Isobel flicked at her other sleeve, too irritated to care.
“It is summer solstice.” She went ahead and spoke her mind, images of Kendrew’s big, powerfully muscled body kissed by the glow of bonfires making her breath catch and her skin tingle. “The Mackintoshes celebrate Midsummer in the old way.” She glanced at the room’s tall window arches, her pulse quickening at the polished gleam of the twilight sky. “On such a night, I can’t help but wonder if he really does leap naked onto the cairns.”
“He is surely bold enough.” Catriona smoothed the bed covers, resting her hands atop her slightly swollen belly. “Everyone knows he’s wholly untamed.”
Isobel could’ve added more. She did imagine him standing proud in the heart of his rockhewn land, cold mist blowing around him, the gold of his Thor’s hammer and arm rings glinting brightly.
“He did fight ferociously at the trial by combat.” She bit back how much his bravery impressed her. “The earth shook when he stamped the haft of his war ax on the ground after the battle.”
“He is fearless, true enough.” Catriona shivered when a chill wind swept the room, stirring the floor rushes. “Word is he can trace his line back to the Berserkers, Odin’s bloodthirsty, half-mythic bodyguards.
“So-o-o…” She laced her fingers. “He could well be doing anything this night, including leaping naked onto his dreagan stones.”
Isobel agreed.
But unlike her friend, she didn’t find the notion disturbing.
The brisk air filling the chamber brought traces of damp earth and pine, just a hint of distant woodsmoke. Soon the first stars would start to glimmer. Beyond the thick pine forest that separated their lands, Mackintosh bonfires would crackle and blaze.
Those who prayed to Odin would gather. Men would touch hammer amulets and drink from mead horns. Blood would heat, passions rising as the revelry commenced…
Isobel’s heart pounded.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing Kendrew on those stones.” She glanced again at the windows, the night’s magic calling to her, making her restless.
“The sight would ruin you for life.” Catriona sounded sure.
Isobel lifted her chin. “I think I’d be rather intrigued.”
“Humph.” Catriona leaned forward a little. “You’d feel otherwise if one of his dreagans took a bite out of you.”
“Pah.” Isobel dismissed the possibility. “They only live in legend.”
“I’ve heard tales.” Catriona persisted.
“Then you’d know they’re said to fireblast, not bite.” Isobel regarded her levelly. “You just don’t like Kendrew.”
“That’s true.” Catriona held her gaze.
Isobel struggled against the urge to squirm, wishing her friend didn’t have such a direct stare. “I’ve wondered…” she took a deep breath, then rushed on, “if the blue marks he carves on his chest and arms really are to celebrate each enemy he kills in battle or—”
“They are.” Catriona tightened her lips. “I’m sure he also does it to look terrifying.”
Isobel ignored her friend’s comment. “Do you think he has the marks anywhere else?”
Catriona shuddered. “I’m sure I don’t want to know.”
“I do.” Isobel did want to know, badly.
She was also sure the admission had turned her cheeks scarlet. She could feel the heat blooming there, branding her shameless. Highborn, gently raised females weren’t supposed to ponder the lure of bare-bottomed men. They especially weren’t wise to crave the attention of a man as wild as Kendrew Mackintosh. And they should never imagine him whirling about naked in an ancient, pagan ritual that most decent folk had abandoned years ago.
Such thoughts were wicked.
But they filled her with prickling excitement.
And once the images had taken root, she couldn’t banish them.
Nor did she want to.
The Mackintosh chieftain was a great giant of a man, burly, loud, and rough around the edges. An unapologetic scoundrel, he towered over most men and clearly enjoyed that dominance. Heavy, burnished copper hair swung about his shoulders, and when he flashed his fast, crooked smile, it was said that no female could resist his rascally charm.
He defied every danger and laughed in the face of death. He lived by his own rules. His strange blue kill marks made him look like a fearsome Norse god. And his prowess in bed was said to be even greater than his formidable skill on the field of battle.
Well-lusted, he was rumored to be insatiable.
Isobel shivered, delicately.
