Ian (14 page)

Having slept in her clothes, she now
made her way quickly to the window. She pulled open the shutters to see the sun just starting to rise. Looking down to the stable she observed Kyle barking at two men as they rode away, one of them holding on to her horse, taking it from the stables. She was about to shout out, but stopped as she heard the knock on the door.

“
What’s that?” Ian shot up off the pallet, fully clothed and grabbed his sword.

“Someone’s at the door,” she told him, going over to open it.

“Nay.” He rushed in front of her, putting his hand on the door.

“Ian MacKeefe, open the door. It’s me, the stableboy,” came a voice from the other side.

Ian pushed the trunk away in one quick motion and swung the door open wide. “What is it?” he asked, and Kyla could tell he was still half asleep.

“I’m sorry, but they took yer horse,” said the boy.

“Who took it?” asked Ian. “What are ye talkin’ aboot?”

“Two
MacGillivrays came by lookin’ fer their friend. They said he disappeared and thet this was his horse. They wanted to ken who brought it here but I jest told them it wandered here by itself. Then they took the horse and left. I’m sorry, but I didna ken what te do, and I didna want them comin’ up here and killin’ ye so I told them it was a stray horse.”

“Ye did the right thing,” said Ian with a nod of this head. Then he dipped his hand into his pouch and
handed him a coin. “Now keep all this te yerself and dinna tell anyone aboot any o’ this, do ye understand?”

“O’ course,” said the boy, nodding and then heading away, “anything fer ye Ian MacKeefe.”

“Get yer things Kyla, and let’s get the hell outta here,” said Ian, heading for the travelbags. Kyla rushed over and grabbed the blanket and stuck it into the bags and then wrapped her long plaid around her shoulders.

“Thet was a close one,” she said.

“Aye, and it was a fool thing te do takin’ the damned horse te begin with. It could have gotten us killed. If I had been thinkin’ clearly I ne’er woulda done it. Now hurry up, as it’s going te take longer te get te the MacTavish camp now thet we’ll have te share a horse again.”

“Ian,” she said, stopping him with a hand to his arm. He turned and raised his hazelnut colored eyes to hers. “Ye were cryin’ out in yer sleep again. Were ye havin’ a nightmare?”

He reached out and cupped her chin in his hand and she saw his eyes change from hard to soft. “Dinna worry aboot me, Kyla. Ye are the one we have te worry aboot now.”

“Ian, I’m . . . no’ so sure I want te marry a MacTavish anymore.”

“Och, lassie,” he said and ran a hand through his hair, letting out a deep sigh. “Why couldna ye have said this te our chieftain instead o’ agreeing te the marriage in the first place?”

“
Becooz I wasna thinkin’ clearly either. I was mad at ye fer sayin’ ye didna want me.”

“Kyla,” he said, looking into her e
yes. She saw frustration and aggravation within them. “Who e’er said I dinna want ye?”

“But ye made it quiet clear thet
I would only be the wee sister o’ yer best friend and nothin’ else.”

“I respect yer brother Kyla and would
ne’er do anythin’ te betray him.” He walked away from her and started pacing the room.

“Like kissing and fondling me a
nd then walkin’ away like it disna matter?”

He stopped and turned back to face her.
His voice dropped in volume and he stared at the ground.

“I did
na mean te do thet.”

“Obviously. But ye did
, and ye canna change what happened.”

“And neither can we change the fact thet ye
agreed te this alliance.”

Her turned to go out the door and Kyla knew she had to stop him. She had to let him know exactly how she felt about him
, because after today her life was going to change drastically and she would never have another chance. This may be the last time she was ever alone with Ian again.

“Dammit, I love ye, Ian MacKeefe!” she cried out, and he stopped and turned around. She couldn’t help the tears that streamed from her eyes at that moment and neither did she want to. She wanted to pour her heart out to him and tell him exactly what she felt.
She wanted to lay it all out in front of him and hold nothing back. This may be her last chance to do it. And if she didn’t take this opportunity, he may walk out of her life never knowing exactly how she felt about him.

He reached out to her then and
leaned forward and gently kissed her. The feel of his lips on hers had her heart soaring and she momentarily forgot about all the chaos in her life. Nothing mattered but his mouth on hers and his hands on her shoulders as he pulled her closer. Their lips slowly parted, and she stared up into his eyes. And just when she was sure he was going to say he loved her too, he did something that she wasn’t expecting.

