Tempting the Highlander

by Michele Sinclair

  Raelynd felt Crevan’s eyes upon her and she looked up at him, knowing what she would find. Crevan would not hide and neither would his brother. “I’m coming with you,” she said.

  Taking her hand, he went back to the tower and descended the staircase. By the time they reached the bottom, Craig, Meriel, and Rowena had joined them. They walked out into the courtyard and they were not alone. Cyric’s bellowing had awoken all who had been sleeping in the castle, including Conor and Laurel.

  Raelynd was the first to speak. “Hello, Father.”

  Rae caught the unhappy look from Conor. “I apologize for the hour of our arrival. It was . . . unavoidable.” Then his hazel eyes softened as they moved to his daughters. “I missed you both this month.”

  “And we missed you,” Meriel assured him.

  “Craig and Crevan came to visit me and told me of your plans. Then Cyric came to me expressing his . . . um, displeasure upon learning the circumstances of the arrangement. He desires to marry one of you and I support his claim.” Rae shifted his gaze to Crevan and then Craig. “I will not allow two men I admire and respect as much as I do you to postpone your own lives and marriages for unnecessary reasons. Cyric is capable of becoming the Schellden chieftain when I pass and it is my daughters’ responsibility, not yours, to marry and secure their clan’s future.”

  Conor yawned loudly and stretched his massive arms and chest, seizing everyone’s attention. “Sounds good. Glad to hear it, Schellden. Craig, Crevan looks like you escaped.”

  Laurel jabbed her husband in the ribs. “What?!” he exclaimed.

  Ignoring his older brother, Craig took a step toward Raelynd and circled an arm around her own waist. “Schellden, I appreciate your candor, but I have no intention of withdrawing my offer of marriage.”

  Cyric had remained silent during the conversation. His attention had been solely on Rowena, who only met his stare with one of her own. After years of hearing and helping to resolve numerous disputes, Cyric was well aware of the destructive nature of pride. It drove men to act in ways contrary to their personality or even their true desires. Cyric had no interest in becoming the next Schellden chieftain, but pride dictated that he do whatever necessary to achieve that right. If he did not, no one would respect him and that was the one thing he could not, would not lose.

  “Then I challenge you. Here and now,” Cyric said without inflection.

  “No!” Meriel shouted, and felt the resulting weight of all eyes upon her. Bolstering her courage, she moved so that she stood in front of Craig. “I am not worth it and I will not let you risk your life for me.”

  “Well, I’m not going to let you marry him,” Craig huffed.

  “No, it is I who is going to end this,” Raelynd asserted, looking directly at Cyric. “I am familiar with running Caireoch Castle and am the most knowledgeable to support you as second in charge to my father. I am offering to handfast with you tomorrow afternoon and in return my sister gets to retain her quarters in the castle, and you agree to end hostilities with the McTiernays. Handfasting will give you time to develop your role in the clan and secure your claim to be the next laird. But after a year and a day, we agree to end the union. You can then marry someone else and she will assume my role, leaving me free to live where I please and marry whom I want. Do you agree?”

  Cyric studied Raelynd. If he agreed, she and he would be together for at least one year and a day. She was strong willed, outspoken, and quite beautiful. Rumors had not done her justice. Normally, such a rare combination in a woman would have caught his attention, but Rowena had ruined his desire for anyone else. But Raelynd was not seeking passion from him, she was offering a compromise. She restored his pride by enabling him to become the next laird, and at the same time she would gain her freedom. A year of their life was the price.

  “I agree.”

  Upon hearing those two words, Conor clapped his hands. “Good. Now can we get back to bed? Fallon,” he said, finding the burly steward, who looked more than a little annoyed at being woken up in the middle of the night. “Find Laird Schellden and his nephew a bed in the Warden’s Tower and get them better accommodations in the morning.”

  Rae Schellden congratulated Cyric and then followed the steward into the nearby tower. Conor placed an arm around his wife’s shoulders and directed Laurel back to their bedchambers without any argument. With no fighting pending, the crowd lost its interest and began to disperse.

