Taming the Wild Highlander 04 (33 page)

"
I am unarmed," Keary quickly said, raising his hands to prove it, his face ashen.

"
I am verra much alive, no thanks to you, Keary," Angus said.

S
ome of James's men watched Keary's men, should they think to defend him in any manner. "If you ever think of killing me, be a man and come for me yourself. But you will never wed the lass," Angus said.

"
I offered friendship to James, and this is the kind of treatment I receive in return?" Keary asked, attempting to sound affronted.

"
Your men told us everything, Keary," Angus said. "You canna lie to us to save your hide. I am willing to let this go, if you are allied with my kin and Edana's. But if you or your men attempt to kill me in the future…"

Edana noticed James had entered the great hall
. Arms folded across his chest, he scowled at Keary—probably furious that Keary had arrived before them, pretending to be allies of the MacNeills when he'd tried to have James's youngest brother murdered.

"
I didna know what some of my men were up to. I had let those men go because they were stealing from me. Mayhap they decided to take revenge and pin your murder on me," Keary said.

From the hard expressions on the men
's faces, Edana didn't think anyone believed him. What would they have gained from the murder? A price on their heads.

"
We will take our leave. And you have my promise to remain your ally," Keary said, looking highly annoyed, then he quickly left the keep with his men.

When the
y were outside, Angus wrapped his arm around Edana's shoulders and introduced her to his brother, James.

Jame
s's wife joined them, carrying a wee bairn in her arms. He was red-skinned and sleeping, puckering his mouth as if he was suckling on his mother's breast. He was adorable with brown hair as dark as James's.

Angus stared at
the infant and Edana smiled. "You must be Lady Eilis." She thought how different the lady looked from her, red gold silky tresses, sea green eyes—when Edana had pretended to be her at Lockton Castle with her dark red hair and blue eyes. "What a lovely bairn."

"
He is our first bairn," Eilis said proudly. "And you must be the sweet lass who bewitched Angus. No small feat that."

Edana smiled at Eilis and the baby.
"Your son is beautiful. And Angus? Aye, as much as he made me see he was the only one for me." Angus and Edana's gazes met and she believed he was hopeful she would give him a son also. He offered her a small smile. She felt her cheeks heat.

James escorted his wife to the head table as a nursemaid took the bairn from Eilis.

The Chattan guard, Seumas, hurried to approach Tibold, spoke briefly, and Tibold smiled broadly. "Seems because of Keary's mishandling of his clan on a fool's errand—namely, pursuing my daughter when she was already wed to a clan chief's brother and possibly causing a war between both my clan and the MacNeills' with his, one of Keary's other brothers has taken over the clan with their people's blessing. One of his men rode all the way here to warn him of the news and my man overheard him."

"
There goes the alliance between the Laird of Lockton and us," Angus said, sounding disappointed.

"
Mayhap we can still encourage an alliance with the new laird," James said.

"
And if you see Keary in these parts again?" Angus asked.

James snorted.
"I would take him prisoner as I once did. Only this time, he would stay in our dungeon as he incarcerated you and our cousin in his."

As they took their places
at the high table, James sat next to his wife on one side, Tibold on the other. Edana was seated next to her father, while Angus sat to her left. Edana heard James say to her father, "All turned out well."

"
Aye. I canna express enough how grateful I am to you for sending your brother to find Edana. I couldna be more pleased with the way things worked out." Tibold smiled at Edana.

"
Sounds like you both planned this," she said, raising her brows.

An
older woman strode across the hall to join them at the table and everyone in the room rose to their feet. She was all smiles, her eyes and hair as dark a brown as Angus's, only light strands of gray intertwined with the brown in braids down her front. Edna thought a strong resemblance existed between the two. His mother? She recalled the story Angus had told her about his father and how he'd had numerous liaisons with women when he was married to his mother.

She was so pretty and cheerful, Edana couldn
't imagine her husband being so cruel.

Angus hurried to introduce his mother
to Tibold and Edana. "Lady Akira, Tibold, chief of the Clan Chattan, and his daughter, Edana, my wife. James said you were tired. I didna think you would join us."

"
I learned too late you had returned with a wife. Eilis's baby kept me up half the night. You know how it can be when a grandmomma wants to tend to her first grandbaby? How could I no' come and greet your new lovely wife?" She gave Edana a warm embrace as if she was her mother. "I seem to be missing out on too many of my sons' weddings, but I am much pleased Angus was lucky enough to find you." She turned her attention to Tibold. "I dinna believe I have ever had the pleasure."

Edana
's da looked positively dumbstruck. She poked her finger into his side to get him to respond and he quickly said, "The pleasure is all mine, my lady." He bowed over her hand and to Edana's shock, kissed it!

"
This is my cousin, Fia," Lady Eilis said, as the dark-haired and dark-eyed woman hurried to join them. She looked about Eilis's age, but other than that, barely showed any family resemblance, except for their smiles.

But Fia considered
each of Edana's brothers and smiled even more broadly.

"
How long will you be here?" Lady Akira asked Tibold as seats were shuffled and she was seated between James and Tibold.

"
My sons have a mission to see their cousin McEwan."