“I ken thet ye love me, Kyla, I am no’ daft,” he said. Then he readjusted the
travelbags on his shoulder and turned away. “Now come on, as we have a lot o’ ground te cover if we’re goin’ te get te the MacTavish camp afore nightfall.”

He left
the room, leaving her standing there longing for him, wiping the tears from her own cheeks. All she’d wanted was a little understanding. Some tender words and kind gestures, and hopefully a profession of love from him as well, but she’d got nothing but a brief kiss.

“Ye bastard!” she spat, an
d headed out the door after him to go marry a man whom she didn’t know nor would she ever love. Because her heart was already taken by a man who would never love her in return. Nay, because Ian MacKeefe would never think of her as anything but his best friend’s wee sister.

Chapter 14

Ian rode with his arms around Kyla keeping her close. His hound followed right alongside them.

They’d traveled for a while now, but Kyla
refused to look at him or even speak to him after she’d poured out her heart to him in the pub and he hadn’t given her the response she’d wanted. But he couldn’t. Because though he had feelings for her, he didn’t want to say he loved her when he didn’t even know if he was capable of such an action. He didn’t want to make this harder on her than it already was. Besides, there was too much anger and resentment in his heart tied to his past to feel love even if it was there.

H
er profession of love, though he was flattered by it, was just not what he wanted to hear at that moment. His head was so confused already by everything that was happening so fast, that he just couldn’t ponder something like this right now. Actually, it had almost angered him to hear her say that, because she was making this so much more difficult than it already was. He didn’t want to hand her over to the MacTavishes in the first place, but at least when she was mad at him and telling him that she really did want to marry one of them he didn’t feel nearly as guilty.

Now she said she’d changed her mind, and that about sent him spiraling out of control. If she had said this back at the MacKeefe camp then mayhap something could have been done about it. He wasn’t sure what, but at least they would have had a few days to come up with another plan.

Now, they were almost out of time, as the chieftain had told them they had to be there within two days or the MacTavishes were going to attack. Not at all the kind of thing someone trying to make an alliance said to the other side. And he knew they would do just that, so it was very important to get there in the allotted time. The MacKeefes would never survive another attack right now with so many of them wounded and Storm as well as Aidan and Onyx gone. Nay, they wouldn’t have a chance.

He would just have to think of something else on his own to keep this marriage from happening as well as keep a battle from breaking out between the clans. But first he had to find out if that
bastard Tearlach had really come back from the grave. He didn’t know how this could be true, because after he’d killed him, he’d buried him in the earth himself.

He hadn’t told anyone in the clan what he’d done, and
nor had he ever planned to. But now he knew he should have burned that bastard’s body just like the man had done to Daghda.

After he’d been force to watch his wife and unborn baby burn, Tearlach had tried to convince him it was for the best. That witches and their babies only posed a threat to even strong clans and they had to be gotten r
id of before they did damage.

When Ian didn’t come around to the man’s way of thinking, he’d been banned from the clan and told never to return unless he wa
s ready to join them again. Ian had gone back and killed him then, before anyone knew he’d done it. He’d then gone back to the people who cared about him and would always welcome him with open arms – the MacKeefes. He’d kept his identity as a MacKeefe from the MacTavishes to begin with, and thankfully, they’d never come to the MacKeefe camp searching for him at all.

“I need to stop and use a bush,” said Kyla
, and before he could even bring the horse to a halt, she was dismounting by herself. His hound ran off, sniffing the ground and lifting its leg.

If Ian hadn’t been so deep in thought, he would have known where they were and would have never stopped here.
“Kyla, come back,” he said when he looked up and saw the ruins in front of him. They were the ruins of an old castle from long ago that no one cared about anymore and actually avoided.

Kyla disappeared into the ruins
and Ian just stared at the place he’d been found as a baby, feeling an overwhelming sense of grief overcome him. The MacKeefes had brought him here as a child one day when he started asking questions about who he was and where he came from.

Their chieftain had taken him here personally and showed him the spot he’d been found as a newborn baby just lying in the rubble. He’d also said that this was rumored to have been a witch’s castle centuries ago. People thought it was curs
ed, and he’d admitted that he hadn’t wanted to take Ian back to MacKeefe camp because of this. But, actually, Kyla’s father, Norval was good friends with The MacKeefe and also there with him at the time. He’d convinced the chieftain to let him take Ian home to his wife to raise as her own. The chieftain only agreed when Norval had promised he’d never tell anyone outside of the clan that he’d taken in a cursed baby from the ruins of a witch’s castle. Kyla’s mother, Alpina loved children, and raised him as her own, never having a regret. But she was also very honest and had told him from the start that he was not her real child.

