by Tarah Scott
“Good lord, what happened?” Maude frowned. “Only a little while ago you looked as fresh as heather in springtime.”
Victoria glanced from her soiled dress back to Maude, but the housekeeper seemed intent on something on Victoria’s face. Victoria rubbed shoulder to cheek. “Joanna and Catherine were not quite finished with their—er—discussion.” She laughed. “Catherine decided she would tolerate Joanna’s pestering no more and threw a handful of grease at her. She missed.”
Victoria turned her head, allowing Maude to survey the grease smeared across her cheek. Maude’s frown warred with a twitch playing at the corners of her mouth.
“Catherine has a way of making point.” Victoria gave into laughter, drawing her companion in with her.
“She does,” Maude agreed, between hiccups.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Victoria crossed to the table. She pulled the small stool sitting by the fire and stepped on it to hang the pot on the hook. As she extended her arm to connect the pot with the hook, a cry of dismay from Joanna yanked her attention over her shoulder. Victoria startled at sight of Iain MacPherson striding toward her from the doorway connecting the kitchen to the great hall.
She wobbled. The stool tipped beneath her. Iain leapt for her as she covered her head to fend off the pot that had missed the hook. His arm shot out, deflecting the pot and he caught Victoria around the waist with the other. A crash of metal against stone rang in the kitchen as Iain yanked her into his arm. For a long moment her fingers refused to release their grip on his sash.
“Are you well?” he asked.
Victoria nodded, her attention focused on something she detected in his tone. Gone was the arrogance that had characterized the days spent traveling to Fauldun Castle and, in its stead, a carefully banked fire warmed the tenor of his voice. Memory of the night she had cried herself to sleep in his tender embrace caused her belly to do a flip.
“I told you there was safety in my arms,” he whispered in her ear.
She stilled, the words recalling the shocked reality that this was her long-lost captor who had returned to claim his prize. She willed her arms to shove him from her, but his softly spoken “Are you sure you are well?” immobilized her.
His head lifted and he met her gaze. She startled when he scowled. “Why are you dressed like this— and what are you doing in the kitchen?”
Victoria broke free of him and took an unsteady step back. “I am helping with the evening meal.”
“’Tis not your job.” He shot Maude a recriminating look.
“Now, Iain, Vi—we—uh—well, the lass wanted something to do. She helps us now and again.”
His brows snapped downward and a question appeared in his eyes. “She will not be working in the kitchen again. In the future, she will take her meals in the hall with me.”
“But I do not wish to take my meals in the hall with you,” Victoria said.
He looked at her. “Why?”
“It is noisy and messy, and I have no desire to share my supper with animals.”
Iain raised an indignant brow.
Victoria shook her head. “I am speaking of the hounds, my lord, not your men.”
“And what of me?”
“What of you?”
“You do not wish to eat with me?”
“I have no desire, one way or the other.”
“Aye, but I think you do,” Iain murmured. “Have desire, that is.”
Heat rose to her cheeks. “You know little of me.” “True,” he replied. “But I am trying to learn more.
Yet you are determined to make it hard for me.”
“Not nearly so hard as I will in the future,” she muttered.
His gaze turned masculine. “Do you have any idea how hard you are making me now, sweet?”
She gasped. “’Tis not my concern to know such things.”
“Do you regret what you already know?” he asked.
Victoria glanced in the direction of the women who stood watching, certain they could hear every syllable of their whispered conversation. “Oh, aye, my lord,” she raised her voice. “What is there to regret? The knowledge that I remain a prisoner is sufficient, would you not agree?”
“I have been gone too long.” He stepped closer and stroked her cheek with the back of a long finger.
The action startled Victoria. He winked, causing her to blink, then he sauntered over to the hearth and made a great pretense of examining the contents of the pot boiling over the fire.
“If you do not like the way things are done in the great hall, lass, change them.”
Victoria felt an odd desire to laugh at the loud voice he had used to make the announcement.
“What in the name of the devil is cooking in this pot, Maude?”
