Winning the Highlander's Heart (8 page)

He was back in the trenches.

 Then he thought of his earlier actions that day.  Did the lady know he had carried her to her bedchambers in such a heroic manner?  Certainly, his brother would not have done such a thing for fear his actions would have been frowned upon by the king and courtiers.

“You seek an example, milady?” he asked.  He would win the battle this time.

“Aye, that I do.”

“Earlier this day—”

She narrowed her eyes.

He would not be dissuaded from making his point.  “Earlier when I had upset you so—”

“I have told you already, Laird MacNeill, that it was not your telling me, but the fact that I had not known.”

“Aye, but ‘twas my folly to bring it up during the meal when I had nay right.”

She nodded.  “Continue.”

“When you fainted, servants immediately came to your aid, but I could not allow them to attend to you.”

“Why not, milaird?  It would have been perfectly acceptable.”

“Aye, milady.  Had I been Angus, I wouldna have made the effort to carry you to your chamber.  Not because he did not care...he was as much aghast at the situation as was I.  But being a younger man, he wouldna have gone against what most consider proper protocol.  I had upset you, and I wished to make amends.  I had hoped you would come to while I was still in your chamber so I could then apologize.  But you would not wake, and your lady-in-waiting warned me away, threatening to call the guards even.”

Anice’s mouth turned up.

Again, the desire to kiss her crossed his mind.  He could not imagine her stiffening in his embrace.  In fact, soft curves and the hint of lavender would be his to hold, and he knew she’d succumb to his charms.

The thought occurred to him, if she had been well supervised, she might never have felt a man’s lips touch hers.  He smiled.  The notion he would be the first pleased him.

She fingered her tankard.  “I concede you have a point.  Mayhap younger men are no’ as sure of themselves to act where they fear others might find folly.  I thank you for assisting me as you did, milaird.”  She bowed her head slightly.

Walking in the garden with the lady would be a pleasure.  He raised his tankard for a refill.

Then she spoke again.  “I must also remind you I still have nay interest in you as a prospective husband.”

“Because?”  He drank his wine, dying to hear why the lady found him so objectionable, when others found him just the opposite.  Scottish lasses that is.  Most English ladies kept their distance.

She squirmed slightly on the bench.  Mayhap she did not have a good reply because she spoke not the truth?

The king and his queen rose.  The meal ended.  Time for the garden walk with torches lighting their way.  And the kiss he hoped he’d bestow upon her...just to show she was not so unaffected by him as she pretended to be.

But he did not wish her to avoid his question about what made him so...unworthy of being her husband.  “A walk in the gardens, Lady Anice?”  He motioned to the south entrance to the hall, hoping she had not changed her mind.

“A brief one, then Mai and I will retire to ensure we can rise at the break of dawn to leave.”

“Before you break fast, milady?”

“Aye, way before.”

“As you wish.”  It bothered him that the king had attempted to compromise her when she wished his attentions not.  If he could have done so without gaining the king’s ire, he’d have taken the lady home this very eve.  But the roads could be dangerous at night.  Best they go at first light.

“I wish, milady, you had been upfront with me before.  I would have—”

“I would not have discussed such a thing with a man nay relation to me.”

“Aye.”  He thought this over as they stepped outside the keep with Mai following slightly behind, and Angus and Dougald wandering some distance back.  No matter what, he wished to be the one to protect her, being the chivalrous Highlander he was.  “Still, I beg of you, if such a thing does occur again with any gentleman who displeases you, you would allow me to speak on your behalf.”

Though he assumed the lady could take the matter in her own hands well enough.  ‘Twas only the king she hadn’t the ability to say no to should he have pushed his intentions.  But any other gentleman, considering she had rank of her own, would no doubt be careful not to upset her.  Particularly as she was the king’s ward.  Still, he wished to be the one—since she had no close living male relatives to watch out for her—to protect her while he served as her steward.

“Only say the word, milady.”

“I thank you for your offer.  Though I doubt I would have need of it in my own castle, I appreciate your kind proposal.”

Yes, but what about the Norman fops the king sent her way?  Would they try to kiss her as he wished to?  What if she wished the Norman laird to engage her in such a business?

He could not allow it as a kinsman of hers.  Mayhap not a relative, but of Scottish blood.  No Norman would kiss the woman before he was wed to her.

With that firmly in mind, he puffed out his chest pleased with his decision.  Then he had another thought.  If she expressed interest in any Norman laird, he would show how incompetent the laird truly was.  Should be an easy task.  Not by deceit, of course, but he would prove to her the laird was truly not the man she’d choose to wed, like she insisted Malcolm was not.

She glanced at him as they walked in silence.  She caught the silly grin on his face and returned the smile.  “You seemed pleased about something.  Pray tell what about?”

He nearly laughed.  Would she not like to know?  He shifted his thoughts to their earlier conversation.  “You say you would not find me a suitable husband, milady.  I still wait to hear how this is so.”

“Ah, why should it matter to you, milaird?”

