I know why. She’d frowned at him, and didn’t seem to care that his nose was broken. Her stiff shoulders, as well as her brother’s obvious ire, held him back from getting any closer.
He’d heard the explosion, but he never heard a scream. Kirk hadn’t waited, and Jake sprinted past the larger man. Searching the shadows that cloaked the far side of the bailey, Reid MacRob appeared ahead, hovering over a body in a dark blue gown.
Skye! he had screamed in his head, and nearly threw the young red-headed boy to the ground, to get him out of his way.
“Skye, dear sister, can ye tell us who attacked ye?” Kirk asked.
He knew what was coming. Her answer would throw the castle residents and villagers into a frenzy of fear. When he’d gathered Skye and placed her on her feet, he caught a whiff of another firebreather. He winced, and his broken nose throbbed.“Aye, but ye will not like my story.”
Jake helped her walk into the sunlight, then up the stairs.
“I be frozen,” she whispered. His arm came around her waist, but a growl made him pull away. Once inside the castle proper, they crossed the great hall to the dais. Jake helped her into an empty seat beside Lady Fia. To appease Kirk, he moved away. Skye’s big brother paced back and forth, like a caged tiger.
A servant scurried into the room, and wrapped a wool blanket over Skye’s shoulders. Fia clasped her hands over one of Skye’s. Gentle pats could not seem to keep her from shivering.
She was obviously cold, but he figured the latest rush of adrenaline had fled her bloodstream. She ought to be in bed.
An image of her naked limbs, spread beneath him across the bed, rose unbidden. He could almost feel Skye, as she writhed and moaned beneath him. Even from where he stood, each breath she inhaled made her lovely breasts swell above the top of her gown. A gown she wore in order to impress another man.
Kirk’s voice broke through the daydream.
Jake changed his stance, and crossed his hands in front of his kilted plaid. Stepping farther away, he retreated until her subtle fragrance was out of his head. The smoke couldn’t completely mask the essence of Skye Gunn. Instead of complaining over why the little heathen attracted him, he leaned against a wall, and listened.
From where he stood, he could see everything. The distance eased the pain in both his nose and groin. When a serving woman strode by, he grabbed a clean scrap of linen from her tray. She began to protest, but his expression must have silenced her.
Or, it could be the blood dripping from my nose.
If he was to help find the bastard who had attacked Skye, he had to keep his mind and body clear. He held the linen beneath his nose, and listened.
“The sorcerer surprised me,” she said, and a slight growl escaped her lips.
Jake chuckled at her anger over someone getting the jump on her, until he realized that sorcerer referred to the man who had kidnapped her, earlier.
Marcus muttered something to a nearby guard. The man slipped from the room, and shouts echoed throughout the castle. Tripling the guards was a sound plan. The last time he had traveled here, the sorcerer had killed one of the guards and kidnapped his friend, Haven.
“Andreas Borthwick? Here?” Kirk paced faster, his dirk swaying at his hip. Running fingers through his thick reddish-brown hair added to the worried expression. Kirk marched over and talked to his own men-at-arms, then returned to stand near the dais.
“Aye, he said he wanted to…warm me,” she said, dipping her head.
“Devil’s Fire! He might have hurt her, or raped her,” Jake shouted. Murmurs echoed through the room, and Skye’s cheeks pinked. Her dress was muddy, but not torn. When he accompanied her back inside the castle, he saw that she’d lost her shoes. How could he have let his stupid pride keep him from following her?
If anything happens to her…
“I shall kill him,” Kirk said.
“Nay, he is mine,” Skye answered, rising to her feet. The blanket slipped off her shoulders.
She was magnificent. Though dressed in a blue gown, he recognized a warrior. He’d met women with the same fierceness on the battlefield. The army showed him they had every right to fight, but this wasn’t the twenty-first century. It was 1603, and Skye was young. Too young to realize she could die.
Hadn’t she told him she considered herself a Highlander? Hadn’t she insisted that warriors of this time were bred to be cold-blooded killers? The ice in her voice was disturbing, and he wanted to make sure he heard her correctly.
