At Ellie’s gasp, Drew’s body stiffened and his eyes grew shuttered, a look Caden had come to know. It was that damned scar and everything it represented to his brother.
“Step aside, Drew. We’ve worked long and hard and we’re both ready to retire for the night.”
Rather than moving away, Drew leaned against the opening to the stairs, completely blocking access, his arms insolently crossed over his chest.
“At this late hour, I’ve no a doubt you’ve worn yerselves out.” The younger man tilted his head and arched an eyebrow.
“And what do you mean by that, little brother?” Caden stepped in front of Ellie, pushing her behind him. He didn’t like the insinuation, particularly not in light of how close he had come to allowing exactly that to happen.
“I think you ken my meaning well enough. It’s no matter to me what you’ve been up to with the lass, Caden, but have you no a care for the worry you’ve caused our mother this day? Is it no enough for her to fash herself over one missing son, but you have to give the woman cause to worry over two?”
“And how is my spending the day in the high pasture searching for a way to save our flocks more worrisome than the times you disappear for weeks on end to Inverness or Edinburgh?” He would not be lectured by Drew, not considering his younger brother’s irresponsible ways.
“This is no about me.” Drew stepped from the stair, pausing to catch his balance as his left leg gave way. Pain reflected in his expression before he quickly closed himself off again.
Caden resisted the urge to reach out to help his brother. He knew from experience it would only worsen the situation to acknowledge the weakness in any way.
Ellie was another matter. A tiny, breathy “Oh!” at his side and she started forward. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back behind him again, hoping Drew had missed her movement.
He hadn’t.
“I may no be the man you are, Caden, but I’ve no trouble imagining what you spent yer day doing.” Drew’s hand slid to the outside of his left thigh, kneading the muscle as if his fingers had a mind of their own.
Caden took a deep breath, swallowing the anger that bubbled to the surface. His brother was exhausted. He had to be or he’d never acknowledge the pain he experienced, not even with an unconscious movement like the rubbing of his hand.
The mark on Drew’s chest was nothing in comparison to the one scarring his leg. Or the scar in his mind. And since Caden felt partly responsible for both of his brother’s injuries, he wouldn’t allow himself to vent his anger on Drew now. Instead he forced himself to speak quietly, calmly.
“We spent our day checking sheep’s hooves, looking for more signs of the rot the new animal carries.”
Drew’s hand froze. “So it’s true? Steafan allowed Gilberd to bring home a diseased ewe?”
“It’s no as if Steafan did it on purpose,” Caden defended. “It was Gilberd’s prize.”
Drew shrugged. “Gilberd is hardly more than a lad. The fact remains that Steafan dinna check the animal and now we’ve the disease to contend with, aye? For someone so concerned with securing his place as yer future overseer, I’d say Steafan’s shown a serious lapse in judgment.”
Caden nodded his reply, not trusting himself to speak the words out loud. As if he hadn’t enough trouble, now Drew’s jealousy of Steafan reared its ugly head.
It had been this way since the injury to Drew’s leg in the battle with the Nuadian Fae nine years earlier. Caden had always been close to Steafan, but with Drew off his feet for so long, he’d grown ever more dependent on his friend.
He knew Drew blamed Steafan’s sister for the whole incident and, by association, Steafan himself. That had to be the reason Drew constantly found fault in the motives for everything Steafan did.
Caden hadn’t the time to fash himself over Drew’s petty jealousies now. He had to center all his efforts on the threat to the flocks. If they lost all the animals to this plague…
“Copper sulfate!” Ellie announced as if she’d just found a bag of silver pennies on the floor. “I knew I’d remember sooner or later. It’s not as good as the zinc, but it’ll work and it should be available in this time.”
“What in the name of the Fae is she blethering on about?”
Drew’s look of confusion must mirror his own.
“Ellie?”
“We get it from a copper-bearing rock. Mixed with water, it makes a solution we can use to treat the foot rot.” The woman smiled at them both, obviously pleased with herself.
