“You do seem like a nice lad,” she said. “Forgive me for being suspicious. I don’t take kindly to nice men who insist upon warning me of pillagers and pirates coming for me. My husband can take care of them all just fine. We don’t need any protection from this Emery creep or his gang of rapists.”
“They’re just trying to find wives,” Seumas said with a half-smile, no doubt having heard the same stories. “Some men have nothing else to offer but strength. Imagine their surprise to learn that, not only can girls have fathers and wives have husbands, but some women can even swing a sword themselves.”
“That’s true,” Muira said in enthusiasm. “I seen it myself. A woman not any shorter than me, hunting for herself. Sword fighting men just like she was one of them. Times are changing indeed.”
“Times don’t change, not really. We simply go through repetitions of social evolution. Women are suppressed for a time. Then they revolt, they take back power. Then suppression again, and then revolt. And then it happens twenty times just like that. It’s just the law of mankind, restless and miserable mankind.”
“Aye. You talk as if you’re an old man and yet you’re so young.”
“Let’s just say I’m well preserved for my age,” Seumas said, looking to Torra and nodding, as if admitting the truth that Muira couldn’t fathom.
“Nonsense! You look as young as a spring chicken. Handsome and a gentleman. Too bad my daughter is engaged.”
“Well…I’m no-”
Muira interrupted, still protective of their home. “Too bad indeed. But that shouldn’t matter to Mister Seumas here. He’s not looking for a wife. Are you, boy?”
“No. I simply believe that when a man is able, he ought to lend a helping hand. Is that out of fashion yet?”
“Not at all. It will never be out of fashion to be kind. At least, not if you surround yourself with good people.”
II
Seumas was invited into Muira’s home, even though he knew that Torra was not on any trade market. He was fine with that, and accepted the hospitality. Torra was mesmerized by the man’s powers and handsome visage, and used every opportunity to hint to him that she had no true betrothal in her life. She simply had very cautious parents.
Speaking of her father…
Kincaid stomped his way into the small modest cottage and quickly met eyes with the invader.
“Who are you? You dare enter my house?” Kincaid spoke with heavy vengeance, already despising the man and using his most horrific and unwelcoming voice.
“He is my guest, old codger. He helped Torra and I carry home our fallen produce. He is a decent man. But not interested in our girl, believe me.”
“Aye? So why are you still here?” Kincaid asked in wrath. “You did your good deed, warrior. Now get the hell out of here.”
“Is that any way to say thank you? I suppose manners are the next thing to fall out of fashion.”
“Only thing that will be falling off of anything is your balls, son. If you keep standing in front of me.”
Kincaid took his sword out of his sheath. The women became agitated and pleaded for Kincaid to calm himself and let the boy go without a fight.
But Seumas only smiled, amused at the sight, and perhaps a bit detached from it all. “ I can see my presence is distracting your family time together. I will be on my way.”
“So sorry, Seumas,” Muira said apologetically. “It is becoming a grave sin to be helpful to a lady these days.”
“Right. You tell Emery and his boys that nothing will intimidate me. I have nothing but enthusiasm for them, should they decide to pillage my house. I’ve named my battle axe after his gang of misfits.”
Seumas shook his head slowly. “I am not with them. But before I go, old man, I ought to tell you one thing. Emery is not the one you ought worry about. He has a militia of maybe twenty men. The real warrior to lose sleep over is a man named Crestoff. He is a highlander. And an evil man to boot. If he chooses to pillage your region with his army, you will all die. Take that advice as you will take it.”
“Get out of here,” Kincaid said, gritting his teeth and slowly raising the volume of his voice. “In case you haven’t figured it out yet…I fear nothing.”
“That’s the problem,” the stranger said as he exited the cottage and turned back one last time. “Everyone should be afraid of something. Kill what you can and avoid those you cannot kill.”
