A fire blazed in his green eyes, which gleamed like opals at her challenge, and that sensuous mouth curled into a smirk. Jasper moaned and the bonnie intruder stepped forward to give the man on the ground a quick jab to the jaw, knocking him silent again. He stepped back and resumed his arrogant position.
Under different circumstances, she’d be very taken with this man. And she still couldn’t help wondering where she’d seen his face.
Throwing his cloak back over his shoulders, he revealed a broad chest that rippled under the thin material of his black shirt as he reached across his hip for his sword.
Cailin blanched. Not many men carried swords on their person in the port city of Leith—daggers were the weapon of choice and easier to conceal—and those that did rarely matched the craftsmanship of this blade. This was not a cheap, decorative sword. Out of one mess and into another. She swallowed her fear and stood her ground.
“I suggest a wager.” He winked.
“I am not a gambling woman.”
Tilting his head back, he laughed and Cailin clenched her jaw, her cheeks blooming with heat again. Amusement twinkling in his eyes, he ignored her comment. “A challenge. If you win, I shall let you walk free.”
“And if you win?”
The amusement in his eyes transformed into smoldering desire. “I shall have to take you in hand and see you submit…” His eyes raked her body. “To the proper authority.” He folded his arms in front of him, the blade of his sword sweeping up and standing erect from his fist.
Cailin’s breath left her in a rush and fire surged through her body—from the fluttering in her stomach to the tingling in her toes. She did not miss his twofold meaning, and drew a deep, steadying breath, biting her tongue; though keeping her tongue proved more difficult to manage. “We shall see about this, sir.”
With a chuckle, he advanced. Cailin had the upper hand with two blades and extensive training. Twirling her arms and bending at the waist, she parried his thrust, continued through her movement and landed a sound kick to his side, sending him sprawling into the barrels. Once the loud clatter of boxes and debris settled, he shook his head. Her opponent gazed at her with large eyes while she widened her stance and readied her blades.
His brow furrowed and he rose to his feet, adjusting his shirt and positioning his sword. “Shall we try that again?”
“I can repeat that if you are a glutton for punishment, but I think you are fool.”
He laughed. With a sweep of his sword, he forced Cailin to switch her stance to block his blade. To her dismay, he also pushed her off balance and wound his arms around her, pinning her hands behind her back. She faced him, chest against chest, seething at the advantage he had taken.
“’Tis dangerous you are with those blades.” He wrested the daggers from her and tossed them aside. “Now, how do you suppose we should settle this matter?”
She grumbled. “He tried to rob me. I defended myself and you interfered. What is there to settle?”
“You must understand, from my perspective, I saw quite the opposite.”
Cailin wriggled, making a concerted effort to free herself, but gained no purchase against him. Huffing in defeat, she said, “I care not what you think you saw. He trapped me and I was forced to defend myself.” She wiggled again and stopped when his arousal pressed against her belly. Heat stole into her cheeks and she gazed into his sea-green eyes, growing stormy with desire.
Before Cailin could utter another word, his mouth descended upon hers, capturing a seeking kiss. Surely her lack of will to resist was due to the ordeal she’d just experienced. But the flutter in her stomach told her she enjoyed this man’s touch far too much to blame exhaustion. The daydreams of her first kiss with her promised groom—what the experience would be like, how she would respond—all vanished like smoke on the wind. She never imagined this hungry, carnal reality. When his tongue teased along the crease of her lips, she opened her mouth to him, inviting a new swirl of quivers down her spine as their tongues danced. A primal heat stole into her belly and sank to settle between her legs, which wobbled and threatened to give way.
“Cailin MacDougal!”
As if a bucket of cold water had been thrown in her face, Cailin stumbled back, sputtering and struggling to gain her composure. Jasper was gone and the handsome stranger stared at her with his mouth open and his cheeks red. With a purposeful stride, Davina MacDougal marched down the alley toward Cailin and the man who had so wonderfully assaulted her mouth. Cailin rolled her eyes.
“Child, I should slap that expression from your face!” Davina stood before them, huffing her frustration, then clasped Cailin in a tight embrace. “Why must you insist on venturing out alone? This is not a jesting situation. Your life is in danger every time you wander about unescorted.”
“M’ma, Ranald and Will were right behind me, but there is something I— “
Davina held up her hand toward Cailin and turned to the man standing with his mouth open. “Well?”
He gawked at Cailin. “Mouse?”
Cailin swallowed and gaped at his face with understanding. “James Knightly,” she whispered and the blood drained from her face. Well, at least this explained why he seemed so familiar. Spending a lifetime dodging the dangerous intentions of her father’s clan enemy, Angus Campbell, gave Cailin no choice but to learn the necessary combat skills to defend herself—hardly the behavior her groom-to-be would want in his wife. Not knowing who he was, she showed him a side she never intended him to see. James would never have her now and the shock on his face confirmed that.
“Cailin MacDougal, do not dare stand there and tell me you thought you were kissing a stranger!” Davina sighed, shaking her head, and fussed with Cailin’s torn neckline.