“A copper-bearing rock?” Drew echoed. “And we would find that where?”
Ellie’s smile faded. “Wherever you’d go to get stuff like this. Wait. I think it’s called…oh, crap.” She closed her eyes and her forehead wrinkled. “Blue vitriol! That’s it. Don’t you have apothecaries or something?”
“Blue vitriol.” Caden rolled the words in his mind. It had a familiar sound.
“Bluestone?” Drew asked. “Yer talking about bluestone, aye?”
“Yes, yes!” Ellie’s excitement was almost contagious. “Do you know where we can get some?”
Drew’s expression hardened. “What say you, Brother? Do you believe this farfetched idea could help save the flocks?”
Caden wavered. True, the woman had proven her knowledge of sheep this day, but how could a simple rock save them? It made no sense. While he wanted to believe her, trust her, the doubt still lingered. She was a woman, and she had, after all, been sent here by the Fae. And the Fae he’d met weren’t particularly trustworthy.
Apparently his indecision showed.
“As I thought.” Drew shook his head.
“Wait.” Ellie stepped in front of Caden, her hand on his forearm. “You aren’t even going to try this? It’ll work, I know it will. If you have any idea where we can get our hands on this stuff…” Her words died off as she searched his face, hurt and disbelief shining in her eyes.
Caden tore his gaze from hers to find his brother limping toward the stairs.
“Since you’ve no a need for me, I’m returning to my bed. If there’s news of Colin and Blane, you’ll fetch me, aye?”
“I will. Get yer rest. We need to be ready no matter what word comes.” If anything had happened to his youngest brother or his cousin…
Drew snorted, again shaking his head. “I dinna need to be rested to wait behind with the women and wring my hands. And since that’s all I’m good for, I’d no be too concerned with my rest if I were you.”
Caden could only watch his brother disappear up the stairs. It would do no good to argue. It would do no good to point out that Drew was an excellent swords-man, that he demonstrated his skill daily in their practices together. Drew would only see what he believed. That he practiced to keep his damaged leg from becoming completely useless. That the one accident in the lists last year proved his unworthiness. The one accident for which Caden was responsible.
Rosalyn told him Ellie had been sent for one of his brothers and he trusted his mother’s word in the matter beyond question. But how could he ever have considered Drew an appropriate husband for Ellie? His brother spent too much time grieving for what he was not instead of concentrating on what he could be.
No, Ellie deserved better than that in a husband.
It was obvious to him now that she must have been sent to wed Colin.
Now if he could only get Colin home safely for Ellie to wed.
Fourteen
“A few more days and you’ll no even smell the stench.” Colin MacAlister closed his eyes and rolled from his back to his side facing the wall.
Blane seriously doubted that.
Thank the Fates the sun was finally up. Perhaps it would get warmer in here now. Though with the throbbing in his head, he was grateful for the muted light. Morning was visible only from a dim shaft showing under the ill-fitting heavy wooden door and through the one opening in the back wall. The combination cast a gray glow within the confined space where he sat.
The cell the t
wo men shared was a small, hastily constructed rock building, not even tall enough to allow his cousin to stand fully erect.
Not that Colin needed to be standing. The beating Wodeford’s men had given him had seen to that. Blane was just thankful the younger man appeared to be on the mend.
Blane shifted on the damp earthen floor, pulling the edge of his heavy woolen plaid up over his nose. He leaned his head back against the rock wall and listened to the sound of Colin’s breathing, once again slow and steady with sleep.
Last night, he had been hauled from his audience with Wodeford and tossed into this place. His only consolation had been in finding his cell already occupied by the cousin he had come to rescue.
Some rescue.
“I should no have allowed myself to be taken,” Colin had confided as they sat huddled together in the dark. “But they held Dair with a sword to his throat and I couldna risk what they might do to him.”
