“You are a coward. Do you fear that he would best you in a duel?” Theodora yelled, despite Naomhan’s hand on hers.
“You have me wrong there, Theodora. I did not come to duel with Naomhan. I came to punish,” Colt said.
Seeing that all was lost, Naomhan unsheathed his sword. He kicked at his horse and rode towards Colt, who remained calm and unmoving. Naomhan was halfway towards Colt before he was struck on the back of his head with a rock. He fell off his horse and onto the ground.
“Naomhan, Naomhan,” he heard Theodora call his name as she rode towards him. The image of her riding on her steed to save him was the last he saw before his vision went black.
26
Theodora pleaded with Colt as she watched the men drag an unconscious Naomhan onto his feet.
“It is my fault, Colt. He wanted to be faithful to your friendship but I—” Colt walked past her towards Naomhan but he waved for one of his men to hold him away from her, “I went to him, Colt. I—”
“I am tired of your words and excuses. It is not surprising that you would want to protect him. It is who you are, Theodora. It is your nature but he is not yours to care for. I am your husband. He is the man who tried to get in-between us. He is a test for me, Theodora, so I do not hold any grudge against you,” Colt said to her.
He stood before Naomhan, who was still unconscious and held up by his men. Colt regarded the man who had once been his best friend and confidant with such disdain that it left a bitter taste in his mouth. He unsheathed his sword and Theodora cried behind him.
“You cannot do this, Colt. It would solve nothing,” Theodora begged him. She struggled to be free of the man that held her but it was a lost battle. The idea of Colt killing Naomhan was one that made her knees weak. She knew she would not be able to live if it happened.
“It would solve a lot of things, Theodora. If he ceases to exist, you would not think that you are in love with him and things would go back to the way they were before I took you to the church in Embleton,” Colt told her, before turning back to Naomhan. He rolled the sword in his hand as he stared at Naomhan.
For days, Colt had dreamt and spent every moment riding in the sun chasing after them. His every thought had been about killing Naomhan, the man who had betrayed him. Colt found he was more annoyed about the bitter feeling of being deceived. He was a man who always got whatever he wanted. Looking at Naomhan there on the road path, he could not understand what she saw in him.
Colt Ayers had always been the object of fantasy from women around him. They flocked about him as much as they were allowed to in the public eye. Men would come to him to ask if he was interested in the women who had caught their fancy before they sought those women out. Such was Colt’s life and yet, he had lost to Naomhan.
What is it about you, Naomhan? He asked himself, since Naomhan could not answer.
The day was caught by surprise when Colt suddenly burst into laughter. As his eyes fell back to his sword, he realized that Naomhan had not won after all. Naomhan was at his very mercy.
Colt raised his sword to strike Naomhan. Theodora’s cries tore through the wind and the forest about them.
“Please spare him, Colt. He is not at fault for this. Punish me. I am the one who cannot love you. I can never love you, Colt. Punish me, please,” Theodora screamed from behind him.
Colt found himself even more infuriated by her words. She did not beg for herself but for Naomhan. She had not even tried to lie to him about her feelings to save herself.
With a roar, the very sound of death, he brought his blade down hard on Naomhan.
Colt turned back, red-faced, to look at the man who had stopped his hand.
“I did not point you in the direction this man went so that you can kill him before I get my own revenge,” Francis said to Colt, unafraid of him or his men who gathered about him.
“Let go of my hand right now or you will very well be the one struck down,” Colt threatened him. Francis looked about himself, seeing that he was fighting a losing battle, so he let go of Colt’s hand.
“You can have him until I think it enough,” Colt offered. He stretched his hand to the giant and Francis took it with sincere gratitude.
The men who held onto Naomhan dropped him onto the ground for Francis to do as he pleased. Francis grinned as much as his hurting jaw could allow him. He had wanted to give Naomhan more pain than what he felt, and also have Theodora, but having heard the exchange between Colt and Theodora, he knew she was out of the picture of things he could have. That left only Naomhan. He kicked Naomhan hard in the belly, causing him to wake to a sharp and strained gasp for breath.
Naomhan’s eyes took a while to adjust to the sudden burst of sunlight and the feeling in his lungs as the air was kicked out of them. His mind tried to focus on the one thing that mattered most. He tried to turn to his side to seek out Theodora but Francis kicked him in the hip bone.
“Theodora,” Naomhan called out to her and his body shook with fury when he heard her scream. Her scream jolted him back to awareness and a seething rage. He rolled over to his side so that he could catch Francis’ foot when it came down again. Catching Francis’ foot quite easily, he spun on the ground and swept his other leg off the ground. Francis fell fast. Naomhan got back up to face the small army between him and Theodora.