She could so easily see him sweeping her into his arms and whisking her up the turret stairs, ravishment and more on his mind. No man had ever even kissed her. She knew with a desiring woman’s instinct that Kendrew’s kisses would be hot, furious, and deliciously savage.
It was a notion that made her entire body flush.
She just hoped Catriona would credit the warmth from the bedchamber’s crackling log fire as the reason for her heightened color.
The earlier breath of cold had fled, the wind moving on to rustle through the pines.
It was again stifling in the room.
By all reckoning, Catriona’s travails weren’t expected until the passing of another six full moons. A winter birthing seemed probable, possibly at Yule. Yet some of the older castle women predicted she’d need longer. A few argued less. Either way, no one was taking any chances.
Catriona carried the clan heir. And there wasn’t a soul at Castle Haven not concerned with her comfort. A few, including her besotted husband, seemed worried that she’d freeze. Every few hours, or so it seemed, a kitchen lad came to toss a new fat log on the bedchamber’s hooded fireplace. Torches blazed in every wall sconce, and a score of fine wax candles graced the room’s two small tables, each dancing flame adding to the stuffiness.
There was even a small brazier placed near the bed, its coals glowing softly as pungent, herb-scented smoke rose to haze the air. Eye-burning, overheated air that Catriona seemed weary of breathing, for instead of quip-ping that Isobel shouldn’t concern herself with Kendrew’s arm-and-chest markings, she tossed back the coverlets and slid down from her bed. She crossed the room to the far windows where she breathed deep of the cool, evening air.
Isobel gave her a moment, then hitched her skirts and joined her. “They say Kendrew leaps onto Slag’s Mound wearing only his Thor’s hammer.” She’d meant to say something else entirely, but she couldn’t get Kendrew from her mind. Speaking quickly, the words left her in a rush. “Slag was the worst of all dreagans, the most dangerous.
“I’ve heard he could kill ten men with a single swipe of his long, stony-scaled tail.” The thought made Isobel’s nerves flutter. “Slag’s cairn is where the Mackintoshes celebrate their Midsummer Eve revels. Storytellers say that if Slag wished, even now he could send scalding, sulfuric breath right up through the cracks between the stones, blasting anyone who’d dare come near his cairn. Kendrew watches over the festivities from atop those stones. He—”
“He is that crazed, I know.” Catriona braced her hands on the broad window ledge and turned her face to the freshening wind. “Be warned”—she shot a narrow-eyed glance at Isobel—“if you knew how I’ve felt these past months, you wouldn’t be thinking of men.”
“Kendrew isn’t just any man.” Isobel stepped closer to the window, half certain she could feel the power of the fierce Mackintosh chieftain even here, coming to her on the night wind, beckoning.
To her, he was everywhere.
And ever since she and her two friends had carefully woven their plans, there wasn’t a corner of the Glen of Many Legends where she could escape his image. No place where she wouldn’t dream of his heated gaze devouring her, or how she’d love feeling his hands glide along her body. Or where she wouldn’t yearn for the hot, turbulent desire that she was sure would sweep her if, just once, he’d seize her and crush her to him, kissing her hungrily.
This was a night for kissing.
<
br /> Ignoring Catriona and her somewhat soured expression, Isobel straightened her shoulders, determining to keep her gaze on the well-loved landscape before her.
Although already evening, the sky shone with pearly luminescence, and the cool, pine-scented air felt rich with custom, legend, and magic. The hills rising beyond Castle Haven’s walls shimmered in the strange, soft light. And—if she looked closely, opening her heart—she could almost see water nymphs bathing in the tumbling cascades spilling down the sides of the highest peaks.
Birdsong filtered through the trees, sweet and musical, almost as if the tiny woodland creatures joined with the night’s wonder to tempt her away, out into the enchantment of Midsummer Eve.
The world gleamed, expectant and waiting.
Isobel’s pulse raced.
Then she made the error of glancing at her friend.
Catriona was watching her as if she could peer into her soul and see the urgency beating there, making her burn to unleash her desires.
