She gazed across the stream to the wild hills around her. The barren splendor of the landscape was growing pale lavender and blue in the waning light. Clouds scudded here and there overhead, casting shadows and then lifting to permit the last golden bars of the sunset. No wonder the clan felt so possessive about this place, she thought. If I'd learned to survive and thrive in such a unique and challenging world, I'd want to defend my right to be here.
She glanced again at the men splashing and shouting in the water, BD joining them in thrashing, yipping glee. She wondered how they must feel, living so completely as a part of this land. What would it take for her to live that way? Or to be accepted by the people who lived in such close harmony with its wild ways? Would she be forever an outlander to them?
"What the heck are you on about, Addison?" she murmured. There was no way she was going to stay in the Highlands with these people. She had to get back. She needed to set right the business she had left in New York when she had run away. She belonged in the city, in a world of delis and bookshops and cabs.
She smiled at the idea of taking the lairds out for Sunday brunch at Goldfarb's deli, not far from her tiny apartment in the city. And getting the whole bunch of them onto the subway would be a stitch, she thought, along with watching their faces as the cars and trucks and Rollerblading messengers crammed the streets during business hours.
What a contrast to this place! She looked around again, trying to imagine leaving it for the city. To her shock tears rose, unbidden, to her eyes and filled her throat.
What was this? she wondered, brushing at her eyes. She'd wandered around the United States most of her adult life. She'd never shed a tear upon leaving anyplace. But the mere idea of parting from the harsh, wild Highlands threatened to break her heart.
"Ready to go on?"
She started as Darach came up behind her, dressed again in his shirt and plaid, slicking his hair back with both hands. She caught her breath at the sight of him, the drops of water glistening off his high cheekbones, the easy, animal grace of his stride over the rocks. He was the embodiment of masculinity, she thought, with all his fierce love of the land and his people, the heat of his temper, the strength of his body, the tenderness of his soul. Her heart rose up as she admitted, once again, that she was falling in love with him, falling faster and farther with each passing day in his company.
"What is it?" he asked, coming to her with a hand outstretched. She took his hand and let him help her up from the rock. "Have I got a salmon stuck in my ear?" She laughed. "No, not that I can see. I was just woolgathering."
"Woolgathering, eh? I'd best warn the sheep."
"Silly," she said, smiling up at him. "Are you going to tell me where we're heading?"
"It truly is a secret," he said, his face growing more solemn. "I canna tell ye. And I must blindfold ye for the last of the way."
"Blindfold me?" She stopped. "Why?"
"It's better that way."
"You still don't trust me, do you?"
He hesitated. "Nay, I canna say that I dare," he said. There was a note of apology in his voice. "But there are others that I know I can never trust. Because of them, I canna let ye see how we get where we're goin'. It would be a danger to the clan. And it would be a danger to ye, Julia."
"A danger to me? Are you saying that someone might try to hurt me to learn how to get wherever it is we're going?"
"Aye." He frowned. "The lairds told me what happened while I was away. It seems someone's already tried to harm ye."
"Well, hell." She thought about this for a moment, her mind whirling with possibilities. "Why did you bring me here, then? Why not leave me down in the village?"
"Ye would no' be safe down there, either. I canna spare a man to watch ye. Besides, ye ran off, remember?"
"So, wherever we're going, all the men want to go and no one wants to be left behind?" Julia tapped her chin with her fingertip. "Hmm."
He shook his head and laughed. "Ye're more curious than ten cats, Julia Addison. When will ye trust me?"
She looked at him in wonder. His tone was laughing, but she could see from his eyes that he was serious. She was about to respond when he turned and gave a piercing whistle. She heard the men come splashing out of the water.
Darach untied his horse and boosted her up as the first of his men answered his summons. "It's about time," he said to Niall and Liam with a grin. "Were ye waitin' for some lily-scented soap to come floatin' down the burn?"
"Naw," said Niall, tucking his shirt securely into his plaid. "I was waitin' to see if the midges would carry off our Liam, here."
