by K. E. Saxon
Jesslyn, who’d been resting her cheek on the top of her son’s head, lifted her own and began to look behind her at Bao. Her eyes halted on the north wall.
“Why can’t I stay—” Alleck began.
“Where is my tapestry?” she said sharply. The tapestry of Graeme had been replaced with one she recognized from Alleck’s bedchamber at the keep, depicting a Bealltainn scene.
“I thought Alleck might like to have the tapestry hang in his own chamber,” Bao answered, his tone all-innocence. “It is of his father, is it not?”
Narrowing her eyes at him, she shook her head in disgust, but decided against arguing with him about his presumptuous action in front of her son. “Aye, it is. And, for the time being at least, I shall allow the tapestry to remain there.”
“I want to help you fight the prince’s army!” Alleck said belligerently.
Bao broke eye contact with Jesslyn, allowing her to win the glaring contest, and looked back at her son. “Ah! But who, then, will protect the ladies? It is the highest honor and the gravest duty I bestow on you, Alleck, the protection of our most cherished family members.”
Alleck’s shoulders straightened and his chest swelled with self-importance and pride. “Aye, I’ll keep them safe!” he vowed.
“Good, I shall be trusting that you will,” Bao said.
* * *
Bao met Daniel on the training field later that morn to discuss building a second mangonel to be placed on the newly constructed south tower of the curtain wall. The north tower had been equipped with its own war engine just after the completion of the towers’ construction a few moons past.
“Nay, let us begin by having archers man it; they will halt the onslaught of Llywelyn’s men, should they get past our defenses and make it to the wall. We can place a mangonel there later, if the need arises,” Daniel said.
“The gardener, even now, is searching the periphery of the curtain wall for any vines or other such that might be used by our foes to climb to the top.”
“Make sure he pours boiling water on the roots so that they do not return. And he must look for new growth each sennight and kill that as well.”
“Aye, I shall speak to him directly,” Bao replied. “Have we enough murder holes above the gate—should we make more?”
“We have enough.”
“And we’ll fill the moat with water,” Bao stated.
“Aye,” Daniel agreed solemnly.
“Additional barns and stables will need to be built as we’ll need more livestock. About seventy-five cows and, mayhap, twice that in sheep should be brought into the bailey,” Bao said. “Do we have plenty of grain, or will we need more?”
“Laird Donald said he would send more from his own stores, so we should be well stocked.”
“I’ve spoken with the marshal. He’ll oversee his staff and make sure that we have more hauberks, cables, cords, and other such supplies completed in no more than a fortnight.”
“That pleases me,” Daniel said. “We’ll need thousands of arrows. Have you spoken to the bowyer?”
“Nay, not as yet. I shall meet with him later this morn,” Bao replied. “Have we time to finish the barbican?”
Daniel nodded and sighed. “Aye, but ‘twill be difficult. I’ll need to entice the master mason and his workmen with additional coin to do the work during such bitter weather.” Daniel rubbed the tense muscles in the back of his neck. “This siege will be costly.”
“Aye, but Branwenn is worth the sacrifice,” Bao reminded his brother. “And I’ve gold and silver enough to furnish this keep with twelve such barbicans, if need be,” Bao added.
Daniel gave Bao a curious look. “Aye?”
Bao nodded once and said shortly, “Aye.”
Daniel shrugged when Bao said naught further. “I’ve received missives from my clan, the MacLaurins, as well as the MacGregors. They are both ready to send backup forces as soon as we give them the word. Between the improvements we continue to make to the defenses of this fortress and our ally clans, we should rout the aggressors before our provisions run dry.”
“Good,” Bao replied.
* * *
CHAPTER 15
The day after the Uphalieday feast, Lady MacGregor and Laird Donald departed for their own holdings, leaving the Maclean keep much quieter than it had been in over a fortnight, when the first of the festivities, the Yule, had occurred.
