Deception of a Highlander

by Madeline Martin

  She peered from around the large trunk of a tree to where Kieran rode several paces away and tightened the plaid around her, not only for protection against the bitter wind, but also for the blend of colors that would blur her into the scenery.

  One quick glance confirmed his ignorance. She moved quietly through the brush and squatted on trembling legs. How long had she been at this? An hour? Two?

  The gray light of dawn had feathered into the brilliance of morning and sunlight speckled the sandy dirt at her feet.

  Perhaps she had been foolish to follow Kieran on foot when he rode on horseback, but his pace had been slow enough to track, and she would have had difficulty hiding a horse on the sparse terrain.

  Kieran climbed a hill in the distance and disappeared from view, giving Mariel an opportunity to dart across the landscape toward a pile of jagged rocks thrusting up through the tender earth. The ocean spread to her left, dazzling blue as it reflected the rays of the sun like a thousand glinting mirrors. The grass near her feet had long since slid away onto the beach and left a short cliff no taller than she. It was the perfect place to keep her presence hidden.

  She slipped over the edge into safe obscurity. Though she moved forward with caution, layers of sand gave way beneath her feet. Still she did not stop, not until she could see at least the top of his dark head.

  Kieran stopped and dismounted from his horse, his pace brisk as he headed toward something she could not see.

  Mariel stood on her tiptoes and peered over the torn earth. He stood before the door of the small hut.

  Smoke billowed from the chimney-peat by the rich aroma. The door flew open and a woman with long brown hair stepped out into the sunlight. She was young, beautiful, and eager to see Kieran if the wide, perfect smile was any indicator.

  He opened his arms to the slender woman, and she ran without hesitation into his embrace. His arms folded around her, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head with an affectionate smile creasing his eyes. Mariel’s stomach knotted.

  She staggered backward, heedless of disclosing her presence. She had been deceived. Her lips curved in a mirthless smirk at the irony of her predicament. The man so honorable and moral was as much a liar and a fraud as she.

  What a fool she was to have thought herself in love, to have thought he might actually harbor feelings for her. And all the while he had a woman here on Skye. Was it any wonder he had not wanted Mariel to come?

  The painful throb of her heart echoed in the ache between her legs from the gift she had so foolishly bestowed upon him.

  Perhaps killing him would be an easier feat than expected. In fact, at that point she was almost looking forward to it. Almost.

  “Momma!” A little voice pulled her attention and caught the tattered remains of her heart.

  A young boy’s face appeared at the doorway, his eyes black as onyx in his small face.

  Kieran had a son.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Kieran scrubbed his face with his hands and heaved a deep sigh. The ride home had taken an eternity, and the lack of sleep was catching up with him. What a long damn night, followed by a long damn day.

  “Ye asked for me?” Alec gave him a strange look.

  “Walk with me,” Kieran said and strode toward the castle.

  “Get Mariel and bring her to my solar whether she wants to come or no.”

  “That’s what ye need me for?” Alec’s eyebrow rose. “Do I need to drag her there?”

  Kieran considered Alec’s statement for a moment. “Ye very well might. I dinna care what it takes.” Their heavy boots fell soundless upon the rushes as they entered the great hall.

  Alec gave a nonchalant shrug and stalked off to obey the order he’d been given.

  Kieran rubbed the tightness along the back of his neck. Were Mariel not so angry with him, he might have asked her to ease the tension the way she had in the past. Guilt flashed through him.

  He turned down the hall toward his solar and found Colin leaning against the door frame with a dour look on his usually cheerful face.

  He locked forearms with Colin and narrowed his eyes. “How do ye feel today?”

  Colin winced. “Like my head’s been split open.”

  Kieran squeezed his friend’s forearm in an iron grip. “If ye touch Mariel again, yer head will be split open…with the blade of my sword.”

  “Ye dinna lay claim to her,” Colin protested and tried to wrest his arm free.

