by Nora Roberts
The barbarians were ready for him. Having witnessed the murder of their leader, they circled him and attacked as soon as he stepped out of the loch. The battle was fierce, and should have ended quickly. But the Highland warrior refused to give up, no matter how many wounds he suffered. Despite the fact that there were a dozen men, he managed to slowly whittle away at them as one after another fell from the blows delivered by his mighty sword.
“You must die, Highlander.” One of their number raised his broadsword and caught the warrior on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground.
“Nay!” From her place in the loch Arianna gave a cry as she started forward, still cursing the heavy skirts that slowed her progress.
The barbarians swarmed over the figure lying in the dirt, knives and swords glinting in the moonlight as they inflicted mortal wounds.
Through a haze of blood and pain the Highland warrior struggled to his feet and continued fighting until only one of the enemy was left standing.
The lone barbarian gave a chilling smile. “You’re too badly wounded to fight on. You’ll feel my sword, Highlander. And then your woman will be my reward.”
Arianna watched as her champion swayed, too weak from his wounds and too blinded by blood to defend himself. She stumbled over a rock in the shallows, then bent to pick it up before rushing forward, determined to fight for the man who had risked his own life for hers.
The barbarian lifted his sword and charged. At the same instant Arianna threw the rock. When it struck its target, the barbarian looked stunned and paused. That was all the time the Highland warrior needed to thrust his sword, driving his attacker backward, where he lay among his fallen comrades.
Arianna caught the Highlander just as he was dropping to his knees.
“Oh, Lachlan. My darling. You saved me.” She cradled him in her arms, crooning to him as he lay, still and silent.
Up close she was horrified by the amount of blood. It soaked his plaid and ran in rivers, staining her gown and the ground beneath them.
“Please, my darling. Please don’t die.”
Desperate to save him, she began tearing strips of her gown and petticoats, tightening tourniquets, binding his wounds. But as quickly as she stopped the flow of one wound, she would spot more. Dozens of them. It was more than any mortal could endure.
He was slipping away from her. She could feel his life slowly ebbing with each drop of blood. And there was nothing more she could do, except tell him what he meant to her.
She bent close, pressing her mouth to his ear. “You gave your life for me, Lachlan. Perhaps it is my punishment for choosing love over honor. But I will never regret a moment of the time I spent with you. If I can never know love again in this world, know this: What I feel for you will be enough to last me a lifetime. My only regret is that our time together was too short.”
She could feel the shallow rise and fall of his chest, and she knew that soon he would breathe his last. Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. There was so little time, and so much more she wanted to say.
“Because of your love I can be strong enough to go back and face whatever fate is to be mine. If the new laird of the Highlands wishes me to honor my father’s promise, so be it. It matters not where my duty takes me, Lachlan, for this night you taught me the importance of honoring that duty. Wherever I go, you go with me, in my heart. For I am comforted by the knowledge that I have been loved by the finest Highland warrior in the land. That love will sustain me in my time of need.”
Though his eyes were now blind, he lifted a hand to her cheek, as though struggling to see her face. His lips moved, trying to form words.
She clasped his hands and bent her ear to his lips.
His voice was little more than a raspy whisper. “I know now that…love is not a weakness…but a gift. Tell…him that.”
“Tell who?”
Arianna felt his hand go limp in hers. Saw that his chest no longer rose and fell.
An icy wind churned up the loch until it foamed and frothed with all the fury of a storm.
Her grief was all-consuming. She gathered him close and wrapped herself around him, burying her face in his neck. The tears she’d been holding back now spilled over and flowed in a torrent of misery and self-hatred.
She had cost her lover his life. It was her fault that he’d followed her here and engaged the barbarians in a battle that had been doomed from the start. How could any warrior, even the finest in the land, hope to defeat more than a dozen armed men?
She’d brought about this slaughter through her own cowardice. If she had stayed at the laird’s Highland fortress and faced her fate with dignity and honor, none of this would have happened. Instead, she’d behaved like a coward, and the man she loved had been forced to pay the ultimate price.
She’d thought this loch enchanted. Instead, it was cursed. As was she. Cursed for having drawn an innocent man into her web of deceit, and ultimately, love. A love he’d fought from the beginning.
Lachlan had wanted to keep his focus on battle. Love, he believed, was a distraction. And now, because of her, he was dead.
Still holding his lifeless body, she tasted the bitter tears of her loss.
8
IN A DISTANT part of her mind Arianna seemed to hear a drumming of horses’ hooves, drawing near. She was so drained by grief it seemed too great an effort to rouse herself. Through sheer effort she managed to lift her head.
Brilliant morning sunlight reflected off the smooth surface of the loch and illuminated a figure on horseback. Blinded, she held a hand to her eyes and struggled to see the one who dared intrude upon her grief.
Broad of shoulder he was, with dark hair brushing his shoulder, where a length of plaid had been tossed rakishly. The jeweled hilt of his sword shot a dazzling display of color as he slid from his horse and started toward her.
She sat up and felt her head swim. She rubbed her eyes. Was she dreaming?
