''All right, Big Dog," she called out. "You've found me. Come on out and bring Darach with you." She should have known she couldn't escape him, after all. She looked up with a grin of resignation.
Her grin faded as she looked into the pale eyes and rough gray coat of a wolf.
Darach was in a fine temper by the time he reached the burn on the far side of the woods below the village. Guilding his horse carefully along its track, he could make out a footprint here, a broken branch there, all signs that told him that someone had passed this way recently, someone who wasn't at all careful about concealing her path. He also noted that, as far as he could tell, she was alone.
The madness of the lass! What was she about? These lands held a multitude of dangers for the strongest of men. What chance did she think she had out here alone?
Unless she knew her way. Unless she had made arrangements for someone to meet her.
He hated the thoughts he was thinking. He'd thought he knew Julia. She was a trifle outlandish, a mite eccentric, but he'd lived with eccentricity almost all his life. She'd been kind to his men, thorough in her job, faithful in most every way.
But she had fled. She'd taken advantage of his willingness to show his trust in her and she'd stolen away like a thief in the night.
He wanted to shake her. He wanted to turn her over his knee. He wanted to bind her to him and never let her go. That was what put him in an even fouler temper. His innate honesty refused to deny that he wanted Julia in his arms, in his bed, in his life. And that was a large part of why he was so hot to find her.
Fool! He railed at himself in English and Gaelic, called himself every kind of idiot, but he couldn't let go of the longing and the fierce desire that swamped his senses whenever he so much as thought of her. Did she have any notion of the havoc she wreaked upon him just by walking past him? Did she have the slightest inkling that she invaded his dreams every night and tormented him so sweetly therein that his hands clenched down on the reins even now?
She couldn't have. Barbarian, she'd called him. Ogre. Bully. Hadn't he seen her often enough with Alasdair? Alasdair, who championed her cause at every turn and whose refined features and learned ways would appeal to a lass of Julia's tastes far more than his own rough style.
"Damnation," he grumbled, steering his mount around a fallen log. The merest thought of Alasdair and Julia sharing even the most chaste of kisses caused his blood to heat like an ironsmith's forge. Brother or no, he wouldn't tolerate that!
A scream ripped through the silence of the woods. He gathered the reins and spurred his horse across the meadow, heading toward the sound. He heard it again, even over the pounding of hooves.
Sweet Jesu! It was Julia!
Chapter Seventeen
Julia faced the wolf, too terrified to move. She'd always heard wolves were shy creatures who'd run away rather than challenge a human being. But this beast looked utterly fearless and most definitely hungry.
She saw him gather himself to spring and her body came to life. She leapt away, out of his path, a scream erupting from her throat with gratifying power. Her back came up against sheer rock; her feet tangled in a root that snaked along the ground. She twisted about to see her pursuer, frantically working at the vine that held her captive only a few feet from those terrible jaws.
The wolf faced her again, his feet braced. She smelled the heat of him, the wildness. He hunkered down again, growling, ready to pounce. She screamed as another furry body hurled itself from the rock above and engaged the wolf in battle. Savage growls and grunts emanated from the whirling tangle of fur, teeth, tails, and ears.
"Oh, God! Big Dog, look out! Get away!" she screamed. She managed to free her feet and lunged toward the pair.
"Back off!" came a shout.
She looked up to see Darach leap from his running horse and streak across the meadow, his knife in hand. To her horror, he waded into the fray, slashing at the wolf with a power that seemed as savage as any beast. There came a loud yelp, and Big Dog was tossed clear of his opponent. Now it was Darach and the wolf, wrestling and grunting together among the rocks and vines.
Julia hung back, fearful that any interference might cost Darach his life. Big Dog lay on the other side of them from her. She tried edging toward him.
There was a sudden, gurgling cry, and Darach leapt back from the wolf, his knife upraised and bloody. The animal flopped to the ground, gave one last violent lunge, as if to continue the fight, then fell once more, stilled by death.
