“Yes,” Winter agreed as she turned to Matt. “As my husband, you have to trust me.” She turned to her papa and cousin. “And I expect no less from either of you. I’ve accepted my calling, and now you must trust me to get us out of this mess.” She pointed a threatening finger at the two men. “Without holding Matt to blame,” she added in warning. She turned just enough to include him. “While I’m learning how to control the magic, I want the three of you to figure out who cut the top off my pine tree. There’s an unknown player in this maddening game, and that’s where the danger truly lies.”
Matt folded his arms over his chest as he stared at Winter, finding his first smile since she’d demanded he make Wanda Farley his new quality control manager. It seemed his bride was a bossy little thing, if not downright fond of giving orders.
He’d have to do something about that, he decided…say in another ten or twenty years, just as soon as he figured out how to make himself immune to her magic.
The front door suddenly opened and closed with a window-rattling bang. “Did I get here in time!” Megan called out, rushing into the living room. She came to a halt by running into Matt’s half-naked chest, jumping back with a gasp. “Who the hell are you?” she said, only to gasp again. “Matt?” Her expression turned from surprise to horror as she realized what he was wearing, her wide eyes stopping on the sword hanging from his belt. “Cùram,” she whispered, taking another step back.
“It’s okay, Meg,” Winter said, rushing to her sister at the same time Grace did, both women reaching out to support the pale young woman. “He’s not a monster like everyone thinks. He’s just my husband.” Winter shot Matt a look. “Say something,” she demanded.
Matt bowed and gave Megan a warm smile. “Hello, sister.”
Apparently not quite ready to have Cùram de Gairn call her sister, Megan tried to take another step back but seemed to go weak in the knees. Winter gave Matt one last scolding glare before she all but carried her stunned sister toward the stairs with her mother. “Come on, Meg,” she said. “You can help me pack a few of my things.”
“Y-you married Cùram?” Megan whispered as they mounted the stairs. “But why?”
Matt didn’t hear Winter’s answer as the three women rose out of sight, but he certainly heard the silence left in their wake, its center emanating from directly behind him. Matt turned to face Greylen and Robbie, holding his hands behind his back as he waited for the storm to arrive, which it certainly did, and with predictable impact.
“Ye have more balls than brains, ye bastard,” Grey snapped, taking a step toward him. “I’m going to kill ye for what ye’ve done to my daughter.”
Matt held his hands out from his sides. “You may try,”he said softly. “Though making Winter raise your grandchild without a father might not be your wisest decision.”
That stopped his father-in-law’s advance much more abruptly than his sword could have. “She’s pregnant?” Greylen said, his face paling.
“If you believe in miracles, then yes, Winter’s with child,” Matt told him. He tucked his hands behind his back again. “It’s done, Laird MacKeage. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you for Winter’s hand in marriage, but I think you understand my position.” Matt inclined his head. “You have my word as a warrior and guardian that I will do all in my power to keep her safe and happy.”
“She was already safe and happy, Gregor! Why in hell are ye here?”
Matt glanced at Robbie, then settled his gaze back on Greylen. “I’m here to right a thousand-year-old wrong,” he said softly, “and then simply live out what time is left with my wife and child.”
“According to Daar, there is no time left because of yer arrogance and treachery.”
“I’m well aware what I’ve put into motion,” Matt agreed. “But Winter is capable of even more than Pendaär can know. She can certainly buy us enough time for you to build a relationship with your brother.”
“Ye leave Morgan out of this!”
“I’m referring to your other brother, Michael MacBain,” Matt said, deciding he needed to shift the laird’s anger.
Grey took a step back, paling again.
“Ye know about my father?” Robbie asked, stepping forward.
Matt nodded, still keeping his hands behind his back. “I’ve known since the day Michael was conceived.” He looked at Greylen to explain. “Your mother, Judy MacKinnon, had an identical twin sister named Blair. When your mother died, Blair came to help Duncan MacKeage raise you, even though she was promised by contract to wed Angus MacBain. But when she went to Angus a year and a half later, she was already carrying Michael. Which means you and Michael are true brothers, both of you having the same father and identical twin mothers.”
Greylen turned his appalled gaze on Robbie. “You’ve known about this? For how long?”
“For two and a half years,” Robbie admitted. “From when I went back to your old village to get the tree root. But I kept it a secret because of Cùram,” he said, nodding toward Matt. “I didn’t know what he was up to, and I didn’t want him to find out there was another lineage that shared Winter’s calling. Protecting my brother and sisters was more important than telling ye, Grey. Ye made peace with my father over thirty years ago and have had a good friendship since then.” Robbie looked at Matt. “If ye knew about Blair, why did ye fight Pendaär so hard back then for Judy MacKinnon?”
Matt shrugged. “I only fought hard enough to let the old fool think he’d won, so he wouldn’t suspect that it was Winter I wanted all along.”
