“Hello!”
“Hello, there, Riley. Ye’re a big lad. How old are ye? Eight? Nine?” Bryce said, winking at Andie.
Riley laughed, poofing his little chest out. “Nay, I’m six.”
“Such a big lad for only six,” Bryce said.
Gavin approached, then. “I’m Gavin Maitland,” he said, nodding.
Bryce nodded back. “Bryce Campbell,” he said.
Gavin asked Bryce to join them, and then asked the servants to bring ale and food for him. Bryce took a seat next to Andie, who, again, had Riley on her lap. They told Bryce what they’d decided. He agreed with the plan.
After the meeting, the group broke, returning to their own affairs. Bryce finished his meal and went upstairs to the room he would stay in to bathe. Riley also left, saying he needed to find something he had lost. All the men had dispersed to their daily activities, and Andie decided to take a walk to clear her head.
Andie was walking outside and looked at the sky. She was a hundred feet or so from the castle, when she heard a twig break behind her. Riley, she thought smiling, and turned around. It was Harold, and when she looked into his eyes, goose-pimples covered her skin.
“Come to apologize, have ye?” she asked.
“Nay, McBride,” he said, looking at her body. His leer made her sick.
“Then leave,” she said, and turned her back on him.
He rushed up behind her and grabbed her hair, pulling her head back.
“Let me go!” she growled through her clenched teeth.
“Nay. I wanna show ye just how big my dirk is, since ye think it small,” he taunted darkly.
“A mon who has to speak of the size of his dirk, doesna do so because ‘tis large.”
His response was to pull her head back further.
Suddenly, Andie stomped on his toes with all her strength. He stepped backward, in shock and in pain. She drew her sword from its sheath at her side and held it up to him.
“Fight like the mon ye claim to be but arena,” she said tauntingly. He drew his sword and rushed forward.
The two began sparring. She blocked his blows and he blocked hers. Her sword was smaller than his and not as heavy, but it functioned well for her. Her father had it made for her after many trials and errors. Finally, they had come up with a weight and length that would combat heavier and longer swords, while allowing Andie to wield it.
She saw an opening and jutted her sword forward. Harold’s sword fell to the ground and so did he. Andie stood above him, the point of her sword aimed at his throat.
“I’ll be damned,” Gavin said surprised. Bryce nodded in pride. Riley jumped up, clapping in glee.
They stood a fair distance away, watching the two. Riley had seen Harold following Andie, and so he had run to his father to tell him about it. Gavin had witnessed the whole thing from the moment Harold confronted her until the moment he fell. He had wanted to intrude but was held back by Bryce.
“Let her be. She can defend herself,” Bryce had said. Gavin had scoffed silently, but now he saw Andie in a different light.
She was tough.
“She was taught well by her father,” Bryce said, laughing at Gavin’s face.
“Doona sniff up my skirts again, Harold,” she said, looking down.
He actually smiled. “Nay, laird, I’ll nay.”
She looked at him another moment and left him there on the ground, lusting after her more now that he had witnessed her talent.
Gavin stalked towards Harold and hauled him up harshly. He forced him backward and slammed him against the castle wall, some hundred feet back. He held him off the floor, with a hand at his throat.
“I never want to see ye treating her, or any other woman, like that again. Maitlands doona attack women. Doona. Even. Look. At. Her. Is that clear?” he asked through clenched teeth.
Harold looked contrite. “Aye, laird.”
Gavin slammed him against the wall again before releasing him. Turning to leave, Gavin saw Andie sitting underneath a tree, leaning on it. He wanted to talk to her, but wouldn’t let himself. Instead, he went upstairs to speak to the only person who could give him clarity- Althor.
“Come in,” Althor said, knowing Gavin was outside. Gavin walked in, not having knocked.
“I know why ye come, young laird. Ye willna like my answers, though” Althor said.
“What?” Gavin asked. “What willna I like?”
“That she’s nay like the women ye’ve known, lad. She is above them, and it bothers ye that she doesna fit into the mold of the women ye hate.”