  Crevan joined them, disappearing without a word. Raelynd knew that she did not need to explain her actions. He understood them. Their destinies were written by people they loved.

  Raelynd offered the man she had just met and agreed to marry a quick nod. “Until tomorrow afternoon.”

  He returned the gesture. “Until then.”

  Raelynd turned and Meriel hastened to her sister’s side. Craig issued one final glare at the man who had disrupted so many lives over the past month before pivoting and escorting the two women back to their rooms.

  Only Rowena and Cyric remained in the courtyard and the tension between them was almost palpable. A year and a day he would be married and to Rowena it could have been until death. For it didn’t change the fact that he chose being laird and Raelynd over her.

  “Rowena,” Cyric said, his eyes pleading with her to understand.

  And she did.

  Cyric did love her. But he was still caught up in this image his father had of him. The man would not rest until he had his father’s respect. “Do you really intend to marry Raelynd?”

  “I have no choice.”

  Rowena bristled. “No, you do. And what you so desperately want cannot be gained by marrying Raelynd. Tomorrow afternoon will be the demise of your dreams and when they are gone, do not come back to me for support or understanding. I have no intention of being around.”

  Then she was gone and Cyric found himself alone. He was not surprised. Pride had driven him there and by tomorrow afternoon, it would cost him the woman he loved.

  Morning came early the next day, or at least it felt like it to almost everyone who was rudely awakened in the middle of the night. Only Father Lanaghly had been blissfully unaware of the commotion and able to get a good night’s sleep.

  Conor barked an order and Laurel decided to let it pass. He was tired and the midmorning meal had arrived almost at noon. Plus she had forced him out of the Star Tower, giving her dayroom to Raelynd so her sister and Rowena could help her prepare. She had even encouraged young Brenna to join them, which mollified the young girl enormously after being forced to stay in her room last night when it had been clear that something very interesting was taking place in the courtyard. But mostly Conor hated his home being used as an emotional battleground, for it was the one type of fight he knew not how to win. Laurel, however, was looking forward to sundown.

  Standing at one of the Great Hall windows, she waited patiently as she cradled her youngest child on her hip. Neither she nor Bonny liked it when she was away from the castle visiting and it took several days before the little girl was willing to be away from her mother’s side when she returned.

  Soft wavy brunette curls lifted from Laurel’s shoulder as Bonny pointed to the gatehouse. “Look, Mama. Crevan has come back home.”

  Laurel smiled and kissed the child on the temple. “That is good news, Bonny.” Then, over her shoulder, she called out, “Come take a look.”

  Conor let go a “hrmph” and continued his conversation with his commander, Finn. Rae Schellden joined her. He watched as Crevan marched determinedly toward the Warden’s Tower and disappeared inside. “Finally,” Rae grumbled, but Laurel knew he was relieved.

  “You had doubts?” she chuckled.

  By the time she had met and confirmed her suspicions with Laird Schellden almost all the pieces were in place with the exception of Cyric. Unknowingly Rowena was the one who corrected that small bump. She had not been part of Rae’s original plan, but a welcomed addition after watching the two bond. He considered her a third daug
hter and her happiness was of great importance to him.

  “Aye,” Rae admitted. “I had not planned for Cyric and Rowena to fall in love. She tends to be overly guarded and I’m afraid too little time has passed to break down the barriers she has placed around her heart. And after last night . . .”

  Bonny started to squirm and Laurel let her down. “True, but you heard her when she thought they were alone. Only when you love someone very deeply do you get that angry.”

  Rae chuckled. “She will need that spirit in Perth with all the people and pomp and circumstance at court. But I believe she will do well there.”

  “Aye,” Laurel agreed. “The queen is not much older than Rowena and I suspect they will get along well.”

  Schellden waved a finger toward the Star Tower across the inner yard. “And while it looks like Crevan is coming to his senses, will Raelynd? I hate to admit it, but my daughter has my stubbornness.”

