She took off at a slow walk to the stables, enjoying the freedom that Leith’s trousers gave her legs. She decided she would wear them more often. Her breasts were comfortably snuggled within the folds of his large shirt, and she could breathe much better.
The community dog walked in step with her to the stables. Even he seemed happy to be outside minus the freezing ground on his paws.
“My lady,” greeted the toothy young stable boy.
Returning his wide toothed grin, she replied, “Good morning, Nicky. How are the horses today?”
He shrugged, his boney shoulder moving slightly under his too large shirt. “Same as always, I s’pose. The laird made sure we have enough oats to see them through till the spring.”
Picking up a large wooden brush, she began stroking the main of the dark mare she enjoyed riding before her pregnancy. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a carrot she had smuggled from the kitchen.
Nicky gave a slight gasp, and Raine held her finger up to her lips. “This is our secret, Nicky. Cook will have both of our hides if she knew. Promise?”
“Ye sure are brave, m’lady,” he said with a sigh. “I promise.”
She smiled and handed him a small cookie which he was quick to pop into his mouth and chew with one bite. “Good,” she answered, popping one into her mouth.
As the two stood there chewing their smuggled snacks, Nicky cocked his head slightly and looked past Raine’s shoulder to the stable entrance. Raine was licking her fingers when she noticed how still he was.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, following his gaze. They were alone; the only sound the occasional stomping of a hoof from one of the stalls.
He had yet to blink, his gaze was so intent on the doorway. “Do ye hear that, m’lady?”
She tilted her head and listened. “No,” she replied with a shrug. “That cookie has addled your brain, Nicky.”
She continued to brush the mare’s mane, while Nicky brushed her tail. A few moments later, both stopped and looked towards the door.
Hoofbeats. That meant horses. Horses meant riders. Could it be a messenger?
Throwing her brush to the ground, she raced Nicky out of the stables and towards the courtyard. They both stopped and tried to catch their breath. Nicky motioned for her to follow him up the steps to look over the wall, but she declined.
Her hand on her belly, she told him, still breathing hard, “You go up and tell me who it is.”
His skinny legs vaulted forward and nearly catapulted him to the top of the stairs. When he didn’t say anything, she called up to him, “Well? Who is it?”
The sentries on guard in the watch tower yelled “Open the gate!”
A great groan and creaking of wood resounded through the silence of the courtyard. She moved to the side as a line of riders made their way in.
They were a tired, sorry lot. Men in battle gear, covered in dirt, snow, and what looked like the faded smudges of blood on them and their horses. One rider removed his helmet and shook his tangled red hair free.
Robbie.
She made her way to him as fast as she could. “Robbie! Robbie!”
He slid from his horse and stood for a moment stretching his legs. He tossed her the reins of his horse and said, “Feed him well, lad. He has earned every oat.”
She grabbed his arm and shoved the reins back into his hands. “Robbie! It’s me. Raine. Where is Leith?”
Robbie did a double take and took a step back. “What on God’s green earth are ye wearin’ lass? Bloody hell, haven’t ye learned anything yet?”
His gaze went to her rounded stomach and he remarked, “Did ye swallow Cook?”
She flashed angry eyes at him, but he could hear the anxiety in her voice. “Is Leith with you?”
Her eyes scanned the men still dismounting but did not see him. She swallowed nervously. “Please tell me that he came back with you, Robbie.”
He peeled her fingers off of his wrist and patted her hand. “He is fine, lass. He is at the end of the line, escorting the dead and wounded.”
She breathed a sigh of relief and felt her knees give way slightly. Robbie caught her as she leaned into him. He grunted and murmured, “Ye might want to change ye’re clothes, lass.”
She never heard him. She regained her legs and took off down the line of men looking for her husband. At the end of the line of road weary men she found him. He was walking beside the men, dead or alive she couldn’t tell yet, who were being carried on pallets of some sort.
As they neared her, he glanced her way and gave her the reins of his horse saying tiredly, “Take him to the stables, lad, and brush him down. Give him an extra helping of oats as well.”
He continued walking past her when she called, “Leith!”
He turned, frowning. A lad, a fat lad at that, with very familiar feminine voice.
She waddled towards him as fast as she could and threw her arms around his neck. The men around him stared, wondering who this strange lad was that took such familiar ground with their laird.
She pulled back and stared at him. He reached up and pulled off her woolen cap, revealing her beautiful face to him. His fingers traced her cheek. His thumb outlined the shaped of her lips.
“Och, lass,” he whispered, “I’ve dreamed of seeing ye’re face again.”
She tiptoed and pushed her lips against his. He could feel her cold tears making their way down her cheeks. He tried to wrap his arms around her but couldn’t seem to find her waist.
“Lass…ye’re so round,” he proclaimed in wonder, looking at her belly. “And these clothes are so familiar.”
She tugged open the overcoat and revealed her large abdomen. “I’m only as round as they are big,” she retorted.
She watched the confusion turn to wonderment on his face which then turned to a relieved happiness tinged by slight sadness. “They?” he repeated.