Althor laughed at the look on Gavin’s face.
“My clan believes ye to be a seer. ‘Tis a wonder at all why I allow ye to remain in this castle,” Gavin said bitterly.
“I told ye that ye wouldna like my answers. And ye allow me to stay here because my sire and grandsires afore me stayed here, under the rule of yer ancestors.”
“Yer just an old mon, Althor. All women are the same. They’re all the same. Sarah was no different, and neither is she,” Gavin said, indicating Andie with a jut of his chin, looking out through the window.
Hair of wheat and eyes of honey,
Defeat will come in stealth,
Blind ye will be, for she will be bonny.
Fool you she will, with her lust of title and wealth.
“Ye’re a fool if ye believe that,” Althor said, walking through his crowded room.
Ornate fabrics of different colors hung in the room. A large pot brewed a foul smelling liquid. He was a seer and one of the clan’s healers. Greida was the other seer. Several small labeled sachets were filled with herbs and lined the shelves of the room.
“Riley never takes to strangers, much less to women, after the incident with his mother.”
“Incident. ‘Twas nay an ‘incident’, Althor. ‘Twas nearly murder,” he snapped.
“Nay all women are like her.”
“All the women I’ve ever known were like her.”
“Yer mother wasna,” he said.
“I never knew my mother. She died having me, or did ye forget?”
“Nay, I didna. But she was a good woman, Gavin, and wouldna approve of ye so bitter towards women.”
“‘Tis nay important, Althor. I disturbed ye for naught,” Gavin said, striding out of the room angrily.
Althor steepled his fingers, smiling. Aye. He’d known the Laird wouldn’t like his answers.
Andie stayed outside, contemplating the changes her life had undergone in two short days. Restless, she now walked towards the castle.
“Gabriel,” she called out.
The large warrior stopped and looked at her, impressed that she remembered his name.
“What did I say now?” she asked, irritably.
“‘Tis just that ye remembered my name,” he responded.
She exhaled up again, causing her hair to move. “Why is that such a marvel here? Does no one remember anyone’s name?” He just smiled at her. She continued. “I know ye’re Gavin’s brother. Have ye seen him?”
“He’s upstairs, Andie.”
“I’m sure he’s practicing the many different poses he can make while frowning,” she mumbled.
“What?” he asked, a smirk visible on his lips.
“Nothing. Excuse me,” she said, walking inside the castle.
He watched her go inside and laughed. She was a spitfire.
Just what his brother needed.
Gavin was in a meeting with Shaun, his second in command, when he saw her walk in. Immediately, his body tightened up.
She was a beauty, though he loathed admitting it.
She waited patiently until he finished speaking with Shaun. Gavin dismissed him, and as Shaun walked by Andie, he nodded an acknowledgment to her, saying, “Laird McBride.”
She nodded back and said, “Good day, Shaun.”
Surprise lit his eyes. She rolled her eyes Heavenward and ran a hand through her hair, irritated.
“Just how long
does it take for yer clansmen to learn names?” she asked him.
“What?”
“Nevermind. Good day to ye,” she said and walked towards Gavin.
Gavin had the urge to laugh, but didn’t give into it. He nodded to her to sit down. She did and he saw a hint of weariness. The events of the last couple of days were catching up with her. She was far too young for this, he thought, and then immediately extinguished the protectiveness he felt towards her. Such a foreign feeling had no place in his life.
“Ye need to talk to me?”
She sighed.
“I canna wait to take my clan back from Alistair’s grasp, Gavin. I’ll wait a fortnight and no more. I canna allow him to do to my clan, what he did to my family,” she said, her voice strong. She felt so helpless, so powerless.
“It’s alright to mourn them, Andie,” he said, not knowing why he said something so unlike him. Was he actually trying to offer her comfort?
She shook her head, resolve coming into her eyes. “Nay, I’ll nay mourn them, Gavin. Too much depends on me now, for me to lose my senses.”
