by Donna Grant
“Or they were imprisoned like me.”
Leana smoothed out her skirts and eyed him. “If I didn’t have glimpses of things to come, or if I hadn’t seen you before you appeared, I’d think you were daft. If I were you, I wouldn’t repeat any of this to others. Good luck finding your friends.”
He nodded his thanks and watched as she bent to pick up a basket. It wasn’t until she grasped something else that he realized it was a sword – his sword!
Morcant wasn’t going anywhere without his sword.
CHAPTER THREE
Leana hadn’t gotten three steps before she heard the man following her. He set her on edge, reminded her, as no one else could, that she was alone, likely never to know the touch of a man.
“Hold up, Leana,” he said as he hurried to catch up.
She didn’t slow her steps. Every time she looked at him, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and beg him to lie atop her once more so she could feel his weight again. It should be wrong for a man’s body to feel so good atop her.
“I think you freed me,” he said.
She glanced at him. “Perhaps. Make use of it and find your friends.”
“I should repay you.”
“There’s no need,” she said as she strode up the hill at a brisk pace.
He stopped and said, “To be honest, I was wondering if I could beg a meal. I have no coin or belongings with which to trade. I doona even have a weapon.”
Leana’s steps slowed and then halted. She tightened her grip on the sword. Giving it to him wasn’t an option, but she could feed him. She turned to face him. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Morcant Banner, lass,” he said with a bright smile.
She knew with such a sexy, rakish smile like his that there were few women who had refused him anything. “Well, Morcant, you have a grand adventure ahead of you. I can’t in good conscience send you on your way without a meal.”
“That’s verra kind of you,” he said and closed the distance between them. He reached for the sword, “Let me help you carry that.”
Leana easily dodged his hands. “I’m capable of carrying it myself.”
He held up his hands and flashed that charming grin. “Forgive me. I just wanted to help.”
She continued walking, and he kept pace with her. Leana let the silence go on for a while. He smiled and acted as if everything was fine, but he couldn’t hide the pain and confusion in his beautiful topaz eyes.
Leana covertly watched him out of the corner of her eye. He kept fisting his hands, just as she saw him do while in the darkness. The weight of the sword in her hand made her wonder if it was simply a coincidence that she’d found the weapon right before he had appeared – or if the sword were his. There was no doubt he was a man accustomed to having a weapon.
She wasn’t as taken aback by his story as others would be because she had encounters with the gypsies before. She had seen, firsthand, what some of them were capable of when they were wronged.
Magic wasn’t a word she bandied about, and yet, it was a word she knew all too well, and not just from her experience with the gypsies. Nor did it have anything to do with her visions.
No, the villagers spoke the word often in regards to her. They said her use of herbs to heal was unexplainable, magical. Perhaps it was magic that helped her know which herbs to use for what. She didn’t know or care.
Morcant was an oddity, much like herself. Is that why she felt the need to help him? Or was it because she found him all too appealing?
“Did you eat while in the darkness?” she asked to fill the silence.
“Nay. I wasna hungry or thirsty, though I find I’m famished now.”
She glanced over to find him looking at her, his eyes watching her curiously. “Do I have leaves in my hair?”
“Nay,” he replied softly, a half smile upon his lips. “I just didna expect to finally get out of my prison and be confronted with such a lovely vision.”
Leana held back her snort. She didn’t take his words to heart, because she knew while she might look good to a starving man now, he wouldn’t remember her afterward.
“You doona believe me?” he said, his voice filled with surprise.
Leana reached the top of the steep incline and shrugged. “You said you didn’t feel hunger until you were released. I suppose you didn’t feel a man’s need until now either.”
“You’d be wrong, lass.”
His words were laced with fury, causing her gaze to jerk to him. Leana saw the truth shining in his eyes. He hadn’t suffered just the darkness. He’d endured unending longing, as well.
She swallowed and quickly looked away when his gaze dropped to her breasts. Leana recalled all too well how delightful he’d felt atop her. “In the valley is a small village. On the edge of town is a widow who lost her much older husband during the winter. She’ll be more than willing to take you to her bed.”
“You think you know me well enough to know what I want?”
She tried to ignore the scorn in his voice. “I know men.”
“I’ve known a lot of women, but I doona claim to know you because of it.”
Leana pushed the stray hairs out of her face from the wind. “It isn’t difficult to know a man. You’re ruled by your cock, your stomach, and bloodshed.”
“Is that so,” he replied with a cool look. “Tell me then, what type of man am I?”
Every instinct screamed for her to walk away and forget his challenge, but when had Leana ever walked away from anything? It was a trait that got her in trouble more times than she could remember. Instead, she faced Morcant and locked gazes with him.
“You’re the type of man who easily charms. You’re the type of man who is used to getting whatever he wants. You’re the type of man who leaves a string of broken hearts wherever he goes. You’re the type of man who gives his word to another man, but never to a woman.”