  Kieran released him with a solid shove that sent Colin sprawling awkwardly against the floor. “I am now. She’s mine, and I’ll kill any man who dares question that.”

  Ever the unflappable one, Colin gave an amused smirk. “Consider yer claim laid. Now help me up before I lose the contents of my stomach in front of yer door.” He grinned. “And I just ate a whole trencher of food.”

  Kieran extended a hand to help his friend to his feet. “If ye were anyone else, ye’d already be dead.”

  “I know, I know.” He clapped Kieran on the back and strode down the hall, whistling a jaunty tune.

  Kieran smiled in spite of himself and he closed the door behind him. How was it Colin always seemed to slip out of trouble as easily as he found his way into it? Kieran sank into the chair behind his desk.

  The ledgers and journals he had swept to the ground the night before had been piled in a neat stack. A cool breeze filtered in through the open shutters and filled the room with the salty, wet tang of the ocean. His gaze wandered to the edge of the desk where he’d held Mariel last night.

  Kieran looked out the window to the crashing waves below. He recalled her surprise when he made her come that first time, the euphoric wonder at the pleasure he’d brought her. Damn it, he should have known.

  Kieran braced his hands against the wall until the stone bit into his palms.

  She had been right. He knew nothing about her life. With the little bit he did know about her past, he could not imagine what she’d had to endure to preserve her virginity but was certain it came at an exorbitant price.

  Mariel’s voice echoed down the hall and the few words he caught were certainly nothing that would come from a lady’s mouth. The door burst open, and in walked Alec with Mariel flung over his shoulder.

  Her fists peppered Alec’s large back with futile abandon. “Set me down or I’ll…”

  “Ye’ll no do anything.” Alec set her to her feet. “We’re already here.”

  Mariel flung her thick black braid over her shoulder and straightened her gown. Brilliant red cheeks were the only indication of how humiliated her arrival had left her. Her gaze settled on the desk and immediately flicked away as though the very sight of it burned her eyes.

  Kieran nodded to Alec, who quickly took the offer to escape and closed the door behind him. Silence shrouded the room and once again Kieran found himself face-to-face with Mariel, lacking the words to express what he wanted to say.

  He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss away the hurt he’d caused her, to gently right the wrong he had so roughly done.

  Bitter anger laced her glare. What he wanted was not what she needed.

  “Mariel, we need to talk about last night,” he said more gruffly than he had intended. Apologizing had never been his strong suit.

  He recognized the stubborn lift to her chin. She was not going to make this easy.

  He cleared his throat, trying to figure out where to begin. “I dinna know ye were a maiden—”

  She held up her hand. “Save your petty apology for someone who is willing to listen. You’ll find naught but deaf ears with me.”

  He shifted his weight from one foot to the other in a pathetic attempt to hide the frustration of his failed start. Brennan had always been the stronger of the two when it came to conversation and charisma. What would he have done in this situation?

  “Mariel…” he began again, unsure of what to say beyond that.

  “Save your lies,” she said vehemently and wrench
ed the door open.

  His palm slapped against the heavy wood with a force that wrenched the latch from Mariel’s hand and slammed the door shut. Mariel stared up at him in silenced shock. Her fingers were still locked in front of her where she’d held the door.

  “I should no have let ye leave last night, and I will be damned if I let ye leave now.”

  She backed away from him and let her hand drop. “I don’t want to hear what you have to say.”

  “I hurt you,” he stated, trying to let her know he understood.

  She did not attempt to hide the raw pain in her luminous gaze. Or perhaps she did. He drew a deep breath to clear the ache in his chest.

  “You have no idea how much you’ve hurt me,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

  “I dinna know.” He moved forward, his hand poised to cradle the softness of her cheek. “But I want to.”

  She flinched from his touch.

  He focused on keeping his voice level. “Had ye told me ye were a virgin, I wouldna have been so rough. Ye have to understand, I dinna mean to hurt ye.”

  She regarded him with icy contempt. “And what of your wife? Did you mean to hurt her when you took me last night? Did you mean to hurt me when you lied to me and said you had no woman?”