“’Tis something special Vi—er, the lassie here taught us to make.”
It wasn’t Maude’s bumbling of words that gripped Victoria, but Iain’s eyes as his head snapped in the housekeeper’s direction. The serene smile she had plastered on her face could have fooled Saint Peter himself, but Iain’s eyes narrowed on her just the same. Victoria hurried to the hearth and looked down into the pot.
“It is a fish chowder for tomorrow’s meal. Would you care to try some?”
Iain glanced down at her, then back to Maude. Quiet laughter from the pantry drew his attention, and Victoria was sure the jest was up.
At last, he looked back at Victoria. “Nay, lass. I will wait until tomorrow.” His expression softened as he fondled the lock of hair that had fallen loose from her hair tie. “I will come to you later, sweet.”
She opened her mouth to threaten dire consequences should he come anywhere near her, but stopped at the unexpected sound of another feminine voice approaching the kitchen.
“It is her right if she chooses.” The kitchen maid Rachel’s voice was clear.
“Aye,” a voice Victoria didn’t recognize agreed, “but, fire is a dangerous thing to play with. She would do well to pray to the Holy Mother for merc— ” the two women stepped into the kitchen and stopped short.
Iain stared expectantly at them. Rachel murmured a greeting and elbowed the other girl, who stood staring.
The girl broke from her trance and said, “Laird.” The room grew quiet as they made their exit from the kitchen into the scullery.
Victoria held her breath until he faced her again. Muffled laughter emanated from the scullery and he glanced in that direction, then turned back to her.
“I missed you, lass.”
Before she could consider a response, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. The dark passion in his embrace rose greedily to the surface, and Victoria felt him stir against her abdomen. The impulse to fend him off was quelled by the embarrassment of having to do so in front of the women, who made no pretense of ignoring the fact their laird was making love to her.
“You cannot miss something you have never had,” she answered.
Iain’s laughter filled the room as he released her. He turned to go and Victoria breathed with relief, then remembered the women’s accusations that she had bedded him the morning of his departure.
“My lord, did you know a ghost walks the grounds of Fauldun Castle?” Iain halted and turned.
Victoria spared a smug glance for Maude, who stood near the sink, then said to him, “Were you aware of this?”
“Nay.”
Victoria sauntered over to Maude. “Maude saw him the day you left.”
Iain’s eyes shifted to the housekeeper, who stared at Victoria as if she’d lost her mind.
“The ghost looks very much like you,” Victoria said.
“A ghost is it, now?” Maude said in a soft voice.
Victoria looked down at where the smaller woman now leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed over her stomach as if she hadn’t a care in the world. An unsettling sense that Maude was the cat and she was now the mouse gave her pause, but she looked at Iain and added, “What else could it have been? Unless that
was you leaving my cottage the morning you left?”
Iain’s expression darkened and Victoria startled when Iain took three steps and stopped in front of her. “What mischief are you up to?”
She stared, confused.
“Come now, lass,” Maude put in. “Why go on with this ruse?”
“Ruse?” Victoria split a glance between her two adversaries. “He is standing before us and yet you continue with your tale?”
Maude gave her an odd look, then turned to Iain. “Laird, what happened the morning you visited V— er, the lass?”
“Nothing happened,” he boomed, “but if someone does not explain what is going on, something is likely to happen.” He looked at Victoria. “Is there something I should know? Who else were you expecting?”
Victoria stilled. “Are you saying you did come that morning?”
He bent down, nose to nose with her. “Who were you expecting?”
“Not you!” She shoved his chest. Iain fell back a step and Victoria advanced on him. “How dare you?” Clenching her hand into a fist, she hit his stomach.
Pain radiated up her arm. She recoiled with a howl. “Now look what you have done.” She rubbed the injured hand.
“I—”
“Never do that again,” she growled.
Iain’s forehead creased. “’Tis not my fault you were foolish enough to hit me.”