"Darach!" She flung herself into his arms, shaking and sobbing. "Are you all right?"
His arms closed about her for a moment, holding her tight against his chest, which still heaved with the effort of the battle. She raised her head to look at him and he kissed her, roughly, thoroughly.
When he lifted his head, she said, "Oh, Darach, I thought"
He thrust her out at arm's length. "What the devil were ye tryin' to do?" he cried. "Have ye porridge where your wits should be?"
"What?" She was shocked at his sudden turn from tenderness to rage.
"Ye could hae been killed! I could hae been killed. Big Dog could hae been killed!"
"Big Dog!" she gasped. She twisted out of his grasp and ran to the big animal's side. "Oh, BD, you've got to be all right. You saved my life, you big sweetie!"
She moved her hands all over him. He had several bites, but none of them looked too deep or serious. She lifted his head onto her lap and lifted his eyelids. His eyes were clear and not rolled back in his head. She shook him gently.
"He's been knocked out," she said to Darach, who hovered nearby, his own face mirroring her concern. "Do you have any of that liquor you guys carry around?"
He loped off without a word and was soon back with a flash. She took it and said, "Hold his head up and help me pry open his muzzle. I'm going to try to get some of this into him."
Together they managed to pour some of the liquor down Big Dog's throat. The animal came to life with a loud snort and shook himself free of their hold. He coughed a couple of times and then gave them both a stare of such obvious annoyance that they both laughed.
"Atta boy," Julia said, rising to go and stroke the huge head. "You're as hardheaded as your master. No wolf is going to get the best of you."
"Many thanks," Darach said dryly.
She straightened up. "Thank you, Darach," she said solemnly. "I know I wouldn't have survived without you. I don't know if BD here would have, either."
"Ye're welcome. Now, why the devil were ye out here in the first place?"
"I need to go, Darach. I have to get back to my old world. You've told me often enough that I don't belong here, and you're absolutely right. I thought if I went off on my own, I'd save you the trouble of feeling responsible for me. If I went on my own, it wouldn't be the same as if you had let me go."
He swore under his breath. "Ye thought to save me the responsibility of being the one who let ye escape? Ye'd save me the trouble of wonderin' if ye had gone to the Morestons? Save me the trouble of thinkin' of ye lyin' dead here in the wilds?"
"No, I didn't think that. I meant well, I swear." She could feel her own anger rising. "You can't blame me for wanting to get out of someplace where I don't belong, where I can never fit in. And how do you know that I don't have responsibilities of my own, in my own . . . world? You don't have the market cornered on duties, you know."
"I do not. But I do what's my duty and leave the rest alone. I don't go tryin' to take on the tasks of others!"
"The hell you don't! You're the champion of I'd Better Do It Myself Or It Won't Get Done Right. I've watched you snatch responsibility right out of your own brother's hands because you can't let go of your control over him and everything else to do with Clan MacStruan."
"Ye would take his part."
"Aye, that I would!" She was startled by the burr in her accent, but she was too angry to stop and contemplate the ramifications. "Alasdair is a good friend to me and he doesna think I'm a porridge-braine
d ninny."
"I never said ye were a ninny."
"You said I had porridge for brains not fifteen minutes ago."
"Oh. Aye, so I did. But ye scared me that bad, lass! I thought ye were goin' to be killed."
"Oh, right! So you rode in to the rescue and now you think you own me!"
"If ye aren't the damnedest, most confounding little" He lunged forward and grabbed her by the arms. "Listen to me, Julia, I'm no' goin' to apologize for wantin' to have ye alive and here, wi' me!"
With that he crushed her to him once more and kissed her. It was as if her whole world were melting away and being remade. Her feelings for Darach ran so deep and strong that they frightened her. She wanted him with such complete passion that she longed for a way to burrow inside him and take root there. She wound her arms about his neck, anger and love and longing mingling in the kisses they shared. Darach lifted her completely off the ground, holding her in an embrace that was as right as her own name. She clung to him, willing this moment to go on forever.
