“Before long, ye’ll be swimming better than a fish,” Maggie said.
Innis snorted. “Doubtful, although I am enjoying myself. It’s peaceful here.”
“It’s why I come here. Sometimes the house gets too crowded.”
“It’s nice to get away and just be alone,” Innis admitted. She held out her arms so that they were just below the surface, then kicked her feet up until her toes were pointing out of the water and she was floating on her bum. “What do ye think of MacLean?” Innis asked.
Maggie shrugged, but the action made her go under. She came up sputtering and spitting lake water out of her mouth. Innis laughed and Maggie splashed her, causing Innis to shriek. Innis splashed back, and Maggie threatened to push her under but relented when she saw real fear in Innis’s eyes. “No one’s ever taught ye to swim?” Maggie asked.
“Nae. No’ really.” Innis started shivering and rubbing her arms. It might have been summertime, but the water running into the firth came from the snow-topped mountains and it was still very cold.
“Let’s get out and dry off in the sun,” Maggie said.
They found a flat rock and sat down. Maggie tilted her head back and closed her eyes, letting the sun’s rays warm and dry her. “Evan taught me to swim,” she said.
“Ye’re very close to yer brother,” Innis said.
“We were. Not as much anymore.”
“Since I arrived?”
Maggie thought about that for a moment. “Nae.” If she was really honest with herself, the change had begun before that. “I do no’ know why we’re no’ as close. He just…drifted away.”
“He has a lot on his mind, what with the English and the last battle. He’s afraid Scotland will be lost to English rule and our way of life will be gone forever.”
Maggie opened her eyes and turned to look at Innis. “Truly?” She’d not thought that he was that deeply concerned. She always believed that the English presence was merely temporary and that Scottish might would overcome English greed.
While sitting in an English prison day after day with nothing but her fear and her thoughts for company, she’d discovered that she had lived the majority of her life in a bubble of naive simplicity. The English were there, but she’d just assumed Evan would take care of them. Evan could defeat anyone. After all, he’d slayed the demons in her girlish nightmares. He’d put the other lads in their place when they’d bullied her for wearing boys’ clothing. Evan had protected her and taught her to protect herself.
She’d imagined that life would always be that way.
In the end, she was lucky to be alive. She knew that. She understood that. She was lucky to have been put in the same cell as MacLean. If not, she’d either still be there or would have been discovered and quite probably killed after the English had their way with her.
The wool had been ripped from her eyes to reveal the cold, terrifying truth.
Scotland might not survive this English invasion.
“Oh, aye,” Innis said. “He thinks the best way to protect the clan is to try to get along with the English.”
“No,” Maggie said in disbelief. Evan had always hated the English. Now he wanted to get along with them?
“Better the enemy ye know,” Innis said.
Maggie closed her eyes but couldn’t close her thoughts off. She was appalled at her brother. He’d fought at Culloden. He knew what the English were capable of, and yet he thought it best to work with them? Did that mean her brother was a traitor?
Or was he a survivor?
“Ye never told me yer thoughts on MacLean,” Innis said, oblivious to Maggie’s deep musings.
“MacLean,” Maggie repeated, more to give herself time to push her depressing thoughts away. Later, when she was alone, she would contemplate Evan’s motives. “He saved me from prison and probable death. I’m grateful and in his debt.”
Innis bumped shoulders with Maggie and looked at her sideways with a knowing smirk. “Is that all ye think of him?”
Maggie frowned, remembering the kisses they’d shared. They were like taking a draft, those kisses. Intoxicating and addicting.
“He’s handsome,” Innis said with laughter in her voice.
Maggie felt a surge of emotion that had her feeling protective. “Ye’re wed to my brother, and ye best remember that,” she said harshly.
Innis laughed. “I love yer brother and do no’ have eyes for any other man. I was thinking of ye.”
“Me? What about me?”
“That he is very handsome and ye might like him.”
“Pshh.” Maggie turned her head away, not understanding why her face was suddenly so hot. The sun wasn’t that bright.