“So you surrendered your weapon.” It wasn’t a question. Blane knew what his cousin would do under such circumstances. The same as he would have done. The young man’s sense of responsibility for his friend would have prevented any other action.
“Aye. They separated us as soon as we reached Wode Castle and I’ve no seen him since.”
“No word from any of the guards on his condition or whereabouts?”
Colin had laughed grimly. “They willna speak even a single word to me, though I’ve listened in on the conversations they have with one another. Even so, I’ve learned nothing of Dair. It’s no likely they thought they could collect a ransom for one such as him, so I fear…” Colin had stopped as if speaking his fears out loud might bring them to pass.
Blane’s stomach rumbled, bringing him back to the present, and he huddled deeper into his plaid. Colin had warned him they brought food only once, each evening, so he knew he had a long wait.
Glancing once more at his cousin, he wished he could join the younger man in slumber. Sleep would be a welcome visitor to distract his mind from the cold, the hunger, and the worries about the fates of Alasdair Maxwell and his own men.
“Psst!”
Blane sat upright and looked around the room. The noise hadn’t come from Colin. He still lay curled on his side, his even breathing changed to light snores.
“Psst! Laird MacKiernan?”
A woman’s voice?
Blane followed the sound to the rough window in the back wall. The opening, no larger than his own two hands, was level with his face as he looked out.
“Who’s there?” In the silence of the early morning, his words sounded unnaturally loud to his own ears.
“Shh! We’ve a need to speak quietly, good sir.”
A woman stood under the roughly hewn window, too short to peer directly inside. She lowered the hood of her cloak and looked up at him, her large brown eyes soft with concern.
It was the same woman who had come to his defense in the hall last evening, Wodeford’s sister.
“Catriona?” The name slipped off his tongue without thought.
She stood very still, clutching a bundle to her chest. “I’m honored, Laird MacKiernan, that you’d remember my name.”
“I could no forget the lovely lady who spoke up for me. But why are you here?”
She appeared flustered but didn’t look away. “I’ve brought you food. It’s no much. Only a few rolls and some cheese.” She opened the bundle and handed the food up to him.
After having gone so long without, he saw it as a veritable feast.
“And this,” she added, reaching out with what looked like a palm-sized pillow. “It’s a poultice. For yer face. Where my brother struck you. It should help the pain and swelling.”
“How can I thank you for…?” he began, but she cut him off.
“There’s no a need for that, good sir. Just eat it quickly and say nothing to anyone.” She folded the cloth she’d had wrapped around the food and pulled her cloak back over her head. “I’ll try to bring more later.”
With a shy smile, she turned and ran around the corner out of his sight, leaving Blane to stare after her as he rubbed the fragrant little pillow between his fingers.
Fifteen
“You have to trust me on this. I know what I’m talking about.” Ellie leaned over Caden’s shoulder, watching as he worked to repair the piece of equipment lying in front of him. “We just need to walk the animals through the copper sulfate mixture. It honestly wouldn’t be that hard to do.”
Why couldn’t she just shut up? Every time she’d seen Caden for the last few days, she’d babbled on like this, like some kind of deranged magpie. But she couldn’t seem to stop, even though she knew he had no faith in her idea of how to treat the foot rot.
She couldn’t seem to make herself move away from him, either.
“Aye, so you’ve told me, lass. Several times.” Caden spoke patiently, not looking up from his task, not even when her hair fell across her shoulder and dangled down onto his.
She should really straighten up and back off. Just move away from the man.
But no.
“What could it hurt to at least try? We’d just need to get the rock and make the solution and then walk the animals through it.”
She could only babble on and move closer. Close enough she could feel the heat from his back on her legs. Close enough to admire the way his auburn hair just brushed the top of his shoulders, soft curls caressing his strong neck. Close enough she could almost count the individual gold flecks in his deep brown eyes when he turned his face up to her.
