His Highland Pledge (The Clan Sinclair Book 4)

by Celeste Barclay

“Good to know you like it rough. We shall get along quite well in the bedchamber or any other chamber I desire. Someone needs to teach you obedience. Your weak-willed father has spoiled you entirely too much. You’re in need of someone who will break that stubborn streak.”

  Deirdre respected her father, and while she would admit to herself that he had numerous and significant flaws, she would not stand for anyone disparaging him even if done in private. She tried to push her way past the odious man, but he wrapped his arm around her waist and practically carried her all the way into the back of the alcove until her back hit a wall.

  “Dinna! Stop!” Deirdre screamed as loud as she could, hoping at least one guard would realize that she had not agreed to this tryst or someone passing by might inquire why a young woman was calling out for rescue.

  As Hay struggled to pin her against the wall while fumbling with his breeks, Deirdre struggled to reach her own dirk. She began wearing dirks the summer she turned three and ten. It was Magnus who had insisted that she carry protection against unwanted attention. Her only problem now was that she could not reach either dirk strapped to her thigh without lifting her skirts, and she had no intention of offering anything Hay might consider an invitation.

  Suddenly, the hand that was unfastening his pants was pulling her hand forward. Her fingers brushed against something small and hard. She knew what it was, and she let forth the most blood-curdling scream she could muster as Hay forced her to wrap her fingers around his manhood.

  She screamed yet again just as Magnus grabbed a lit torch from a wall sconce before pushing the curtain aside. He dropped it in the bracket inside the entrance.

  Before she could attempt to pull her hand away, someone flung the curtain open and the frame of a very large and very irate man filled the opening and blocked out any light that might have slid in. Lord Archibald was lifted off his feet and thrown back towards the passageway.

  Deirdre knew within an instant who came to rescue her. She shrank back into the shadows to avoid anyone seeing her. The last thing she needed was for a witness to identify her as being the woman caught in a dark and secluded area with Lord Archibald Hay. She would have happily stayed hidden until both men left, but when she saw the gleam of metal in Magnus’s hand, she knew only one man would walk away if she did not step forward.

  “Ye thought ye could rape yer way to making her yer wife. Ye thought ye would overpower her, harm her, then claim her. I saw ye pushing her into here, and I heard all of her screams. The lass didna want ye, and I would venture ma last fourthling she never will want ye. I wouldnae set yer heart on a betrothal.” Magnus raised his arm and drew it back in preparation to castrate the man. Even in his anger, he knew he could not kill the man in the king’s castle. Regardless of whether or not he was defending a woman, killing anyone, especially a border lord, would see him locked away and that would only leave Deirdre more defenseless. He would have to content himself with making sure Archibald Hay would never impose himself upon another woman.

  “Magnus,” Deirdre whispered, “please dinna. Nae here. Dinna kill him. Nae over me. Dinna forfeit yer life with his.”

  “I amnae going to kill the bastard only geld him.” He pulled his arm back further and was ready to strike when two small hands rested on his back, and he felt her lean around him.

  “He’s too well connected. He has ties to the de Soules, Magnus.” Deirdre’s voice was barely audible but the name de Soules was enough to make him pause. “Just make him go away, please. Magnus, just make him leave.”

  Magnus chanced a glance over his shoulder and quickly took in her disheveled hair and the mangled front of her gown. His desire to kill Hay rose again, but he also saw the apprehension in her eyes. He nodded once and turned back to Hay.

  “Ye live to see another day. But come near her again, threaten her again, and ye willna see another sunset.” He pulled Hay back to his feet and pulled him by the collar to the doorway. He nudged him out and stood in his most intimidating stance with his feet hip-width apart and arms crossed. He, his father, and brothers all stood this way so often that it was second nature to them, but it had the desired effect of frightening most people away.

  “You may think you’ve won, Highlander, but she will be my wife soon enough. Then you will not be able to touch me, but I will certainly touch her. Any and every way I want.”