Ian hadn’t even wanted to get off the horse, as this place made him feel very unsettled.
He’d never returned to these ruins after that day when the MacKeefes brought him back, as he felt as if he were cursed. After all, what parents would leave their newborn at the ruins knowing the baby would never be found?

He heard the cry of the raven, and looked up to
the top of the crumbling tower, seeing it perched there just watching him. Then he saw movement in the trees that shrouded the ruins, and heard the murder of crows calling out to each other.

He was ready to call out to Kyla to hurry, w
hen he heard that soothing, mystical song coming from not his head, but from somewhere inside the ruins. Then he thought he saw that beggar woman from the Samhain fire hiding behind a rock. The tune got louder, echoing in his brain. He got down off the horse, walking toward the raven and right into the ruins, sure he was going to find that woman hiding behind one of the tall, crumbled walls.

The tune called out to him, and something inside made him attracted to this place instead of making him want to turn away. Then when he got up to the stone where he swore the woman was hiding, he stepped around it, and lashed out
his hand and grabbed her arm.

“Ian! Let go o’ me, ye scared me half te deith.”

Instead of the mysterious woman from the Samhain fire he’d expected to find, he held onto Kyla’s arm.

He let go quickly, and when he did, the crows in the trees lifted up into the sky. And when he looked up to where he’d seen the raven, it was gone.

“Come on, let’s get goin’,” he said in a low voice.

Kyla followed him out from behind the stone wall. “Ian, what is this place?”
she asked, looking up at the ruins around them.

“It’s somewhere I’d rather no’ be right now.”

“I like it. It has a guid feelin’ te it, dinna ye think?”

“Kyla, how can ye say thet?” He stopped and looked at her, thinking she’d gone mad. “It’s the ruins o’ an auld witch
. And said te be cursed.”

“Och, I ken what this is
now.” She looked over to him and smiled. “I’ve heard Aidan talkin’ aboot the place me faither found ye as a bairn. This is it, isna it?”

“It is,” he admitted. “Now let’s go.”

“Nay, let’s stay fer awhile and mayhap we can find out somethin’ aboot yer real parents.”

“I dinna care aboot thet, Kyla. Me parents left me in this godforsaken place fer deid.  And
I woulda been deid if it wasna fer yer faither.”

He headed to the horse and she reluctantly followed.

“But dinna ye e’er want te ken where ye came from?” she asked. “Dinna ye e’er want te visit the clans around here and try te find out if they ken anythin’ aboot yer parents?”

“Thet was a
long time ago, Kyla, and it disna matter any more. Besides, yer parents promised the chieftain thet no one outside o’ the clan would e’er ken aboot me. I was a cursed bairn thet no one wanted, so jest leave it at thet. Now get on the horse and let’s be on our way.”

“All right,” she said, getting atop the horse,
“but I dinna like when ye talk aboot yerself thet way.” She looked up to the ruins and started humming. And when he heard the tune coming form her mouth he froze.

“Kyla, what is thet tune yer hummin’?” he asked cautiously.

“I dinna ken,” she said. “I heard it outside the field o’ heather in Glasgow and I swore I heard it again here. But thet canna be as we’re the only ones here.”

“Thet’s right,”
he said, sweeping his eyes over the ruins. Then his hound darted out from behind a ruin chasing a rabbit, and his heart lodged in his throat.

“Kyle, get yer doup o’er here,” he called to the dog. Then he got atop the horse and headed away, looking back over his sho
ulder, feeling as if someone were watching them.

Chapter 15

“This is it, isna it?” Ian heard Kyla say from in front of him, later that day.

“Aye,” he said softly, and stopped his horse
in front of the drawbridge of MacTavish Castle. He saw several clan members approaching them in the dusk, the clip clop of their horses’ hooves echoing off the walls. Ian felt apprehensive. And he knew that the moment he’d dreaded with all his heart and soul had finally arrived. Even his hound, Kyle, was quiet and sat down next to his horse and just waited.

“
Who goes there?” called out one of the men.