“Let them come to me!” Kincaid roared back. Kincaid waited until Seumas was outside his home and then sent another veiled threat. “Don’t think I hate you indiscriminately, O Good and Honorable Man.”
Seumas stood still, listening to his comments.
“I know what highlanders are. And I know that you’re far too perceptive of them not to be one of those monsters yourself.”
“Really, Kincaid!” Muira said in counsel. “You don’t even know the madness you speak!”
Torra listened in fascination, figuring out this man’s enigma rather quickly. She saw him use his magic firsthand. He also knew her father was a bit of a mental wizard himself, knowing people’s true soul within an instant of meeting them. He knew what was funny about Seumas. She waited until her father settled down and then ventured out into the night, hoping to find that “highlander” and learn what truly motivated his kind act.
Seumas sensed her coming and remained still, right at the entrance of the manned village area. He was sitting on a small hill and eating a snack. He eyed her approaching from a distance but remained relaxed and unaffected.
“You’re still here,” Torra said.
“Was I ordered to leave?” he said.
“In so many words, yes. But you obviously have no fear of my father, do you? You are…gifted.”
“What led you to that revelation?” he asked with an ominous smile.
“I am speaking to you against my better judgment. I can only hope you’re not lying. This barbarian you speak of…is this threat real?”
He lost his smile but kept looking into her eyes. “Unfortunately it is. I am here because I sense two other highlanders in this region. As you may or may not know from our folklore…we must fight to the death. But I intend to be the last one standing.”
“Are they evil highlanders?”
“It doesn’t matter whether they are or are not. It is simply what we must do.”
“Are you…an evil highlander?” she asked, a bit shyly.
He smiled again. “I am a man who prefers to make love with a woman’s permission. It’s just better that way.”
“And do you…hurt humans? Regular people?”
“I live by a strict moral code when it comes to violence,” he said. “I kill only other highlanders and those who attack me. Yet, I don’t kill out of self-preservation. I kill because they attack me. Understand?”
“I do. It’s what my own father says. He doesn’t pick fights with anyone who doesn’t deserve it. But once you have a death wish, he gives it to you.”
“He is a wise man. He recognized me immediately for what I was.”
“But there is one thing I still don’t understand. Why did you do what you did? Was it just to be kind?”
“I always do kind things when I can afford the time. But I also admit to having a weakness for beautiful women.”
“Oh,” Torra said shyly.
“I saw you at the trading post. I came this way because I sensed where you were. Does this frighten you?”
“I don’t know. You seem…very interested in me.”
“How unfortunate that you are already committed to someone else,” he said with a teasing smile.
She mirrored his face. “It keeps me safe, you understand.”
“I don’t blame your father at all. Our kind and your kind don’t mix too well.”
“Did you mean what you said about that Crestoff fellow? Or were you just trying to be smart with my father?”
“I have no need to lie, my Lady. A fight against Crestoff and against the one called Artair i
s why I have been called here. A highlander must fight to the death. It is our destiny.”
Seumas sighed, almost appearing to be sympathetic to another person besides himself. Highlanders thought of compassion as weakness, but hundreds of years of watching innocent people die had hurt his heart, compelling him to warn whomever he could.
“Crestoff is a worry, yes. You cannot kill another highlander. You will try, but you will fail. Ten men of your father’s caliber couldn’t take him. Emery is not a threat. Crestoff is a threat. And one that I must destroy.”
“And what if you die?” Torra asked.
“Then it will be an honor to fall to the greater man. But I don’t intend on losing.”
“And if you were to die, would you have any regrets?” she asked, staring into his eyes. The way he stared back, without decency, without restraint, sent shivers down her spine and caused a glowing sensation in her gut. Whether he was truly “magical” or just a handsome man with hungry eyes seemed irrelevant.
“Regret that I am no longer living? That I am no longer eating, or no longer loving a woman? I regret nothing. Every day I am alive, I live life to its fullest.”
She stared at him but seemed bereft of thought, trapped in his face and not sure of what she wanted to express.