Liam slapped at one of the monstrous insects. "I've studied and studied and I canna find a single reason why they should prefer me to the likes o' him," he said, jerking his head toward Niall. "As the Emperor Hadrian retorted to Florus:
I've no mind to be a Florus,
Strolling round among the drink-shops,
Skulking round among the cook-shops,
Victim of fat-gorged mosquitoes.'"
He smacked at another buzzing invader. "They nip at me like I was one o' wee Julia's daintiest cakes." Big Dog added to the indignity by trotting up and giving himself a thorough shaking, all over Liam's front.
"See they don't feast on anythin' vital," Niall said with a wicked smile. "Ye may have a use for it soon."
Darach interrupted before Liam could reply. "Let's get started. We've no torches wi' us to carry on after dark."
The other men returned, damp and smiling, and soon the party was on its way. Julia was grateful for the ride on Darach's horse, despite the rocky path that jostled her right, left, and center. She'd been traveling since sunrise, and her feet were starting to complain.
She looked about at the men. Why had they wanted a bath all of a sudden? While they were by no means filthy, she knew that baths were not daily occurrences back in the village. And the looks on their faces; they all looked like Elvis pilgrims at the gates of Graceland, waiting for their turn to go inside.
She looked at Niall. Stern, soldierly Niall kept breaking into a grin as he went along. Liam, of all people, was humming a tune. Tommy kept racing ahead and dashing back, his energy more boundless than ever, if that were possible. Everyone seemed filled with a secret joy. Heavens, even Liam and Gordon smiled at one anotherhad a truce been called in the notorious chicken feud?
Darach called a halt after a short while and, looking genuinely apologetic, tied a kerchief over Julia's eyes. "I'm trustin' ye no' to peek," he told her. "For your sake as well as ours." The rest of the trip was more jostling, as far as Julia was concerned. All she could make out was that they were climbing, winding back and forth as they ascended. To her relief the last leg was relatively short. She felt Darach's horse come to a stop. She heard whispers from the men around her. A short bark of laughter rang out now and then, followed by several voices hissing for silence.
''All's well, Darach." She heard Ross's voice nearby. BD gave an affirming woof.
"Right then," Darach said. "Get the horses unpacked."
She felt his hands lifting the kerchief away. She blinked in the half-light and gazed around her. They seemed to be on a ridge. She looked off to one side and gasped. A drop of nearly feet plunged to the rocky streambed below. To her right rose a sheer rock wall.
"Where are we?" she asked, sliding off on the horse's right side rather than brave the tiny space of rock between her and the rocks far below.
"On MacStruan land, believe it or no'." Darach motioned her ahead of him and began to lead the horse around a high boulder topped with scrubby, low-growing plants.
"Way up here" She fell silent as she rounded the rock wall. "Oh, my gosh," she breathed. "So that's what all the secrecy is about."
Chapter Eighteen
Julia was filled with wonder. Standing before the gaping entrance to a cave stood a group of smiling, cheering women and children. There was a rush all around her. The lairds and their ladies came together in a noisy, joyous embrace, child
ren dancing about in excitement and screeching happily. BD raced in circles, barking thunderously, pausing here and there to jump up and lick someone in greeting. Julia's mouth snapped shut lest she get a mosquito appetizer, but she turned wide eyes on Darach.
"They stay up here," he offered. "Once a month, we come up to visit."
Julia found her voice. "Is thisis it some kind of religious rule or something?"
"Aye, ye could say that. We're bound to care for our families by all the laws of God and nature."
She couldn't help smiling at the expressions of joy before her. "So this is where all the women and children of your clan have been hiding out. I was beginning to wonder if . . ." She caught Darach's sharp gaze. "Yes, well, never mind." She clasped her hands together. "This is marvelous!''
A tall woman came forward out of the press of reunited families. She leaned on a staff and while she wasn't exactly old, her dark hair was shot with silver.
Darach went forward and embraced her. "Mother. Ye're keepin' well."
