Laird of the Game

by Leigh, Lori

  Melissa rode beside Gideon through a stand of trees.

  “This is where we stop,” Gideon explained.

  They had a clear view of the valley below, and she noted the Prince and his men were circled around Alex. Alex was bound to a pole in the center of the clearing. Ropes tied his hands together and held him to a ring on the post. He looked relaxed and unharmed. Melissa was grateful. She wasn’t sure what she would do if something had happened to him. For the moment, she had to wait out the battle.

  “Oh, my God!” Melissa exclaimed. “That’s the Prince?” It was the same guy who had visited with her at the Kirk. “I had no idea. When he said he was your cousin, I thought he was fighting with you, not against you. He’s a very handsome man.”

  Gideon smiled. “George is well liked by the ladies.” He should know. They had partied together on countless occasions, and George never went home alone.

  William had all the pieces in place. Iain and Evan had thought of every detail, and it was now just a matter of timing. They had waited for Gideon to arrive and noticed he was safely tucked into the tree line while Melissa waited on horseback. William signaled to Alex, informing him that Gideon had arrived.

  The Prince stood in front of Alex, and the warriors quieted down. “So I have captured the Laird at last. The game is finally won, and I will be the Laird. We have already called London and informed the Bookies of my victory this year. The upset will cost you millions.”

  “Not exactly,” Alex commented. “Your challenge was victory if you captured the Laird. I’m not the Laird. I resigned last night. Daniel filed the papers in London this morning, and William was named my successor.” Alex gave the signal. He didn’t want to drag this out a moment longer. Melissa was frantic when he left her, and he was worried about her.

  Prince George and his army were completely surrounded. They made the mistake of thinking only of their victory, and that left them vulnerable. Iain and Evan were right when they had predicted every turn of events.

  William rode at the head of his army and closed the circle around the Prince. William had learned to draw from the strength of his warriors, and they respected his command.

  William no longer needed protection, Alex thought. He had stepped into the role of Laird, and Alex felt a wave of gratitude for his youngest brother. Alex was free.

  William rode up to the Prince, flanked by Iain and Evan. “You are surrounded, George. Admit defeat.”

  The Prince drew his sword. “I will not accept defeat, and I challenge the Laird for the title.”

  William expected he would and drew his sword. It was the sword Alex had given him, the one his ancestor had carried. And William held it with pride, nodding to Alex before taking his position.

  Evan rode up and cut the rope holding Alex to the pole.

  The battle between William and George began with a clang of swords. Alex kept his distance and waited for the outcome. He watched every move his brother made and silently praised his skill. William was younger, faster, and stronger than George.

  William attacked with a fury to keep his opponent on the defense. He landed shattering blows that reverberated in the air around them. He pushed the Prince back until George was panting and finally went down on one knee.

  William’s army roared their approval.

  Evan pulled Alex up behind him and rode to where Gideon and Melissa waited.

  William would be remembered for this day for a long time to come. He was hardly winded, and George was panting heavily.

  Melissa got down off her horse and waited for Alex. Gideon joined the warriors, and Evan brought Alex to her. Evan left them alone and joined the army. It was an important moment for William and the Bard in Evan didn’t want to miss a thing.

  Alex took her into his arms and breathed a sigh of relief. He inhaled the scent of her, and his fears calmed. The day wasn’t over yet, his mind warned. Alex could feel her tremble.

  Melissa’s eyes told him how grateful she was that he wasn’t harmed. “Gideon told me that you resigned, and William is now the Laird.” She could feel him tense up, and she smiled. “I was terrified you were going to be hurt. I can’t believe you gave up fighting for me.”

  His mouth curled in a smile. “William will take over all of my duties. I am proud of him. He will make a formidable Laird, and I will be here tae support him.”

  Alex bent down to kiss her. The feel of her warm lips against his left him breathless. He tasted and caressed her lovely mouth until he heard her moan softly. Her gaze for him today was brilliant blue-violet, and he couldn’t look away.