“But why?” Greylen whispered. “What in hell do ye want from my daughter?”
“Her compassion,” Matt said. “It’s Winter’s only weakness.”
“Ye think that’s a weakness?” Grey asked in surprise.
Instead of answering him, Matt decided it was again time to redirect the conversation. “She’s right, you know. There’s another entity here who’s messing with the magic. I didn’t cut the top off Winter’s pine, and like you, I haven’t been able to discover who did.”
Both men frowned. Greylen suddenly ran a hand over his face with a weary sigh, turned and sat down in the chair beside the hearth. But MacBain, it seemed, wasn’t yet ready to drop either his anger or his guard, and continued to stand facing Matt.
“If you didn’t cut it, and we certainly didn’t cut it, then it likely was only a logger wanting the seeds,” Robbie said.
Matt mimicked Winter’s cousin by folding his arms over his chest, and shook his head. “Would a thief have wasted the time it took to climb the tree? And through your guardianship, have you not sensed a strange energy humming through the air? Even with my own power, I haven’t been able to pinpoint where it’s coming from, nor could I recognize its vibration.”
“Aye,” Robbie admitted, also giving a weary sigh as he sat down in the chair opposite Greylen. “I’ve felt it, but I thought it was you I was sensing.”
Matt nearly burst into laughter when he suddenly realized what MacKeage and MacBain were just realizing themselves, that the three of them were going to have to be allies instead of enemies if they hoped to help Winter fight this unknown threat. Talk about irony. His compassionate little wife, he suspected, had known for two days that this moment would come, and had laughed her pretty little head off all the way to Utah and back. Hell, she was probably upstairs right now, bragging to her mother and sister how she’d managed to bring three lethal warriors to their collective knees.
Chapter Twenty-one
“You knew he was Cùram de Gairn, and you married him anyway?” Megan whispered, hugging Winter’s old rag doll as she leaned against the headboard of her sister’s bed, looking small and lost amid the pile of pillows. “But why? Why would you knowingly marry an evil drùidh?”
Winter turned from her closet with a sweater in her hand and frowned at her pale and sincerely confused sister. “There’s not an evil bone in Matt’s body,” she softly scolded. “He’s just…he’s merely lost his way, is all.”
Grace set the small bundle on the end of the bed, walked up to Winter and took hold of her shoulders. “If you’ve entered this marriage with the notion you can change Matt, I’m afraid you’re in for a big disappointment. The best you can hope for is to smooth out his rough edges, but you can’t ever change a man’s true nature.”
“But his true nature is good, Mama. Matt is noble and honorable and compassionate, and he’s only trying to fix the mess he’s made.” Winter dropped the sweater and took hold of her mother’s hands. “And I will fight even Providence if I have to, to prove to Matt that his soul is not lost. He’s given up, Mama,” she whispered, tightening her grip. “And I don’t care what it takes, I’m going to give him back the gift of hope.”
“You love him that much? So much that you’d risk your own soul to save his?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I love him more than life itself.”
“You’ve known him two weeks,” Megan said from right beside them. “You can’t fall in love in only two weeks.”
Grace MacKeage pulled free with a laugh and turned to face Megan. “I fell in love with your father in less than nine days,” she said as she led them both back to the bed. “If Winter says she loves Matt, that’s all I need to know to give her my full support.”
“But does Matt love her?” Megan asked, climbing back on the bed and grabbing up the doll again to clutch to her chest. She looked at Winter with turbulent, worried green eyes. “What if he’s only using you?”
It was Grace who responded before Winter could. “Of course Matt doesn’t love her, Meg. Men don’t think in terms of love at first. They only think of possessing.”
Both girls frowned at their mama, and Grace smiled warmly and patted Winter’s arm. “Matt Gregor won’t be able to help himself from falling in love with you, baby girl, but you’ll need to be patient with him.” She turned to include Megan. “It seemed like forever for your father to figure out that he loved me.” She looked at Winter and lifted one pretty arched brow. “What did Matt say when you asked him if he loved you?”
Winter felt a blush rise to her cheeks at the realization that her mama knew her so well, and darted a look at Megan before she looked back at her mother. “He…ah, he said he couldn’t ever love me because his heart had died a long time ago,” she softly admitted.
Grace gave a quiet laugh as she turned to the bed with a shrug. “He’ll eventually come around. You just keep loving him unconditionally, and one day Matt will finally realize that he also loves you more than life itself.” She picked up the package she’d gone to her bedroom to get and turned to Winter. “You don’t change a lifetime of suppressed emotions in two weeks, especially when that lifetime has spanned centuries.”
Winter smiled. “Will I ever be as wise as you, Mama?”