Darach's mother! Julia noticed that Alasdair hadn't joined the throng. He came to greet their mother, too. Julia drank in the sight of the regal-looking woman flanked by her two tall, handsome sons, one dark, the other fair. But the resemblance was clear. It was also eminently clear that this woman held a power over these two warriors that no one else could claim.
The woman thumped her staff. "And who is this?" she asked, pointing to Julia with an imperious finger. "What hae ye brought me? Another nun for our wee convent?"
Darach and Alasdair both colored at their mother's words. Darach motioned for Julia to come forward. She wanted to stick her tongue out at him for treating her like a servant, but somehow the woman standing next to him had her almost as cowed as the brothers. "I'm Julia," she said, offering her hand. "Julia Addison."
"An outlander?" Darach's mother turned to her son with a frown. Julia dropped her hand in embarrassment.
"Aye."
"Where did she come from? No' from Kinloch, surely."
"We'reI'm no' sure, Mother."
Julia fidgeted. They were talking about her as if she were invisible.
"And ye brought her up here?"
"I couldna leave her in the village alone."
"Julia's been stayin' wi' Darach," Alasdair put in.
Darach shot him a wrathful glance. His brother looked all innocence, but Julia spotted the glint of mischief in his eyes.
"Has she indeed?" The older woman motioned to Julia. "Come closer, lass. I'd see what ye look like." Julia came forward as biddenor commanded, she wasn't sureand stood for inspection. She'd heard stories of meeting people's parents for the first time. Boy, would she have one to share if she ever got back to her own world.
"Hmm. Ye're a fair enough lass, that's certain. And ye have a generous mouth." She scanned Julia's figure. "I'd say ye could carry a bairn or twa. But why the devil are ye wearin' trews, lass? Are they no' powerful binding?"
Julia couldn't help grinning. "No, just the opposite. They're quite comfortable. Men and women both wear them where I come from."
"And where would that be?"
"New York, most recently."
"New York? What was wrong wi' the auld York?"
Julia smiled. Queenly though this woman was, she could learn to like her. "Nothing at all."
"Nothing save it's English." She made the word sound roughly equivalent to road kill. "Forgive my sons and their boorish ways, Julia Addison. It seems I must introduce my ain self to my son's guest. I'm Mairi Urquhart MacStruan."
Julia kept a straight face as the woman offered her hand. Darach and Alasdair looked like hooked fish, she thought. As she shook hands with Mairi MacStruan, she felt a wondering admiration at this woman who could overpower two such fearsome males. For all their swords and bluster, in their mother's presence they would always become small boys.
"Well, Julia Addison. Shall we go in? My sons seem to think it meet to leave an auld woman standin' out in the dark and cold."
She led the way, leaning on her staff. Julia and the two brothers trailed in her wake. The clan parted to allow Mairi passage into the cave, and Julia heard many murmured greetings from the lairds. Mairi MacStruan nodded and accepted their recognition with royal aplomb. Darach might be the MacStruan, but his mother was a power to be reckoned with, she thought. "She outdoes even the Bruce," she muttered to Darach. "What an incredible woman!"
"Whisht," he said. "Don't let her hear ye. There's no livin' wi' her as it is."
She looked up at him and saw fondness in his eyes. He might be in awe of her, but he loves her, she thought. She liked the tender light in his eyes, a light that softened his hardened features and added grace to his rough demeanor.
So he's good to his mother, she told herself. That's no reason to get all mushy. She was still an outsider to them all, and she would soon be leaving for her own world. She'd be a fool to get in any deeper than she already was.
Right, a small voice said within her. And I'm Mick Jagger.
The rest of Clan MacStruan swarmed in behind them. The cave was enormous and high-ceilinged, Julia saw, with smaller chambers leading off in several directions. In the center of the main chamber there was a large fire ring with a sturdy iron spit hanging across its width. A fire was already kindled, and the smell of roasting meats and cooking onions reminded her that she hadn't eaten since early that morning. The women parted from their men with many fond pats and kisses and went to the fire to prepare the meal. A rough-hewn table served for chopping and mixing; a barrel of water was kept filled by boys and girls trooping back and forth with buckets. They all seemed more than capable of cooking up a feast in such an unusual kitchen. Julia took a seat on a tree stump that had been dragged into the chamber. "I can't believe this," she murmured. "You live here? All the time?"