“I have already told you why.  You are stalling.”

Her cheeks reddened.  He had her there.

She sighed heavily.  “I am ready to take my leave.  In the morning we depart early.”

“We will continue this conversation on the way to your castle, mayhap?”

“Mayhap.”

Yes, after she experienced a goodnight’s sleep and many hours to come up with reasons why she would not wed him.  Would be well worth the wait to see what she thought up.

But what he would not have given to have a goodnight kiss.  Not that he had any interest in the lass, but he wanted to prove to her before she retired to bed that she was not above wanting him.  The wiggle of her soft curves, the way she licked her lips and wrung her hands, stirred his shaft into action as if he were some randy lad.  ‘Twas not the way he reacted to most women, especially as coolly as the ladies of Arundel treated him.  So why, when this lady espoused she was not interested in him, did his body react so interested in her?

Still, he could not just propose to kiss her without having a damned good reason.  She turned and strolled back to the keep while he continued to walk beside her, trying to come up with a way to kiss her before they reached the castle doors or the prying eyes of too many of the courtiers.  It would not bode well to get on the wrong side of the king again.  Yet, he couldn’t shake the desire to kiss her...just to prove she
did
like him...to a point.

He touched her wrist and heat seared his fingertips.  The lass bewitched him like no other had ever done.  She stopped, faced him, and waited, green eyes full of intrigue, widened, curious.

His gaze focused on her wet, full lips again.  They parted slightly.  He looked up.  Did she want him to kiss her as much as he wanted to?  If he kissed her and she screamed out in protest, King Henry would have his head.

As if her lady-in-waiting realized what he was about to do, she cleared her throat from some distance behind.

A crimson blush rose to Anice’s cheeks, and she quickly looked down at the stone path.

Damn her lady-in-waiting.  He didn’t want to wait until they arrived at Brecken Castle, and Anice began to see Norman lairds who wished her hand.  He wanted her to think of the kiss they shared and remember how a Highlander had made her feel.  Never again would she be able to think of a Highlander the same way.

She looked at him again, and before he could lean down and touch his lips to hers or fathom what she was about to do, she quickly kissed his mouth with a feather-light touch, then hurried away.

He stood dumbfounded, unable to will his feet to move.  Her kiss was like a fairy’s, so light ‘twas almost unreal and yet it stirred his loins like no other woman had ever done.  Pure magic, soft and sweet.  Even now as he licked his lips, he was certain the taste of sweetened wine was from her mouth, not his.  How he’d wished he had responded more quickly and shown her a Highland warrior’s true kiss.

Mai brushed past him in a rush to catch up to her mistress.

He folded his arms.  Anice was a paradox in silk and wool, soft with curves in all of the right places.  Sweet at times, sharp tongued at others.  He couldn’t help but be attracted to the woman, the backbone she had to stand up to the king, the way she wished to return home to solve the problems that lay in wait for her.  Too bad, he had other plans.

His brothers joined him.  Dougald punched Malcolm in the arm.  “Angus has told me how ye fought with the lady at the meal.  Though even from where I sat in the hall, I heard her words raised in anger.  Whatever say you to get her to kiss you now?”

Damned if Malcolm knew.  “’Tis for me to know and you to guess the reason.”

Both his brothers groaned.  But deep inside, so did Malcolm.  The kiss she had bestowed so freely upon him was only the beginning.  Now he had to show her what a kiss would truly feel like, once he had the chance to respond.  A vixen was what she was.

He glanced up at her chamber window.  She stood watching him, but quickly stepped away when she caught his eye.  Chuckling, he shook his head.

“She said she did not like your type,” Angus reminded him.

“Aye, and I believed not a word of it.”

“If I did not know better, Malcolm, I would think you are pursuing the lady.  But of course I know better.  You wish an English bride.”

“Aye.”

Dougald took a deep breath and folded his arms across his broad chest.  “’Tis why you did not respond to her kiss.”  Humor tinged his all-knowing words.

“She stunned him, do you not think, Dougald?  She shocked me.  Never have I seen Malcolm not kiss a lady who kissed him first.”

“Either that or he was afraid of what the king might think.”

Angus grinned.  “That may be true.”

Malcolm stalked toward the keep.  “We must sleep, so that we may rise before dawn and be on our way.”

“’Tis not that you have a liking for the lass, is it?” Angus persisted.

Dougald laughed.  “He tells us one thing, but his actions say another.”

A servant opened the door for them, and a page handed Malcolm a missive.  “’Tis from His Grace, milord.”  He handed him another sealed letter.

“And this is from?”

“A knight I didn’t recognize, beg forgiveness, milord.  When he heard I had a message from the king for you, he asked if I would deliver this as well.”

Malcolm shoved the other in his purse, then opened the vellum from Henry.  Reading the missive to himself, he felt his brothers’ breaths on his neck while they read over his shoulders.

Your Grace, Lady Anice’s treasurer has been found dead in the River Arun, his head severed from his body.  We have found no signs of the other men.