Yet, however short the journey home, he still had many hours to ponder these last few days. And a single point of contention nagged at his conscience. Distracted with the safety of his family and rushing home, he had never followed up on Cordelia’s part in this puppet show controlled by God. What was her connection with Malloren Rune? And what was Malloren’s role other than assembling the prophecy? He grumbled at how she had manipulated the amulet into his possession. Malloren knew he would not take such a piece from a stranger. Passed between too many hands, the relic’s source would be unknown to him. Amice was the perfect messenger, for he did not even question the necklace’s origin since it came from her. “What other machinations have you sorceress?” he murmured under his breath. “Where do they end?”
MacDougal Castle loomed in the distance on the edge of the horizon and remained the single focus of his spirit as he crossed the rocky terrain. As he neared, the Gypsy camp came into view. It seemed serene with little activity, nestled beside the road at the base of the hill on which perched his home…though the smell of campfires seemed unusually strong. Pounding down the darkened path, past the surrounding forest and up the road to the fortress, Broderick finally slowed his pace as he crossed the bridge and approached the gate. He slammed his fist into the thick oak monstrosity. “I bid entrance into my home!” he bellowed.
“Lord MacDougal has returned!” a voice shouted from atop the high curtain wall. “Open the gate!”
Panting, Broderick waited for the long bolt to slide back and the gates to ease open on their massive hinges. With just enough breadth between the two doors, he dashed through and darted for the entrance. He’d barely pushed open the door and stepped into the front hall when Davina padded down the stairs. Her hair unbound and hanging to her waist, her thin night shift whispering around her like a spirit, Broderick almost couldn’t believe the vision before him. She picked up her hem and sprinted into his embrace, throwing her eager arms around him. Her body trembled as she sobbed against his neck. A mixture of fear, sadness and relief swarmed around them like a whirlwind.
“I know, Blossom,” he comforted. “I know Cailin was taken. I also know she is safe with James.”
She pulled back and her teary eyes, filled with confusion, searched his face. “But how? How did you—”
He covered her mouth with a hungry kiss and lifted her from the ground as he crushed her to his body. I am cursed, for I can never get enough of this woman and I know I shall surely perish without her. Only after the fever of their lips died to languorous caresses did he force himself to set her down. “We’ve much to discuss. Pray tell me exactly what’s transpired since I left. I only know what I just told you and that Angus was behind it. I know not the details.”
Davina pulled Broderick by his hand and up the stairs to their chamber, telling him of the fire at the betrothal celebration and how Cailin and Margeret were both captured. “Broderick…” She encouraged him to sit on the settee at the foot of their bed. “Alistair worked with a man named Jasper in the scheme. I was meant to go with Cailin. They had mistaken Maggie for me.”
He clenched his fists and stood. “Jasper! That was the man who accosted Cailin several days ago.”
“Cailin was…oh, the day she followed that urchin into the alley?”
“Aye.” Broderick paced the room. “Angus planned this at least a fortnight ago, mayhap even before that.”
Davina nodded. “Aye, Jasper answered to Angus.”
He continued circling, too agitated to stay seated. Even though Cailin was safe, the anxiety of the events needled his patience.
“Maggie returned home the following afternoon,” Davina continued. “James had found her on the road where Alistair and this Jasper left her to fend for herself. The Drummonds were kind enough to take her in and see her home, Rick.”
“Richard Drummond? Near Fawkirk?”
She nodded and handed him a slip of paper. “This is the note her captors left behind.”
Broderick’s heart sank at the name of his enemy’s childhood home. “Glen Morin.”
“Thankfully the Drummonds knew of it.” When Broderick frowned at such news, she explained about the ghost stories. “If it wasn’t for the Drummonds, James wouldn’t have known where to find Cailin.” Davina strolled to the writing desk at the other end of the room.
He cast a glare heavenward and cursed under his breath. These happenchance blessings only aggravated him more. “I am not finished with you yet,” he grumbled to God.
“Say again?” his wife said, approaching him with a parchment in hand.
“Nothing. I shall explain shortly.” He jerked his chin toward the paper. “What is that?”
“A message from James.” She handed him the note.
My Dearest Family to Be,
I send this message before me and as soon as I was able, to inform you that Cailin is safe and with me. She is as unharmed as can be under the circumstances, only minor abrasions. Nothing she cannot handle. As I write this, I wonder if there is anything your wondrous daughter cannot handle. I am humbled and so very proud I will soon call her my wife and I can call myself kin to you and yours.
As the journey was arduous for us both, the ordeal of her rescue taxing, I am confident you understand the need for us to rest. Cailin and I are housed at an inn regaining our strength.
Broderick scanned the rest of the contents, gripping the paper when he did not find what he sought. “He does not say where they are housed? Are they in separate rooms? Who is—?”
Davina cleared her throat. “My overprotective husband.”
He looked up from the parchment to the amused expression of his wife as she sat on the settee.
“I would venture to say we will not need a betrothal ceremony upon their return. Since they are promised, and it is quite obvious they have most likely—”
“Hush, woman!” Broderick tossed the message to his wife’s lap and paced anew.
