by Terry Spear
“Is…is that one of the men who tried to kill you before?” She looked up to see Quinn crouching down next to her before he grabbed her up in his arms and carried her a few feet away from the dead man. She hadn’t even heard Quinn moving toward her, she’d been so shocked when the man fell dead to the ground.
Wolf was smelling the man.
She was shaking so badly, Quinn tightened his hold on her and groaned.
“I’m so sorry.” She wrapped her arms around him, unable to quit shaking.
“Nay, lass, dinna be.”
She didn’t want him to let her go, though she knew she had to leave. “I…I must go.”
“I will bury him as soon as you are gone.”
“That is the last of them?”
“Aye. Unless the other three, who are still in the hands of your kin, are still alive.” Quinn set her on her feet.
She wrapped her arms around Quinn and kissed him again. “Thank you, for saving my life. He would have killed me.”
He kissed her warmly back. Like a man who wanted much more, and she knew she shouldn’t, but every bit of her ached for him.
“You must go, now, lass. I’ll take care of him.”
“Aye.”
But he kissed her again in the same heartwarming, and then lust-filled, way and she wished this was the man of her dreams, not someone her kin would want to string up. She quickly said her goodbyes again, told Wolf to stay with Quinn, and hurried off, her whole body shaky from the near-death encounter. She wished they could just leave this man’s body on the beach for her men to find, but how would they explain the bloody knife wound to his head?
After Quinn weighted the brigand’s body down with stones, he dumped him in a bog, hoping no one would come across him, ever. He hoped Avelina felt better soon, hating that the man had accosted her like he had. He sheathed the dead man’s sword at his belt.
Quinn still had it in mind to help Judith out, and said to the wolf, “Wolf, take me to see Judith.”
The wolf just looked at him.
“Where is Judith?” He suspected the wolf had been with Avelina when she went to see Judith and would know the way. If he understood the command to take him somewhere and connected his command with Judith’s location, Wolf could take him there.
The wolf looked back in the direction that Avelina had gone. Quinn bundled everything together, then said to Wolf again, “Take me to Judith’s croft.”
He hoped this wasn’t a mistake, but Avelina had promised Judith he’d help her with some repairs, and that would give him something to do while he waited for her to return for him. He wasn’t good with waiting to do something, but he wasn’t sure the wolf would take him where he needed to go.
He loped off and Quinn tried to keep him in sight, but the wolf soon disappeared. Not wanting to call out to him in the event anyone in the area might hear, Quinn tried to follow the narrow path cutting through the gorse, and hoped he was going the right way.
It seemed to take him forever, though he was attempting to move as quickly as he could, but every step and breath he took, the pain shot through every injured part of him. He finally saw a curl of smoke and prayed it was coming from Judith’s croft.
He saw an older woman, her gray hair braided down her back, fetching water from the river. He didn’t want to scare her, but there was no way to alert her that he was there without alarming her. Wolf was nowhere to be seen, so he worried this woman wasn’t the right one.
Then he saw Wolf poke his head out of the woman’s croft, and Quinn smiled a little. Wolf hurried out of the croft to greet him, and the woman turned to see where he was going. Just like Quinn was afraid would happen, she gave a little, startled squeak.
“Avelina sent me, if you are Judith, and Wolf didna lead me astray. Here, let me fetch the water for you.”
“You are injured! Avelina told me she was taking you away from here, not bringing you here.”
“I came to help you fix what needs”—he stared at the byre in shambles—“fixing.”
“Och.” She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “You were to come here to heal, but she says you may be in worse trouble than before.”
Quinn hurried to reach the woman and take the bucket from her, then with much effort, he waded into the water and crouched down to fill it.
Even though she was shaking her head, frowning at him, he saw a glimmer of a smile on her lips. He wished he could stay and help her for a time while he mended. But he feared it wouldn’t be safe for either of them.
He carried the bucket of water into the croft.
“She told me you planned to steal Fenella away.” Judith tsked.
“Because she wanted to be taken to my brother, so my brother said.”
“Your brother isna worthy of your loyalty.”
“Aye.” After this, Quinn wouldn’t return to his clan. He hoped Malcolm MacNeill would allow him to join his men. Somehow, he had to make it back to the mainland. Still, if he lived through this final treachery, he would have loved to prove to his brother that he’d failed in another attempt to have him murdered.
“Have you eaten?”
“I have, thank you.” Quinn left the croft and began moving stones to create a more secure byre.
She watched him for a moment and sighed heavily. “This wasna our intent. You should rest. You’ll have to fend for yourself when you reach the island. You need your strength. I will make do until the men return from battle.”
“I will help to get it started. It will give your animals some protection from future storms until then.”
She cooked oats for him anyway, and when he had made some progress, she gave him the bowl. “Now, sit, and rest. Avelina will be fair sore with me when she learns what you have done.”
Quinn thanked her and began to eat the oats.
“You were to meet her at the river. Rather than cut back through to the abandoned croft, you can take a path in that direction and be closer.” Judith motioned in the direction he would need to go.