Tho’ Jesslyn was not as hostile toward Bao as she had been in the beginning, he was still no closer to a full reconciliation with his wife than he had been the day she first moved back to the cottage.
Bao walked slowly across the snow covered glen toward the forest. His head down, he swung the stick he held in his hand in violent arcs, in unconscious imitation of the broad strokes he used with his battle ax in war. What tack should he take with her now? He’d done as he’d set out to do, when possible. He’d tried to entice her, remind her of her desire for him, by means he was a bit abashed to remember. At every opportunity, he had found an excuse to disrobe in front of her, at least from the waist up. Just this morn, he’d pretended to become overheated while he chopped wood for her. He’d taken off first his tunic and then his shirt in an effort to gain her attention. And nearly frozen himself in the process. But it was for naught. He had ended up chopping enough wood for the entire keep’s cookfires for the next twelve annals and she’d never turned her eye to him. Not once. She’d blithely continued speaking with Niall’s mother by the well while he’d performed for her like some smitten youth.
This was no right conduct for a warrior, a man of means, one who’d battled his fiercest challengers—and won. He must do as Maryn and Lady Maclean had advised he should do. He must woo her, win not only her heart, but her mind as well. He’d won many less evenly matched competitions, after all. Why then could he not win this fight to regain her good opinion?
Before he realized his destination, he’d trudged through the snow and stumbled along the well-known path that led him to the waterfall. He hadn’t been back here since his return to the holding and now he gazed in amazement at the difference the snow and ice made in the aspect of the place. Where there once was rushing water tumbling loudly over the cliff, there was now a silent, thick sheet of ice and snow. And the pool was completely frozen over. In fact, a light blanket of snow had covered it so completely that he couldn’t at first discern where the land ended and the pool began.
* * *
Jesslyn made her way through the dense blanket of snow that covered the floor of the wood, determinedly heading in the direction of the waterfall. She’d decided to take the longer route this morn, the one that led her to the opposite side of the pool from the path that she’d been taking these past few morns. The sun was brightly shining and the air was crisp, smelling of fresh-fallen snow, and she felt the need for a bit more exercise. She had made the trip to the fall several times in the past days, her mind plagued by thoughts and memories of both her husbands. She’d hoped that, by coming back to this enchanted place, she’d gain some clarity in her muddled mind and heart and she’d finally decide what she should do about her marriage to Bao.
She found the place just as beautiful, just as soothing, as she had during the summer when the lush green foliage and the white frothy fall had settled her restlessness. Now the trees were like well-ornamented ladies of winter, bare of their summer clothing, they stood draped in their diamond-like crystalline baubles, their arms and shoulders cradling their white-powder mantles. And serenity was there for her, in the hush, as well. Which she desperately needed after the display of muscle she’d been a witness to this morn. She was dangerously near to losing the battle between her body and her mind and that scared the hell out of her. Between Bao’s seduction and the rest of the family’s constant harrying to trust her husband, she was closer than she wanted to admit to giving in to her body’s and her heart’s desire and reconciling with Bao. But her mind was just not ready to give him her trust. No matter how hard she tried, she coul
dn’t seem to get past the images of Bao, half-naked, in the wood with the village lass, nor of him completely bared by, and being pleasured by, Lara. They fed on her deepest fear. The one she’d had from the beginning. One that had aided the delay in consummating her marriage to him. He would grow bored with her, bored with their marriage bed, as Graeme evidently had done. How could he not, when his prowess and experience far outstripped that of Graeme’s and even Graeme had complained of her lack of adventure? Nay, ‘twas much better that they end it now before more damage was done. Or was it? Ahhh! She just didn’t know! She’d been bombarded by each member of Bao’s family at every turn to give him another chance, to believe him when he swore his loyalty, swore he’d never betray her trust again. She worried her lip with her teeth. She’d already made peace with the incident in the wood sennights ago and seeing how deeply loyal he was to his sister, even to the point of breaking his marriage vows, she couldn’t help but begin to believe his heart’s ability to remain true.