  “She also has your ability to correct mistakes before she makes them.”

  “Only if she sees them.”

  Laurel grinned mischievously and crossed her arms. “Don’t worry about that. I made sure there was someone with them who will point out any mistakes she sees.”

  Schellden tilted a single brow and looked at her uncertainly. “Who?”

  Laurel’s smile broadened and her eyes danced. “The one person without whom your plan would have never come together. Brenna.”

  Brenna lay on her stomach on one of the window benches watching Meriel twist and curl her sister’s hair. It had taken them forever to get dressed and when they finally started doing their hair—what Brenna had been pining to begin for hours—they wouldn’t let her help. She hated being seven. Almost everything being discussed made no sense. But one thing was clear—no one was happy. And after a morning of tears and comments that a year wasn’t so long, Brenna decided that she was never going to get married. It was obvious that the whole event was very painful and she was pretty sure that getting a husband was not worth the misery.

  “Brenna, can you bring me that comb?” Meriel asked, pointing to the ivory object just out of Brenna’s reach. The little girl got down and handed over the comb.

  “Why is Rowena so mad?” she finally asked, hoping to at least clarify one mystery.

  Meriel opened her mouth to refute the assumption, but closed it before she did so. “Raelynd, look at Rowena,” she whispered. “Brenna is right. I thought she was just upset like I was at the situation, but she is not sad, she’s . . . well, like Brenna said, she’s mad.”

  Raelynd pivoted in her chair and considered her longtime friend. Rowena was sitting on the settee, knees pulled against her chest, and she was rocking slightly while staring into the fire. Her sister and Brenna were right. Rowena was mad.

  Rowena had bathed and done her hair early that morning and Laurel had let her borrow a gold dress that accentuated her dark feminine features. Normally, such a dress and the prospect of a wedding would make her bubble with excitement. But Rowena was far from being even mildly pleased. She so rarely let anything visibly rile her, they had not recognized her anger.

  Glad for any excuse to delay getting ready, Raelynd rose to her feet and walked over to her friend. “What is wrong? Last night you arrived and practically begged for a wedding to take place.”

  A tear escaped and Rowena quickly brushed it away. “Not this wedding. I did not want you to marry a man you do not love.”

  “But I did not love Craig either.”

  “This is different.”

  “How?”

  Brenna went back over to her window seat and flopped back down on her stomach, propped up her elbows and rested her chin on her palms. “Because she loves Cyric like you love Crevan,” she answered.

  All three women’s heads snapped to stare openmouthed at the little girl. Meriel was the first to speak. “I promise you, Brenna, my sister does not love your uncle Crevan. They fight all the time.”

  Brenna produced an unimpressed shrug. “So do Mama and Papa.”

  “I was the one who was going to handfast with Crevan,” Meriel explained, thinking that their similar looks had confused the young girl.

  A puzzled look took over Brenna’s face and her silver eyes searched Raelynd’s. “That’s what I don’t understand. Why would you do that if you love Crevan? And why did he agree?”

  Raelynd swallowed. “Whoever I marry will become laird of Meriel’s and my clan. So we did it to ensure the happiness of my sister and your uncle Craig,” she answered, refusing to look at Meriel.

  “My happiness,” Meriel repeated, mystified as her mind quickly replayed recent conversations. How many times had she rejected Raelynd’s idea that she and Craig join? And she had emotionally forced Raelynd into doing everything she could to keep her from possibly becoming responsible for Caireoch. “Raelynd, you should have said something.”

  Raelynd stared at her fingers. “I didn’t even realize I loved Crevan until recently. He only admitted his feelings the night he and Craig left to see Father. When they came back and we all agreed to handfast, what choice did he have? Crevan was not about to steal the only opportunity Craig might have at becoming a laird.”

  Meriel started to pace. “Craig doesn’t want to be a laird.”

  Raelynd scoffed, unable to comprehend such an absurd idea. “Every man, every soldier desires deep down to be in charge of a clan—especially one as powerful as ours.”

