Callum looked to his father who only shrugged. As the future leader of the clan, Callum needed to learn to solve his problems, especially when they were of his own making.
“I said that it would only take a fortnight to get ye both to the kirk, and Siùsan said a moon. I was so sure I was right that to make me stop gloating, she shared with me that Mary told her this morning that she plans to move on to Iona and retire to the convent there.”
Alex did not wait to hear another word. He spun around on his heel and marched to the door. He flung it open so hard that is slammed shut after him. He did not even notice. He took the stairs to his chamber two and three at a time, and when he got to the door of the chamber that had been his for his entire life, he knocked once before barging in.
Brighde was not expecting anyone, least of whom Alex, to burst into the chamber. She held one foot poised in the air as she reached for a drying cloth while her other foot was still in the tub. She squeaked as she looked over at Alex whose face was a shade of enraged scarlet. As he took in Brighde’s naked form, his cock came to attention. His anger was suddenly mixed with an overpowering lust that made his pulse pound in his ears. Part of him wanted to rail at her for wanting to leave and the other part wanted to beg her to stay, but all of him wanted to be inside her. To feel her warmth envelop him as he brought them both bliss.
Brighde’s small movement to grab the drying cloth was enough to snap him out of his stupor. He was across the room in less than five steps. He snatched up the drying cloth and wrapped it around her before lifting her out of the tub. Brighde could feel the power and frustration pouring out of him, but she had no idea what had caused him to storm into the chamber.
“Alex, ye canna be in here. What if someone saw ye? The maids ken I’m bathing. They’ll ken that ye’ve seen me in the altogether.”
“Iona.”
Alex said the single word between clenched teeth. He glared down at her even though his hands were ever gentle on her arms after he set her down. Brighde was shocked that he would know to ask about it, but she realized she should have figured that in this family, nothing would remain secret for long.
“Siùsan.”
“Iona and dinna change the subject. Just when were ye planning to tell me? When ye rode out, or when ye led me on a merry chase after ye?”
“Chase? I was going to ask ye to escort me there.” She had the good graces to look down at her bare toes after making that declaration.
“Aye, chase because there isnae any way that I would have let ye leave alone, and I bluidy well dinna want to take ye there.” He pulled her in for a kiss that branded her with his passion and begged for her acceptance.
Brighde could not help herself as she was no better than a moth to a flame. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on. The towel fell away from her when Alex lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He walked to the door and turned the lock. He grasped her backside and kneaded the damp flesh. He took her to the bed and climbed on with her still wrapped around him. Slowly he lowered them to the mattress while he did his best not to squash her with his weight. She tugged at him until he finally gave in and allowed most of his body to settle on her. Her moan of pleasure made his rod twitch. He was so very close to the edge. All he had to do was move his plaid aside a little, and he would be able to enter her with one quick thrust. The temptation to make her his by taking her maidenhead and spilling his seed was nearly more than he could resist, but he still had just enough honor left in his little finger to keep from doing that. He wanted Brighde to stay because she reciprocated his feelings, not because he trapped her.
“I dinna want ye to leave here. To leave me.” Alex admitted hoarsely. His voice felt as though it was coming from somewhere other than him. He stroked her damp hair away from her forehead and chin. He nuzzled the sensitive flesh behind her ear. He brushed soft kisses along her jaw and down her neck to her shoulder where he nipped the skin lightly.
“I dinna want to go.” Brighde sighed out her response.
Alex needed no further reassurances. He pulled her bottom lip with his teeth and used his tongue to press her mouth open. Their tongues dueled as their hands roamed all over each other. Neither seemed to be able to get close enough to the other. Brighde tugged at his leine until Alex kneeled back and pulled it over his head. She sat up to reach for him, and he laid back down once again covering her with his chiseled body. She ran her hands up and down his arms as he continued to kiss her. She slid her hands around to grasps his buttocks as she felt his fingers enter her. Her inner muscles clenched around him as she rocked her hips into his. He groaned and thrust forward. She pressed her hands against his backside to keep him tightly against him. She reached between them and pushed his sporran out of the way, frustrated that she could not fully feel his length against her. Once she could feel the turgid rod rubbing against her cleft through his wool plaid, she began to rock her hips again. Alex’s fingers moved faster as she moaned. The pressure she felt from both the inside and the outside had her crashing over the top into the strongest release she had experienced yet. Alex had not even slid his fingers out before her hand reached beneath his plaid. Her warm hand wrapped around his cock and stroked him. He thrust his hips into her again and again until they were both finding their release.