Nodding, she leaned into him.
He fell to his weary knees and wrapped his arms around her thick midsection. “Twins?” She nodded, running her fingers through his tangled hair.
Leith swallowed the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry to have left ye, Raine, and for so long. It seems that ye have done a fine job of taking care of the babes.” He tried to cup her stomach but even his large hands had trouble doing so.
Flashing the smile she had come to adore, he said smoothly, “When I get rested, ye shall have to show ye’re gratitude for making two of them at one time.”
She gave a relieved laugh, and kissed him. “I’m glad you’re home.”
“I’m glad to be home, lass.”
They kissed and held each other until Robbie interrupted.
“Do ye two lovebird mind if we bring in the wounded?”
Raine looked over at the bodies that were still making their way past them.
“There are so many.”
One young warrior who didn’t look like he was old enough to shave hobbled past them, eyeing Raine’s bulging stomach. “Congratulations, m’lady.”
Raine smiled and took his arm to help him into the keep. She wondered that even when wounded and tired from battle, these people could take the time to wish her well. Leith followed her, helping another wounded man.
Once inside the keep, Raine had to refrain from gasping. The great hall looked like something out a civil war movie scene. Warriors of all ages and sizes were strewn about wherever they could fit. Bloody rags were scattered around the floor, having fallen off various body parts as they moved into the room.
To Leith’s pleasure, Raine took charge and began issuing orders to the servants for hot water, clean rags, blankets, food, and water. He couldn’t help but smile. She had become the mistress of his castle. Even if she didn’t know it.
Many hours later when the men were cared for and put to bed for the night, Raine plopped down in the large, overstuffed chair in front of the fire. She pulled the hem of her oversized trews up to her knees and clunked her feet up on the stool with a grunt.
Leith came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders.
“Ye did too much this eve, lass.”
“There was much to be done.”
“The men appreciate your care. They are glad to be home.”
Her gaze was heavy on him. The lines around his eyes making him look tired and older than his years. The lines around his mouth making him look hardened. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, but she couldn’t tell what were whiskers and what was dirt and blood.
“Did you lose many?”
The men who could have taken their leave and headed to their homes and families. The dead were taken to the outskirts of the village for burial when the ground thawed in early spring.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Too many. Much too many.”
“What of your uncle?”
His tired gaze watching the flames leap became like steel. “My uncle. My uncle was not expecting to see the Queen’s men assisting his nephew in destroying him. She did not send many, a few hundred only, but they flew her colors high. He was a clever man, my uncle, and knew that the Queen was against him.”
“Was?”
“I did not kill him, if that is what ye are wondering. At the end, when the men were storming the gate and finally breaking through, he fled to the dungeon and locked himself in. I was the one who found him there, squatting in the corner like a cowering beast.”
He shook his head at the memory. He rubbed his forehead with his hand, trying to wipe away the scene that had burned itself behind his eyes.
“He told me he would rather die than to be shamed by his own family. He said I had betrayed him and that he was innocent of all charges against him. He would not give me the key to the cell. He killed himself with a knife from his pocket.”
Raine inhaled sharply. “Oh, Leith. I’m so sorry.”
His gaze never wavered from the orange flames. “He is gone now. It is over.”
He stood up and took both of her hands, pulling her upwards awkwardly. They made their way quietly up the stairs towards the master bedroom.
She took his hand. “I’m sorry for your uncle. But I’m glad that I don’t have to walk this Keep by myself any longer.”
A bath was waiting for him by the fire in the large room when they entered. Lady MacGregor ushered the servants out of the room when the last bucket of hot water had been poured in the large wooden tub.
“I thought that the great laird of Hell’s Gate might want a bath after the battle that has been fought.”
“Mother, ye do too much for me. Thank ye. Now off to bed with you.”
He kissed her cheek. She met his gaze.
“He was not a good man. You did what you had to for your people.”
“I know, Mother. Battle is difficult enough without it being against one’s own blood.”
“What is important is that you won the war, and with the Queen’s help no less, and now you are home with your family, where you should be. Now you can help raise your children.” She smiled knowingly, patted his cheek lightly and left the room.
Raine helped remove Leith’s armor, taking care of his stiff muscles, bruises and other small wounds.
When she ran her fingers lightly over a large red welt on his arm, he smiled at her and said cockily, “Sword.”
She touched a smaller red marked that ran down the length of his arm. “Knife,” he told her.
When she helped remove his trousers, her hand rested on the small of his back at a nasty purple monstrosity. Over his shoulder he answered her before she asked, “Horse.”
She shook her head, helped remove the remnants of his bloody and dirty clothing, and stood still as he balanced himself against her as he gingerly stepped into the wooden tub.
He sank back and closed his eyes. “I’m too old for this bloody business.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Thank ye for agreeing that I’m an old mon, lass. It does measures for my confidence.”
“Maybe next time you’ll send the men and stay home with me.”
