The Capture of Highland Desire (The Mac Coinnach Brothers) (11 page)

             
He was just blissfully slipping out of consciousness when he heard someone calling his name. 
Oh sweet mercy…

              Allia had rolled her eyes at the ridiculous show of male testosterone erupting in the hall.  Men were exactly the same, no matter where or when.  She could have been witnessing any number of identical bar room brawls in the 21
st
century.  Not that she had seen all that many in person, but she had watched enough of them on TV. 

She had seen Eian laughing and carousing with the rest of them, and then she had seen him
join the fight that seemed to start up out of nowhere.  The men who were fighting probably had no idea why they were pummeling each other, especially considering how drunk they all were.  Some seemed barely able to stand, let alone throw a punch.  Even drunk, Eian had been fairly impressive.  He had some serious fighting skills.  Had he been sober, she was pretty sure none of the others would have stood a chance against him. 

As the fighting drew to a close, mostly because a large number of the participants had
either been knocked out or had passed out on their own, she watched Eian stumble out the door, blood dripping down his face and onto his clothes.  At first she was determined to ignore the whole juvenile display, but as she sat there and each minute seemed to grow longer than the last, she found she couldn't take her eyes off the door, wondering where he went and whether he was alright.  What if he fell into the loch and drowned?  Ok, so in the state he was in he probably wouldn't make it as far as the lake, but still, what if he did?  Or what if he was more seriously injured than he looked and he bled to death?  Or had a concussion?  She found that she cared much more than she wanted to. 

Finally, she
gave up torturing herself and made an excuse to step out for some fresh air.  Her uncle nodded, letting her go a bit too easily and without insisting on guards, but she would think about the implications of that later.

             
She soon found Eian sitting propped against the stable, and even in the dim light of the newly risen moon she could see his swollen eye and bloodied nose.  With a resigned sigh, she shook him gently and called his name.  She had to do so twice more before he finally opened his eyes and relief flooded through her.  He was alright.

             
"Ah Lass, have ye come to put me out of my misery?"  He made a grab for her arm, but missed.

             
"No”, she said curtly. “I've come to make sure you're still alive.  Now that I see you are, I'm going back inside."

             
He smiled drunkenly.  "Ye care for me."

             
"No, I..."

             
He reached out again and this time successfully grabbed her by the waist, pulling her roughly down onto his lap.  "
This
is the best dream I've ever had..."

             
She tried to pull away but he clutched her tighter.  "You're not dreaming, you oaf, you consumed your weight in whiskey and..."

             
He put his fingers clumsily over her lips.  "Shhh.  No talking.  I have to tell ye… I think I'm falling in love with ye lass... I've been with lots of women, do ye ken how many women I've been with?"

             
"No!  And I don't want to know..."  Falling in love?
Oh Allia, stop with the fantasies, it's only the whiskey talking and you know it.
  Even so, those words coming from his lips had melted her insides to a dangerous, molten degree.

             
"I dinna ken either.  Lots.  I ne’er kept count.  Some men do ye ken... keep count.  I ne’er did, though."

             
"Well, I imagine it would have taken up far too much of your time", she said tartly.

             
"Aye.  But I dinna want any more women, and I dinna want any more whiskey, I only want ye…  And I'm going to kill him!"

             
"Kill who?"  She certainly didn’t want Eian killing anyone, especially when he wasn’t in his right mind.

             
"Any man... that ever touches ye.  But me.  Ye frighten me, lass."

             
"You can't just kill..."  She trailed off because his eyes had slipped shut and he was fast asleep.  She looked at his face in the moonlight, his long, dark lashes sweeping his high cheekbones, his full lips slightly parted in sleep.  His unruly hair fell in waves across his shoulders, and because she had wanted to for so long, she ran her fingers gently through it, smoothing in back from his face.  He was beautiful, sensuous, wild, and far too dangerous.  Far, far too desirable.  Every woman's darkest fantasy; little wonder he had been with so many.  With a sigh, she started disentangling herself from his arms.  She needed to get away before she gave into her next impulse and kissed his lips while he slept.  That sinfully gorgeous wide mouth framed with a square jaw and a dimpled chin.  But his arms tightened around her again, his brow creasing as he frowned in his sleep.

             
"Stay..." he mumbled.  “I need ye…”

             
But she didn't stay, as much as she might want to.  Now that she knew he would live, she carefully slipped free from his grasp and, with one last look, she turned and went back into the keep.  Leon glanced up when she came in, and she could have sworn he looked slightly surprised to see her.  She didn’t go back to the table.  Instead she climbed the stairs to her room and went straight to the window, which was wide open to the night.  She couldn’t bear to be closed inside for long, never could.  The moon was higher in the sky now and she could see the outline of the hills in the distance, and the long squat building that was the stable.  Had he been with those women in there?  Shaking her head in a poor attempt to rid herself of unwelcome thoughts of Eian naked and straining over another woman, she started to undress for bed with sharp, jerky movements that told her just how frustrated she was with this whole crazy situation.  She hadn’t really belonged in the 21
st
century, and she didn’t really belong here, either. And now she wanted a man that she couldn’t have because he was no good for her.