“The question is,” he said, walking closer to her, “Are you living life without regrets? If you died tomorrow, would you be ready? Or would you feel that you missed out?”
His face, his entire presence was electrifying, the same feeling one gets when standing in the middle of a thunderstorm or that long and panicky second when someone caresses your neck with a blade.
“Well…” she said nervously, noticing he was inching his way closer into her space. “I think I have some regrets. But mainly…I just…uh…”
“Stop talking. Do what’s in your heart.”
Seumas reached over and put his lips to hers, tasting the air, the small sliver of space that separated their faces from touching.
She broke away from the trance and left his lips, eyeing the floor and feeling deep shame. “Of course I have desires. Regrets. But I owe something to my father. He cares for me. All my life he’s been the only man I’ve ever known. He protected me. I can’t betray him or my morals that he taught me. So I have regrets. But that doesn’t make me easy prey.”
Seumas smiled and nodded. “He raised you well. Responsibly. I forget what it’s like to have a family. It has been so long since I have felt love or been loved by anyone. The life of mine, it’s a cold and lonely one. Sometimes doing random acts of kindness is the only way I still feel alive. Alive, like you call it. Not just waiting to die or be killed.”
“You don’t have to do it, you know. The life you live? You may be something of superior blood, but you are not a slave to someone’s else rules.”
“It is an honor, an oath of blood,” Seumas said, angered at the very thought of abandoning his obligation.
“Well you have your rules and I have mine. I can’t become intimate with someone, knowing the weight of emotions that follow. They say, women like us, we have sex for every reason but the act itself. That’s the easy part.”
“I suppose it is,” he said with a half-smile. He was torn. In love, sure, who wasn’t? But curious about her moral stance, her own oath that she had just like him. Most women would have jumped at the chance to bag a highlander, or simply rebel against her father like a bad girl ought to. But she was different. She had strength of character.
“So you have an obligation to care for your family, just as I do my oath. The fact that these vows are unbreakable makes me want you all the more.”
“I’m sure it does,” Torra said with a smile. “We all want what we can’t see. Heaven, happiness.”
“So what must I do to go on? Rid myself of your memory?”
“Hmmm,” she said, sizing him up and moving just a tad closer to flirt with danger. “I guess you’ll have to dream. A vivid dream, one in which you win in battle and win the heart of the fair maiden.”
“Aargh, my dreams torment me. A nightmare is a better way to call it.”
They both laughed but Seumas lost his smile quickly. “Look, I meant everything I said. No lying or distortions. It is best that you go away from this place. Crestoff…”
“It’s our home, Mister Seumas. We aren’t that different. We both have a choice. To fight for who we are or to die because of a stronger opponent. We are not your family. Don’t lose any sleep over us.”
Seumas nodded unsurely. He knew the right thing to do would be to keep walking away, to turn away from her and stop interfering with their family laws. But for once, it wasn’t just his yearning doing the talking. He knew the family was in trouble. More than that, he knew that she really was like him. Lonely, barely alive. More obligations than good memories. It didn’t seem right. If he left her today, he would have nothing else left in life but battle, and maybe another hundred years or so of walking the earth. Barely conversing; hardly a person worth heroically saving anymore, that’s for sure. This one, she was a good woman, the type who had standards. A code.
“Listen,” he said, walking against his will, his body not quite ready to surrender as quickly as his mouth. “As far as I know, this might be my final battle. Fighting two highlanders in less than a month’s time, my odds aren’t phenomenal. If I die, I die with honor. But there’s no sense in a man dying alone when he can join with others and protect them as well. It is a selfish and dull existence, for a man to only take care of himself.”
“What are you blathering on about?”
“I’m saying, why don’t you marry me?”
She stepped back in shock and dropped her mouth open; it might as well have touched the floor. “What madness is this?”