He studied her for a second and she turned her head to return his gaze. Her eyes were a warm honey, and he was beginning to get lost in them. He tried to snap himself out of it. The last time he got lost in a woman’s honeyed gaze, he’d nearly lost all that was precious to him.
“I saw ye today,” he said. “With Harold,” he added.
She snorted. “Harold. Mannerless, arrogant, and infantile,” she said. She narrowed her eyes, remembering, and asked, “Just what did ye see?”
He looked at her for a long moment, and laughed. Riley came in just then, and he ran over to Andie and climbed onto her lap.
“What are ye laughing at, Papa?” He asked, looking up innocently with a sweet smile on his face.
“Well, Andie and I were just discussing her, ah… words with Harold,” he said, smiling at the look of irritation she gave him.
Riley bounced on her lap, clapping in laughter. “Yes, Papa! That was so funny! I told ye she can wield a sword,” he said excitedly.
“Yes, she can,” he said, narrowing his eyes to study her bruised face. “Riley, why doona ye leave us for a while. Andie and I have things to discuss.”
Riley hung his head down, disappointed.
Andie grabbed his chin and made him look at her. Gavin watched, tensing. She’d better not hurt him, he thought. Gavin coiled tightly, ready to pounce.
“‘Tis nay for all that, Riley. I promise ye that we’ll go outside soon, like I promised ye before,” she said, twinkling his nose.
Riley smiled. “We’ll catch some fish from the loch?”
“Aye, if that’s what ye wish. But ye put on the bait,” she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
“Why?”
“Because that’s disgusting!” she said.
Riley giggled. “Ye’re such a girl, Andie!”
“Aye, that I am Riley,” she said, ruffling his hair.
“But with a lad’s name!” he said, giggling and jumped off her lap. He skipped out of the great room, leaving Andie to Gavin’s inquisitive stare.
“He really likes ye,” Gavin said reservedly.
She looked up at him, from where her eyes had locked on Riley’s retreating form. She smiled and Gavin suspected it was genuine. Andie, on the other hand, noted that he seemed almost displeased with that fact.
“He is a darling boy. So full of life, love, and happiness,” she said, smiling. “‘Tis the kind of boy I would want to have one day.”
A perfect performance, he thought. Perfect words.
“Ye doona look much older than him.”
She laughed and he found it irresistibly attractive. It was a light, melodious tune. Sheer music. She looked at him and pulled her hair back in a sensuous, innocent way, with her long, elegant fingers. “Yes, and ye’er so old, ye’er twice my age, Gavin.” She laughed, her eyes twinkling.
He studied her a long minute, and then he cracked a smile.
“It is rare, ye know?” she said, looking at him through veiled eyes. He found himself eager to hear another taunt or outrageous comment come out of that sensuous mouth.
“What is?”
“Yer smiling.”
“I doona smile,” he said, his smile falling. He suddenly turned serious.
“I can see that,” she said just as seriously.
He studied her again, his eyes roaming her face. “There is one thing that I canna understand, Andie,” he said, his eyes narrowing.
“Only one thing?” she muttered.
He asked her to repeat her comment.
“Nevermind. What is it ye canna understand?”
“If ye battled Harold so well today, why didna ye do the same with yer cousin?”
He saw her close-up and retreat within herself immediately. The lightness he had seen in her gaze was weighted down. She looked away, distancing herself.
“I couldna,” she sighed. “I couldna do anything. Couldna think, couldna breathe, couldna react. I had just said goodbye to my dying father.” She looked back at him and saw the doubt in his frigid glacier stare. “Why? Ye believe that I’m a traitor still?” she asked evenly. She was proud of the fact that her voice had not wavered in the least.
His silence was all the answer she needed.
“Excuse me,” she said getting up.
“Where are ye going?”
“Well, ‘tis nay any of yer concern, is it? I’m going to get Bryce and we’re leaving,” she said, pushing her chair in. She turned and began walking towards the door.
“Stop,” he commanded strongly.
She kept walking in pure defiance. He took long strides to her hurried short ones, and caught up to her. Gavin grabbed hold of her elbow and turned her around. Andie’s honeyed eyes were now a deep, smoldering amber. Her face was red.