“I wish you’d chosen someone else.” Catriona’s voice held a note that could’ve been regret or reproach. Turning back to the window, she fixed her gaze on a single star that sparkled like a jewel in the silvery sky. “When the three of us”—she meant herself, Isobel, and Kendrew’s sister, Marjory—“agreed to each wed a man from a feuding clan, the idea was to keep peace in the glen through our unions.
“That will only happen if such marriages take place.” She shifted her glance to where a second star was just winking to life. “Kendrew isn’t a man to wed. Everyone knows it. He’s in love with his war ax and—”
“It’s only been a few months since our pact—”
“Nae, it’s been over half a year.” Catriona touched a hand to Isobel’s arm. “Kendrew hasn’t even spoken to you in all that time. The one visit he made us was brief and he didn’t spare you a glance. He keeps himself locked away behind Castle Nought’s walls where he surely spends his days sharpening weapons and making pagan sacrifices to Thor. James has invited him here, often enough.
“It would be a small thing to accept my husband’s goodwill. Yet”—Catriona paused to take a breath—“he chooses to shun us all. Some even say he’s planting poison-tipped stakes in the ground around his stronghold. He’s been heard to say he wants to deter visitors from breaking his peace.”
Isobel frowned. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“Pah!” Catriona clearly believed he would. “He’d challenge the Devil and all his ring-tailed minions if it amused him to do so.”
“He has Berserker blood.” Isobel secretly thrilled to his wildness.
“All the more reason you should consider someone else.” Catriona clutched Isobel’s hands, squeezing tight. “We’ve grown close since I married your brother and came here. You’ve become the sister I never had, and”—she released Isobel and stepped back—“I couldn’t bear to see you unhappy. Kendrew will only hurt you.”
“Nae…” Isobel refused the possibility.
She did shiver. The sensation that he was near her, all around her, strengthened. She touched the charmed amber necklace at her throat, wondering if Catriona’s gift, or the magic of summer solstice, was the reason she felt so powerfully drawn to him this night.
“Kendrew would never cause me pain.” She stood straighter, flicked her braid over her shoulder. “He doesn’t frighten me and never will. Even Marjory has told us how fiercely he honors women and—”
“He’ll be honoring plenty this night.” Catriona returned to her bed, lowering herself carefully onto its edge. “Or what do you think Mackintoshes do at their dreagan stones on Midsummer Eve?
“They’ll be doing more than dancing in a circle and leaping over bonfires.” Catriona clasped her hands over her belly. “Be glad you aren’t there.”
Isobel wished she was.
“Do not think to sneak there tonight.” Catriona’s glance was sharp.
Isobel crimsoned. “I wouldn’t dare.”“Nae?” Catriona lifted a red-gold brow.
Again, Isobel felt like squirming. But she forced herself to stand still. She also held Catriona’s deep, all-seeing gaze. “I know better than to traipse off into the night, alone and unescorted.”
“Indeed?” Catriona’s brow arched a fraction higher.
“So I said.” Isobel didn’t turn a hair.
“Then you are less like me than I’d believed.” Her friend’s expression softened, the glimmer of pity returning to her lovely blue eyes. “With half the castle abed with a bellyache from bad herring and the rest down in the hall, deep in their cups because tonight is Midsummer, I would’ve thought you’d be tempted to slip away.
“I’ve done the like more than once, as well you know.” Catriona’s tone was quiet, reminiscent. “Back in the days before I was a settled, married woman. Now”—she splayed her fingers across the swell of her abdomen—“I do see things a bit differently.”
“You’re seeing them wrong.” Isobel should’ve known Catriona would guess the thoughts flitting about in her mind this night. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She hadn’t actually planned to until Catriona’s words made the idea seem possible.
Now…
She bit her lip, half afraid Catriona would tell James, causing him to rush out after her, if she dared to sneak out on her own.
But she so wanted to.
She turned back to the window, the night’s sweetness beckoning. Midsummer magic steeped the air, the beauty of the luminous twilight combining with her desire to see Kendrew on the stones until her pulse raced as never before. Longing swelled in her chest, hot and insistent, tugging on long-buried needs deep inside her.
Across the room, Catriona sighed. “You truly do have your heart set on Mackintosh, don’t you?”