“Ye were jealous,” Innis said.
“Jealous of what?” Maggie asked, perplexed.
“When ye thought I was interested in MacLean, ye were jealous.”
“Was no’.” Was that the hot feeling of anger she’d had toward Innis?
“Yes, ye were. It’s perfectly fine. MacLean is a braw man, and that twinkle in his eye…” Innis sighed.
Was this how girls acted when they were together? Did they discuss men in this way? Maggie knew the lads talked about the lasses because she’d heard them. They giggled and whispered and watched as the lasses sashayed by. Maggie had always vowed to never sashay.
She had to admit that it felt good to talk to Innis this way. She’d never discussed men before. Not boys but men. Men like MacLean, who was wide of shoulder and slim of hip and who, yes, had a definite twinkle in his eye. Men who kissed so well that it made you lose track of time and all good reason.
Maggie’s thoughts were cut short when she heard a sound behind her. Years of instinct and hours upon hours of training with her brother and his fellow warriors had her grabbing the sword at her side.
Just as she came face-to-face with two English soldiers.
They wore the red coats that haunted her nightmares and a leer on their faces that she ached to slice off.
Innis gasped and scrambled behind Maggie, grabbing for her trousers. They should have put their trousers back on. They never should have left themselves this exposed. Damn, but she knew better.
“Well, well,” one of the soldiers said, his leer turning to an expectant grin. “Look what we found. Two mermaids, sunning themselves on the rocks, just waiting for us.”
Chapter 15
Maggie was soft and supple beneath him, looking up at him with those big doe eyes as he hovered over her, his arms shaking from the effort of holding his need in check. He was going to enter her and he just knew, with bone-deep surety, that it would be the most magnificent thing to ever happen to him.
He brushed a short curl away from her face and smiled down at her with all the love he felt for her. And just as he lifted his hips to enter her, the door to his bedchamber banged open. The vision of Maggie beneath him disintegrated and Colin came awake with a jerk, though his pulsing erection was much slower to take notice of the unwanted intrusion.
Evan Sinclair charged into the room. On instinct, Colin rolled off his bed and grabbed his broadsword off the floor beside him.
“Where the hell is she?” Evan growled, looking wildly around.
Luckily for him, Colin’s erection subsided. He, too, looked around the room, trying to come to his senses. He’d been taking the night watch and sleeping during the day, so his life was topsy-turvy at the moment, and he half expected Maggie to be in his bed, waiting for him to tup her. He was immensely grateful that she was not. “Where’s who?” he asked.
“Maggie.” Evan stepped up close.
Colin’s back went rigid and his anger rose. “How would I know where Maggie is?”
Evan’s nostrils flared in fury and his jaw muscles worked. “Ye seem to like kissing her, for starters.”
“Good God, Evan. Just because I’ve kissed yer sister a time or two does no’ mean that I would bed her.” His mind flashed back to his dream, making a liar of him. If Evan had not barged in, then Colin
would have bedded Maggie, at least in his dreams. Damn. He ran a hand down his face, trying to wake up and shake the images from his mind.
“She’s no’ anywhere,” Evan said, causing a frisson of alarm to skitter up Colin’s spine.
“She’s got to be somewhere.”
“Innis is missing as well.” Evan turned bleak eyes to Colin.
“I’m sure Innis stepped out. Mayhap she’s in the garden.” Maggie, on the other hand, wouldn’t be in the garden if she could help it. Her disappearance troubled him far more than Innis’s.
“I’ve looked there.”
“Well, she has to be somewhere. Maybe they’re together.” It was curious that they’d gone missing at the same time, and it worried Colin. Was there an enemy in their midst?
“It’s no’ uncommon for Maggie to wander off, but Innis has never done such a thing. She stays close, and if she has to leave the holding, she asks me to accompany her. Something’s wrong.”
“Have any strangers entered the gates?”
Evan ran a hand through his hair, and Colin could tell the man was close to losing his good sense. That wasn’t going to help anyone. “The guards say no.”