For long moments, he simply stared at her. Then he said, “I doona deny loving women. They are meant to be protected and sheltered. They were made to be loved by men, to be brought unimaginable pleasure. If it’s wrong that I’ve given women ecstasy, then condemn me.”
“You’ve already been condemned by the gypsy,” Leana pointed out.
“Aye. You’ve the right of it. I no’ only went with my friends, but I did find a willing bed partner before that.”
“If she was willing, then why did the gypsy curse you?”
He raked a hand through his long blonde hair and blew out a deep breath as his gaze shifted to the valley and the village. “The woman I bedded told me she’d already had another man before me. She lied.”
“She was an innocent?” Leana asked in shock.
Morcant stiffly nodded his head. “I’ve had women say they were virgins when they were no’, but I’ve never had one claim to be experienced and no’ be.”
Leana swung her gaze to the village. “Did you confront her with it?”
“What good would it have done?”
“None, I suppose.” She turned to the right and began walking.
Morcant’s heavy footfalls fell in behind her. “You doona live in the village?”
“Nay.”
“What will you tell your husband about me?”
Leana glanced over her shoulder. “Nothing. I don’t have a husband.”
“Your father, then?”
“He’s dead, as are my brothers, my sister, my mother, and my two uncles.”
She was a bit surprised when Morcant didn’t ask why she lived alone, but she was glad she didn’t have to explain it. The rest of the walk to the cottage was done in silence, making her aware of his every move, his every breath until she was anxious to put some distance between them.
Leana jerked to a stop when Morcant’s hand suddenly snaked out and grasped her upper arm, drawing her to a stop. Her head snapped to him, realizing too late that she didn’t know how to use the sword to defend herself. The one weapon she could use, was inside the cottage.
“How long have you been gone, lass?” he whispered as his gaze surveyed their surroundings.
“I left after the noon meal.”
He gave a quick look to the sky. “It’s been hours. It’s no’ wise to walk blithely in there without first ensuring there are no’ enemies about.”
“The only enemies we have this far onto Sinclair land are the few raiders from the MacKays.”
Morcant pointed to the ground a few feet in front of them. “That boot print is much larger than yours. Far afield or no’, you can no’ be too careful.”
A shiver raced through Leana. There was no denying the proof of Morcant’s words. “There’s been talk over the past few months, but I didn’t believe any of it. Old men talk of the past and how things were.”
“What are they saying?”
She pulled her eyes away from the ground and the boot print to Morcant. “The MacKays lost many of their warriors in last fall’s battle with the Frasers. The Frasers then raided the MacKays and took all their sheep. The MacKay laird was killed trying to get the sheep back, and the clan has been in an uproar ever since. Many have left the clan, and the ones who remained took to raiding during the winter to keep from starving.”
“In other words, the men who remain are more bandits and criminals than clansmen,” Morcant said with a frown.
Leana swiveled her head from one side to the other looking through the dense trees set behind the cottage to the stream that ran on the left side. “A new laird stepped forward, and he’s working to unite his clan once more, but it’s been a slow process.”
“It doesna bode well for your clan if the raiders are making it this far in without being seen.” Morcant made her face him. “Remain here while I have a look inside.”
Leana didn’t have to be told twice. She was rooted to the spot, watching as Morcant walked cautiously toward the door. She was struck anew with his masculinity and strength.
He bent and picked up a log of wood stacked by the door, the muscles in his forearm flexing as his fingers wrapped around the firewood. The way he stalked the cottage, the way he saw and heard every sound, reminded her of a predator closing in on his prey.
Her breath locked in her lungs when he slowly opened the door and slipped inside. Leana kept waiting to hear a crash as he came upon an intruder, but a moment later he walked back outside.
Morcant put a hand to his lips to keep her quiet when she started to speak. Leana’s eyes followed him as he walked around the cottage with the same alert and vigilant motions as before. When she lost sight of him, Leana’s gaze jerked to the other side of the cottage and waited for him to reappear. When he did, he walked casually, replacing the log as he did.
“Whoever was here is gone now,” he said. “It isna a safe place for you to be alone.”
She walked past him through the door into the cottage. “It’s my home. I’m not leaving it.”
“You say that as though I’m no’ the first to mention it to you.”
“Because you’re not.” Leana set down her herbs on the table before standing the sword next to her bow and quiver of arrows alongside the hearth. “I’ll have some food ready shortly.”
She heard the chair scrape the boards as he pulled it out and sat. Leana tried to ignore Morcant, but his very presence sucked all the space from the tiny structure.
“What happened to your parents?” he asked.
Leana paused in chopping the carrots. “No one can escape death when it comes for you, and it comes in various ways. My mum died years ago during childbirth. My youngest brother, who was stillborn, is buried with her.”
“You mentioned other brothers.”
“I had four older brothers and one younger. All sought glory and readily answered the call to go raiding or into battle. Each time one left, they didn’t return,” she said as she reached for another carrot.
A large hand covered hers, stilling her hand before she could move. Morcant was close behind her, his heat seeping through her clothes. When had he moved? She hadn’t heard him, hadn’t sensed he’d left the chair.