“Lachlan. How can this be?”
“Oh, my darling.” He hurried forward and gathered her into his arms. “When I found your bed empty and realized you’d fled the fortress, I was so afraid of what I’d find.”
She framed his face with her hands, peering deeply into his eyes. “But you were here with me. Fighting the barbarians. I saw you die.”
His mouth curved into a wide smile. “What dreams you have, my love.”
“’Twas no dream, Lachlan. When I reached the enchanted loch, my horse bolted and ran away.”
“Aye.” He pointed to the mare, tied behind his stallion. “I found her in the forest and feared the worst. You’ve no idea what that did to my poor heart. I imagined you lying somewhere, hurt and unable to go for help.”
“It was much worse than that. The horse bolted because she sensed the presence of the barbarians.”
At her words he glanced around and saw the bodies nearly hidden in the tall grass by the water’s edge.
His smile faded. “Sweet heaven, love. How did you survive?”
“It was you, Lachlan. You rose up out of the loch and strangled the leader, who was dragging me back to shore. And then you engaged the others with your sword. You killed them all, Lachlan. But in so doing, you gave up your own life.”
The look in his eyes was now hot and fierce as he set her on her feet. It was the same look she’d seen last night when he’d come to her rescue.
She took a step back from him, hands clenched at her sides, determined to make him believe her. “I held you in my arms until you’d breathed your last. And I wept bitter tears until I cried myself to sleep.”
He pointed. “I see the spot where you slept alone.”
“Not alone. You were…” She glanced down at the grass that still bore the imprint of her body. The spot was empty, except for a length of faded plaid.
She picked it up and stared at it, stunned. “Last night this cloth was wrapped around you. It bore the damage of a dozen knife and sword wounds. It was soaked with your blood, Lachlan.
As were the grass and my gown.”
She looked down at her skirt in disbelief. There were no bloodstains. Her eyes went wide with sudden fear. “Lachlan, I swear to you, I wasn’t dreaming. There was a Highland warrior. It was he who slew the barbarians. And he looked so much like you, I was certain I’d lost you forever.” She pressed her fingers to her trembling lips. “Am I losing my mind?”
Without a word he took the plaid from her hands and pressed it to his mouth in a gesture so loving, so tender, she could only stare. She saw a film of moisture in his eyes.
Tears? From this hardened Highland warrior?
Seeing her look of fear, he caught her hands. They were cold as ice. He drew her close and wrapped his arms around her. Against her temple he murmured, “I understand now. This was no dream, love. Nor was it a trick of the mind. I must tell you something.”
She drew away a little and looked up into his eyes.
“Pembroke told you this loch is enchanted. Did he tell you why?”
“Aye. He said that a warrior gave up his life to save his wife and son from the barbarians.”
Lachlan nodded. “It’s true. That warrior was very brave. But something kept him from enjoying his eternal reward. There was something he needed to do before his spirit could be released from this place. And so he remained all these years, waiting for the chance to finish the task given him.”
She nodded. “Pembroke said he remained here to slay the barbarians. But why now? What was so special about my life, that he should rise out of the loch to protect me?”
“He did it for me, love.”
Arianna looked at him in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“He saw us here, and felt the love between us. He knew how important it was to me that your life be spared.”
“But what is your life to him?”
He smiled then. A smile so tender, she felt it touch her heart. “I am his son. His only heir. He gave his life once for me, when he tossed me into the falling water, along with my mother, so that we’d have a chance to live. And now he has given up his spirit as well, so that the woman I love will be spared.”
“Your father?”
He nodded. “When you saw me standing on the banks of the loch, with my sword uplifted, I was uttering a prayer that my father would show me a way to keep my honor, while still having that which my heart most desired. That desire was you, Arianna.”
She closed a hand over his. “Oh, Lachlan. I had no idea. But now I understand the words you…your father spoke as he lay dying in my arms.”
His eyes burned with an inner fire as he caught her roughly by the shoulders. “Tell me what he said. I need to know.”
“He said that love is not a weakness, but a gift.”
For a long while Lachlan looked out over the smooth waters of the loch, as though searching for some sign of the man he’d loved and lost. Then he looked down at the hand on his. So soft. So perfect.
“Until you kissed me, Arianna, I’d thought of nothing but the next battle. I had vowed that no woman would ever rob me of my heart, for I feared that it would distract me from my task as a warrior. My father’s last words to me, when he tossed me into the waterfall, were that I must become a warrior worthy of his name. In order to keep my promise to him, I’d closed my heart to everything but war. My promise to him has consumed my life.” He looked into her eyes, seeing the love there. “And then we lay together, here on the banks of the enchanted loch, and I knew what it was to love.”
With a sob Arianna lowered her head, unable to bear the look in his eyes.
He caught her chin, and forced her to look at him. “What is it, love? What is the pain I see in those depths? Is there more that you haven’t told me?”
She swallowed. “While my brave warrior lay in my arms, I made a vow.”
When Lachlan said nothing, she forced herself to go on. “I was convinced that I’d lost you, my love. And I believed that it was my punishment for having fled the laird’s fortress in the night like a coward, rather than staying and honoring my father’s promise.”