She shook her head and sighed as she walked between two large trees towards the edge of the pool, then stopped short. There, on the other side of the pool, stood Bao. As if it were being drawn by some unknown force, his gaze met hers.
He would know now that she had been thinking of him. What should she do? Her mind raced. Should she turn and run? (Well, at least walk quickly—after all she was a bit too round now to run.) Or, mayhap, she should behave as if she cared not that he’d found her here, at their lovers’ bower. Nay, that would require being near him, speaking to him in this place filled with so many erotic memories. Alone. Too dangerous.
She whirled around and quickly began following her tracks back in the direction from which she’d just come.
“Wait!” Bao shouted, bolting forward without thinking, across the frozen snow-covered pool. He’d almost made it to the other side when the ice and snow gave way and his right leg fell through the break into painfully frigid water. “Aaargh!” He grabbed hold of the icy ground, but still slid further in before finally finding purchase on a tree root that protruded from the ground just under a shallow layer of snow.
Jesslyn turned when she heard Bao yell out in distress and immediately rushed back to the pool. “Ohmygod!” she cried. She looked around and grabbed a dead branch from the ground and thrust one end toward him. “Hold on to this, I’ll help to pull you out!”
Bao grabbed hold of the branch with his right hand and, using his left elbow for traction as well, was able to get out of the water with Jesslyn’s aid. He rolled onto his back at the side of the pool, breathing hard, his eyes closed and his hands resting on his abdomen. His clothing was now almost completely drenched from the icy cold water of the pool. His limbs and torso, at first so numb they had no feeling, were now tingling so painfully, it felt as if large needles were puncturing his skin, with barely a space between. After a moment, he began to shiver uncontrollably.
“Bao, you must rise. We need to get you home at once where we can get you out of these wet clothes,” Jesslyn said, grasping his shoulders and giving him a little shake.
“Just give me another moment,” Bao replied. He didn’t think his limbs would hold him yet.
“Nay! You must come with me now or you’ll surely perish from the cold.” Jesslyn grabbed his hands and labored to pull him upright. “Bao! Help me! Rise to your feet!” she demanded.
Feeling lethargic and a bit dazed Bao strained to comply. Tho’ it was difficult, he managed to lumber to his feet.
* * *
Jesslyn put her arm around his waist and pressed him to move forward. Why, oh why had she taken this route? It would take them at least a half of an hour to get to the cottage. What would she do if he became ill...or worse? Her mind balked at that, refusing to go further down that path. Nay, she assured herself, he would be all right. She would see it so.
They had gone about a hundred paces when she saw the entrance to the cave she’d discovered this morn as she made her way to the waterfall. With so many trees and vines stripped of their leaves, the entrance and its clearing in front were now in plain sight. She said a quick prayer of thanks and struggled toward the cave. Once she had gotten Bao out of his wet garments and wrapped him in her fur-lined mantle, she would leave him here, sheltered from the wind and frost, while she hurried back to the village to get help.
“This be where Callum’s coins were,” Bao said groggily, looking around.
Jesslyn gave him a curious look. Why would Callum leave his coin in a cave? Bao’s eyes were half-closed. Mayhap he was confused. Oh God. What if he was already catching a fever?
She was pleased to find that there were remnants of a fire a few paces inside the opening. Mayhap she’d find the means to build one as well. Thank heaven the sun was brightly shining this day, for it allowed enough light inside the first several feet of the cave for her to help Bao sit down. By the time she had him settled on the ground, she was winded and her back was aching from the strain of taking so much of his weight as they traveled.
“There are peat turves and kindling stacked further back along this wall,” Bao said, limply pointing in the direction she would find them. “And the tools to start it are in a crevice above it,” he said weakly.
“Thanks be to God,” she breathed aloud, her suspicion confirmed. Ignoring her own discomfort, Jesslyn immediately gathered up a few of the cut turves and placed them in the center of the fire ring. She then searched the crevice for the striker, flint and tinder box with which to start the blaze. Her heart sang when she also found a pan. She would be able to heat some snow and make him drink the warm water. That should warm him, shouldn’t it? She prayed so.