“That couldna have been easy.”
Goosebumps rose along her skin as his baritone voice spoke softly near her ear. “My father and one of my uncles left to get revenge on the deaths of my youngest brother slain in battle. As soon as word reached us that they were unaccounted for, my other uncle left to join the fighting. It was a week later that all three were returned to me for burial.”
Morcant’s hand lightly squeezed her. “They shouldna have left you.”
“I had my sister.” Leana could’ve sworn he moved closer. She closed her eyes and fought not to lean back against him.
“Where did she go?”
Leana looked down at Morcant’s hand atop hers. Her heart missed a beat when she felt his warm breath against her cheek. How was she to think coherently with him so close? Didn’t he understand that he set her off-kilter, that she couldn’t think of anything but his nearness? “She married a man from the village and died nine months later while birthing her first babe.”
“And the bairn?”
She closed her eyes, recalling how she fought to keep the infant alive. “A fever took him. Not even my skill with herbs could save him. Just like everyone else, he left me.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Morcant didn’t think Leana knew how telling her words were. He could feel her pain and loneliness, the anger and resentment. His first instinct was to take her mind off of her troubles by kissing her, but something stopped him.
His body ached for relief, to sink between her thighs and seek the pleasure that awaited him. Leana’s body was more than appealing. Her independence was as beautiful to him as her face and her figure.
He didn’t know what stopped him from seducing her. The fact that she didn’t push him away as he touched her hand and molded himself to her should have spurred him onward.
Could the darkness have changed him? Did the years there remembering Denisa and her lie alter him? Or was it the countless faces of the women he’d bedded that went through his head constantly over the two hundred years of his confinement, reminding him of the emptiness he felt in their arms that stopped him?
He wanted relief. He wanted pleasure.
But he didn’t want that empty feeling in his chest that always occurred after the satisfaction wore off – and occasionally before.
Morcant found he was content to stay as he was touching Leana. He craved conversation almost as much as he longed to be touched. It hadn’t hit him until that moment. His chest constricted at all he had lost – his family, his friends...his life.
How had he taken the everyday exchanges with his friends, the unintended brushes against another, or a lover’s caress for granted? Morcant closed his eyes against the agony.
All of it was crashing upon him now, and he didn’t think he could stand beneath the weight of it all.
When Leana’s head dropped back against his chest, he brought his other hand up and set it at her waist. He wanted to turn her around and kiss her, but even the comfort they were giving each other now was enough to heave off the depression that threatened.
Morcant slowly opened his eyes. “Why have you no’ found a husband?”
“So he can leave me, as well?” she asked without any heat in her words.
“You need someone to protect you.”
“I protect myself. I learned how to use the bow and arrows, and I’ll learn how to use the sword.”
His sword. Morcant wanted it back, but he wouldn’t leave her undefended to do it. As skilled as he was, he could get another weapon quickly enough. “That sword wasna made for a woman. It was meant to be in a man’s large hands.”
“I’ll learn.”
“No doubt,” he whispered as he looked down at her face.
Her lashes fluttered and her eyes opened. He gazed into her sky blue eyes, lost in the utter blueness, drowning in the absolute acceptance he saw.
“You’re hungry.”
&
nbsp; For much more than food, but Morcant didn’t correct her. Leana had been nothing but kind. He wouldn’t ruin things by seducing her only to leave her. Too many had already abandoned her. He wouldn’t add his name to the list.
“I respect your independence, Leana, and even if you learn how to use the sword, against a group of men, you’ll be overtaken easily.”
She straightened and moved her hand from beneath his. “I know. I’m often reminded of how easily I can be overpowered.”
“You’re speaking of someone in particular.” Morcant didn’t know how he knew such a thing, only that he did. He returned to his seat, missing her touch, missing her warmth. “Who are you talking about?”
“His name is William,” she said and chopped the carrot with a hard stroke. “He’s been after me to marry him for years.”
“So he loves you.”
Leana threw him a look. “Nay. William doesn’t like to be denied anything.”
“If a man willna take no for an answer, it’s more than just being denied.”
She dumped the carrots into a pot and shrugged. “William thinks I cannot survive without a man.”
“And you plan to prove him wrong?” Somehow that made Morcant smile. If there was a woman that could do it, he imagined it would be Leana.
“I’ve done it this long. I can continue.”
Morcant never paid that much attention to women while they cooked, but he found his gaze locked on Leana. There was nothing sexual about her movements, and yet, just watching her eased the storm within him.
Had anyone told him before that he would find contentment watching a lass cook, he’d have laughed them out of his clan.
There was no doubt Leana was capable. She had to be in order to live so far from the village on her own. The spring and summer months would be the easiest for her, but the fall and winter couldn’t be easy. The idea of her starving left him frowning.
“Who hunts for you?”
She pointed to the bow and quiver of arrows next to his sword. “I learned to use the bow. I also fish in the river and have my own chickens and geese. I’m not without food.”