  Melissa loved the way he looked at her. There was always a sparkle of mischief in his soft jade eyes that she knew was just barely under control. He flirted shamelessly with his gaze focused on her.

  That quirky smile of his sent her pulse into hyper-drive. Her cheeks had to be hot pink by now, and she felt like she was glowing from head to toe. Her arms were around his neck. She needed to touch him and kiss him again.

  “I know ye want me. But ye can’t have me yet.” Melissa teased.

  Alex laughed.

  “You need to get out there and help William.” She pulled back from his embrace.

  Alex looked at her with shock. “I thought ye didn’t want me tae fight?”

  “Not when I thought someone would kill you every day. That was horrible to live with that worry. Now get out there and help William send the Prince back to England with a complete victory.”

  He hesitated, unable to move; he couldn’t believe she wanted him to fight.

  Melissa gave him a smile. “I know you want to get out there and jump into that battle. I’ll bet it’s taking every ounce of your self-control to stay here with me while men are hacking away at each other just behind you.” She handed him the reins to her horse. “Here take this one. Just don’t forget where you left me.”

  His smile almost made her weep with joy. It showed in his flash of white teeth and the light that came into his eyes. She sensed that Alex was no longer in mortal danger and wanted him to help support William. She could tell by the look in his eyes he didn’t want to miss the battle.

  Alex leaned down and kissed her quick. “I love ye, darlin’.”

  Alex found a scimitar sword already tied to her saddle. He drew the sword out and turned to enter the battle. No longer their Laird, he was going to have fun for the first time in eighteen years.

  The battle had already begun with William and the Prince at the heart of it. Surrounding them Gideon, Robert, Evan, and Iain, held defensive positions around their Laird, protecting his flanks while William battled the Prince. Alex soon joined them, and the roar of approval from the warriors became deafening. Together, as brothers, they quickly turned the battle back on the Prince and had him surrounded. The Prince threw his sword aside and lunged at William.

  William sidestepped George and knocked him to the ground. “Ye’re getting slow, old man.”

  The Prince knocked William down with a boot to his mid section. Alex reached down and pulled William up with one hand while defending a blow from a warrior with the other. William spun and dropped the Prince with one kick to his gut, and George went down one last time.

  William had a sword at his throat when the Prince looked up. “Admit your defeat, Prince George.”

  The warriors all raised their swords, and their war cry became their roar of victory. They were warriors and had survived the game one more year.

  The army descended upon Melissa with William, the conquering hero, at their lead. William’s smile was glorious. He had defeated the Prince and had proven to himself and everyone present, that he was a warrior worthy to lead their army.

  Alex pulled Melissa up behind him for the ride back to the Manor House. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laughed with them as they told of William’s victory. It was a man’s world, and she shook her head in wonder. They all seemed so pleased at the outcome.

  Alex, Gideon, Iain, Evan, and Robert rode behind William, th
eir new champion. The warriors rode circles around them, shrieking and screaming in victory.

  They had won! Now, the final scores would be tallied, and their new Laird would be announced. Since Alex hadn’t participated in many of the battles, they knew someone else held the high score. There were several other possible candidates, including one of the twins who might have won.

  They laughed and enjoyed their victory all the way back to the house. Melissa was delighted that Alex was unharmed, and William was now their hero.

  Alex helped Melissa down and took a moment to give William a hug.

  William looked stunned at the affection. “Ye’ve been my hero and the only father I’ve ever known, Alex. Thank ye for kicking me in the arse and forcing me tae sober up.”

  Alex shoved him hard. “It’s hard tae think of ye as my little brother. When they handed ye tae me, a newborn child, hell, I didn’t know how tae change a nappy. I’m very proud of ye today.”

  Gideon stabled his horse and put William in a headlock on their way back to the house. “Don’t think for a moment that ye can order us around, little brother.”

  William slipped out of the headlock and punched Gideon. “Damned right I can. And you will obey me, or I’ll have ye mucking out the stables for disobedience.”