  Kieran stared at her for a moment and tried to think around the throbbing in his head. What the hell was she talking about?

  “Wife?” He shook his head to clear it. “Mariel, I dinna know what ye mean.”

  “I saw you.” She looked away, but not before he saw the tears pooling in her eyes. “You hugged her and kissed the top of her head while your little boy watched from the house.”

  Cold realization snaked down his spine. How had she seen that? He had been so careful.

  Kieran narrowed his eyes at her. “Ye saw this? With yer own eyes?”

  She met the challenge of his gaze. “I did.”

  “And how did ye see it?” He tightened his fist at his side, struggling to keep his anger restrained.

  “I followed you. I felt like you were hiding something from me, and so I followed when you left the castle.” Her stoicism faltered, and her delicate white fingers worried the fabric of her skirt.

  The dam to his rage broke. “Ye had no right,” he began, his voice raising.

  “I did,” she interrupted. “You said last night that I belonged to you.”

  Hope and torment mingled in the stormy depths of her eyes, disarming his fury and bringing him back to the reason he had summoned her. Enough hurt had been unleashed in that room.

  He took a step closer and lowered his voice. She eyed him warily, but did not move away. “I did say ye belong to me and ye do. What ye saw today, it isna what ye think.” Mariel had spoken similar words to him. “But the lass ye saw is dear to my heart, and I’d like for ye to meet her.”

  Mariel’s brows knit together. “I don’t understand.”

  He met her gaze with unflinching stare. “After we eat, I’ll have the horses saddled, and then ye can come with me to meet my sister.”

  • • •

  Mariel’s hips rocked with the lazy sway of the horse beneath her. Kieran rode silently beside her as they followed the path he had taken only hours before. Waves crashed against the shore with an erratic rhythm and birds sang out in the distance. The breeze was sticky with moisture from the ocean and ominous dark clouds crowded the sky overhead.

  “Why doesn’t your sister live in the castle with the rest of the clan?” Mariel asked.

  Kieran looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. “She doesna feel safe there.”

  Mariel waited for Kieran to continue. When he did not, she pressed him out of curiosity. “Why not?”

  His hands tightened on the reigns perceptively, and his mouth pressed in a thin line.

  Mariel shifted in her saddle, sorry to have asked such an unwelcome question. “We don’t have to discuss it if you prefer to not to.”

  His gaze met hers, his expression weary. “Perhaps if I tell ye, ye will understand the hatred my people have for the English and realize why the clan made things difficult when ye first arrived.” He relaxed his grip on the reins, his hard stare set on the invisible path ahead of them. “Several years ago, an English noble convinced my sister to be his wife. She fell for his lies and left for England. We didna hear from her for years. Truthfully, after centuries of crimes delivered at the hands of the English, we considered her one of them and dinna think of her often.” He smirked. “Sounds cruel, but we are a hard lot, and she made her own decisions.

  “Before the snow began to fall this year, I received a message from the MacKinnons informing me that my sister was with them and in dire need of help. I went to her as quickly as I could.” His gaze was distant with memory.

  “When I saw her, she was…” He shook his head and exhaled deeply. “She had a small boy with her.”

  Kieran looked directly at Mariel. “My nephew—no my son. I havena fathered any bairns, aye?”

  Heat crept over her cheeks, though whether from quiet pleasure or embarrassment, she did not know. She nodded, fearful speaking might shatter the fragile and candid speech he so rarely displayed.

  He shifted his gaze toward the road once more. “She dinna want to talk, no at first, but I finally convinced her she needed to. I needed to know what happened.” A muscle worked in his jaw. “That bastard of a husband beat her every day she was on English soil. She endured it for years until he raised a hand to their son, then she escaped. No a day goes by that she doesna check behind her back to see if he is following her. She thinks if she lives in the castle, he’ll find her and drag her back to England.”