“You plan to kill a powerful magician by yourself?” Jake asked, stepping toward the dais, “I forbid you to go after this guy. He’s too dangerous—”
“Forbid me?”
She’d cut him off. The woman knew him too well, but he was adamant about keeping her safe. “Leave any killing to the men.”
“Aye!” Kirk added.
Jake nodded at her brother, and continued, “Skye, you know what I mean. Let us handle it. He’s obviously out to get you—”
“As well as Kirk, or even Alec,” she added.
Alec again?
“Right, but this doesn’t mean you have to go all Supergirl on him.”
Everyone’s brows rose. He should watch his use of modern words if he was to fit in, and get the danger nullified. “I mean, warrior woman.”
“Aye, the Highlander speaks true,” Marcus said, “Keep to yer womanly nature, and leave the killing to men.”
Jake cringed at Marcus Mackenzie’s words, and wasn’t surprised when Skye’s fists clenched at her sides. Fia struggled to her feet, and Skye turned to help her pregnant friend. Concern for Fia wiped away the indignation that had colored Skye’s expression.
“We are t’bed,” she said, and helped Fia step from the dais.
“Sister, wait,” Kirk said, placing his hand on her arm.
Stopping short, she spun to face him.
Her braid was dirty, and the back of her dress was muddy. The bastard had thrown her to the ground. Had the sorcerer attempted to rape her, or simply abduct her? There was nothing simple about an attack.
When he had her attention, Kirk continued, “The guards are aware of the bastard’s visit. If he is found, he will be brought to us.”
“Ye shall not catch him. He is like smoke,” she said, shaking loose of her brother’s grasp.
“Jake says ye be injured before ye arrived at the castle. That the sorcerer kidnapped ye? Why did ye not share this news?”
Skye ignored her brother and stepped in front of Jake. In spite of a nervous tickle in his throat, he kept silent. At the seriousness in her gaze, his gut clenched. She stared up at him with…concern?
“Ye told him?”
“Skye, I thought he should know. Sorry.”
“I see my brother has had a difference of opinion with ye. Again.”
At her change of topic, Jake laughed. He couldn’t help it, but the movement made his eyes sting. When pain slashed along the broken bridge of his nose, he groaned.
Hell’s fire, my nose hurts.
Skye’s hand rose.
His breath caught. He yearned to raise his hands in a defensive move, but stood like a statue. It took every ounce of courage not to flinch.
She better not send me home again!
A bolt of pure light flew toward his face, and a brilliant flash blinded him. The smell of burned skin made him open his eyes. Had she killed him?
Surprisingly, his nose no longer hurt.
Skye pulled a small, clean piece of linen from the shadow of her breasts. Touching it to her tongue, she wiped away the blood on his mouth and chin.
“Better?” Her eyes flashed, then slowly darkened, as if she wanted to use her tongue elsewhere. His groin swelled. Filling, and wanting her. One hand pressed against the front of his kilt to hold his stirring arousal at bay, and the other reached up to gently squeeze the bridge of his nose.
No pain.
“You can heal broken bones?”
Skye nodded.
The woman was as weird
as Iona. Talented, but strange. Spells and witchcraft had their place, but not in his life. Even so, he should thank her, before she changed her mind and sent him home.
“Thanks. Listen, you and your brother have much to talk about,” he said. They shared a look. He hoped she didn’t plan to mention the time they spent making love. If Kirk knew he had slept with his sister, the Gunn laird would slice him in two. “I’ll help Lady Fia to her room.”
Skye nodded, again, but something akin to jealousy flashed in her eyes.
Marcus dipped in a slight bow, and kissed his wife’s cheek. As soon as Fia looped a hand around his forearm, he escorted her from the room. Her personal servant met them at the bottom of the stairs leading to the family’s private quarters.
“My thanks, Highlander. I be fine.” She paused, then laid his hand on her belly. “The sorcerer is pure evil. He will prey on the innocent. Keep Skye safe.”
Her whispered words shocked him. The warning hit him as hard as Skye had, with her magic. When the unborn baby kicked his palm, he stepped back. Jake smiled at the laird’s young wife, and bowed.