"Julia," he murmured against her neck. "Ah, Julia, if I'd lost ye!"
She hushed his mouth with hers.
BD gave a whine beside them, then a warning bark. Darach let Julia down gently, his hand moving to his sword. Julia looked at Darach.
"Another wolf?" she whispered.
He shook his head. "This one goes on twa legs, if it is. Come." He held out his hand. "We ride."
He gave a low whistle to Big Dog and hurried Julia to the waiting horse. He climbed up and pulled her up behind him. "Hold on."
They took off up the meadow and over the hills. Julia glanced back. For a moment she thought she saw someone standing in the spot where the wolf had perched, waiting to spring at her. She blinked and the figure was gone. But she would swear she'd seen it. And that it was a woman clad all in green.
It wasn't long before Darach and Julia met up with the lairds on the trail. All of them had bows and arrows, knives, and swords with them. Julia tugged at Darach's plaid. "Are they going to war?"
He grinned. "Nay. Not unless the deer in these woods have taken to wielding cannon and sword."
"Oh, hunting."
The men crowded around them. "Where'd ye go, Julia?" Tommy asked. "We were that scared when we found ye gone."
His innocent concern touched her heart. Not everyone thought she'd run off with evil intent, she thought. "I went off to find the spot where you and the others found me that first day," she said, knowing that she was telling only half the truth. "But I was foolish to leave. I shouldn't have gone off on my own."
"Amen to that," said Alasdair. "I'm glad you're safe, Julia."
She gave him a brief smile but kept silent about the trouble she'd gotten into, or how Darach had come to her aid. Darach had all but said he suspected her of loving Alasdair, and that Alasdair returned those feelings. She wanted no such mistaken beliefs.
"So what have you got?" Darach said.
The men showed a brace of wild fowl, several fat rabbits, and an adult deer. Darach clapped Niall and Gordon on the backs for the deer and praised the others for such a good catch in such a short time.
"Shall we ride, then?" he asked.
"Aye."
The men had several horses among them. Two of them had been pressed into service as pack animals. Julia never failed to wonder at the strength and lung power of all the men, even auld Bruce. They could walk and even run up and down these wild, rocky hills and glens for miles uncounted and never seem to tire. Even Big Dog trotted along as if this were a short stroll in the park. She slid down from behind Darach when they stopped to let the horses water and tried keeping up with the group. She managed for a while but, slowly and surely, she began to flag and had to accept Darach's boost back up onto his mount.
''I don't know how you do it," she said, gathering up the reins he handed to her.
He smiled. "We're born to it, I suppose. Ye'll come to have the wind to run up and down the Highlands, too, someday." He strode on at her side, guiding the horse here and there over a dangerous patch.
She heard his words again, ringing in her heart. Ye'll come to have the wind to run up and down the Highlands, too, someday. He'd spoken as if he not only expected her to stay, but he wanted her to stay. For the first time, he was treating her as if she weren't a mere outlander, but someone who was, at least in part, a member of his people.
They began to climb higher as they emerged from the woods. Rocks and crevices sported low, scrubby plants, and the wind whipped around the steep trails with a crisp, stinging freshness. She leaned toward Darach. "This can't be the way back to the village," she said. "I didn't come this far when I was on my own. And I don't remember these mountains."
"We're no' goin' back to the village tonight."
"It's impossible!"
Edana was beside herself. She wanted to fling herself after the departing couple and scratch their faces into pulp. Another woman still occupied a place in Darach's lifein his armsthe same woman she'd seen in her mirror-basin. The same woman her loyal Willem had sworn he'd killed.
She gritted her teeth. It was well that Willem had disappeared from Castle Moreston recently. If he dared show his face there again, she'd make certain he writhed in such torment he'd beg for the relief of hell's fires.
She marched to and fro on the ridge, fists clenched, nails biting into her palms. How could it have happened? The mirror had told her the deed was done
"Fool! Imbecile!" she railed at herself. Her mind replayed her mistake.