Alex rolled onto his back and brought Brighde with him. She laid her head against his chest and felt more than listened to his heart pounding. She placed her hand over it and could not help the sigh of happiness that escaped her. Alex heard it and placed his own palm on her heart.
“I kenned Callum couldnae have the right of it.” He murmured.
Brighde froze.
“Alex, I didna intend for ye to hear ma plans third hand, but Callum wasna wrong. I am going to Iona and the convent there.”
Alex rolled her onto the bed and reared back to kneel between her feet. He took in her hair splayed across what had always been his pillow as he saw her lying on a bed he only ever imagined sharing with his wife. He watched her lick her swollen lips, and he gazed up and down a body that he was coming to know as well as his own.
“Ye want to leave.” Alex could only shake his head. “After this, ye still plan to leave here, me.” He backed off the bed and looked around quickly for his leine. He pulled it over his head and picked up his sword which he never even noticed he pulled off his back. He walked to the door and paused before unlocking it. Brighde watched his shoulder lift and fall as he took a breath and pulled the door open. He walked out without looking back. He quietly closed the door behind him, and then he was gone.
Brighde sat up and looked at the door for what felt like forever. The lump in her throat made it hard to breathe. She thought she would cry, but she could not even do that. She was numb.
What have I done? Is this really what I want? I love him. I ken that I do, and I dinna want to leave him. Ever. But how can I stay? What will I do if de Soules finds me? If he argues we were precontracted, the church and king could overturn ma marriage to anyone else. Alex doesnae believe de Soules is a threat, but I ken he would love nothing more than to lay siege to a clan that is as closely allied to the king as the Sinclairs. To weaken any clan, especially such a large one, in the Highlands would only endear him more to the English king. He plays both sides of the border and would sell his soul to the English king if he hadnae already sold it to the devil.
Brighde sat on the bed until she became so cold that she could no longer ignore her state of undress. She slowly climbed off the bed and found a fresh kirtle to wear. She brushed her hair and slid her feet into a pair of slippers. She forced herself to put one foot in front of the other as she made her way below stairs.
A crowd gathered in the Great Hall, and she could barely make out who was there, but she was able to find Alex in an instant. He was standing near the hearth speaking to a man who was equally as massive as he and nearly as handsome. The man’s hair was darker than Alex’s, and even from a distance, she could see his brillia
nt green eyes. She heard a baby crying and looked towards the dais. The face she spotted had her stop dead in her tracks.
“Brighde?”
“Mair?”
“Brighde!”
“Mair!”
The two women ran into each other’s embrace and clung to one another. Neither noticed the entire Great Hall go deathly silent. They laughed until they both had tears rolling down their cheeks.
“What are ye doing here?”
“This is ma clan.” Mairghread Mackay looked over her shoulder to look at her father and brothers, all of whom but Alex, stood with their mouths agape. Mairghread did not understand why Alex was scowling as if he had just eaten an entire lemon. She looked back to Brighde. “We never did exchange clan names. I assumed ye kenned from ma plaid. How long has it been since we last saw each other at a gathering?”
“Just over three summers ago.”
“What are ye doing here?”
Mairghread’s question brought Brighde to a halt. She suddenly became intensely aware that every eye in the room was fastened to the two of them. She looked around to see a combination of surprise and shock mixed with skepticism. Then there was Alex. He was seething. He did not need to say a word or even look at her. He was beyond even the rage he had been in only a short while ago when he found her naked and stepping from the tub. She looked back at Mairghread and took her hand before drawing her into the alcove behind the stairs.