That didn’t rule out enemies sneaking through. It just meant they’d been more stealthy about it.
“Ye said Innis would never leave the premises without telling ye, but what about Maggie?”
Sinclair’s lips twisted. “No one can control Maggie, least of all me. She goes where she pleases.”
“So it’s no’ uncommon to see her riding out alone.”
“She’s no’ supposed to. She’s supposed to take someone with her, but occasionally…mostly…she does no’.”
Colin felt mildly relieved to learn that, but only mildly. Chances were that Maggie had left of her own accord to do whatever she liked to do when she left the castle walls, but Innis was a different story. Colin was fairly certain they would find Innis somewhere in the castle, though convincing Evan of that seemed impossible at the moment.
“We will look for her,” he said. “Do ye have men who can help?”
“Most of them are scouting the territory for the English.” Evan gave Colin a pointed look, and Colin nodded his understanding. Sinclair’s men were out protecting the Scottish citizens from harassment by the English.
“I doubt the women are together,” Colin said. “More than likely, Innis is here somewhere.”
“She’s no’. I just know she’s no’.”
Evan was beginning to unravel, and Colin needed to reel him back in if they were going to accomplish anything at all. Colin threw his kilt on over his shirt and pulled on his boots. He followed Sinclair out of the house and to the gatehouse, where together, they questioned the guard on duty.
“I saw Lady Margaret leave a few hours ago,” the man finally admitted. “But I thought she was allowed to come and go at her leisure.”
“Was Lady Sinclair with her?” Evan asked.
The guard’s eyes widened. “No, my lord, of course no’. I would no’ let the Lady Sinclair leave without a proper escort.”
“Was anyone with Mag—Lady Margaret?” Colin asked. How odd to call her Lady Margaret. To him she was just Maggie. Or Sinclair, when her brother wasn’t present.
The guard seemed to think about the question and his eyes widened, flicking to Sinclair before settling on Colin. “There was someone with her. It appeared to be one of the lads. He was wearing a cloak with a hood, and the two of them rode out quickly.”
Sinclair’s face lost all color. “And ye did no’ think it odd that a lad would wear a cloak when it was so warm out?” he demanded.
Colin braced himself to step between Sinclair and the trembling guard. “No, my lord. I thought it was a friend of Lady Margaret. She’ll occasionally go out with the lads if they’re on a mission.”
Sinclair’s hands balled into fists at his sides and the guard looked at them nervously.
“Which direction did they go?” Colin asked, feeling more and more uneasy. Where would Maggie take Innis; And why would she take Innis anywhere if she didn’t like her in the first place?
The guard pointed southwest, seemingly incapable of speech by this point.
Sinclair stormed to the stables and ordered two horses to be saddled and readied. He waited impatiently, pacing and muttering to himself, while those with business at the castle walked a wide circle around him and watched him warily. Colin leaned against the side of the stable and kept an eye on Sinclair.
“I have a bad feeling, MacLean. Bad. And nothing good can come of Maggie and Innis together. This makes no sense. The two do no’ get along. They would never leave together.”
The uneasy feeling in Colin’s gut grew. “Do ye think Maggie would run away again?”
“Nae,” Evan said almost immediately, then paused. “I do no’ know. She’s powerfully angry at me right now.”
“Do ye think so?” Colin couldn’t help the sarcasm. He was powerfully angry at Evan as well.
“What’s that supposed to mean, MacLean?”
“It means that Maggie asked me to take her away from here. She thinks ye do no’ want her, and ye’ve admitted to me that ye’re marrying her off to an English sympathizer. Do ye think she has any reason to stay?”
Evan’s jaw clenched. “I’ll no’ have this conversation with ye again.”
“I’m just saying that there is a possibility she could have run again. She has reason to.”
Evan took a step closer. “Ye stand there and judge me for protecting my clan. Tell me, MacLean, what have ye done for yer own?”