  Magnus flexed his chest, and Hayscrambled to his feet. Seeing Magnus’s arms flex, Hay hastily retreated down the passageway. Once he was out of sight, Magnus pulled the curtain closed before turning to face the one woman who was the bane of his existence, the torment of his life, and the keeper of his heart.

  Deirdre took in the man who stood in front of her. In so many ways he was a complete stranger. He had filled out and seemingly doubled in size since she last saw him. He was barely more than a young man then. The person in front of her was a battle-seasoned warrior. She worried her bottom lip as she breathed in the scent that wafted through her mind just as she fell asleep. The pine and bergamot scent along with something uniquely his. Her eyes slid closed as the pad of his thumb pried her lip loose.

  This was the gesture of a lover, not a stranger. Her senses filled with memories from what felt like a lifetime ago, what was a lifetime ago. His hand cupped her cheek, and his long fingers massaged tension from the base of her scalp.

  “Ye remember.”

  “How could I ever forget?”

  Deirdre opened her eyes to look into his smoky brown ones just as she had done so many times over the years before being forced apart.

  “Magnus, ye ken I didna choose to be in here, right? I didna choose any of it.” Her voice trailed off as the lump in her throat felt as though it would strangle her.

  “I ken ye didna want to come in here. I saw him with ye before ye even left the gathering hall, then I saw him bring ye in here, and I heard yer screams. Would that I never have to hear them again.” He used his other hand to brush her honey-colored spiral curls back over her shoulder. “I also ken that neither of us had any say in how things stand. I took a long time to accept that, but I have.”

  “Ye accept it? Deirdre shrank back and looked around wildy, suddenly needing to escape Magnus almost as badly as she did Hay.

  “Wheesht, eun beag.”

  Little bird. Zounds. How I have missed hearing that. I canna stand Archibald calling me his dove, but to hear Magnus call me his little bird makes everything feel right again. But it isnae right. It maynae ever be right again.

  A soft sob escaped her as she tried to squeeze past the monolith that stood between her and the exit.

  Magnus pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her. At a foot shorter than Magnus, Deirdre’s head rested squarely in the center of his chest. She could hear the steady, albeit fast, rhythm of his heart. The cadence calmed her as it always had; however, that only made her remember it had been years since she had heard it or felt it. She tried to pull back, but while he did not force her to stay in place, he did not let go. Deirdre knew if she stepped back again, he would release her. She did not want that after all.

  “Ye accept it?” She repeated.

  “Aye, I accepted that ye werenae responsible for yer father’s decisions. Ye made yer choice, and I have accepted it.”

  Deirdre’s sigh of relief was audible, and Magnus looked down at her raising one brow.

  “I thought ye accepted that we canna be together.”

  “Canna? Is that what ye’ve accepted?”

  “Nay. The heavens ken I would be better off if I could, but I dinna think I will ever accept losing ye.”

  “Deir, what are ye talking aboot losing me? I dinna think ye mean just the time apart. Ye chose to follow yer father instead.”

  “I dinna want to talk aboot this. Nae here and nae now.”

  “Then when? When exactly do ye think we will have a chance to be alone again? Once yer father kens I’m here, if he hasnae already heard from Hay or someone else, he willna let ye in spitting distance of me. If ye d
inna want me near ye, if ye dinna want me anymore, then say as much, lass. But dinna think it will be enough to end things or to allow ye to marry someone else.”

  Deirdre heard the hard edge creeping into his voice and the unbending steel that laced each of his final words. She shook her head and once again felt tears pricking behind her eyelids, but after years of crying herself to sleep every night, she seemed to have none left to fall.

  “How could ye think I dinna want ye anymore? It’s ye who’s moved on. It’s ye who ignored every attempt I made.”

  “Moved on? Attempts? I havenae moved a barleycorn on, and ye are the one who turned away every attempt I made to contact ye.”

  “What attempts? Ye barely waited for me to leave the last gathering before ye had another lass on yer lap. Ye forgot aboot me and carried on yer merry way.”

  Deirdre watched as a stone mask slipped down over Magnus’s face. A hardness entered his eyes she never saw before. A shiver ran down her spine, and when he spoke again, the void of emotion made the hair on her arms stand up.