Servant, is my love safe from the clutches of that woman?
He iss far from her reach.
The idiotic basin had taken her question literally! Darach had been with the Earl of Atholl; of course he was out of her reach. For the basin to answer her as she wished, she needed to ask it precisely what she wanted to know, else the Servant would only respond to the words she spoke. And she had not thought to require the Servant to show her the woman's whereaboutsalive or dead.
She put her hands on her hips. The gypsy woman who had been her teacher had forgotten to tell her of such complications. Honestly, she thought, it was getting more and more difficult to depend on anyone.
She looked down at the body of the wolf below and gave an exasperated sigh. If only she'd known the woman was out here alone. She could have sent Grif after her on purpose. As it was, he'd found her on his own, but Darach had done away with her pet.
Her Darach was so strong! She smiled at the memory of his fierce struggle with the ravening Grif. She could make use of that strength, too.
But he'd been trapped once again by that she-wolf in breeches, Edana thought as she turned away from the ledge and headed back toward the castle. Men were such fools. She sighed again. She was going to have to rescue him from the clutches of this annoying intruder. And she'd make sure the job was done right this time.
She pondered her choices on her solitary walk home. Sometimes she wished she hadn't struck that bargain with Craigen. He was taking an abominably long time to bring Darach's clan to their knees, and he only listened to her counsel half the time. Another foolish male. With this woman in Darach's life, she might have to step in and make things happen a bit faster.
She frowned. No. No, she wasn't going to hurry this. She'd worked too long and hard to rush things now. She'd find a way to be rid of the woman. After all, she was merely a woman and Edana had already gotten rid of one woman who'd dared to come too close to Darach. What was another in the name of true love?
"Where are we going?" Julia asked again.
"Ye'll know when we get there."
"Darach!" She gave him an exasperated glare.
He grinned. "Dinna fash yoursel', impatience. Ye'll learn all in good time."
"I'll fash myself if I want to!" she retorted. "And what does that mean, anyway?"
"It means don't go rushin' about, pesterin' to be told everythin' all at once."
"Beast!"
He grinned that maddening grin and turned away to talk
with Niall.
They climbed up one hill and down another, then entered another wood. The days were long up here in the north, Julia knew, but it was growing late. She wondered if they would camp for the night. She didn't like the idea of sleeping out in wolf country, even surrounded as she was with men capable of killing a wolf in hand-to-hand combat.
They climbed up out of the woods as the sun was beginning to lower itself toward the western peaks. The men stopped at a stream and to her surprise, went off behind the shelter of some trees and waded in for a bath. She looked at Darach in wonder.
"They like to be clean when we come up here." He gave her another of his wicked grins. "Do ye mind if I do the same? Perhaps ye'd like to join us?"
"No, thank you," she said quickly. "I've never been one for group bathing."
He shrugged and began to undo his belt and plaid. He was down to his long shirt alone when he looked up to see her gazing at him, wide-eyed. He chuckled and shook his finger at her. "A more modest maid would look away," he scolded.
"I'm not a maid," she said tartly, coming to her senses. "Go off and have your bath, ogre. I won't assault your virtue."
"Damn the luck," he said sorrowfully. He walked off, whistling to himself, swaggering a bit in a way that told her clearly he was putting on the show for her benefit. Big Dog trotted off with him, tongue lolling cheerily.
She dismounted and tied the horse to a tree near the others. She wandered down to the water's edge and dabbled her fingers in the chilly rush. She glanced downstream to see the men at their baths, just visible in and among the lacy branches of the overhanging trees.
She sat on a rock and drew her knees up to her chest. She heaved a sigh of peace and satisfaction. Such beautiful men, she thought with admiration and pride. Though she couldn't see every bit of them, she could make out their powerful muscles, the glow of health and strength about them, the many shades of auburn hair, save for the silver-topped Bruce. And in the midst of them, splashing and playing like a schoolboy, was dark-haired Darach, his shoulders far and away the broadest, his height the greatest.
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