“I hope to God there is no next time.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck as she nestled behind him. “Me, too.”
After a few moments of enjoyable silence, the two of them enjoying the physical nearness of the other, he said in a pained voice, “Ye understand that I had to go, don’t ye lass? That I had to do what I did?”
She kissed his neck. “Yes.”
“Do ye think less of me for it? For the killing that I had to do?”
He felt her shake her head, “No.”
She rested her chin on his shoulder. “I’ve never been involved in a war. I’ve only read about them in our history books. I don’t know if I’ll ever truly get used to the way things are here. But I love you. And I love this castle, and the people in it. And I love your children. And I don’t want to leave.”
He wiggled his toes under the water. “That’s a lot of love, lass. Ye’re not going to smother me and the people with it, are ye?”
She straightened behind him, and he flinched, readying himself for the sound smack he was sure she would deliver upon him. But there was no retribution from her. When he peeked out of one eye, he found her smiling, sitting on her knees.
“You have enough bruises and scars. I don’t want to add to them.”
“Och, ye’re not losing ye’re spunk now, are ye?” he taunted her.
She rose slowly and sauntered over to the bed, laying down on it as seductively as her roundness would allow. “Nope.”
His gaze had already heated up as he watched her. His body ached with wounds and stiffness, but his nether regions were beginning to feel a different ache. He inhaled deeply, smiling lazily. He was definitely home.
She had wondered about how the changes in her body would affect his attraction to her. Her fears were quenched when she saw the heat in his eyes as he stared at her from across the room. She smiled.
He rose from the tub, forfeiting the nearby towel, and strode over to his wonderful, beautiful wife who was soon to be as naked as he was.
Her smile was slow, sexy, as she watched him. She rose up on her knees and met him. He noticed her skills had improved with undoing her laces as she made quick work of them and pushed her dress down to her waist.
He groaned at the sight of her breasts, so much fuller than he remembered, larger, begging him to hold them. Her back arched, her hair fell away, and her eyes closed.
He was home. This was his wife. There was no place he’d rather be.
When they lay sprawled in the bed a little while later, both sated in their lust, they were almost in the clutches of sleep, when Raine’s stomach began to move and take on strange shapes.
Leith leaned up on his elbow to watch in fascination. “What on earth is going on in there?” This certainly did not look natural. Her belly was supposed to be round, not contorted as it was now.
Laughing, she turned onto her back and told him, “They like to wake up just before dawn. They are very active little buggers.”
Leith was in too much awe to laugh. He placed his hand reverently on one of the mounds that had appeared, only to jump backwards when the mound disappeared and then forcibly kicked his hand.
“Is that supposed to happen? Does it not pain you to bear that?” he asked incredulously.
She shrugged nonchalantly. “No, it doesn’t hurt. It’s slightly uncomfortable sometimes, and very annoying when I have to get up at dawn every day, but I enjoy watching.”
Leith smoothed his hand over her belly and leaned down to kiss it. His mouth was met with a strong kick.
Raine laughed at the startled look on her husband’s face. “Don’t worry. They like you.”
Leith looked skeptically from her belly to laughing eyes. Then he smiled proudly. “Of course they do. They are MacGregors!”
Chapter 27
The next morning they woke late and dressed unhurriedly, stopping a couple of times to return to bed and enjoy each other again. When they finally made th
eir way to the great hall, most of the wounded had been moved or returned to their homes. Mac was there, a priest turned doctor, helping to heal the bodies as well as the souls for those who would and would not survive.
Later that afternoon, when they all sat down for a late meal, Mac told Leith, “I’m glad you’re home, son. It was a long battle.”
Leith fingered his cup. “Thank ye, Mac. It was a long battle. And I’m glad to be home.” He looked at Raine who was heartily refilling her plate of chicken, potatoes, vegetables, and a little bit of everything else on the table.
“She eats like a horse,” Mac whispered conspiratorially. “She never stops, either.”
Leith turned his head from Raine and tried to stifle his laughter.
“I heard that,” she said with her mouth full.
The fire place cackled and spit, filling the room with heat and casting a glow on the wall. The wounded were sleeping soundly thanks to Mac’s and the midwife’s administration of a sleeping potion to them. The dogs sprawled lazily in the corners or as close to the fire as they could without catching their tails on fire. The men all wore smiled on their faces as they talked and laughed with their wives, all happy to be reunited. Leith smiled. He had missed this.
When the table was cleared, they remained, none of them wishing to spoil the jovial mood that had descended and remained in the great hall.
Mac reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out a book. It looked like it was going to disintegrate into dust any second. He handed it to Leith.
“What’s this?”
“It’s the future of Hell’s Gate.”
Leith pushed the book back to him. “No more talk of ye’re stars and planets and destiny, Mac.”
“This is a different book than the first one I showed you. I knew there was another book with more information, I just couldn’t find it! This is the one that ye’re mother was speaking of.”
Leith and Raine exchanged blank looks. Raine continued to eat her dessert and loudly licked her spoon. “What does that mean?”
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