"
I thought you wanted me to stay with you longer," Drummond said, sitting farther down the table and sounding a little panicked.

"
If you can fight Keary's men, you are no longer too ill to journey with us," Gildas said, his smile smug.

Edana thought with her older brother making such a statement
, her da would agree and force Drummond to accompany the rest of her brothers to travel to see McEwan.

Lady Akira
frowned. "If your son has been recently ill, he may stay here with us until you wish to return to Rondover Castle," she said to Tibold.

Egan and Gildas groaned. Kayne said,
"I knew Drummond would worm his way out of it."

Edana watched
her father speaking with Lady Akira. She was so animated and the way his blue eyes never strayed from her, a small smile curving his lips, he seemed to enjoy soaking up her attention.

Fia slipped onto the bench next to Drummond.
"So you are staying here longer, aye? How did you come to be ill?"

"
A stay in a cold, drafty dungeon after he kissed a chief's mistress," Kayne said, sounding disgruntled and not about to let Drummond say anything differently. "Which, I might add, got us all into the same predicament."

Edana thought Fia might be taken aback by the revelation, but instead she leaned toward Drum
mond, her brown eyes wide, and said, "Truly?"

Kayne laughed and shook his head.
"He can fall into the swine's slop and still come out smelling sweet where the lasses are concerned."

Her brothers all laughed.

Angus took Edana's hand in his and kissed it. "You appear to be deep in thought. What are you thinking?"

She snuggled closer to him
and again looked in her father's direction. "That I have found my true love, but I do believe I may have found a solution to my da's needing a woman's comfort."

Angus looked at Tibold and his mother. She was more
vivacious than he'd seen her in a long time, and Tibold actually looked to be enjoying her company. "I think mayhap you have something there, Edana. We might even be able to persuade my mother to travel with us to visit Rondover Castle later."

Edana smiled.
"Aye. I didna know you were a matchmaker at heart."

He chuckled.
"If it meant our parents' happiness, aye."

Then Edana frowned.
"Could be a problem if the scullery maid, Zeneva, attempts to cause trouble between them if anything should come of our parents' relationship."

"
Your father said he would no longer see the maid."

"
Aye, but that doesna mean the woman might not seek revenge if my da shows interest in your mother. Because of your mother's bad experiences with your father, mayhap she would think mine is the same way."

Edana
's brother, Halwn, said to Niall, "Now that we are all family, of sorts, would you want to come along with us?"

"
Because your cousin McEwan needs a man to marry his ward?" Niall asked.

Kayne shook his head.
"Who told him the truth of the matter?"

Everyone laughed.

Angus realized then that not only had he married into Edana's family, but that her family was happy to become part of his as well. He had never foreseen his mother might be interested in Tibold, nor that the chief might be intrigued with his mother. If the man could give his mother the kind of love she deserved, Angus would do everything in his power to help their relationship along.

"
Now
you
seem to be deep in thought, Husband," Edana said, slipping her hand into his lap, squeezing his thigh.

He
considered her smiling face. "I should have spoken to you all those years ago. I should have kissed you."

"
But what if I had run away?"

"
I would have chased after you and never given up."

She grinned.
"What if I had chased you?"

"
I would have made myself an easy catch."

She laughed.
"Can I ask you something?" she said, leaning close to him.

Intrigued, he said,
"Aye, lass, anything."

"
You said you wanted to show me other ways of being intimate. How many ways are there?"

He smiled
down at her. "Have I told you how much I love you?"

Her bright, happy expression told him how much his words meant to her. His bonny lass, who had only sunny smiles for her family, now had them for him, just as he
'd wished he'd had from her so long ago.

He leaned over and kissed her upturned mouth.
"There are as many ways as we can come up with to make love, my wife. Anything you wish to try, I am game."

She seemed to ponder that a bit, then whispered to him,
"Una said one of the maids tied her man up."

Angus laughed out loud. He couldn
't help it. He'd never considered such a thing, but his bonny wife had?

Several stopped eating and talking to look their way as he
'd had his outburst. Edana's face flushed beautifully.

Angus grinned
and spoke for her hearing only. "Aye, if 'tis your desire. But I believe in reciprocating."

She thought about that, then nodded.
"Aye, I agree."

The festivities would not end soon enough before he could escort Edana to his bedchamber
to see what else she had in mind. He thought he was the one who would have to come up with all the new ways of making love. "What other methods did you hear of?"

She only grinned.
"I will tell you later—in the privacy of our bedchamber, since everyone is watching us because you laughed so loud."

"
I couldna help it. I wasna expecting you to say what you did." He took her hand and kissed it, then rested it back on his thigh.

James, Gunnolf, and Niall saluted him with their tankards of ale in a silent message of—
well done
.

Angus saluted them back, wishing he could make some excuse to slip off with Edana to his chamber
without anyone being the wiser.

"
Do you know where we can get some rope?" she asked.

He laughed again. His bonny lass was truly a treasure.
"We will use something softer so that our wrists willna be roughened up."

"
Oh, aye," she said so seriously, he couldn't believe how much she was thinking about binding him to the bed.

Already his staff was hard as steel.
"More ale," he called to a servant, wanting to cool his heated blood.