* * *
Bao began to shiver once again. It had been happening in spurts up until now, but the coldness of the ground, added to the fact that he was still wearing frigidly cold, wet clothing, sent his body into fits of tortured jerking and quaking. He lay down and rolled to his side, curling up in a fetal position, his teeth chattering loudly.
* * *
Jesslyn took off her mantle and placed it next to the fire she’d just built. With the added light the fire provided, she was able to clearly see Bao’s worsening state and rushed to his side. “Bao, you must help me. I will not be able to get your tunic and shirt off by myself.” She pressed him to his back and then struggled to lift him to a sitting position.
His head lolled to the side. “Dnnn...mmfff,” he said irritably through clacking teeth, his eyes a bit glassy.
“I must move you, at least while we get these wet things off of you,” Jesslyn said firmly. Thankfully, Bao gave her no more trouble and, though his movements were jerky, he aided her in the removal of his garments. Afterward, she retrieved her mantle and, tho’ it was difficult, managed to get the garment, first around him, and then stretched out beneath him. The fur lining would help to warm him, as well as shield him from the coldness of the cave’s floor.
She was relieved when, after only a few moments, his teeth stopped chattering. Quickly, she gathered up her pan and went outside once more. After filling the container with snow, she returned and held it near enough to the flames to melt it and warm the liquid.
* * *
Bao watched Jesslyn work. Her movements were so sure, yet there was grace in them as well. Grace. Wasn’t that what he’d been seeking from her—mayhap, even from the day he first met her? Her good will and her pardon—her love?
His wife sat the pan down and took her head covering off. She absently brushed the back of her hand over her brow before placing the wimple on the ground next to her. Distress and the heat of the flames were causing her skin to become damp. She loosened the tie holding her chemise closed and stroked away the dew that had formed on the heated skin between her breasts with the tips of her fingers.
Bao’s pulse raced and his manhood shot to full attention. Aye, he’d sought all of those things—and her body as well. Christ’s Bones! Did she have no idea of how her movements were affecting him? When she touched herself in that way, it
reminded him of when his own hands had done the same.
As even more blood rushed from his head to his male member, so too, did his better judgement speed from his mind. In a flash, all of his good intentions of wooing her, winning her trust, flew away, like so much faery dust, as he was struck with an idea. A way, tho’ not so honest, of touching her once more, holding her, making love to her. Surely, ‘twould melt her anger, her reserve with him, as well. He grinned but then quickly sobered and closed his eyes when she looked up suddenly.
“I’ve warmed some water for you and I want you to drink the whole of it, all right?” Jesslyn said.
Bao lifted his eyelids only slightly. Seeing the concern in her countenance, he experienced a momentary pang of conscience. But he was using the only means he knew how—the only means that had ever worked for him—so he squelched the feeling and instead used her concern to his advantage by shivering dramatically once again. With a jerky nod of his head, he answered, “Aye.”
Her brows came together in worry. She quickly brought the liquid over and kneeled down next to him. Then she helped him to raise himself up to a sitting position so that he could more easily swallow it.
Bao bent his knee, concealing the evidence of his desire before she could see it, and then drank down all of the fluid. The warm water did feel good going down and, amazingly, was the final thing he needed to give him his full recovery. But he wouldn’t let Jesslyn know that. Nay, he had other things in mind which would not only warm his blood, but warm hers as well. And mayhap, if he were very fortunate, it would warm her heart also, enough to make her finally accept him back into her life.
Lying back with a sigh, Bao placed his arm over his eyes and groaned. Loudly. “I’m so cold! I can’t seem to get warm.” It was difficult, but he managed to clack his teeth together fast enough to make it seem genuine, at least to Jesslyn. “I need more heat! Hold me, I beg you!”
* * *