  Gideon rubbed his jaw. “Stables?”

  ***

  Amber and Sarah arrived at the Manor House and demanded to speak to Alexander G. MacKenna. They were escorted into the Drawing Room and told to have a seat and wait. They had a copy of every tabloid they could find that depicted their sister naked in the arms of that barbarian.

  “I can’t believe Melissa would be involved with a bunch of huge hairy men who run around in skirts and probably ripped the leg off a cow to eat for breakfast,” Amber said frostily.

  Daniel leaned his head against the doorframe of the Drawing Room and groaned. “Yanks!”

  “You can’t make out his face, but her smile is absolutely radiant. It just can’t be true.” Amber was outraged. They couldn’t get to Scotland fast enough. “No one is going to destroy Melissa’s reputation and get away with it.”

  Alex and Melissa walked through the front door and had no idea all hell was about to break loose.

  Melissa’s mouth dropped open when two women stood up from the couch. It wasn’t possible to see her sisters standing in the same room with her, was it?

  Alex had turned pale with Gideon, Robert, Iain, Evan, and William all standing behind him.

  She looked back at Alex who suddenly appeared very nervous “Alex, what’s wrong?” For a moment, Melissa was terrified! She stood at the threshold between both worlds and reached a hand out to him to steady the spinning room. “Alex!” she screamed, panicked.

  A sob wracked her tight throat. She knew he would disappear in a few moments, and she would be trapped in the future without him. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

  Melissa’s face was white with fear and shock. Alex took the few steps between them to put his arm around her to steady her. “It’s all right, love. I’m here,” he soothed her with his voice pitched low and soft against her hair.

  She held on to the front of his shirt with white knuckles. When her chin tipped up, she had tears streaming down her cheeks. “Don’t let go of me,” she begged, terrified he would evaporate into the mist.

  “Last night I tried tae tell ye something,” he began in earnest. “I go’ distracted and didn’t tell ye everything.”

  Daniel stood silently watching the ladies. Alex looked at him then. He would remember that look for the rest of his life. Daniel had never seen Alex plead for anything in his life, but he was pleading now for an answer. Daniel nodded. The realization and relief staggered Alex.

  He gulped down air as a spasm of fear gripped the back of his neck with icy tentacles. “I didn’t tell you that you are not in the year 1745. This is a Celtic Warrior game that we play every year. You just happened to stumble into the midst of our opening battle.”

  Melissa received the answer with wide-eyed wonder, and he wanted to kick himself for not telling her the truth last night when he had the chance.

  “I thought you really were a Celtic God,” she chocked out, uncertain if she was angry. “I thought the mist would steal me away from you, and I’d never see you again.” She was rambling from weeks of anxiety. “Do you know how scared I was every day? I thought that you would ride off, and I’d never be able to find you. I wondered why no one was ever killed, but I thought it was perhaps part of your magic.”

  “I’m so sorry, Melissa.” Alex felt like a monster.

  “You’re not Celtic Gods?”

  “Only in your eyes, love. We are merely humans.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Evan interjected and found he was the focus of the room frowning at him. He wanted to crawl under the rug and hide.

  “Are you sure I’m not in the past? Your game is very realistic.” She matched his frown.

  “I know, but I didn’t want you to leave,” Alex said so softly she had to strain to hear him speak.

  She looked down at her feet. “I must have looked like an idiot to all of you.”

  “No!” his brothers said loudly and in unison.

  Melissa’s sisters had heard enough and pushed their way to stand next to their sister in a protective manner.

  “Alex, I’d like you to meet my sisters.”

  “Oh, we’d like to meet you, too.” Amber smiled too sweetly. “Wouldn’t we, Sarah?”

  Daniel waited for the fireworks to start. Amber was a very tall woman. She was probably what most men would call a statuesque blonde who stood at least six feet tall, thin but shapely, and gorgeous beyond belief. Her smile almost blinded him from across the room.