“Where did you stop reading?” Her eyes searched the scrawlings while he glared at her.
“Does this not concern you at all?” he snapped as he waved his arms in frustration.
Dropping the paper back to her lap, she pursed her lips in disapproval. “Whether or not you are willing to grasp the notion that our daughter is no longer a child—”
Broderick pointed a rigid finger at her and ceased pacing, silencing her for only a moment.
She sighed. “The fact still remains that Cailin is now a woman.”
All the protests died on his lips. His breath left him in a defeated gust. Cailin is now a woman. When did that happen?
Davina rose and pulled him down for a tender press of her lips upon his own. “My sweet, sweet, loving husband and the true father of my flesh and blood.” She led him to the settee and eased him to sit upon the cushion once more. “I am rather surprised to discover I am prepared for this moment and you are not.” She caressed his cheeks with her warm palms. “She is James’s responsibility now. He successfully pursued and rescued her. We cannot look after her forever.” She paused and shrugged. “Well, you may be able to, but probably should not. We will just have to trust that we have chosen the right man to watch over her…and it seems we have.” She raised James’s message as her evidence.
Broderick nodded, yet still bewildered. “Does it not bother you that she, well…”
A sympathetic smile curled her mouth and creased her brow. “Cailin is alive and safe with James. Whether or not her maidenhead is intact when she returns is the least of my concerns. It matters not as she surrendered her virtue to the man she is to marry.”
Broderick agreed. “Well, since you term it in such a way.” He took up the letter and scanned the rest of the contents. “I will make arrangements on the morrow to recover Alistair’s body.” The rest of the missive informed them James and Cailin should return home later in the afternoon the following day. Rising, he set the parchment aside and kissed Davina’s knuckles. “My journey was successful. We have an added tool that
will allow us to protect this family, at last, from Angus Campbell and any other evil entity who might do us harm. It is time I shared with you what I have learned. We have a few more hours before dawn and I wish to impart this information to you now, to be sure you are able to use this tool as soon as possible. Are you able to endure the rest of the night?”
She stepped into his embrace and seared his lips with a kiss, causing Broderick’s shaft to harden. “As long as we have enough time for you to make love to me before you slumber for the day, then aye. I will endure.”
Broderick glanced at the window and judged the hours ahead. Sweeping Davina into his arms, he strode to the bed, wisped her night shift from her curvy figure and hastily stripped off his clothes. “Lessons will wait. I cannot bide another moment to be with you.”
He bent to capture her mouth with his, cupped her bottom in his hands and lifted her onto his rigid cock to bury himself in her warmth.
* * * * *
Cailin snuggled into the arms of her husband while they sat astride their mount, traveling back to Edinburgh.
James groaned. “Keep that up, woman, and I shall have to stop and take you in the bushes.”
She chuckled and wiggled her backside in response. James grabbed her hips and ground his erection against her bottom, nibbling at her shoulder. Laughter poured from her mouth and she hugged his arms about her waist. “Aye, I will behave!”
“Nay, never behave. I like you just the way you are.” He kissed the crown of her head and patted her thigh. “We are very close now.”
Cailin’s eyes scanned the darkened landscape. They had traveled the day away from the inn and, an hour or so into sunset, they were approaching Edinburgh. Just the path from the city to their castle and they would home. “Though I would have enjoyed a more leisurely ride with you for such a great distance, I am grateful for this time to learn about your adventures at feck…feckt…”
“Fechtschulen…fencing school’ in the German language.”
“Aye, that.” She stroked the back of his hand with her palm. “I wouldn’t have imagined all the things you experienced.” Her heart tightened over her own experience at killing a man. “All the death. You have a strong spirit to withstand the ordeal of taking another’s life.”
“Mouse.” He shifted in the saddle until his eyes became level with hers. “Warring and battle are the ways of men. You shouldn’t have had to endure what you did, being a woman. And yet you are stronger than any woman I know. Allow me the honor of defending you, even though I know you are capable of taking care of yourself.”
The lump in Cailin’s throat prevented her from speaking, so she kissed James with the love and appreciation she could not say. “I’m proud to call you my defender, but know I will always have your back, should the need arise.”
He chuckled and hugged her close. “I pity the dolt who would dare cross blades with you!”
Pride swelled in her breast. James truly did love her for everything she was, blades and all. They were, at first, friends and the years they spent together in childhood provided her heart a stable foundation. He kissed her shoulder and teased her skin with his tongue, setting her belly fluttering. May that feeling never disappear, she prayed.
They sauntered around the bend and, through a break in the trees, MacDougal Castle hovered on the horizon—torches blazing on the curtain wall, the moonlight casting silvery highlights against the slate roofs. James kicked their mount into a run and galloped up the road to the front gate, which opened upon their arrival. Broderick rushed out to the stables to meet them and swept Cailin into a crushing embrace, burying his face in her hair.
“God’s blood, child!” His muffled voice reverberated against her neck. “’Tis good to have you home.” He knelt, Cailin sitting on his knee as he continued to hold and rock her in his arms.