She giggled.
Heat slashed across his cheeks. He watched her waddle up the staircase, helped along by her servant. An image of Skye, ripe with his child, slammed his aching gut.
Will never happen.
Heading out the door, he strode down the steps to the bailey. After glancing at the smoldering remains of the barn, then to the dark corner where Skye nearly died, he marched through the castle gate. Having tethered his horses in a villager’s nearby barn, the sudden urge to check on them made him hurry down the dirt lane.
“That was odd,” Skye said to her brother and Marcus, “Jake does not want to talk about what happened here?”
“The man was more concerned with why ye dinna’ discuss yer injuries with me,” Kirk answered.
Marcus slapped Kirk on the back. “I best leave ye two siblings to talk. The castle is well guarded. I suggest we stay inside, and together. Join us for noon meal. Fia intends to praise Buchanan, and I could use someone there to change the subject.”
The men laughed
Skye’s gaze followed Marcus’ progress, as he left the great room. Fia was lucky to have wed the man of her heart. Their marriage nearly never came to fruition, as Fia’s uncle had promised her to Kirk. Skye found out much later that Kirk agreed to wed the Keith lass in order to end a century-long war. Thankfully, all three came to their senses in time.
“Speak,” Kirk said, his voice turning brusque and more like her laird, then her brother.
“May we sit?”
Kirk took her arm and led her to the dais. Lady Fia had disappeared, on Jake’s arm. Was she jealous of a woman close to birthing a bairn? Jake could have any woman he wished, but Marcus would kill him.
The other warriors had left to organize a strategy to protect the castle’s inhabitants from the sorcerer. She sat beside her brother in one of the vacated chairs.
“I was in the garden, back in Keldurunach. The sorcerer came for Alec.”
“Aye. I learned this from the boy, though the child could only describe the scary man who had taken ye. I was afraid for ye.”
“Ye? Afraid?” Skye’s heart filled with love for her big brother. To others, with his reddish-brown hair, broad shoulders, and nearly healed scarred face, he was a formidable opponent. To her, he was a brother who loved her.
“Aye, lass. There was no sign of ye. No ransom message.”
“He was never going to let me leave,” she whispered.
Kirk jumped from his chair, his hands in fists. “When a villager near Castle Barrowmann realized the sorcerer’s minions had overtaken the castle, he hurried to Castle Ruadh. By then, ye were lost to us.”
“Did ye travel to my castle?” She shuddered to think that the demon and his horde were enjoying her home and its provisions. What of her staff?
“Nay, before we arrived here, and found ye safe, we talked with yer people who had escaped. The women folk hid in the forest, until they sought sanctuary within these walls. Several saw ye leap from the tower into the sea, and told us when we arrived.”
“Praise the Mother,” Skye said, her hand on her chest, her other on her hip. A painful cramp reminded her she, too, was healing. She wished the spell she had used to heal Jake’s nose could heal her wounds, but it only worked on others.
“The Highlander claimed ye be injured. He also said he gazed upon yer wounds.” Still seated, Kirk crossed his arms over his massive chest and stared down at her. She stayed seated. Standing would make little difference, since he was so much bigger.
‘Tis times like these I wish I be taller, or a man.
“I was soaking wet from swimming beneath the sea. I used my powers to escape the dragon, but too late to thwart its attack. My blood, and weakness, gave him ample reason to undress me. I shall not hear ye fault him for caring.”
Kirk bolted to his feet.
CHAPTER 24
Skye’s brother paced across the dais, then stepped closer. When his hands reached for her, she did not shrink away. The sudden warmth where his fingers circled her arms was welcoming, but his fierce expression stole her breath.
“We will come back to the Highlander, later. Tell me about…the dragon.”
“Aye, a dragon. I know, ‘tis not something I thought still breathed upon this land, but it was real, and it was crazed.”
“Could the sorcerer have conjured the creature?”
Skye gazed at his face, and shivered. If the evil man was powerful enough to create such a beast, what else could he do? Her mission was clear as day, and she would not be discouraged from her path.
She would kill him, and soon.