  “Not everyone,” Rowena muttered. “Cyric dreads the idea.”

  Raelynd jumped off the settee as if it had pinched her. The tight knot already present in her stomach just doubled in size. “I’m confused.”

  Brenna giggled.

  Meriel stopped her pacing and leveled a glare at the child. “This is not funny, Brenna.”

  Unfazed, Brenna tossed her pale gold curls over her shoulder and sat up. “It is to me. No one wants to marry the person they love!” Then her gray eyes turned serious and seemed to instantly age and fill with wisdom. “I’m bored. And nothing makes any sense. I’m going to find Mama. Maybe she can tell me why Crevan can’t marry Lyndee when he is the only one who wants to be a laird.”

  With a childlike growl, she got down, shuffled across the room and left, leaving everyone in the room stunned.

  Rowena raised her head and stared at her two friends, her eyes flickering between them. “Did I understand Brenna right?”

  “Crevan wants to be a laird?” Meriel posed.

  Raelynd stared at Rowena. “Cyric loves you?”

  A tense silence enveloped the room as everyone digested what they had just learned. Assumptions had to be reversed, decisions had to be reconsidered, and most importantly, personal desires that had been suppressed had to be reexamined.

  “Why am I just about to handfast with Cyric?” Raelynd finally asked aloud.

  Meriel shook her head. “I have no idea.”

  Rowena huffed. “Because if you don’t, Cyric will believe he was played a fool. All his life he has worked hard for the respect of his family and he doesn’t believe he can get it any other way.”

  Raelynd stood motionless for several seconds. “Do you believe that, Rowena?”

  Rowena paused and considered her answer. Spinning around in the settee, she sat up with her back straight and her eyes clear. “No I don’t. And I don’t believe your father does either.”

  Raelynd went back to the door and yanked it open, planning to call for Brenna. Instead two little boys fell inside. “Braeden. Gideon. How fortunate to find you here. Do me a favor and go find your mother and my father. You do know him, right? Laird Schellden?”

  Dark heads silently bobbed up and down, fearing she was going to make them confess what they had been doing. “Please find them and tell them that there is going to be no wedding this afternoon.”

  Braeden was the first to get to his feet. “You mean no one is marrying anyone of you?”

  Raelynd nodded. “Aye, that is exactly what I mean. We are tired of allowing our lives to b
e dictated by the desires of everyone else. So until that is understood, we are staying put.”

  Gideon’s eyes became huge. “We can’t remember all that.”

  “Just remember the part about us refusing to marry. That should be enough,” Raelynd directed, and then gave them both a slight push out into the corridor and closed the door.

  “There,” she said, feeling confident and hopeful for the first time in days. “I have been told twice now to never let anyone else determine my future. I think it is time I listened.”

  Crevan entered the stairwell to the second floor. The Warden’s Tower was where the soldiers slept, as well as the steward and a few others. Only two rooms in the tower were suitable for guests. He, Craig, and Conan were supposed to be sharing them. Fortunately for Schellden and his nephew, the weather had not turned bitter and all three of them had opted for other sleeping arrangements.

  As he took the last step, Crevan considered what he was about to do. He had not planned what he was going to say and he had no idea what reaction to expect from Cyric. Normally, either one of those factors would cause him to refrain from confronting the man, but today, no action was not an option.

  As the first pink rays of dawn chased away the night, it had occurred to him he had not said a word. Cyric demanded his rights. Meriel tried to sacrifice herself, Craig had protected her, and Raelynd had offered to save them all. Rae had spoken and even Conor offered his opinion. But he had remained silent.

  Never had Crevan felt so inadequate. He had been powerless to do what he wanted and had been ashamed of his weakness. Not until morning arrived did he realize that his feelings of helplessness were within his control. He had given his power away. It had not been taken from him. It was past time to reclaim what was rightfully his.

  Never before had he avoided an enemy and Crevan had every intention of facing this one. Today, he was going to stop living his life to please others at the expense of his own happiness.