“I dinna believe she would have had time to make all her preparations, borrow her coracle, and make it this far. I’ll continue to work for a while longer.”
“You will rest.”
After he finished the oats and washed the bowl, he returned to work on the byre. She left the croft, shaking her head, and took hold of his uninjured arm and dragged him back into the croft. She was a wiry, older woman, but she had a lot of strength too. “I’ve made a pallet for you by the fire, and your plaid is nearly dry. Lie down. The work will get done, but I dinna want to see how angry Avelina will be if she returns to find you worse off than before.”
She reminded him of his great aunt, and he appreciated her kindness. With a groan, he settled onto the pallet by the fire and thought about Avelina, worried about her, concerned she’d be caught before she could make any headway, and would be in the worst sort of trouble.
Avelina hurried back to the keep as quickly as she could, excited about helping the stranger, and terrified that her own people would be angry with her over her deceitfulness. When she reached the outer bailey, everyone was going about their chores—some feeding the horses and mucking out the stable, a blacksmith sharpening swords, a woman retrieving grain from the granary, another collecting eggs from the hens in the hutch, another milking cows—and Avelina wondered where the prisoners were and if they were still alive.
She couldn’t think about that now and moved quickly through the outer bailey to the inner one, past the well where a couple of women were gathering water. She greeted them in passing, not stopping, hurried into the keep, and up the stairs to her chamber. Fenella must have been watching her out of one of the windows because she quickly joined her at her chamber.
“What news?” Fenella asked.
“I need to gather what things I can and borrow a coracle and take him to one of the uninhabited islands.”
“You would never make it back in time for supper.” Fenella frowned. “Would he even be able to survive
? Not only is he injured, but there’s no shelter there.” She shook her head. “How do you think you’re going to borrow one of the coracles without getting caught?”
“I will do this. I have to.” Avelina was hurrying to wrap her bedroll she used for traveling.
“He’ll need food.”
“Aye. A fishing net, mayhap. He’ll have to fend for himself. I’m leaving Wolf with him.”
“Willna everyone miss Wolf?”
“He goes off on his own sometimes for days. Mayhap in a few days, I can check on Quinn and return with Wolf.”
Fenella folded her arms. “You are sure you can navigate all the way there and back again?”
“Aye.” Avelina would have to, if she was going to try and save Quinn.
“I dinna know. That’s an awfully long way. Did you tell Judith that he willna be staying with her?”
“Aye. I will have to return to her place on the morrow to give her more food. I took some of hers to give to Quinn.”
“I’ve got more.” Fenella rushed to leave Avelina’s chamber.
Avelina was glad her cousin was willing to aid her, despite that Quinn had planned to steal her away. When Avelina was done gathering what she thought he could use—her bedroll, a thread and needle, her spare plaid, and a bowl—she met Fenella, who also had a bundle, in the stairwell.
“I’ll help you carry this through the keep. We’ll have to go the back way. Did…he see any ghosts?” Fenella asked.
“Nay.” Avelina had been so worried when she’d reached the abandoned croft to speak with Quinn, and he and Wolf had been nowhere in sight. She’d been afraid her men had caught Quinn and hauled him off, and she’d missed seeing them. She also had worried that Quinn had left of his own accord, anxious that someone might find him. When she asked Wolf where Quinn was, he had led her straight to the loch and to a very naked Quinn.
She hadn’t expected to see him dripping wet and all his manly parts exposed. Again.
He was beautiful. Despite his wounds, he couldn’t have been any brawer than he was. She’d never seen such a beautiful man in her life.
When he’d seen her gawking at him, she’d felt her face flame with heat. Aye, she’d seen his staff before—several times—when he was injured on the beach and trying to make it to higher ground, but he’d been unconscious or too busy trying to reach safety. It wasn’t the same when the man knew she had seen him in all his glorious skin.
Even now, she felt her face flush with mortification.
And then there was the kiss. She loved how gentle he was with kissing her, how she had excited that part of him that even in pain showed how intrigued he was with her. She reminded herself that her mother had said that any man who touched a woman would become so aroused, and to see it for what it was—not an act of undying love for the lass, but pure and simple, animalistic lust.
“You dinna need to go with me all the way,” Avelina warned her cousin. She didn’t want her to get into trouble like she knew she would be if she got caught.
They left the keep and Avelina directed her cousin toward the postern gate concealed in the castle curtain wall, which allowed them to come and go unnoticed.
“Nay. You will need me to help move the coracle into the water, and I’ll assist you in loading everything into it. Are you sure he is worth saving? You will be risking your life once again.”
“Aye. We must hurry.”
Fenella sighed. “Whose coracle will we be borrowing?”
“Lendon’s. He’s off to battle and willna be home for who knows how long. No one will be using his coracle, and no one should miss it. For now. If no one sees me paddling in it. Though I have borrowed it before to fish for Wolf when Lendon was away because he said I could. In this rough water, I’m sure no one would want me out fishing.”