Their horses were brought around. Colin swung up onto his and waited silently for Evan to mount. His jaw was clenched so tightly that his head ached. What was he to say to Sinclair? He had no argument; the man was right. Colin was judging Sinclair because he didn’t agree with his choices, but he had no right when he’d not even been on his own land in weeks and had not led his people at all.
They rode in silence, looking for track marks that would indicate the women—or at least Maggie, because Colin was convinced Maggie had left on her own—had gone this way. He should leave when they found her. He could hide out at Sutherland’s until it was safe for him to return home and then take control of his clan and become the chief that he was meant to become. He should do that. But he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Maggie behind to face a marriage with Fraser, an English sympathizer.
And yet what would staying accomplish? Not a thing. Maggie would marry, and Colin would have to leave in the end anyway, having only grown more attached to the feisty lass.
Besides, he couldn’t stay to see Maggie wed, since he was wanted by the English, which meant that being in Fraser’s proximity could be deadly.
“There.” Sinclair pointed to the ground, where Colin saw two sets of horse tracks. “That’s Maggie’s horse,” Sinclair said. “This leads to Loch Rumsdale. There’s a spot where Maggie likes to bathe, especially in the summer.”
Colin felt a bit of relief that they had a destination in mind. Hopefully, he’d been wrong and Maggie hadn’t run away after all.
They dismounted and pushed through the brush until they were at the edge where the beach met the woods, and Sinclair stopped so abruptly that Colin nearly ran into his back. That was when he saw the two redcoats cornering the women.
Maggie was fighting off an English soldier while Innis, dressed in only a man’s shirt and nothing else, straddled the back of another soldier, pulling on his hair and biting his shoulder while the man yelled and attempted to buck her off.
Colin watched in part awe and part fear while Maggie blocked and parried the English soldier’s thrusts. She was magnificent. Smooth and elegant and so damn graceful, just like she was in the lists.
Meanwhile, Innis lost her grasp on the other soldier and was tossed on her rump with a sharp squeal that sounded more like outrage than pain. Her hair was loose around her shoulders and trailing down her back and across her face.
Sinclair str
ode forward, grabbed the soldier by the collar of his red coat, and yanked him back to place a dagger at the man’s throat. The man instantly stilled. Innis pushed her hair out of her eyes and glared. Colin didn’t know if she was glaring at Sinclair or the soldier.
Colin stepped up beside Maggie and raised his sword. The soldier fighting her hesitated. He was breathing deep, sweat trailing down his face and temples. Maggie had held her own with him.
“Impressive,” Colin said.
“Thank ye,” Maggie muttered, her sword at the ready as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Colin couldn’t help but notice that she was not wearing breeches and her firm legs were displayed for everyone to see. Propelled by jealousy and anger, he lunged and knocked the man’s sword to the ground. The soldier stood there helplessly, defeat in the tight press of his lips.
“Thought ye would have an easy time of these lasses?” Colin asked.
The soldier raised his chin but remained silent.
“Made a fool of ye, she did.”
Maggie chuckled.
“Get yer breeches on,” Sinclair growled as he came up to them with his soldier clutched tightly by the collar. “What do we do with them?” he asked Colin.
Colin looked them over carefully. The one who’d been fighting Maggie was trembling. The other was looking at them through narrowed eyes, but there was defeat in his shoulders.
Sinclair and Colin shared a look. Taking them back to their camp was out of the question. The soldiers would concoct a story that put Colin and Evan in a bad light, and they would end up arrested. It had happened time and time again. Dealing with the English was always tricky like that. Reporting that the men had attacked the women would do no good. Attacks happened on a daily basis, and nothing was done.
“Best to let them go,” Colin said in a low voice.
“Nae,” Sinclair said. He marched his soldier over to his horse and pulled out a length of rope. For a moment Colin thought Sinclair meant to hang the soldiers, but he bound their hands together, each on an end of the rope, and tied them to a tree.
“Ye tell yer superiors what happened to ye,” Sinclair said, viciously tightening the rope. “Ye tell them ye were bested by two Scottish women and see what they say.”
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