She waved off her mother’s attentions. “Obviously I was a stranger to him as well! Save some of your wrath for him.” Fighting the tears stinging the backs of her eyes, Cailin pushed past her mother and retrieved her daggers, returning them to the sheaths at her hips. She faced her mother, prepared for the onslaught of scolding, only to find a sly smile on James’s face. It had been seven years since she’d last seen James Knightly and her memories of him did not match the towering and imposing man before her.
“Come,” Davina prompted and led the way out of the alley.
Cailin started to follow her mother, then doubled back to snatch her forgotten bundle, which she’d dropped when Jasper jumped her. Doing so landed her back into James’s embrace as they collided from her sudden change in direction.
“’Tis thrice you’ve ended in my arms.” A wolfish grin curved the corner of his full lips and Cailin near swooned. “I could fast get accustomed to this.”
A flutter tickled her belly at the hum of his deep voice vibrating against her breast. He was sure to toss her aside once he learned more about her, though, so she fought the attraction for him tingling across her skin. “Do not hope for such chances in the future. I shall be sure to avoid them.” She pushed away from the circle of his arms and picked up her package.
Cailin pivoted, marched out of the alleyway and smashed into a hard, leather breastplate.
“My apologies, Mistress Cailin,” said Ranald.
She scowled at him, sick to death of the way he followed her around like a shadow. She turned her glaring eyes to his accomplice, Will, who offered a reluctant grin. James pressed his body behind Cailin and presented the parcel she’d dropped when colliding with Ranald.
“Lose something?” he whispered against her ear.
She struggled against the urge to fall back into him and snatched the package, clinging to her frustration for strength. “Only my sanity at being surrounded by brutes!”
Shoving away from the three towering men, she scampered after her mother’s determined pace, James so close behind her, she swore she could feel his presence.
Davina led them around the building, down High Street and toward the docks to their destination. Saddling up beside Cailin, James matched her furious steps.
“As my betrothed, I would think such close encounters would not only be unavoidable, but desired.”
She bit her lip to steady it before whirling to answer. “But that is where you are mistaken, Master James. We are not betrothed, but promised, and that is something you and our fathers arranged when you were far too young to make such a decision. You need not worry yourself with having to be saddled with the likes me.”
His brow furrowed. “And why would you speak of yourself in such a way? I may have been young, but I still believe we are a smart match.” He stepped closer and trailed his fingertip along her jaw line. “Why would you not agree to a union that has not only been planned since our youth, but holds an obvious attraction betwixt the two of us?”
Cailin allowed herself the moment. How she wanted to fall into his arms and believe this could actually work. However, his inevitable rejection loomed before her and she brushed his hand away. “I am not the simple child you once knew,” she whispered with regret. “Much has transpired since you went away to attend your schooling.” The buried longings of happiness in marital bliss oozed from her heart and Cailin swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “Our circumstances have changed.” Picking up her skirts, she glanced at the trailing guards before scuttling after her mother.
The three of them filed into the office of MacDougal & Knightly Shipping Company, the guards standing outside in their usual position at post. Davina motioned for both James and Cailin to sit down in the wooden chairs available in the room for conducting business. James hung his cloak on the hook by the door, while Cailin placed her bundle on the desk before her mother.
“I thought to bring you something to eat since you mentioned this morning you would work through the afternoon.”
Davina’s shoulders sagged and a sad smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “Thank you, Cailin. You make it difficult for me to be cross with you when you make kind gestures.”
Kissing her mother’s brow, Cailin grinned and sat down.
“I am glad that lad Brian at the stables had sense enough to come fetch me when he saw you trail after that urchin. You have heard me express my grievances over these lone ventures many times before.” Her mother’s voice was laced with compassion. “But for James’s benefit, I will not repeat myself.”
Cailin relaxed, thankful their discussion would be tabled for another time.
Davina turned her attention to the ledger before her, scratching her quill across the parchment pages. Over a decade ago, Cailin’s father Broderick MacDougal—in actuality her step-father, but the only father she had ever known and dearly loved—began a small shipping company in the port city of Leith, just a few miles outside of Edinburgh. A meager beginning to be sure—especially in a town still repairing itself in the wake of devastation from the English—but in the capable hands of her father, the business grew to be a reputable establishment. Due to Broderick’s inability to tend to the duties during the day, many responsibilities fell to Davina—especially since Alistair had disappeared, abandoning his partnership and his son, James. Though Broderick did what he could at night to maintain the majority of the transactions and scheduling, Cailin recalled the many times in her childhood, playing on the floor while her mother labored over the accounting and records. As an adult, Cailin realized this allowed Broderick to focus on generating business arrangements and the actual managing of the merchandise with hired help. Now, she blushed over the countless fits she pitched as a child, demanding her mother’s attention.