“So you’ve told me many a time now.” He lifted the tool he was working on. “Do you want to do this repair yerself? Because I canna finish with yer hanging over me like a bird of prey.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry. I was just trying to…” She let the explanation die away as she straightened and he returned to his task.
It was the babbling. If she could just manage to shut her mouth for one minute she wouldn’t be so annoying and perhaps she’d be able to convince him. But it was so hard. If he would only believe her. Instead he greeted her with silence.
So she babbled, because the silences were too uncomfortable to bear.
For in the silence, in the moments she didn’t fill with inane chatter, her thoughts drifted back to the day they’d gone out to check on the sheep. To that rock overhang with the storm raging outside and his lips warm against hers, his arms holding her tightly, his hands…
“Are you no listening at all, woman?”
Startled from her thoughts, Ellie jumped and stepped away, her foot landing on the tools Caden had neatly stacked on the floor. The metal under her slipper rolled and her feet flew out from under her, pitching her backward. Before she could hit the ground, Caden was there, arms outstretched for her to fall into.
Or rather onto.
He’d twisted around to grab her, pulling her forward onto him. When she landed, it was on his solid body instead of the hard ground.
The oof sound underneath her sent her scrambling to get to her feet but to no avail. His arms held her securely atop him, face to face, staring into the depths of those eyes.
Brown like warm molasses. Sprinkled with gold.
She stilled and placed her forearms on his chest to balance herself as she pushed up to give herself some distance. That close she couldn’t get her voice to work, couldn’t even think.
“Are you unhurt?” The words rumbled in his chest, vibrating against her body.
“I’m okay. Just embarrassed. Again.” She shook her head, hating the heat that flooded her face. “I swear, Caden. It feels like I’ve saved up every stupid, klutzy thing I could possibly ever do just so I could repeatedly make a fool of myself in front of you.”
He grinned at her and the breath caught in her lungs.
“You do seem to have a talent for the blunder.” His hands slid from her waist up the sides of her back. “But I dinna think you a fool, Elliedenton. Completely immodest and inappropriate in every way for a lad
y, but no a fool.”
She could hardly deny those charges, straddled across his body with her dress bunched up to her thighs. But she didn’t have to listen to them.
Instead she lowered her face to his and kissed that wonderful, firm mouth. Feathered the tip of her tongue over his lips until they parted. Sucked his full lower lip into her mouth.
He rolled, and she found herself under him, his body snuggly fit to hers as he took charge of the kiss she had begun.
One hand cradled her head as he left her mouth and trailed the fire of his lips down her neck onto her shoulder, nudging the gathers of her shift out of his way as he went.
His finger traced the neckline of her garment, followed by his tongue, pushing the material lower until his hot breath caressed her breast.
When his hand covered that same breast, she lifted her hips, locking her legs behind his back.
This felt so right.
The fire consumed him as it did each time he was close to her.
Ellie’s skin tasted like honey and he hungered for her as a starving man for crumbs.
The breast under his fingers molded to his hand as if it had been made for him. He ran his thumb over the nipple still hidden under her shift, emboldened when he felt it harden under his touch.
He grasped the strings that held the shift in place and pulled, loosening her neckline, granting him the access he wanted.
Her little moans drove him wild.
He pushed the cloth from her breast and froze at what greeted him.
A deep, dark red rose adorned her breast.
Her Faerie mark.
The Fae. She’d been sent by the Fae. Sent through time to find her man. His brother. She belonged to his brother.
He looked to Ellie’s face to find her staring at him, her eyes the dark inviting green of the deep forest.
Her hands fluttered up and her thumbs brushed against his cheeks. “How can this be possible? It can’t be you I was sent here to…”
“No!”
It had come out so much more harshly than he’d intended. The hurt and shock on her face cut him to the quick. “No,” he said more gently, pulling her shift back up to hide the beauty he’d exposed. It couldn’t be him. He’d had his one chance at love. And learned his lesson painfully well. Love was not for him.
A Highlander of Her Own Page 11