“Let go of me, Maitland,” she said in a ferocious whisper.
“I want yer answer,” he returned, just as viciously.
“Ye’ll nay have it. Doubt all ye want, but Bryce and I are leaving,” she said, wrenching free of his grasp.
“Where are ye going?”
“That’s none of yer damned concern, Laird,” she said, dismissing him as she turned around to leave.
He grabbed her again. “I want an answer!”
“Ye’er nay getting one!”
He held her hands behind her back and this forced her neck to bend backwards to look in his eyes. She was taller than the average woman, but still nearly a foot shorter than him. She didn’t lack the curves that most women with her height did. He liked that.
Andie’s mouth was open as she breathed heavily. Shear outrage was obvious and she made no effort to hide it. No coyness, no pretense, just pure hot rage showed on her face and it ignited a fire within him so fierce, he could not help himself.
Gavin dipped his head and kissed her. She knew what he was about to do, but could not back up. His warm lips fastened on her plump ones and he began feasting on her mouth.
“Sweet Andie,” Gavin said, devouring her mouth. He moaned, and with that, her memories rushed forward like an unwanted blaze of fire. Her thoughts took her back to the secret passage, to Alistair. She immediately began to tremble violently. She couldn’t stop shaking. Tears came to her eyes, as she made a wounded sound.
Gavin pulled back, his worry evident on his face. “What’s the matter?”
She was almost in shock. Her eyes were unfocused and she froze up. He assumed her memories were assaulting her.
Sadly, he had his answer to the question he had asked. She hadn’t tried to stop Alistair, not only because she was held down, but because she became too terrified to do anything. Her fear had paralyzed her.
He released her and she grabbed her breast. Thinking that odd, he asked, “What’s wrong, Andie?”
“It throbs,” she said, her voice distant.
“Why?”
“He bit me.”
He looked at her and couldn’t say anothe
r word. He could only imagine what she went through. Her cousin was a savage, a beast, and he wanted to get his hands around his neck. He experienced no other emotion other than shear outrage that a man would treat a woman so, even if women were whores and traitors.
Gavin led her to a lounger. Andie had begun trembling violently. He gave her some water but she didn’t understand what to do. He brought it up to her lips and made her drink. The tears ran down her face freely now. He felt guilty. God, he hated feeling like this. He hated feeling anything at all.
“I’m sorry,” he offered, feeling awkward when his voice said those words. “Andie? It’s alright. Ye’er nay with Alistair, ye’er here with me.”
Her breathing grew calmer and she blinked, turning to look up at him. Her eyes were almost yellow from the shedding of her tears. He saw green flecks in them.
“Ye’er alright, Andie.”
Though her trembling had subsided considerably, her face did him in. She looked scared and vulnerable. He brought her within the circle of his arms. She rested her head against his massive, strong chest.
How long had it been since he had comforted a woman? He barely remembered how.
“Two years,” Althor said, coming into the room. He handed Gavin a goblet with liquid in it. “Make her drink this.”
Gavin gave a derisive snort, but helped Andie drink the solution.
“She has a pure heart, Laird. Doona doubt her any longer.”
Andie snapped out of her shock and found herself in Gavin’s arms. “What happened? Why do ye have yer arms around me? Let me go. I need to get Bryce and leave.”
“Nay Andie, I apologize. I doubted ye unnecessarily. Please stay,” he said, slowly and awkwardly.
She studied him closely, looking for any reason to doubt his sincerity. After seeing none, she nodded her head. Suddenly, she looked to her right and saw Althor.
“I’m Andie-”
“Laird McBride, yes I know. I am Althor,” he said.
Andie thought he was wearing very loud colors, which looked odd in such a grey, dingy place such at this castle.
“Aye, I agree. This castle is dingy and does need color,” he said, laughing.
Her eyes grew wide and Gavin sighed heavily.
“He’s the clan’s seer, or so he claims,” Gavin said wryly.
To Have and to Trust (Heart of a Highlander Collection Book 1) Page 5