“I do not know, brother. He is verra’ powerful. I dinna’ know why he took me. I thought he wanted Alec, since he wants to hurt ye.”
“Taking ye hurt well enough,”
Skye smiled. Kirk cared for her. Did Jake?
“He threw me in my own dungeon. When I escaped, and he followed me to the highest battlements, I feared he would threaten to throw me to the rocks below.”
“So ye jumped instead? Smart.”
“Aye,” she smiled.
“How did ye escape the dragon?”
“A spell, and a trip to the future.”
Kirk’s eyes widened, then he rubbed his chin. “Why Jake?”
She had no idea, so kept silent, and twisted her fingers in the folds of her dress. She had awakened during the night wondering the same thing. Why Jake? She could have said a spell to send her to the Gunn tower, and into the safety within her clan.
“Why did Jake see ye naked?” Kirk released her, growled, and kicked the table leg.
Skye smiled at how her brother had quickly deviated from one dragon, to another.
“I bled through my salt-encrusted dress. It hurt like the blazes, so he removed it.”
Kirk’s eyes went wild, until filled with understanding.
“He was a gentleman who was thrust into the role of protector. He did what was necessary, albeit reluctantly.”
“Aye, the man is an odd duck. He doona’ want me calling him a Highlander, but I could see it in his sword arm, the last time we met.”
“Ye refer to when ye nearly beheaded him?”
Kirk looked sheepish. “Aye, my mistake, but when I thought him to be Haven’s lover, I could not see straight.”
Skye stood and hugged her brother. When he wrapped his arms around her waist, she gasped.
“I apologize. Are ye healing?”
“ ‘Tis fine. I wish I could find Dorcas Swann and ask her to create one of her special healing poultices.” Maybe Jake would agree to rub the healing balm over her naked skin. Her vision wavered, and she was glad Kirk placed a steady hand at the small of her back.
“Yer cheeks are flushed. Old Dorcas is around here somewhere.”
“Aye? I need air.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him from the great room, “I be heading outside. Join me?”
Kirk nodded, and led Skye down the castle’s steps. When he marched toward the castle gate, unease made her tug her arm from his grasp. “Where do ye take me?”
Glancing quickly at the shadowed corner of the bailey, where the sorcerer had attacked her, she worried Kirk walked toward more danger.
“Let us check on Jake and his beasties. His animals nearly burned to death, and must have inhaled smoke.” Kirk said. He nodded to several guards who walked along the battlements. Several of Kirk’s warriors followed at a discrete distance, easing her fear.
“Aye! They are verra’ special animals.”
“Imagine that. My sister, the witch of Keldurunach, loves the beasties.” His laugh echoed around the bailey, and several guards near the gate joined in his mirth. Skye sighed as she walked beside him, feeling small and protected.
They crossed the moat, and headed into the village. The traffic to and from the castle was bustling. Suddenly pushed against her brother by a passing villager, she cried out. Kirk grabbed her around the waist, to steady her, but the sharp pressure against her wound brought tears to her eyes.
“Let her go!”
Kirk spun toward the disrespectful voice, even as he released her. She tumbled away until two strong arms pressed her against the warmth of a muscular chest. The scent of smoke and leather surprised her. Jake?
“You okay?”
She nodded at the blacksmith who had popped out of nowhere to rescue her. She angled her head, drank in his familiar features, and slid her fingers along his scruffy cheek.
“Ye need a shave, blacksmith,” she whispered.
Lowering her hand, she leaned against his shoulder.
“Now, listen here, Highlander, that be my sister and—”
“And, you hurt her,” Jake answered.
Skye cuddled closer, and her fingers tangled in his shirt. Jake gathered her in his arms, supported her legs, and gently raised her off her feet. Held to his chest like a delicate newborn bairn, she knew what came next.
“And…don’t call me Highlander!”
Before Jake swept Skye off her feet and carried her into the stable, he readied himself for her brother’s howls of protest. When he heard nothing but his own boots crunching over fresh hay, he slowed. The day was turning out better by the minute. He had just left Tavish and Dara, and found them in good health. Jake stared into Skye’s face, sighed, then set her down. Skye winced, but stood upright.
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