  The creaking of their saddles filled the silence as Mariel absorbed what Kieran had told her. Emotion tightened in her chest for the woman she would soon meet.

  “You don’t like her so far away because you can’t protect her,” Mariel said softly.

  Kieran’s shoulders were squared, his body taut with rage. “Maybe ye can talk some sense into her.”

  He nudged his horse up a steep hill to where the humble whitewashed hut sat. Mariel didn’t speak again as he tied off their horses, and they walked the distance toward the plank door.

  Her stomach knotted.

  Kieran rapped a series of well-timed knocks against the smooth wood. The door opened, and a friendly face appeared in the doorway. Emerald green eyes crinkled with delight as they settled on Mariel, and a wide smile spread over the woman’s comely face.

  “You must be Mariel.” The woman spoke with a melodic lilt that hovered somewhere between Scots and English. “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you.” Her thin arms caught Mariel in a strong embrace.

  Where Kieran was cold and closed off, his sister was warm and open. Mariel smiled in spite of herself and breathed in the clean scent of sunshine and home that seemed to emanate from the slender woman.

  “Oh, do come in. I have so much I’d like to say to you.”

  Mariel allowed herself to be pulled into the small house. Kieran’s sister laid a dagger on a table beside the door with a heavy clunk.

  Her home was simple, but cheerfully so. A small table sat in the center of the room surrounded by three wooden chairs. Several cabinets dotted the wall and a simple bed was pushed into the corner. Various herbs hung from the rafters and left the air in the small home comforting.

  Kieran walked in behind them, followed by the boy she had seen that morning. The boy kept his small, dark gaze fixed on her as he stalked over to his mother with a noticeable limp and stood in front of her, his stance protective.

  Kieran’s sister ruffled her son’s hair and smiled down at him. “This sweaty little boy is my son, Dougal.”

  Dougal.

  The hairs on the back of Mariel’s neck stood on end. No.

  The air in the cabin grew thin.

  It couldn’t be.

  “I’m afraid I don’t know your name,” Mariel heard herself say.

  “Ach, forgive my terrible manners.” Kie
ran’s sister gave a wide grin, her face open and genuinely sweet. “I’m Blair.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kieran leaned his back against the wall as Dougal sat beside Mariel’s feet. The little boy tugged the hem of her dress, his face earnest. She bent to the boy’s height with a smile and let him whisper in her ear.

  “All right, but this is the last time,” Mariel said. She pulled a coin from her pocket, pushed her hands together, and then opened them with dramatic flourish. The coin had disappeared. While Dougal searched her arms for where she had hidden it, she plucked the coin from behind his ear.

  His high-pitched laughter filled the room as he clapped his hands. “Again! Again!”

  Blair stood up from the table and joined Kieran as Mariel agreed to do the trick “one last time.”

  His sister grinned up at him. “I like her, Kieran. I like her a lot.”

  “Ye seem to get along well, but then I knew ye would. It’s good to see ye have someone to talk to.”

  The flush of happiness and the sparkle in Blair’s eyes were evidence enough that he had made the right decision in trusting Mariel. He had been a fool for keeping Blair and Dougal a secret from her for so long.

  “She would be a very good mother,” Blair mused.

  Kieran didn’t respond as he watched Mariel laugh and allow herself to be pulled to the ground beside Dougal. She would be as patient with her own children and as fiercely protective of them as she had been with Coira. Kieran felt a smile tug his lips at the thought of her cradling his child.

  “I think what I like best about her though,” Blair continued, “is the way she looks at you.” She made a point of peering up at him. “And the way you look at her.”

  Kieran grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. “I dinna know what ye’re talking about.”

  “You need a wife and Caisteal Camus has been too long without a mistress. Mariel—”

  “It wouldna be without a mistress if ye lived with us.”

  Her smooth brow puckered. “You know why I can’t.”

  Of course he knew. They had this conversation every time he visited. “It’s foolish, Blair. If ye lived in the castle I could offer ye better protection. There is no one out here to help if—”