“Do you wish to fight me for her?” Colt asked him.
“I will if that is what it takes,” Naomhan dared him. Colt turned back to Theodora.
“What do you think your parents would think of this little rebellious charade? They could lose everything. Your father could become an outcast,” Colt told her.
“You can force me to marry you, Colt, but I will never be happy with you. I do not love you,” Theodora said with teary eyes.
Colt blinked back the tears that stung his eyes. Her words had hurt him deeply. A while back, before his journey, he would not have cared for happiness in marriage. It had always been told to him as a duty. Theodora was the woman of his dreams but he knew he could not bear to have her unhappy and with him.
He dropped his sword onto the ground and raised his hands to show Naomhan that he was unarmed as he approached him. Naomhan held his fists clenched still as he did not particularly trust the man’s intentions.
“Is this it, love?” Colt asked him. “It makes idiots of people. I always thought you were the wise one and you want to throw away your life for her.”
“I would ask your forgiveness, Colt. I never meant to betray you. You have shown me nothing but kindness all these years. I am sorry that you had to be in the middle of this but I love Theodora. She is my beating heart and I would fight you and all your men if I cannot have her,” Naomhan spoke without fear.
Colt looked back at Theodora whose angry eyes defied him still before he turned back to Naomhan.
“I have lost to you, Naomhan. You can have Theodora. I wish the both of you the best and worst that life has to offer traitors,” Colt said, before he started walking back to his horse.
Theodora felt her heart leap for joy as she heard Colt’s words but Naomhan’s still held mistrust. Colt had ridden a great distance and for days to only let them both go. She could understand the disbelief that Naomhan would have felt at their turn of luck.
She became quite suspicious when Naomhan called Colt to himself and both men started talking in hushed tones so that she would not hear their words. Naomhan seemed to be begging Colt for a favor, though it did not make sense for him to test Colt further. Then, it came to Theodora.
Theodora asked the man who held her to let her go and he did without hesitation. She ran over to her horse and got onto her steed. Her horse neighed loudly as she kicked it into motion.
“Theodora,” Naomhan called after her as she rode away. He was shocked by her action and for a moment, was stunned.
Theodora did not look back at Naomhan or the men as she rode for the next town. She was angry with Naomhan, who was like every other man who thought they were in the r
ight to make decisions on her behalf. She was certain that Naomhan had tried to make Colt keep her in England or to take her back to him.
“It is because I love you. I do not want any harm to befall you,” she knew he would say if she had vented her anger at him. It was the first time that Theodora was angry at herself for not being strong enough to stay mad at Naomhan. That day however, she held onto her anger, keeping it alive.
Naomhan found her at an inn in the town having a meal by her lonesome. He knew where she would have been as much as he knew that she would have waited for him. He came to sit at her table and sought her eyes. She did not look up at him.
“I know you are still mad at me but I was only trying to keep you safe,” he said to her but she only continued eating her beans. Over the time that she had been riding with him, she had gotten quite used to the change in diet quite readily. In her defense, she had never done anything to hold him back.
“I am sorry,” he said again, daring to put his hand on hers. She did not pull away from him as she had thought that she would.
“I do not need you to save me. I can save myself. Truthfully, you need me to save you, but your male ego will not let you see that,” Theodora said. He squeezed her hand tenderly in his.
“I love you,” he told her but she still frowned at him. “I love you,” he said again, reducing his voice to a whisper which he knew would bring her memories, memories of their times unclad together.
Theodora could not help the smile that spread across her face.
“I will make you a promise then, my love. If you let me save you once in a while, I will let you save me,” Naomhan offered and Theodora agreed readily.
Naomhan knew that he had played his last card with Colt. It was certain that they were both going to Scotland together but if he had a choice for a companion on that dangerous journey, he would have chosen her a million times over. He counted the days that were to come before they were breathing the free air of Scotland, his home.
27
Scotland
Naomhan seemed like a new man when they reached Scotland. They sat atop their horses, overlooking the green expanse of land and hills that was his home. Theodora thought it beautiful, as much as Naomhan had told her every chance he had gotten before they had made their way past the border early in the twilight of the morning. However, she was worried about Naomhan’s quiet demeanor.
He was startled when she put her gentle hand on his arm.
“I apologize. I was deep in thought. It is no matter,” he told her, before turning his eyes back to the ground before him. He did not want to look at the sadness in her eyes.
“Your home is quite beautiful, more so than mine,” she told him. Naomhan smiled and kicked his horse. She followed after him.
“We need to get some cloaks and an inn before dark,” he said to her as they rode down the hill onto the green land of Scotland. They rode a long while without meeting anyone before they came to a small hamlet. There were two inns there. He explained to her the fact that they would have to stay at different inns. There were only two ways with which his identity could be discovered in Scotland—if someone who remembered saw his face, and if news crossed the border that he rode with an English woman.