  “Dinna think to pass off on me what ye are guilty of yerself. Ye left that gathering without saying goodbye. Ye didnae even look back over yer shoulder. Since then, ye sent back every single one of ma letters. Do ye have any idea just how many pieces of folded vellum I have tucked away in ma chamber? Let us see. There are fifty-two sennights in a year, and it’s been seven years. That would be three hundred and sixty-four letters carried by one of ma clan’s messengers only to be brought back to me. Aye, ye heard me. One for each sennight. In the beginning, I sent them off the first day of each sennight. Then it became every fortnight, and eventually every moon. Even to this day, one of our messengers travels with four letters to either Castle Dounie or wherever yer clan says ye are in residence.”

  “Three hundred and sixty-four?” Deirdre emphatically shook her head. “That canna be. How could I nae have received a single one of those? I have never received a letter or missive of any kind from ye once we separated.”

  “We didna separate. Ye were taken from me,” Magnus growled. “And wait just a wee moment. I’d like to go back to the part where ye claimed I’ve been unfaithful. Just which lass was on ma lap and when?”

  “Ma sisters told me they saw ye in the mead tent after ma father told ye that we couldnae wed. They said they saw ye with some wench sprawled across ye with her tits half hanging out.” Deirdre could feel her cheeks heating from anger and embarrassment. She knew she may swear from time to time, but she usually was not vulgar.

  Magnus pulled his arms in and crossed them. He looked down at her with a sneer that almost rivaled Hay’s.

  “Did ye sisters tell ye that before or after they heard yer father malign me? Ye do remember that I have three older brothers, and we’re three peas in a pod. Did it cross yer mind that mayhap it wasnae me but one of them? Or more likely, yer sisters saw naught because there was naught to see. Just what were those fine young ladies doing near a mead tent, to begin with? How did they come to be near such a place to have witnessed such a thing?”

  It forced Deirdre to consider what her family had told her so long ago. She had rebelled against the very notion, but her sisters and then father and mother had been so adamant that Magnus had barely batted an eye when her family forced her to leave without saying goodbye.

  “I have heard the tales though. Even all the way at court, ye Sinclair brothers are well renowned for yer charm and appeal to the ladies. I have heard what ye have become.”

  Magnus leaned all the way forward so that their noses were nearly touching.

  “And just what have I become? Ye seem to ken a great deal aboot me when we havenae seen each other in seven years, and ye definitely havenae heard any of the news I’ve tried to share with ye.”

  Deirdre licked her lips and pushed her hair off her shoulder before wiping her hands on her kirtle. She felt ill thinking about and now having to say what they forced her to hear repeatedly throughout the past seven years.

  “I ken that ye are popular with the ladies. Ye go gallivanting with yer randy brothers and are often found with a wench on yer lap. Ye tup willing lasses whenever one catches yer eye, and ye have quite the reputation as a lover.”

  There. She had said it, and now she wanted to be violently ill all over his calf-skin boots. Black spots danced around the corners of her eyes, and her body swayed. Strong but gentle hands grasped her arms as she felt herself being walked over to a bench she had not noticed before. She expected to feel the cold firmness of stone beneath her; however, her backside met the warm firmness of his lap.

  “Deirdre, hear me now for I willnae have ye gainsaying me on this. Ye kenned that I had been with a few other women before I met ye that first summer. I remember exactly what ye were wearing and what ye were doing the vera first time I ever laid eyes on ye, but ye were barely three and ten, and I was a lusty and curious six and ten. I told ye from the vera start I bedded ma first barmaid when I was barely five and ten. I can thank Callum for that saint’s day gift, and I can thank Mairghread for interrupting the only other time I tried tupping a barmaid. I was interested in ye, but ye were far too young that first summer. Ye ken already that I wasna celibate between that summer and the next, but neither was I some man whore. I was simply healthy and curious. That following summer though, when I started courting ye, everything changed. I havenae been with any woman but ye since I was seven and ten, Deirdre. Did ye nae believe me when I told ye that I would wait for ye? Did ye nae believe me when I said I hadnae been with anyone else during our entire courtship? How could ye believe I would be with another woman once we were wed?”