Cailin had learned to read and write by diving into the business with her mother. She learned that MacDougal & Knightly primarily dealt with the shipping of wool, cured salmon, cheese and furs; however, Broderick frequently arranged to secure other avenues of trade for spices, dried fruits, dye-stuffs and choice cloths and embroidery. Working side-by-side with them, Cailin developed a deep respect for her parents’ ingenuity, teamwork and intelligence. They were an inspiration in her preparing to be the perfect partner for James, once he claimed his partnership with her father. She cast a sidelong glance toward her promised groom, who caught her peeking at him. He winked and the room grew warm. She cleared her throat and pretended to study her mother’s busy hands.
As of late, Broderick impressed her by importing fine art from Italy and used her mother’s loose connection to the crown to garner an increasing demand for such items. Being a cousin to the King—though illegitimate—had its privileges, including the opportunity for her father to be awarded the meager title of Lord for his accomplishments and many favors to the King. The desk, which Cailin’s mother leaned against now, was piled with contracts and accounting ledgers. Though Davina usually appeared as worn as the papers burdening the office, Cailin was pleased to see her mother in higher spirits today.
Davina turned to James with a smile. “Thank you for your patience while I finished these documents. I am relieved to see you finally home, James. Broderick and I have a special surprise for you this evening. I pray you do not have any other engagements?”
“Of course not, Lady MacDougal.” James dipped his head respectfully with a grin.
“And as for you, my darling,” Davina addressed Cailin as she rose from her chair. “Though I appreciate your gesture at bringing me some nourishment, I am finished for the afternoon. I have finalized some documents here to be picked up on the morrow by a client and the shipments we had scheduled for today have set sail for their destination.”
James rose and grabbed his cloak. “I shall escort you both back home where you may enjoy a hot meal together.”
James cast Cailin a warm smile and winked. He seemed oblivious to what had transpired between them in the alley. Nay, his behavior leaned toward a favorable demeanor. Dare she hope he was forgiving over her rash and masculine display with weapons? Turning her back to James as she adjusted her skirts, she sighed with relief. He laid a possessive hand upon the small of her back, ushering her out after her mother, and Cailin allowed the excitement over their union to bloom anew.
* * * * *
“’Tis good to see you back home, Master James,” Ranald offered once they were on the road out of Leith.
James nodded at both the guards trailing behind. “’Tis good to be home,” he said distractedly. After retrieving their mounts at the stable on High Street, James allowed the two women some distance on the road toward the MacDougal estate. Cailin’s fire ignited an intense curiosity and he needed to digest his thoughts. Seven years ago, he’d left to become a defense master at one of the best Fechtschulen, or fencing schools, in the Kingdom of Germany—leaving behind a promised bride with doe eyes, a freckled face and a lanky figure. He had returned to find a storming bundle of independence that had his mind swirling at the thought of her wielding those silver blades. He adjusted his suddenly tightening breeches. She was indeed accurate in her description—she was not the simple child he once knew.
And the surprise on her face reminded him he was not the same person she once knew. Guilt flushed from his throat and burned his cheeks. He scrubbed his hands over his face to hide any signs of his shame. He had been seventeen and Cailin nine years of age when he proposed their union to their fathers. And though time and maturity did change a person, what had transpired over the last seven years of his life was surely more than she would have expected. But she didn’t know. She couldn’t know. James never told her in their letters, finding it best to keep such morbid facts to himself. He would deal with his own demons and not burden his bride.
In spite of his past, he still believed neither of them had deviated from the core of their beings. Why she thought circumstances between them had altered so much as to dissolve their union he wasn’t sure…unless she’d found out what he had done. He sorely hoped not.
Oh, that he could go back and reclaim the innocence of when he first proposed the betrothal. Broderick MacDougal had raised a brow and crossed his arms over his massive chest, a stance that never failed to make James shrink in his presence. However, James had stuck out his
own chest and stood his ground.
“Well?” Broderick had prodded. “Tell me why you think I should let you wed my daughter?”
James was prepared. “I realize she is still very young, so I am obviously not proposing this betrothal with an immediate union in mind.”
“Of course not, James,” Broderick conceded. “My concern over your proposal is more about why you think the two of you are a smart match.”
Clasping his shaking hands behind his back, he cleared his throat. “In the four years I have known Cailin, I have not only been impressed with her quick wit and adventurous spirit, but she looks up to me with respect and honors my opinion, as do I of her. I think those are good qualities in a wife—trust, friendship and a passion for life.”
Broderick smirked. “That tells me why you think she would be a good match for you. I ask you to further explain why you are a good match for her.”
James stood not saying a word for a spell, so caught off guard by Broderick’s intense demeanor. In spite of his preparations, his mind seemed an empty cavern. Answer the question, infant! Broderick’s lips pursed, seeming to suppress a smile. James cleared his throat. “There is nothing I would not do for her, my lord, and I would be good to her. I offer her all I have to give, a safe home and children to love. I can assure you, I will do everything in my power to make her happy.”
MIDNIGHT CAPTIVE: Book 2 of the Bonded By Blood Vampire Chronicles Page 2