“We’re here fe
r the alliance between the MacTavishes and the MacKeefes,” Ian answered. “I have brought yer bride.”

“Ian, is thet
ye?” One of the men approaching lifted his chin and pushed his head forward trying to see him in the dark.

Ian recognized the two men in front of him as
Dunmor and Eigg. Dunmor was Tearlach’s nephew, but had also been a good friend to him while he had stayed here. Eigg, on the other hand, was Tearlach’s right-hand man, and he and Ian had no good feelings at all between them.

“Aye,” Dunmor,” said Ian, “it is me.” Just as he suspected,
with a surprised jerk of her head, Kyla turned to look at him.

“Ye ken him?” she asked, but Ian didn’t
answer. Instead, he slipped off the horse to the ground.

“I thought we’d s
een the last o’ ye,” said Dunmor. “After all, we didna think ye’d e’er come back after the deith o’ yer wife.”

Kyla’s heart about stopped when she heard what the man had just said.

“Yer wife?” she blurted out from atop the
horse, not able to keep quiet.

Ian turned toward her and that sadness was back in his eyes but she no lon
ger cared. “Kyla, I meant te tell ye aboot it.”

“Just sort o’ slippe
d yer mind, did it?” she asked him. “Ye were married and a part of this clan and yet ye kept it a secret? What the hell were ye thinkin’ Ian MacKeefe? Ye are nothin’ but a traitor.”

“It’s no like thet,” he said, coming to her side and holding out his arms to help her
dismount. She kicked at him and stayed on the horse.

“Then what is it like?” she asked. “Please do tell me. Or dinna bother, as I think I
can guess now where ye disappeared to fer three years after all. That is, te go marry one o’ our enemies and live with their clan in secret. And somethin’ tells me thet the name ye call out fer in yer sleep, Daghda was no’ only the lassie burned in the fire but also yer wife.”

“Kyla,
can we talk aboot this later?” he said in a low voice, his eyes darting to the two men and then back again.

“Dinna bother. I
dinna care anymore and neither do I want te hear yer lies. Ye have betrayed the MacKeefes and the people who cared aboot ye and yet ye think it shouldna matter thet ye ne’er told us aboot this? I jest canna believe ye. I no longer ken who ye are.” She rode her horse up to the two men. “All right, I am here fer the alliance, so let’s get goin’. Now which one o’ ye am I te marry?”

“Kyla, wait,” said Ian, walking up behind her. She heard his hound whimpering as if it kn
ew what was going on and it sat down on the ground right next to him.

“There’s no reason te wait any longer. After all, thet is why ye brought me here, wasna it?” she asked him. “Te make sure I marry someone besides ye so I’d stop pesterin’ ye?”

“Ye’er no’ marryin’ either of us,” said Eigg before Ian could answer. “But follow us and we’ll take ye te yer husband-te-be.”

Ian followed on foot behind the little entourage as they made their way across the drawbridge and into the courtyard. Torches burned brightly from the iron holders mounted onto the castle’s stone walls. It was night and there wasn’t much activity inside the inner ward, but he could see the soldiers lining the walls of the battlements above him, as well as what looked like mercenaries gathered around the well drinking and laughing. Ian had only been gone for a few years, but he didn’t seem to remember most of these men. Something was odd here, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. His hound followed right behind him whimpering softly at his heels.

He knew he was wrong in not telling Kyla about this, but how could he have told her one part of his past witho
ut opening a whole can of worms? He wasn’t proud of what he’d done, but he had his reasons, though she’d never understand. He still planned on stopping the marriage somehow, but he knew with Kyla furious with him, it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Dunmor,” he said, walking up next to the man who still
sat atop his horse. “What’s been goin’ on around here?” he asked.

“Nothin’
,” the man said and his eyes darted nervously over to Eigg.

Eigg looked over to Ian and smiled. “Jest wait, Ian – or should I say MacKeefe now thet we ken where ye’ve been hidin’ all these years?”

“I wasna hidin’. After all, if ye remember correctly, I was banned from here and told to leave.”

“Well, ye can tell all thet te the chieftain,” said Eigg. “After all, I think ye’re really goin’ te enjoy this little reunion.”