He gave her a gentle smile. “Now you know otherwise. I’m still here, Arianna. Your brave warrior was from the spirit world, sent to serve you in your hour of need.”
“Aye. But that doesn’t release me from my vow.”
“What is this terrible vow that brings such pain to my beloved?”
She took a deep breath. “I made a solemn vow that I would accept my father’s will and wed the laird of lairds.” She felt tears spring to her eyes, but she blinked them away. She had to be strong enough to get through this. “And though it will break my heart to be wed to another, I will do so. Not only because I have promised it, but because it is the honorable thing to do. I owe that much to my father, and to my people.”
His eyes narrowed on her, and she felt again the strange intensity that she felt whenever he looked at her. As though he could see clear through to her soul.
“After all that we’ve been through, you would wed another, Arianna?”
She touched a hand to his. “Please don’t make this any more painful than it already is, Lachlan. I fled once like a coward. Now I must do what is right. But know always that I will carry you forever in my heart.”
At a thundering of hooves they looked up to find the entire company of Highland warriors riding toward them. Sunlight glinted off weapons as the men dismounted and hurried forward.
Pembroke halted a few steps away and looked from his old friend to the woman beside him. “Praise heaven you found the lady unharmed.”
“Aye, Pembroke. I see her nursemaid gave you my message.”
The young man chuckled. “The old woman was ready to sit a horse and join us.”
“And why not?” Lachlan’s voice warmed with humor. “She is aware of the treasure she guards.”
The two shared a smile.
Lachlan lifted a hand. “And now we must return the lady Arianna to the fortress, for the laird of lairds is planning to introduce her to his people before they are wed.”
Arianna glanced up at him sharply. “You find this amusing?”
“I do, my lady. As shall you.” He turned to one of the warriors and called, “When we’re gone, see that those bodies of the barbarians are disposed of.”
The man gave a stiff bow of his head. “Aye, my laird.”
Arianna glanced from the man to Lachlan. “My laird?”
He was smiling broadly now. A smile that reached his eyes, warming them like the morning sun had warmed the earth. “It was not my choice to lead my people. But once chosen, I could not refuse. Though it humbles me, I will do my best to serve not only the Highlanders but your father and his people as well. For the promises made by my uncle will be kept by me.”
He pulled himself up into the saddle, then reached down and lifted her into his arms. He lowered his voice, so that she alone could hear. “It gladdens my heart to know that my woman has vowed to wed me, regardless of how old I may grow, or how fearsome I may look.”
She swallowed back the laughter that bubbled up. “Take care, my laird. If you ever keep such an important secret from me again, I may make you sorry that you ever met me.”
“That will never happen, Arianna.”
With his entire company of warriors watching, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her until her head spun and she felt the earth tilt.
As they started off through the forest, she leaned back, feeling the warmth of his arms enfolding her.
“I feel as if I’m dreaming, Lachlan.”
“If this be a dream, it is one we both share.” He urged his horse faster. “I’ve already sent a carriage to your father’s keep.”
“A carriage?”
He leaned close. “I thought you would enjoy having your father and sisters with you when we are wed.”
“Oh, Lachlan.” She turned and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her lips to his throat. “You own my heart. And have since first we kissed.”
“It w
as all part of a grand plan by the fates, my love.” His words wrapped themselves around her heart, and she knew they were true.
She wouldn’t question the fates. She would simply take what they offered, and be grateful.
9
SUNLIGHT BURNED OFF the mist, leaving the Highland meadows bright with heather. The hills echoed with bells ringing in the tower of the kirk, announcing the wedding of the laird and his bride.
From miles around, the villagers came to the kirk high in the hills to see the woman who had won the heart of their laird.
Already the love of these two had become the stuff of legends. Everyone enjoyed hearing about the young lass who had defied her father and fled rather than enter into a loveless marriage. The warriors who had ridden with Lachlan MacLean had added to the lore by telling of the barbarians, dead at the hand of the ghost of the enchanted loch.
It was said that these two had been fated from the beginning of time to be together.
In the knave of the kirk, Nola fussed and fidgeted over Arianna, while Glenna and Kendra flitted around their sister like bright butterflies.
“Oh, Arianna. Look at you!” Glenna couldn’t stop touching the gossamer gown.
“Step aside now, the two of ye, while I dress yer sister’s hair.”
“I think it should be braided.” Glenna picked up a length of white ribbon.
“Nay. Brushed long and loose,” Kendra insisted. “And no ribbons. I think she should wear wildflowers in her hair.”
“She’ll wear a veil,” Nola said firmly. “As did her mother, and her mother before her.”
The two girls watched as she set a length of fabric as delicate as a spider’s web on Arianna’s head, and secured it with a jeweled comb. Then she led the bride to a looking glass. “What think ye, child?”
“Oh.” Arianna studied her reflection before nodding. “Aye. My mother’s gown and veil are perfect, Nola.” She caught the hands of her two sisters. “Soon enough, you’ll both be wearing this as well.”