Mairi MacStruan nodded. "Aye, we do."
"Whatever for?" She clapped her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry. That was rude."
"Nay, it wasna rude. 'Twas honest. Did Darach no' tell ye about us?"
She shook her head. They both glanced at Darach, who was helping the men carry in the supplies and fresh meat they'd borne up the mountain. Mairi sighed. "That's like him. My son carries the weight o' the world wi' him, even though it's no' his place to do so." She looked at Julia. "No doubt he thought to protect ye from the Morestons, should they come lookin' for us."
Julia looked down at her hands. "No, I don't think that's it. At least, that's not the main reason." She paused, then lifted her eyes to Mairi's. "Darach thinks I'm a spy for the Morestons. It's either that or I'm a witch. He can't seem to make up his mind."
"And are ye a witch?"
"No."
"Cam' ye from Castle Moreston?"
"I don't even know where that is."
"I won't abide a liar," Mairi said severely. "Are ye prepared to stake your life on those words?"
"Yes, but it won't make any difference to Darach. He won't listen to me."
"Ah. It's like that, is it? Himself willna let you go? Which is he more afraid of, I wonder? Losin' his pride or losin' his lass?"
"I'm sure it's his pride."
"Dunna be too sure. Losin' Isobel was a blow that came nigh to knockin' the pins out from beneath my son."
"Isobel? I thought she was Gordon's sister."
"Aye, she was. And she was pledged to Darach. Did he no' tell ye that either? Och, the lad holds his tongue tighter than a miser's purse strings."
"Pledged to him? Do you mean pledged to be married?"
"Aye. And the wedding but twa days away, besides."
"The Morestons murdered her," Julia said, her voice shaking.
"They did. They came in the night, killed the watchman, and stole her out from our house whilst all slept. We hunted night and day for her but we knew where she'd been taken. Craigen, the craven-hearted swine, had stolen her. When Darach and the others came to Castle Moreston to demand her release, a serving man came bearing the puir lassie's body out from the keep. There we
re marks o' witchcraft on her body. Darach was half mad wi' the grief of it for aye a long time."
"That's horrible," Julia said, tears filling her throat. "No wonder he hates them so."
"There's reason enough for the hatred between our clans. Our strife wi' that lot goes far back among our sires, but the flame seems to have grown hotter and more personal between Craigen and Darach. They were both in Edinburgh fostering wi' the earl as young lads. I had hopes that a friendship might grow, but something happened there that set the pair of them at each other's throats every time they crossed paths. And when Craigen became chief, almost his first act, before his da was in the ground, was to set fire to the woods at the western edge of our lands. My husband and his brothair had been hunting in those woods. They had no place to go except onto Moreston land. They were killed on sight. Then came Isobel. And all the strivin' after the lands. I doubt there'll ever be an end to it all."
"It's like a gang war." Julia started at the words that popped out of her mouth. She had seen firsthand what such a war could bring about. She'd been on the run because of people who lived for such trouble. And by running she'd left Monty Gilette and his kind to kill and terrorize people again and again. It was a thought that didn't sit well on her conscience.
She recalled her companion. She reached out and touched Mairi's arm. "That must have been a terrible time for you. I can only imagine what it must have been like to lose your husband."
"It was. Although I always had the fear that such would be his fate, I never spoke it aloud until I saw his body, so strong and hale and as still as any stane."
"And Niall's father was killed with your husband? And Gordon's sister. Darach's fiancee. No wonder he wants to hide you away up here." Julia's heart went out to the clan members who were working around her and Mairi. So many senseless deaths! So much pain. So much more that Darach was carrying around that she hadn't understood before.
The call for supper interrupted her reverie. Eager to be of help and needing to move lest she be awash with tears, Julia excused herself and jumped up to go to where the women were dishing out bowls of leek soup.
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