a row. “I am well, Lady Cade,” he added.

“I can see you are not,” she said, frowning at the amount of blood she witnessed on his. At least one wound in his thigh had soaked the front of the trews covering his left leg.

“I ‘ave traveled with worse.” Selecting a dagger, he returned and placed it in her pocket.

“Very well. If you wish to die before you return to your home, I will not dissuade you.”

“I’ll not die, Lady Cade. I must survive to our wedding night.” The gleam of promise in his eye left her flustered.

“Get on with it, Laird Cade,” she ordered. “Fling me from the window, if that is your plan.”

“Yer as beautiful when yer angry as ye are after I kiss ye.”

She glared at him.

He lifted her onto the sill effortlessly and steadied her. “Niall awaits you. Take the rope and kneel.”

She did so.

Cade stepped away and grabbed the rope as well. “When you are ready, Lady Cade.”

She resisted the urge to snap at him, not at all appreciative of his mocking tone. Instead, she slid her legs over the side of the window and began her journey from the fourth floor of the keep to Niall on the ground.

Cade lowered her until Niall was able to grab her and steady her the last few feet. She dropped to the ground and glanced around. This part of the bailey was quiet, and she stepped aside once Niall had untied her. The rain was even lighter than before. Brian stood nearby with three horses, all destriers.

She watched Cade scale the wall with ease and drop to the ground beside his cousin. He appeared steady on his feet, but she had seen a lot of blood soaking his clothing. He was not well or at least, would soon be in real danger. She clasped her hands, praying they did not face a battle to escape the hold.

 Cade took her arm and walked her to one of the horses, speaking quickly to his cousins as he lifted her onto the horse’s back. Pulling himself up behind her, he jostled her with little respect for her space until she was settled comfortably against him. Tugging the reins, he urged the horse into a quick walk towards the walls of the keep.

One of his arms went around her, and she gripped it with both of her hands, heart in her throat when she thought about what happened if they were caught.

They slid out of a side gate and raced to the forest. Rather than follow the main road, Cade led them to a dense section of trees and drew the horse to a halt. He whispered words in a tongue she did not know. Flickers of magic glowed green and darted into the forest, disappearing into the dark depths. His sorcery had created a bubble around them as well, protecting them from wind and rain.

The woods parted for them, and Cade nudged the horse forward again.

“Ye doona like magic?” he asked.

Realizing she had tensed, Isabel forced herself to relax against him once more. “’Tis unnatural.”

He grunted without answering.

Green flickers zipped ahead of them, creating a path as they went.

“Unnatural,” she breathed. Awed and alarmed, she did not know which emotion was stronger as she witnessed what no one outside the Highlands and Cade’s clan had ever seen. “Is it harmful?”

“It can be,” he said quietly. “A sword can either defend or attack, and so can magic.”

“Why do you not ask it to heal you?”

He was quiet for a moment. “I doona possess that gift now. I lost it when I took a dark path in the Holy Lands. Marie is our sole healer, because of this.”

This was to become her life. Black Cade, clan wars and sorcery eating at him from the inside. “I do not know if I can do this,” she said.

“All will be well.” His grip tightened around her. “We need to reach the MacCosse lands.”

If only it were that simple.
She understood enough of their situation to guess they would soon face a war Cade’s clan was unprepared for.

“I must send a message to my uncle,” she said.

“And what? Beg him t’save ye from the Highland savages?” he growled.

She shook her head. “You cannot win a war without allies.”

“We have one in the Scottish court. I doona want the English fighting my war.”

“Then you should not have wed an English woman!”

“Yer not English,” he said and laughed so loudly, he drew the looks of his cousins.

She bit back her initial retort and drew a steadying breath. “At least allow me to warn my uncle about Richard.”

Cade was quiet.

“Richard will do what he must to take my father’s land.”

“I doona care and neither should you.”

“Cade! Do you have gold? Because I do!”

“Let Richard have Saxony, lass. I doona want yer English gold or yer English land.”

“Saxony is my home!”

“Yer home is where I am,” he said firmly. “Be mindful of who ye are now, Lady Cade.”

She expelled an exasperated breath. Sensing his resolve, she chose not to press the matter and also to find a way to send word to her uncle despite Cade’s wishes. It was foolish to dismiss Saxony as he was, even if he never planned to leave the Highlands.

“Must we return to the time when I wished you dead?” she grumbled.

He chuckled. “Is this an English tradition? T’kill yer betrothed?”

“If it were?”

“I would sleep with ye in my arms and a dagger behind me. But I wouldna ever let ye go.”

“To be desired for a reason other than my lands!” she snapped.

“Ah, lass. Ye are. If not fer war, I would have shown you tonight.”

Heat raced through her. Her fingertips went to her lips, and rested there as she recalled his kiss. How did she want a man who could kill so easily, who admitted to being tainted by evil?

She subsided into confused silence, too warm and too aware of the man at her back who meant to claim her as his wife.

Chapter Eighteen

Some time before dawn, they entered the wooden gates of the much smaller keep and stopped in the bailey. Even before she set foot in the stone keep, she could see the evidence of Cade’s claim to have moved as many people as possible away from the place. When she had left, the bailey had been crowded with makeshift shelters, horses and MacDonald’s clan members she had nowhere else to house in the main keep.

Tired concern fluttered through her thoughts as she considered how difficult it might be to claim the MacCosse land before Laird Duncan began pursing the clan members.

Cade dismounted from behind her. They were dry from the rain, thanks to his magic. The back of her dress, however, was soaked through with warm blood, along with his clothing. He lifted her off the horse’s back and set her down. His features were paler than usual in the torchlight of the bailey.

She bit back the instinct to order him to the healer immediately, but she did reach out to him and took his hand.