She pulled a night rail over her head, and
sat down on the feather bed that she still hadn’t quite gotten used to.  She missed her own bed.  There were a lot of things she missed.  Hot showers, microwave ovens… radios.  Her kitten.  She still felt confused and frightened and all tied up in knots, and it didn’t seem to be getting any better as the days went by.  She needed to go home, where everything had made sense. 
Hadn’t it?
  More sense than things were making here, anyway.  She was pretty sure she could figure out how to get there… she knew the spell, and she could reverse it easily enough.  She plopped back onto the pillow.  All right, it was settled.  No more craziness.  No more uncertainty.  She would run.  She was going to go home, back to the 21
st
century.  Allia sighed and pulled the coverlet higher around her chin, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.  Now if only she could only get rid of the annoying ache in her chest at the thought of leaving Eian Mac Coinnach behind for good.

Chapter
8

              He caught her by the arm as she turned away, spinning her back towards him with enough force that she landed against the solid wall of his chest.  He shuddered out a breath at the intimate contact.

             
“Allia, please…”

             
For a moment, she was lost.  She felt as if she was melting into the warmth of him, falling into the intoxicating scent of man and spice and saddle leather.  Oh, it would be so easy.  So very easy to forget herself.  Her breasts were pressed tightly against him, and her nipples hardened and ached.  She put her hands flat against his chest to push herself away, and she could feel the nervous, frantic pounding of his heart.  She looked up at him, lips parted in surprise.  He really felt something for her.  This was more to him than just another conquest…

             
He met her gaze, and his eyes were impossibly dark, and desperate with need.

             
“Please…” he choked out.

             
It was all he could seem to say.

             
He bent his head, lowering his mouth slowly towards hers until she could feel his warm breath.  Her own heart beat like a wild bird in a cage.  Her trembling fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt.  She was falling, falling…  Then the familiar panic rose and she shoved at him as she wrenched herself away, stumbling backwards.  The last thing she saw before she turned and ran was the look of absolute desolation on his face as he reached for her.

             
“Allia…”

             
But she had to get away.  She couldn’t think when Eian was close to her.  He overwhelmed her, filled all her senses, made everything and everyone else fade away until he was all she could see.  Could his feelings for her be genuine, or was he just that good of an actor?  He wanted her, yes.  But how could she trust him not to break her heart?  If she let him in, even a little, she was afraid she would fall so hard and so fast that should he ever leave her, she would never survive.  Allia knew that with Eian Mac Coinnach, it would be nothing at all… or her very soul.

              Allia shook herself awake from the vivid dream, willing her heart to slow to a more normal rhythm.  Raw emotions still roiled within her, and she fought to tamp them down, because she couldn’t afford to let them get in her way.  She needed to think of her future now, of the rest of her life.  She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.  She glanced at the window.  Dawn was not far off, by the faint glow in the eastern sky, and she had to get ready to slip away.

***

              Eian had woken slowly this morning from deep within a dream, head throbbing, still slumped against the stables.  In the dream, he had been home at Creagmor, and Allia had been there with him.  He had woken up and looked over to find her beside him in his bed, propped up against the pillows, and holding a small bundle wrapped in a blanket.  He had sat up to get a better view, and found himself looking down into the tiny, perfect face of a newborn babe.  He had known in an instant that the bairn was his own.  A love so pure and so strong had flooded his heart that he could still feel it, even now.  And pride!  So much pride.  His wife and his child, to love and protect and cherish.  The feeling had been so profoundly pleasant that he longed to fall back to sleep and stay longer in the dream.  But he was wide awake now.  He ran his hands through his hair and gingerly lowered his head back against the wall to consider what such a night vision might mean.

Eian
had never until this very moment thought of himself as a potential father.  Oh, he adored children, he played with all of the children of the village, even taught some of the lads how to wield their wooden swords, and threw the squealing little lasses up into the air, catching and tickling them, and delighting in their carefree laughter.  When he walked down the road they swarmed him, and he loved it.  He even looked forward to the birth of Bren’s child, so that he would have a little niece or nephew to spoil.  But bairns of his own?  Truthfully, he had never even considered it, and was always exceedingly careful not to get any of his lovers with child.  Children, and a wife for that matter, would have definitely gotten in the way of his commitment to a life of fun and adventure. 

But when he
thought of Allia, and remembered the dream, he unexpectedly wanted more than that.  He was shocked to find that it didn’t seem so bad after all… settling down.  A family.  His own bairns.  One woman that was his and his alone.  He could almost see Allia, in his mind’s eye, her golden hair shining in the sun while their children clung to her skirts adoringly.  He would come home from training with the men and she would turn and smile at him, then the wee ones would shriek and run to
him
, their father.  He would catch them up and fling them, giggling, over his shoulder, then lean in to kiss his wife…

              “Mac Coinnach!”

             
Eian started and blinked as the beautiful vision faded and the world slowly came back into focus. 

             
“Bloody hell, man, where were ye just now?”  Angus, who ran the stables, was looking at him strangely.

             
Eian shook his head.  “Sorry, just lost in my thoughts for a moment.  Had strange dreams last night.”  He glanced up at the north tower where he knew Allia’s window was, rather wishing he was waking up in her bed, instead of slouched down on a pile of mud and straw with hard stone at his back.