“Brighde, what is it? Ye’re worrying me. I havenae seen ye in years, and ye just went from being happy to suddenly looking terrified all in a matter of moments.”
“Only Alex kenned ma real name until a moment ago. I showed up during a horrible storm and spent a moon with a raging fever. I’ve only been up and aboot for a short while. I tried to lie to Alex and tell him I was English, but he had already heard me speak. I did convince him to continue the charade, so I could hide. Ye havenae seen me in nearly ten summers because ma grandparents died shortly after the last gathering we were at together, and I was sent back to ma father. He wouldnae take me anywhere and wouldnae allow me to go anywhere. Ma father recently agreed to betroth me to Randolph de Soules.”
Mairghread gasped. This only confirmed to Brighde that everyone on either side of the border knew of Randolph de Soules’s perfidy. His father had been a loyal Scot, but the son was anything but. He had already sworn his allegiance to the English and was known for being a cruel man. Betrothing his daughter to such as man was the same as Laird Kerr signing his own daughter’s death warrant.
“Aye. When I recovered, I convinced Alex to let me pretend to be Mary, an English lady. Ye remember ma grandmother was English and how I could impersonate her accent. I was doing just fine until just now. Between ye using ma name and me speaking, there isnae anyone left who will believe I’m English. Now I just have a great deal of explaining to do.”
“But that doesnae explain why Alex has such a black cloud hanging over his head. I havenae seen him in such a mood in, well ever, really. Did ye two argue?”
“Nae argue so much as I disappointed him. I canna stay here, Mairghread. There isnae aught good that can come from yer clan harboring me for much longer. I told Siùsan that I plan to go to Iona and join the convent there. She must have told Callum because he told Alex. He came storming in his chamber, which I have been staying in—alone—and confronted me aboot it. We, um, became sidetracked, and I suppose he thought that I had changed ma mind. But I havenae. Mair, I must leave soon, and it’s breaking ma heart too.”
Mairghread pulled her long-lost friend in for a tight hug. They had been inseparable every summer for several years when both of their families traveled to the Highland gatherings for the games. They would sneak off to explore the area while their families visited with other clans. They often went swimming together or practiced archery when they were not too busy eating or telling each other wild and made up stories. Seeing each other had been the highlight of their annual journey. It had all come to an unexpected end when one year, Brighde just stopped showing up. Mairghread had heard that the Campbell laird’s family had died of a sickness, and she worried that Brighde had been among those who did not make it. To see her alive and well, and very clearly attached to her brother, was a stunning surprise.
“We canna stay back here forever. I’m glad ye told me what has happened. Alex will come around eventually, but I wouldnae expect it to be tonight. Or tomorrow. Now come to meet ma son, Wee Liam, and ma husband, Tristan. We call him Wee so as not to confuse him with Da. Though I dinna think there’ll be much confusion for a while.”
Mairghread wrapped her arm around Brighde’s waist as a reassurance and sign of solidarity as they rejoined everyone else in the Great Hall.
Brighde felt like there was a magnet that drew her to wherever Alex was in the room. She spotted him standing near the fire gazing into the flames. He was alone and everything about the way he stood screamed that no one should approach. He had a pint of ale in his hand he sipped from slowly. When Mairghread tugged on her hand, she was forced to return her attention to the people around her. She was introduced to Tristan Mackay and told the abbreviated version of how they came to be married. Mairghread skirted disaster when her father called off the betrothal to Tristan’s stepbrother before anything was signed. The boorish lout failed to show any redeeming qualities, and it came home to roost for him later. Tristan and Mairghread had been married now just over a year and had a son that was the spitting image of Tristan but named after his grandfather, Liam Sinclair.
She could not help but laugh when Wee Liam reached as far past his father’s broad frame as he could to get to his mother. He would have very nearly managed to fall out of his father’s arms had they not been the size of tree trunks. Seeing the power that was constrained in Laird Mackay made her eyes wander over to Alex yet again. It was only when she felt a small, sticky hand grasp a hank of her hair that she came back to the present once again. She gently released her hair from Wee Liam’s chubby fingers and giggled when he clapped his hands. Amused by his own antics, Wee Liam burbled and chattered as he reached for Brighde next. She looked to Mairghread who nodded before she took the baby from Tristan’s arms. She cooed at him and made faces all while trying to ignore all the faces that continued to stare at her. She finally managed to distract herself enough that when she next looked up, she no longer saw Alex standing by the fireplace. In fact, she could not see him standing anywhere.