“Oh, no.” Victoria shook her head. “This is your fault and more—and you know I am not speaking of that.” She jabbed at his stomach.
Iain’s glance flicked from his abdomen to Maude. “What in the name of the devil happened while I was away?”
“Who gave you leave to come uninvited into my bedchamber?” Victoria demanded.
His head snapped in her direction, lips thinned.
“Do not think to intimidate me with that look. You had no right.” She threw her hands up and strode to the counter. Palms down, she leaned against the counter, closed her eyes and took a calming breath.
“Is this shrewish tirade because I visited you the day I left?” he demanded.
Victoria opened her eyes and caught sight of the bowl containing the beginnings of shortbread batter sitting on the counter. She gripped the bowl edges and looked over her shoulder. “Shrewish tirade? Nay, my lord, you are mistaken. This, however, may suffice.” Victoria spun, bowl in hand. The batter spewed outward. The majority hit Iain in a splattered spray, leaving the remainder in a wide arc across the kitchen walls.
A collective gasp went up. Iain looked down at the batter blotched across breacan and white shirt, then back at Victoria. His gaze held hers, and her pulse jumped when he stalked toward her. He neared and she retreated. He took another slow step closer and she retreated more, until shoulders met hard stone and he stopped inches from her. With deliberation, Iain took a finger and wiped some of the mixture off his sash. His eyes never left hers as he lifted the finger and put it in his mouth. With a loud sucking sound, he pulled it out.
“Shortbread,” he remarked. “How fortunate for me you had not added the flour.”
Victoria blinked. He gave a low laugh and stretched his arms out on both sides of her, trapping her against the wall.
“If you wanted to share, sweet, you might have asked.”
He leaned so close his breath fanned her eyelashes. A glint entered his eyes and she belatedly comprehended his intention. Iain rubbed against her, smearing the sweet batter across the front of her dress. Soft contours of her breasts gave way to hard muscle and her nipples tightened. She gasped in surprise. His gaze sharpened. Iain seized her shoulders and yanked her against him, giving her a hard kiss. She lifted a foot with the intention of slamming the heel down on his boot, but he pushed away in time to escape.
“Now, now, love,” he drawled as he headed for the door, “save something for later. Maude, a hot bath, if you please.” He paused in the doorway and looked over his shoulder at Victoria. “Would you care to join me?”
She started to retort, but Iain shifted his attention to the housekeeper. “Oh, and Maude, if you are of a mind to tell me what mischief you are about, it may go easier for you than if I am left to puzzle it out for myself.”
His laughter lingered long after he was through the great hall and up the stairs.
Chapter Nine
Victoria pulled the tartan close around her shoulders as she slipped from the main entrance of the castle out into the darkness. She hurried across the empty courtyard, then slowed upon reaching the cover of trees. When the grove opened into a small glen, she continued up the hill until, at the top, she lowered herself onto the ground. Like the waters of a shallow pool, the cool grass caressed her. Victoria ran her hand across the top of the velvet cover of grass.
“No finer refuge have I ever known.”
She shifted her gaze to the courtyard below and scanned the wall until the outline of the warriors on watch became visible against the moonlight. Those men were the keepers of her prison, yet from the moment she entered the fortress a sense of security had surrounded her that never existed in Richard’s home.
Unlike the castle they had occupied in England, there was no moat surrounding Fauldun Castle. That seemed peculiar until she learned that the keep butted up against the imposing foothills of the Grampians. An enemy attacking by the south or west walls would be forced to descend several hundred feet of sheer cliff. Victoria could visualize the defeat of any foe foolish enough to attempt the deed.
That left the north wall—the wall nearest her— and the eastern wall as the two most vulnerable. But even in that apparent vulnerability lie hidden strength. Instead of the customary outer bailey, a second wall had been built within a few feet of the original wall. It took twenty men an entire year to build the wall, but over time it had proven a worthy stratagem. Any enemy able to breech the outer wall found themselves trapped between the two walls, easy prey for the archers, not to mention the wrathful sword of any MacPherson close enough to wield a blade. A shiver rippled through Victoria at memory of having seen such a swordsman at work.