“I…” Isobel took a long breath, knowing there was no point in denial. “Any other man pales beside him.” She left the window and started pacing before the fire, a strange sense of triumph beating through her now that she’d spoken openly. “If I see him at his boldest tonight, perhaps I can learn how to attract his attention.”
Catriona snorted. “You have breasts and a comely face. Catching his eye is the least of your worries. The problem is that”—she pulled a small pillow onto her lap, her brow creasing again—“a fast tumble in the heather is all you can expect from him.”
Isobel didn’t want to believe it. “You won James’s heart—”
“James is not Kendrew Mackintosh.” Catriona dismissed her objection, the words dimming the warm glow of hope that had begun to thrum in Isobel’s breast. “I can see no good coming from you sneaking off to Castle Nought tonight. That corner of the glen is also fraught with other dangers. It’s an unholy place, filled with weird mist and darkness. Bare rock and naked, jagged cliffs make it cold and forbidding. Mackintosh territory is nothing like Castle Haven and the wooded hills and waterfalls surrounding us here.
“Nought is a terrifying, unwelcoming place.” Catriona drew the little pillow closer against her middle. “They say the wind there carries ancient echoes of dreagan roars. I do believe that is true.”
“I’m not afraid.” To her amazement, Isobel wasn’t.
Catriona frowned. “If something happens to you and James discovers I kept silent about you slipping away, he’ll never forgive me.”
“I never told you I’m going.” Isobel brushed at her skirts, offering her friend the only defense she could against James’s possible wrath. “Indeed, when I leave you, I’ll be heading to my own bedchamber.”
She didn’t say that she’d simply meant to retrieve her cloak.
The crease in Catriona’s brow deepened. But she held her peace, settling back against the bed cushions.
She did send a pointed glance at the small oaken table set before one of the room’s colorful wall tapestries. The table was right next to the door.
“You know”—she looked back to Isobel, her blue gaze piercing—“that my condition keeps me from wearing my lady’s dirk.” She flicked anot
her quick glance at the table where her jewel-hilted dagger glittered in the light of a wall sconce. “Everyone knows sharp objects might cause harm to a wee babe in the womb.”
Isobel nodded, understanding her friend’s unspoken message.
“Thank you.” Isobel touched her amber necklace again, almost overcome by the rush of hope, giddiness, and excitement mounting inside her.
Then, before she lost her nerve, she cast another look at the shimmering sky beyond the window arches, and hurried from the bedchamber.
She snatched Catriona’s dagger on her way out the door.
She doubted she’d need it.
But she didn’t want her friend to worry. Unlike her, Catriona saw danger in Nought’s mysteries, the dark and rock-bound landscape.
Isobel saw adventure.
And—she hoped—the love of a lifetime.
About the same time, but in the dread place of rock and shadow that Isobel and her friend had just been discussing, Kendrew Mackintosh stood in the middle of Castle Nought’s cavernous great hall and stared at his sister, Marjory. Fondly known as Lady Norn for her striking Nordic beauty and Valkyrie-ish temperament, she lifted her chin, meeting his gaze with her wintriest smile. She also had the cheek to think that planting herself in front of the door would keep him from leaving the hall.
“You’ll no’ be stopping me from enjoying the night’s revels.” Kendrew folded his arms, incredulous as ever at her flashing-eyed boldness.
Then he grinned, unable to help himself.
“By Thor,” he boomed, “you should have been born a man. If you wielded a sword as sharp as your blazing eyes, no enemy would be safe.”
Marjory set her hands on her hips, her chilly mien not warming a whit. “You’ll be spared my wrath as soon as you read James Cameron’s missive.” Sending a pointed glance at the parchment scroll resting atop a nearby long table, she began tapping her foot. “It’s no great task. Break the seal and give him the courtesy of—”
“Odin’s balls, I will!” Kendrew glared at her, his grin faded. “Breaking thon seal and reading his foolery will only sour my mood. I already ken what he’s after. This new letter will hold the same twaddle as his previous ones, and I’m having none of it.”
Sue-Ellen Welfonder Page 25