“He left, lass.” She heard the deep timber of Laird Sinclair’s voice just behind her shoulder. “Dinna fash. He hasnae gone far, I’m sure. But I dinna think he felt like being vera good company tonight.”
Brighde turned to look at Laird Sinclair and was immensely relieved to see no blame or accusations written on his face. Just the opposite, he seemed incredibly understanding and forgiving.
“He’ll come around, just give him a bit of time to stew and even sulk. He doesnae do it often, so it willnae hurt to indulge him and give him some space. In the meantime, the evening meal is about to be served. Shall we be seated?”
Brighde nodded her head and handed Wee Liam back to his mother. Laird Sinclair offered her his arm as he led her to the dais. This was not meant to be a courtly gesture or even a practical one, it was meant to show everyone in the clan that Brighde Kerr had the support of the laird.
The meal progressed uneventfully, and attention settled away from Brighde. She was able to focus on her meal without feeling like everyone was staring at her. She was not very hungry after everything that happened with Alex, but she was able to force a few bites down before just moving food around in her trencher. Part of her wanted to hide from Alex and wait until he was in a better mood and approached her. Another part of her wanted to face him and have it out with him about their unresolved situation, but a driving part of her just wanted to leave. She was feeling better every day, and with a plan somewhat formed in her mind, she wanted to leave before she became any more attached to the Sinclairs and before trouble could catch up
with her.
“The Gunns are up to their old tricks as usual. They havenae slowed down, nae even in the past sennight since everything that happened with Siùsan. They are raiding ma lands again, and ma mon I placed there has heard rumblings about the Gunns wanting compensation for losing the laird’s brother to ye son’s sword. Even if they werenae close, the clan expects the laird to seek retribution.” Tristan nodded his head towards Callum who had, in turn, pulled Siùsan into his lap. Brighde had learned what happened to Siùsan at the hands of one of the Gunns, and it made her feel ill to think about it. She tried to focus on something else, anything else. Just as her mind started to wonder, and she began to plan how to get to Iona if Alex would not take her, Tristan’s comments permeated.
“Apparently de Soules is crying foul to anyone and everyone who will listen. His bride canna be found, and he’s been tearing the Lowlands apart to find her. There’s a pretty penny on her head. He has even gone so far as to petition the king to help him recover her. Ma mon at court has been busy. Fortunately, both Beatris and Sorcha love to be in the middle of everything, so ma mon who is conveniently one of their guardsmen for the MacDonnells, hear it all.”
At the mention of Tristan’s former stepmother and former mistress, Mairghread growled softly. Brighde looked over and raised an eyebrow as she continued to listen. For Mairghread, it was not the fact that her husband had a former leman, it was what had befallen her at the hands of the woman and his stepmother. Her irritation did not go unnoticed by her husband either. Tristan pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She settled against him, and he continued talking. Brighde had an all-consuming wave of jealousy that flared as she looked at the two loving, married couples. She suddenly very much wanted what they had, and she did not. She tried to refocus on what Tristan was saying.
“The king agreed to support de Soules’s search for his bride as long as he declares his fealty before the entire court. Which he did, but nay body believes for a moment that he means it. He’s been traveling north for the past moon and questioning all the clans he comes across.” Tristan looked pointedly at Brighde, and she felt herself squirm. “De Soules seems to have developed a friendship with Laird Gunn a number of years ago when they were at court together. He is now staying with them before he continues his search for his bonnie bride with the flaxen hair that glows like a halo in the moonlight, or so it’s said. That is why we are here. We came to warn ye.” When Tristan saw Brighde’s ash white face, he added, “and Mairghread wanted to show off Wee Liam to everyone.”
His Highland Prize (The Clan Sinclair Book 3) Page 15