She lay back and stared at the sky. A balmy, sweet breeze whistled past. Though her sojourn in the Highlands had been but a few short months, she had come to admire the sky that peered down over the rugged land. Even the dark clouds that so often hung above the hills had a fierce beauty. The upward reach of the hills strained as if to touch the heavens. The force of such a union was often demonstrated in windswept storms, which seemed to shake the heavenly regions as deeply as they did the earthly realm.
Victoria rubbed her arms, warding off a shudder. Just such a storm had flashed in Iain MacPherson’s eyes earlier that evening, though it wasn’t clear at what point the storm had intensified. Had it been when he demanded an answer to the ridiculous question of who might come to her cottage or with his promise to visit her that night?
The chill in the air deepened. A closer look at the stars confirmed the night was venturing toward early morning. Her jailer must be abed by now. No doubt dreaming of ways to make her pay for having been absent from her cottage when he came calling. Victoria rose and began her way down the hill. Near the bottom, on the outskirts of the path, light spilled from a cottage door. Victoria slowed at sight of the man standing at the entrance but it was the woman who appeared in the doorway that halted her descent. The woman threw her arms around Iain MacPherson. Pulling him inside, she slammed the door shut behind her.
The scene in the kitchen a few days ago, when the angry woman had confronted Victoria, now made sense. Maude had been convincing in dismissing the incident as the woman’s dislike for the English. But now, the woman’s identity, as well as her purpose, was clear: she was Iain’s mistress.
Victoria stared at the empty spot where he stood a moment earlier. Anger flashed through her. When he found her cottage empty, he simply sought out another woman. She frowned. There was no logical reason for the surprise she felt. After all, like those lights twinkling down from the sky, a man’s nature was constant. And a man such as the M
acPherson lord wouldn’t deprive himself of the silky feel of long dark hair, the curve of full breasts, dusky blue eyes so perfectly set in a beautiful face…or the sparkling welcome those eyes held.
Victoria startled at the realization that he had needed no other woman in his bed.
Yet, he took you, nonetheless.
* * *
Victoria jarred awake at a soft knock that was followed by the thwarted attempt to open the cottage’s locked door.
“Lass,” Iain called in a low voice. “Open the door.”
She froze. What was he doing here? After seeing him with his mistress she hadn’t expected him to come to her cottage.
The door jiggled harder. “Is something wrong?” he demanded. “Open the door. I know you can hear me. Christ, the neighbors can hear me.”
A pounding on the hard wood caused her to bolt upright. “Go away!”
Silence followed her outburst, then the demand, “What is amiss?”
The concern that had replaced the impatience in his voice infuriated her. “All that is amiss, my lord, is that you refuse to go away.”
“I warn you, my lass, open this door.”
“And I warn you, leave me be.” A prickle of dread ran up her spine when he gave the door a hard push.
“You best tell me what this is about, woman, or I will fetch an axe and chip away at this door until it splinters into tiny pieces. Then, by God, we will sleep together in that bed until you agree to move into my bedchambers—and I have no intention of just sleeping with you beside me, door or no.”
Stunned by the outrageous threat, she faltered. Then she remembered he had just left his mistress’s bed. “Do as you wish, sir, but be warned, I will not sleep with you in any bed.”
Another silence followed and Victoria released a shaky breath at having won the battle. Wood splintered. She cried out and shrank deeper into the bed when a shaft of moonlight appeared in the room as the fur that hung over the window was pushed aside. She stared in horror as Iain hoisted himself up to the window, slung his legs over, and dropped to the floor.
Maude’s claim that Iain MacPherson was not a violent man ran through her mind. Yet, as he advanced in the darkness, Victoria realized she was trembling. The unexpected weight of his body as he sat down on the edge of the bed sent her rolling toward him and she pulled back. Fear gave way to surprise, then wariness, as she discerned by the shift of the bed that he had reached down to tug at his boots.