They went out through the postern gate and entered the tunnel that led away from the castle. A few of the women had greeted them as they went about their chores, but to them, Fenella and Avelina appeared to be doing work too, so they didn’t seem to draw undue attention.
They made their way to one of the crofts closest to the river that led to the sea. Fenella glanced at the waves crashing on the beach. “The waves are still higher from the storm.”
“We will make it.” Avelina was determined to see this through. They set their bundles down and pulled the coracle out of Lendon’s byre where he stored his boat and fishing nets.
Fenella studied the bull-skin covered craft. “Too bad you couldna just let Quinn borrow it himself, and then he could use it for fishing too.”
“I would have to borrow another to search for him later, to ensure he was getting enough to eat.”
“You just want to go with him.” Fenella said the words in a jesting way, but she was studying Avelina to see her reaction.
“He is very braw,” Avelina said, not about to make up some tale about how she didn’t care what happened to him, because it was too late to pretend such a thing.
Fenella’s eyes widened. “What happened between the two of you? Even now, your cheeks are flaming red.”
“Fenella, we must hurry.” Avelina threw her bundles into the craft and Fenella loaded hers.
They began to carry the craft, but Fenella was trying to take it to the ocean and Avelina was moving toward the river. “To the river. I will pick him up near the abandoned croft, and we will paddle to the ocean.”
“Aye.” They carried the craft toward the river this time in a unified effort, but Fenella wouldn’t leave off on her query. “Tell me what happened between the two of you.”
“Fenella.” They needed to save their breath to carry the craft.
“I can imagine quite a lot, unless you wish to tell me what really did happen.”
Avelina groaned. “Naught more happened than he kissed me to thank me for saving his life.”
“He kissed you!” Fenella didn’t say anything for a blessed few feet, but Avelina knew it wouldn’t last. “What kind of kiss?”
The most pleasurable kind. “To thank me, naught more. I’m sure he would have given anyone such a kiss.”
“No’ if a man had aided him.” Fenella turned to look at Avelina. “Your cheeks are as red as before.”
Avelina smiled.
“Och, you will tell me when you return then. I want all the details.”
They both quit talking while they saved their breaths, not wanting to alert anyone as to what they were doing, as they made their way over the uneven ground. Though one man could carry the boat, with all the stuff inside it, they needed two women to do it.
They finally reached the river and set the boat on the bank. Fenella gave Avelina a big hug, tears in her eyes. “You are sure you will be safe? It will be a long trip back here after you leave him off on one of the islands. You will be tired.”
“I will manage.”
“’Tis no’ the same as when we did this with others as a test of our courage. Or when you go out to fish when the waves are more settled.”
“Nay, I’m older now and I’ve gone out when it’s like this.” Not usually, but she had to a couple of times when the men were away, and they’d desperately needed more food. Though others had gone out as well, so she hadn’t been fishing alone.
“And you will be alone on the return trip, no one to help you paddle, no one to talk to.”
“I may return with Wolf. And I can talk to him. He doesna ask me all kinds of questions.”
“He doesna kiss like a man, either.”
Avelina blushed again. She couldn’t help it. Not only had Quinn kissed her like a man would a woman he was thoroughly intrigued with, but he was their enemy.
Avelina gave Fenella a hug before she left. Then they set the craft in the water, and Fenella steadied it while Avelina climbed in.
“Godspeed, dear Cousin.” Fenella shoved the boat off, tears in her eyes.
“I will be fine. I’ll see you before you can even miss me.” Avelina waved at her, before paddling hard to reach the place where
she would pick up Quinn.
“I already miss you,” Fenella called out, then she hurried off.
Avelina knew she’d be worried about her until she returned. And she would return.
She continued to paddle hard and couldn’t believe it when she hadn’t gone but half a mile and saw Wolf running along the bank, wagging his tail at her. Quinn was standing with his bundle at his feet a short distance from him, waiting for her. She swore his bundle looked bigger than before, and she wondered what he’d found to add to it.
Mainly, she prayed they got away without anyone witnessing them now, or her, upon her return.
7
Quinn had mixed feelings when he saw Avelina and the coracle loaded down with bundles, but he was still worried about her going with him to one of the islands.
“I know what you are thinking, and no, you are no’ taking the boat yourself,” she said.
He saw that she’d brought his sword and was glad for it.
“Aye, I brought your sword, though I see you have the dead man’s sword, but dinna use either on my kin, should they find you on the island. Only on your kin, if they should discover you there. I wish you’d had it before, but you are handy with your sgian dubh. What did you do with the dead man?”
“Buried him in a bog. I didna have a shovel. Hopefully, he willna surface, ever.”
“Or if he does, no one will ever see him. Thank you, for saving me,” she said again.
“You have done much more for me at a risk to your own life. You could have drowned when you were trying to help me past the tide waters.” He lifted her into his arms, startling her, and set her down in the craft.
“Come, Wolf,” she called, and the wolf jumped into the boat.
“He looks like he’s taken a ride with you before.” Quinn climbed in and took the paddle from Avelina and began paddling them downriver.