Theodora did not take it as bad as he thought she would when he told her that she would be like a beacon in Scotland.
“An English woman, and a very pretty one at that, will stand out in our little country,” he explained to her.
“Even if she is in love with a Scot?” she asked him. Naomhan would have kissed her, had they not been on horseback.
Naomhan set out teaching her the trick of the Scottish tongue to help her blend in with other maidens in the settlement. Theodora was fascinated by how close their different dialects of English were. In a few hours, her Scottish was good, but the accent was something he almost could not teach her. That came with time and living amongst them. The thought of Theodora living in the castle with him made him smile.
They bought local clothes at the market.
“How dae I look?” Theodora asked him, as she spun around on one foot. She always looked more beautiful when she acted sheepishly around him. He had a change of clothes, also, as they parted ways to lodge into different inns. Neither liked the idea of being separate but they knew it was the best course of action.
Theodora kissed him long and passionately before she headed into her inn. He promised to check on her during breakfast at her inn. That pacified Theodora a little.
Scotland was especially different for Theodora. Their attires were quite different from the rather simple ones of the English men. There was a feeling of a strong culture as she heard the people speak all about her. She looked back outside where Naomhan had stood and he was still there waving his hands to her. She waved back before heading towards the innkeeper’s table.
The innkeeper was a heavyset woman who regarded Theodora with eyes that distrusted her. Theodora kept her head down as she came to the woman’s front.
“What can I dae ye for, a room or a meal?” she asked Theodora. Theodora was still uncertain about her mastery of the tongue. She feared that she might say something wrong. One major thing that she noticed was the pronunciation of the words and articles.
“Yes, I would dae for a room,” she replied. The innkeeper stared at her long before she shifted her gaze to men who walked past the door into the inn.
“We have a room that would suit ye. Are ye here with someone?” The innkeeper asked Theodora, who shook her head.
“Nay, I am here by meself for a few days,” she told the woman. The woman nodded. Theodora soon realized that the woman had not suspected her of being a foreigner at all but had the distrust wrinkled onto her fac. She looked at everyone that way.
She pulled out a bunch of keys from the large pocket of her apron and led Theodora deeper into the building to a free room. Theodora put her bag on the small bed and lay down with her eyes open. It had only been a few minutes and she was already missing her lover. Her body crawled with goose bumps as she craved his touch.
Theodora shook away the lust. She knew she needed to be focused on her safety and that of Naomhan. She walked up to the window and looked out, hoping that Naomhan would feel that she sought him from where he was.
Naomhan looked out of his window as he thought of Theodora. He had gotten used to having her by his side and relying on her but the journey to the castle was one that he had to take alone. He could not risk having her ride with him. If trouble ever arose, he knew the mountains well enough to save him.
Looking at the ground below, he saw the little daughter of the innkeeper. He needed paper and it was dangerous to move about so freely, so he called the child up to his room.
“What can I dae for ye, man?” The little girl asked him with stubborn eyes that reminded him greatly of his Theodora.
“Man,” Naomhan scoffed at the word used by the child to address him. “I would need paper and a quill with ink. Could ye get that for me?” He told the child who held out her little hand. Money, she asked for without words.
Seeing that he could not trust a lot of people, he decided to bet his life on the innocence and memory of a small child. He gave her some coins and her eyes widened in glee. He knew then that he had overpaid. She ran off and soon came back with his request.
“I shall be downstairs if ye need to deliver yer letter,” she told him before leaving.
Naomhan sat on his bed and spread the piece of paper before him.
He began:
Dear Mother, I am in Scotland....
28
Isla Grant stared at the letter with tears in her eyes. For the first few months, she had prayed for his return before she realized that her prayers might have been selfish. But her motherly instincts never allowed her the peace of letting go of him fully. There were days that she sat by her window and looked in the distance, hoping that she would see Naomhan ride back with Stephen. Perhaps it was the reason she disliked Stephen so, she reali
zed, because he reminded her so much of her son.
She folded the paper back as though someone was watching her. She walked over to her door and bolted it locked. She tried to calm herself and make rational decisions. Guilt riddled her to tell Logan of his brother’s return, but she decided against it as she knew Naomhan would have also thought before delivering the letter to her.
In the letter, Naomhan gave her the details of their meeting. He would meet her in one of the buildings in the castle grounds, in an abandoned room that was close to the fence. The guards hardly ever patrolled the area. It was her duty to make certain that no guard patrolled that area when the night was nigh.
Under a Highlander's Spell: A Steamy Scottish Historical Romance Novel Page 18