“What reunion, what are ye talkin’ aboot?”
he ground out. Then he stopped dead in his tracks, as spotted someone emerging from the keep to greet them. He felt as if someone had just walked over his own grave. As there in front of him was a man he hated more than anyone, and something that he would not have believed if he weren’t looking at it with his own two eyes. There before him was none other than the clan’s chieftain, and also the man he’d killed and buried three years ago – Tearlach MacTavish.

Chapter 16

“Well what have we here?” Tearlach limped down the stairs to meet them. His mouth turned up at the side and he laughed when he saw Ian, then ended up coughing, almost gagging, and spit right at Ian’s feet. It took all of Ian’s control not to reach out and strangle the bastard just then. “I bet ye ne’er expected te see me again, did ye, Ian?”

Ian studied the man’s face. T
he x he’d marked him with on his cheek was raised now and scarred over. His body looked warped and broken but sure enough he was alive. Ian said nothing, just clenched his teeth, and waited.

“This is the MacKeefe girl fer the alliance,” Eigg told him, getting off hi
s horse. “And to our surprise, Ian is the one who brought her here. It seems now he’s no longer a MacTavish but a damned MacKeefe.”

“So thet’s where ye disappeared te three years ago,” said Tearlach. “So tell me, did ye decide te come back te the clan?
After all, ye were me best warrior and I could use ye.”

“Tearlach, ye basta
rd, I thought ye were deid,” ground out Ian. Ian’s hound growled lowly and stayed close to Ian’s side.

“
I was deid,” said Tearlach with a half grin. “Or at least close to it, though me attacker took me fer deid. Ye see, someone from me own clan stabbed me in the back, and even marked me face with the MacTavish x. But thanks te me sister, Odara and me nephew Dunmor here, I’m still alive.”

“How can this be?” Ian asked, choosing his words carefully.
Tearlach obviously didn’t know Ian was the one who tried to kill him. No one knew. After all, Ian had been so furious and in such a hurry he’d not waited for Tearlach to even turn around before he’d stabbed him in the back. He’d planned on making the bastard look at him when he died, but since Ian had snuck back into the castle and was about to be discovered, he’d had no choice. He’d heard someone coming and knew they’d imprison him if they’d seen he’d returned and was about to kill their leader. So he did the deed quickly, then removed  the man’s body and buried him in a shallow grave before he was caught.

Ian struggled in his mind with the way he’d killed Tearlach for the last three years. Before coming to live with the MacTavishes, he’d never have killed a man in this manner. Ian was a warrior and good with the sword. And he’d always fought with honor – until he’d met Tearlach.

“So are ye ready te admit thet I was right in killin’ Daghda?” asked Tearlach. “After all, e’eryone kens thet witches are no guid and need te be removed from the face o’ the earth.”

“I’ll ne’er agree with thet, ye bastard. Nor did ye have any right te kill an innocent woman and make me watch her burn.”

“Och, ye are still sore at me I see,” said Tearlach as if they were talking about nothing more important than the weather. “Ye should be happy I took care o’ the situation. After all, the bitch had ye under her spell, or did ye forget aboot thet part?”

“I did
na ferget,” said Ian. “And I also didna ferget thet while tryin’ te prove yer point, ye no’ only killed an innocent lass, but ye also killed me unborn bairn.”

Kyla’s heart about lodged in her throat when she heard this. As angry as she was with Ian, she’d had no idea he’d also lost a bairn and been forced to watch them burn. She couldn’t even imagine how awful that must have been. Now she wanted to just run to him and comfort him, but she knew it wouldn’t be a wise move.

She didn’t understand exactly what was going on, and wasn’t happy to see the man they called Tearlach. Especially since the
wretched man standing before her who had supposedly come back to life was indeed the man she’d seen in the Samhain fire. Her husband-to-be. He look a good twenty years or more her senior, had dark, beady eyes and a scar that looked like an x on one cheek.

“Ye burned
an innocent lassie and also an unborn bairn?” Kyla blurted out, so shocked to hear this that she’d almost forgotten how horrible her own situation was until she heard the man’s reply.

“So, ye’re te be me new bride.” He shuffled up to her and reached out a shaky hand that was battlescarred and missing a finger. She stepped backwards rather than to let him touch her, and Ian walked up close behind her and pulled his sword from the scabbard at his waist.

“Ye lay a hand on her and I’ll kill ye, I swear,” warned Ian.

Several
of Tearlach’s warriors instantly surrounded him with their swords drawn. Kyla stayed still and silent, worried for Ian’s safety.