  Sarah was stunningly beautiful with auburn hair, but it was also the fact that her eye color matched her hair color that could drop a man to his knees. He sensed that she was the shy, feisty one.

  “Alex, it looks like ye got the runt of the litter.” Daniel put on his best lawyer face and stepped into the melee. Melissa was all of five foot two inches tall.

  The tension in the room became strained. Amber stared at Alex. The boys, as Melissa loved to call them, all stared at her sisters. Alex stared at Melissa, and she was getting uneasy.

  “Melissa, he probably also forgot to mention he’s married.” Amber looked directly at Alex and made the statement of fact.

  Alex flinched, but Melissa also saw sadness in his eyes. Angry, Melissa looked at her sister. “That can’t be true. He would have told me.” She turned her head to look at Alex and then knew.

  He hadn’t denied it. Her heart dropped to the floor.

  It had finally registered in Melissa’s stunned mind that she was still in the present day. She had spent a month running around the hills of Scotland with a married man, convinced she was trapped in the past.

  “Ye’d better tell her the truth,” Daniel insisted.

  Alex watched his world end. He couldn’t will his feet to move an inch. He had envisioned taking her in his arms and telling her the entire truth long before now. He had just been so happy. He cleared his throat and exhaled. “Six years ago, I married Catherine.” He waited for Daniel to fill in the blanks.

  “There’s more to tell,” Sarah interjected. “I cracked the codes on your Internet site.”

  “She cracked the codes.” Iain sounded horrified. “That isn’t possible!”

  Alex wouldn’t look away from Melissa. The shock and then anger in her eyes was worse than if she had yelled and screamed. Her face had gone completely pale, and she was trembling.

  She knew they were all waiting for her to do something, but she didn’t care at the moment what anyone wanted. She looked at their faces set in a grim frown and their eyes. So this was the reason for the haunted look in Alex’s eyes. The room was spinning around her. It had suddenly become stifling hot inside the hall. Her world had just completely ended.

  The memories of him flooded her mind and devastated h
er senses. How could they withhold such an important detail from her? Was she just a summer fling and now that the game was over he would send her home and return to his wife?

  It was ironic that the first man she really, truly loved heart and soul was already married. She took a step back and wanted to run until the pain didn’t engulf her heart and feel like it tore her into tiny little pieces of agony.

  Evan nudged Gideon with his elbow. “She’s going tae faint,” he whispered but Gideon’s attention was on Alex who looked like he was going to kill someone.

  And then it all hit Melissa at once. “You all lied to me, didn’t you? You all knew I thought I was in the past. Alex is married and not one of you would tell me the truth.” The betrayal crushed her last hope, and a single tear slid down her pale cheek.

  “I loved and trusted you all.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The room exploded in shouting people around her. William yelled at Alex, Gideon yelled at William, and Amber yelled at Daniel. When Daniel asked why she was yelling at him, she unleashed the warrior princess and verbally flayed Alex and his brothers alive. Her furious tirade didn’t stop for nearly five minutes though Alex and Daniel tried to calm her down.

  Melissa felt mercifully numb. She couldn’t bear to look at any of them and felt the life drain from her body as tiny pin pricks of black dots clouded her vision. The room was so stifling hot she couldn’t get a breath, and her stomach fluttered.

  Her knees started to buckle. This had to be just a nightmare. She would wake up in his arms, she was certain, and he would tell her he would never leave her.

  Daniel gave in and yelled louder than all of them. “Alex is now legally divorced. Give him a chance tae make it right with your sister.”

  “He had no right to ruin her reputation with this tabloid trash!” Amber yelled back.

  Evan stepped into position and caught Melissa as she fainted. “I’m getting damned good at this,” he stated, proud of himself. It was time he took matters into his own hands, literally. He walked out of the room, with Melissa firmly tucked into his arms. He walked out of the house as she started coming around and he had just enough time to put her on the back of a horse and ride off before they knew he was even gone.