Cailin had thought she released the tension of the journey. She thought she’d expelled enough of the grief and sorrow over the last few days already in the crying and talking she did with James on the journey home. Now, in her father’s arms and his love creating a cocoon of safety in his embrace, new tears poured from her and she clung to his neck. After long, racking sobs left her sniffling and breathing deep, a hand stroked her hair. She turned to find her mother waiting with tear-filled eyes and open arms. She rushed to be enveloped in Davina’s embrace and more tears fell down her already wet cheeks.
“I owe you more than I will ever be able to repay you,” Broderick said.
Cailin turned as James and her father grasped each other by the forearms and yanked into a manly hug, slapping backs.
“I would have battled the mightiest dragon for her, my lord.” James cast adoring eyes her way and a rush of heat flared up her neck and through her cheeks.
“Come, let us get inside beside a warm fire and put some food in your bellies.” Broderick wrapped his arms around both James and Cailin, ushering them up to the front entrance. The small procession of well-wishers and members of the household herded them down the halls, peeling off and going their separate ways as Cailin, her parents, Maggie and James continued toward the kitchen. Davina and Maggie bustled about to gather the supper already prepared. Cailin’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the luscious aroma of the beef roast and baked bread surrounded her. Broderick poured wine for the five of them, and James and Cailin sat at the trestle table to dig into the food on the trenchers placed before them.
“Broderick,” James began between bites. “I will need some assistance in reclaiming my father.”
“Aye, son. I am sorry to hear of your loss as well as know how your father was involved.”
James nodded in response. “As am I. I cannot help but feel a measure of responsibility for his—”
“Nay!” Broderick slammed his fist onto the table, silencing everyone. “I apologize, but never take the burden that is mine onto your shoulders. None of this would have happened if not for Angus, and I have brought him into the lives of all you good people.”
Her mother laid a comforting hand upon Broderick’s arm. “’Tis well you know how I feel about that position you take. I, for one, am grateful for your presence in my life and regret nothing.”
Everyone at the table agreed and Cailin also reached her hand out to touch her father. “’Tis Angus that chooses to draw us into his feud with you… not you, Da. We have never blamed you.”
“What happened?” Broderick turned his eyes on James. “Were you able to apprehend her before she reached Angus?”
James shook his head. “Nay, sir. I was not.” Regret laced his words.
“Da.” James had done his best to rescue her from Angus and she did not want her father doubting his heart in the matter. She rose and padded to Broderick’s side of the table, removed the repaired leather cord with the amulet from around her neck and handed it to Davina. “The quickest way to know all that happened would be to feed from me.” Cailin offered her wrist.
Broderick cradled her wrist in his fingers, darted his eyes around the table, then back to Cailin. She nodded. Broderick opened his mouth and pressed his lips to her tender skin.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” James asked with a tremble of apprehension in his voice.
Cailin’s eyes locked to her now-husband and widened, realizing what he implied. “Nay, wait!”
Too late to respond, Broderick’s fangs pierced Cailin’s flesh. Her knees weakened and she slumped to sit on the bench beside her father. Only a moment later, he pulled back from the bite, licking her blood from his lips. When Cailin gained her composure, she gazed upon her father’s saucer-like eyes and burning red face. The heat rushed to Cailin’s cheeks and mortification consumed her.
“Well.” Broderick cleared his throat. “’Tis right you are, Davina. They are consummated.” He glared at James and Cailin in turn.
Davina covered her mouth, yet stifled laughter spilled through her fingers. Through her chortles she said, “I must say, Broderick, I do believe th
is is the first time I have ever seen you blush!”
The table erupted into laughter…save for Broderick.
“Oh, Da!” Cailin’s hands covered her heated cheeks. “I’m truly sorry—”
“Hush, child!” After doing a double-take, he slumped. “I suppose I can no longer refer to you as child, can I?” He glowered at James.
Cailin kissed her father’s cheek and returned to her seat. “I’m so sorry, James. I forgot about that other part of our trip.”
“Forgot? Surely ’twas more memorable than that!”
More laughter and James silenced Cailin’s protests with a kiss.
However, Broderick continued to scowl at James. “Those are images I will forever need to cleanse from my mind! Impatient buck! If you had but waited, you—”
“Da!” Cailin stood and punched her fists into her hips. “You act as if I was a reluctant participant!”
Her father frowned and the laughter flared once more before gradually dying around the table.
Recovering from the shock of James and Cailin’s coupling—the images still swirling around in his head, much to his dismay—Broderick eventually sifted through the information he gleaned from Cailin’s blood. A heaviness pulled upon his heart. “Cailin, I am sorry for the turmoil your spirit endured while you listened to Angus’s lies.”
The table fell silent and he rose to pace about the room, uncomfortable with the doubts Cailin had harbored for so many years. He could not blame her and was relieved they did not take any real root in her mind, but he needed to offer an explanation. “You should not have heard as much from Angus. I should have been more forthcoming about my history with him.”
MIDNIGHT CAPTIVE: Book 2 of the Bonded By Blood Vampire Chronicles Page 20