“I have been alive for so many years. Fought many battles. But the only time my inner turmoil went away was when I was with a family. They all died. Some of natural causes, others not. But those are the times I cherish most. Living with real people, not warriors. I believe you, and I see eye to eye on many things. You think I want you for one night. But what I say is, life is short. If we have only one night left, I’d rather spend it with you.”
“Oh, Seumas. You don’t even know what you’re saying,” she said, so touched by the futile gesture she almost cried. “But all we are is two doomed souls reaching out to each other. It’s romantic. But it’s going nowhere.”
“Your father doesn’t like me. Your mother…”
“She likes you.”
He smiled. “Of course. But you and your father both suspect me of something that’s not true. I can prove to you that it’s not. More importantly, I will stay and protect you from the highlander that’s coming for you. I would offer my services for free, but knowing you, you’d hardly request that big of a favor from me, would you?”
“That’s very noble of you, Seumas. And if you offered those services…well, we would be forever in your debt. Although, I don’t think my father would have it. The only thing worse than his temper for suitors is the idea that he needs someone’s help to win.”
“Then I guess it’s just a dream, isn’t it?” He said, walking closer to her and eyeing her cold and shivering lips in thirst. “I would never bargain with your virtue. I would never offer to marry you if you found me to be a crusty old ogre. I don’t want anyone’s pity, or worse, the idea that a woman was forced to do a disgusting thing to save her family. The invitation is withdrawn. I apologize for my lewdness…”
She stared in instant regret, though a bit tongue in cheek. The man was clever. And yet he was truthful. He was sort of a bargain in this scenario, given his strength and sorcery. But she didn’t like the bartering terms. Love had to be longer lasting. It had to be stronger than an, “Aww hell, we might as well do it before we die” sentiment.
“…But not my desires,” he said with a final bow.
“Wait.”
“What’s that, fair maiden? Don’t you dare compromise now.”
“No
…it’s just…I think you owe me something.”
“Me? Owe you?”
“Yes. I gave you my undivided attention, considered your proposal and now it’s my turn to receive equal compensation for my time.”
He laughed. “Really now? And what is your request?”
“I have…I have never been kissed before. Though I am not giving you all that you desire, I am willing to give you this one trifle.”
“Just one kiss?” he asked. “That’s worth a million gold pieces, which I could never repay you.”
“Then I guess you will be in debt to me,” she said, tilting her head and pushing back her hair, eager to feel his embrace—just one.
“I would gladly kiss a beautiful woman like yourself, Torra. But I don’t think just one kiss is going to happen.”
She bobbed her head in sarcasm. “I will just expect you to control yourself, Mister Seumas.”
“It’s not myself I’m worried about. I don’t think you can handle just one, my love.”
“Well, then I guess you must fulfill your obligation at any cost, oath keeper.”
“Then I will.”
He reached over and kissed her fervently, without restraint, treating every second as if it preceded a deathblow. He savored her taste and soft lips.
She kissed him back, their lips ramming together and inhaling each other’s breath. He kissed powerfully, every bit as starved and ravenous as a warrior savage. But as he held her in his arms, she felt his peace. His power was magnificent because he was content. Nothing to prove, as he had his greatest battles hundreds of years ago.
But his soul was in his kiss. As he kissed her, a fire inside Torra was unleashed. She craved his touch, his fiery lips and volcanic spittle. It seemed to light her inside, setting her heart and her loins ablaze.
She almost broke the kiss, the moment she realized that her skin was flushed, wanting to tear open barriers and lie bare skin to skin with him. It was a demonic rage, a yearning that couldn’t be put out. This is what her father warned him about all those years ago—passion. It’s passion that blinds you.
“Wait,” she said, finally breaking his embrace and putting her hands in between her face and his. Just as soon as she did, however, he took her hand and kissed her; first on the finger, then on the palm and then the wrist. He became intoxicated with her scent and taste and desired to sample her every morsel of skin.
The Highlander's Taken Bride (Scottish Highlander Romance) Page 57