  “Magnus, we handfasted, and it has certainly been far more than a year and a day.”

  “And I told ye before we pledged ourselves, a handfast was as good as a kirking. That never once changed, Deir. Ye are still ma wife, and I am still yer husband.” Deirdre heard him swallow. “Unless ye believed it was only for a year and a day, and ye dinna want to be bound to me. Mayhap ye have already moved on, or ye dinna want to be stuck with me now that ye have an opportunity to marry again.”

  Deirdre needed space. She scooted off Magnus’s lap, and he let her go. She put her hands on her hips and looked down at him, then dropped her arms before turning away, but just as quickly, she spun back around. With her hands on her hips again, she looked almost squarely into his eyes even though he sat and she stood.

  “I didna think it was just for a year and a day, but what was I supposed to think when I heard all these stories aboot ye with other women. Do ye have any idea how that pained me? How it still pains me? I dinna want to marry anyone else, certainly nae Archibald. To me, ye have always been ma husband, but I didna think ye still considered me yer wife.” She dropped her arms and seemed to wilt before Magnus’s eyes.

  He guided her back onto his lap and tucked her head below his chin.

  “Eun beag, there is much that we need to talk aboot, and much we need to resolve that we canna do now. But if naught else, I need ye to ken one thing. I havenae been with any other woman, nae touched, kissed, nor bedded any, since before I began courting ye. That was half a score of years ago. I have three older brothers who enjoy drinking and carousing as much as any other mon our ages. I do go with them, I do drink, but it was Callum and still is Tavish who chases the ladies. Alex was known to bed a lass here and there, but he was naught like Callum and Tavish. More often than nae, Alex and I shared a chamber and retired early while Callum and Tavish did whatever it was they did. Deir, I canna say this without sounding conceited, but it is the truth. Women chase me, but I dinna want aught to do with them. They see ma size and wonder if the auld wives’ tales are true. Then when they canna catch ma eye or gain ma attention, they want the chase. I admit I have used this to ma advantage to gain information, save a coin or two, or to distract someone, but I havenae ever done aught considered unfaithful. Ye ken what fidelity means to the Sinclairs, especially the men of the laird’s family. Ye must remember. Dinna ye?”

/>   Chapter Three

  Magnus’s question transported Deirdre back in time. She recalled so vividly the first time she saw Magnus. She was a young lass of only three and ten, but at five and ten, he was already the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. In her mind, she was no longer in the king’s castle, but a Highland gathering hosted by her own clan.

  ~~~

  “Coming, Mama!” Deirdre scrambled to collect all of her books and sheets of vellum along with her inkwell and quill. Her mother was rarely a patient woman and with the main feast about to start, Deirdre was dreadfully late preparing for the meal. As the only daughter of Laird Donald Fraser, there was an expectation she not only attended the feast but be properly turned out.

  Deirdre attempted to stack all her books neatly and then place the parchment on the top of the pile, but not all the sheets were dry yet. If she let them touch, they would smear, and it would waste her hours of work. She had worn a smock over her kirtle that had large pockets, already stained numerous times from her ink, in which she dropped her inkwell and used quills. She bent to lift the stack of books but realized that her hands were no longer free to gather the vellum. She tried to tuck half the stack under each arm, which seemed to be working. She stuck the corner of one sheet between her lips, and divided the other four between her two hands and sets of fingers. She began to straighten her legs but felt the left stack of books slip. When she tried to adjust her arm, she succeeded in dropping all of them.

  “Zounds,” she groaned. When she spoke, the sheet from between her lips sailed away. Instinctively, she reached for the page, but that only resulted in her dropping two more sheets. Shaking her head, she set down the remaining books and the last two sheets of parchment just as a breeze picked up her writing and thought to carry it away.

  “Nay! Ma work. Nae ma work.”

  Deirdre halted when a large shadow fell over her and her jumble of belongings. Barely looking up, she tried to sidestep the hulk, but he reached out a hand that held the first sheet that took flight.