Grace snorted. “You’ll get wise real quick, baby girl, because you’ve fallen in love with a stubborn warrior,” she said, unfolding the velvet corners of the tiny package she was holding. “This is your wedding present from your father and me.” She held out the open cloth to reveal a beautiful locket. “We had planned to give it to you to wear at your wedding, but since we…ah, missed the ceremony, I’ll just tell you what we told the other girls when we gave them theirs.” Grace lifted the gold locket from the velvet. “This is to remind you that even though you have married and are now a Gregor, you will always carry our hearts with you, no matter where life leads you.”
Feeling the sudden sting of threatening tears, Winter reached out and took the delicate locket made of spun gold threads loosely woven in the shape of a plump heart. Inside the heart were two loose little beads also shaped like hearts, made of shiny black stone that Winter instantly recognized as the rock that ran in fissures throughout TarStone Mountain. No matter where she went, she would always carry a piece of home with her, as well as her parents’ unconditional love.
Grace leaned forward and gently kissed a tear running down Winter’s cheek, and Winter threw herself into her mama’s arms. “I’m sorry you and Papa weren’t at my wedding,” she sobbed into her mama’s shoulder as she held the locket in her fist.
“Shhh,” Grace crooned, tenderly stroking her back. “I can see it was more important you prove your love to Matt by giving up a fancy wedding to marry him on his terms.”
“But I want Papa to be okay with it, too,” Winter said with a lingering sniffle, leaning back to look at her mother. “I want him to understand why I ran off without telling any of you.”
Grace squeezed her shoulders. “You just leave your father to me. I’ll make sure he understands why you did what you did.” She reached down and took the locket from Winter and stepped around behind her. “Now we need to talk about birth control,” she continued as Winter lifted her hair so her mama could clasp the locket around her neck. “You have enough to deal with right now without adding a baby to the mix.”
“Too late,” Winter squeaked, grinning at Megan when she gasped. “I’m already pregnant.”
Winter felt her mama’s hands still momentarily before she finished locking the chain around Winter’s neck. Frowning, Grace silently walked back around to stand in front of Winter. “You can’t possibly know that yet,” she said. “You just met Matt two weeks ago.”
Winter fingered the locket at her throat. “I—I don’t understand how I know, I just know that I’m pregnant,” she said. “It happened the first time, just three nights ago.”
“Okay then,” Grace said with a slow nod. “Then I suggest we keep this from your father for a while. Grey’s going to need some time to adjust to having a drùidh for a son-in-law without adding a magical grand-baby into the mix. Does Matt know?”
Winter dropped her gaze to her locket. “Yes.”
“And has he told you that having a baby will cause you to lose your powers?”
“Yes.”
Her mama lifted Winter’s chin to look at her. “Is that why he came here, to seduce you into giving up your calling?” she asked softly.
“No,” Winter told her. “He came here so I can help him right an old wrong,” was all she said, not yet willing to tell anyone about Kenzie. “He seduced me to gain my loyalty, so that I will be honor-bound to help him.”
“So he is using you,” Megan interjected, once again standing beside them. “And you’re just letting him. But why?”
“Because she loves him,” Grace said before Winter could, reaching out and brushing Megan’s hair from her face.
Megan finished tucking her hair behind her ears and glared at Winter. “You said Wayne Ferris was only using me to further his career, and that I should want him to burn in Hades, but you’ve gone and married a man just like him.”
“Wayne was merely selfish,” Winter argued. “But Matt’s motives are…they’re…” She sighed and shook her head. Despite not liking the idea of Matt’s brother hanging around her sister, Winter couldn’t bring herself to explain that the panther Meg slept with most nights was really a man. At this time in Megan’s life, Gesader was her only comfort. “Matt doesn’t want my help for himself, but for a greater good.”
“And that would be?” her mama asked.
Winter shook her head again. “I can’t tell you what it is without breaking Matt’s trust,” she whispered, turning and walking to her closet and picking up the sweater she’d dropped.
“Then we’ll just have to trust you,” Grace said, taking the sweater from Winter. “And you’ll trust me when I tell you that you and Matt are staying at Gù Brath tonight. You can decide tomorrow where you’re going to live, once things have settled down.”
Winter gaped at her mother. “Here?” she squeaked. “You expect us to stay here, in my bedroom?” She shook her head. “We’ll g
o to Matt’s hotel suite.”
“Family does not stay at the hotel.”
“But I can’t, Mama,” Winter whispered, fingering her locket again as she looked around her childhood room. “This is my…this is my bedroom.”
Grace set the sweater back on the shelf in the closet. “Your sisters stay in their old rooms when they visit with their husbands.” She turned and lifted a brow. “Why should it be any different for you?”
“But Papa will throw a fit having a drùidh sleeping in his house. And Matt will…he’ll…he won’t agree to stay here.”
“We’ve had a drùidh sleeping in this bedroom for twenty-four years,” Grace said, laughing at Winter’s startled look. “And Matt is part of this family now, so he might as well get used to it. And so must your father.” Grace took hold of Megan’s hand and led her out of the room, but stopped at the door and looked back. “Begin as you intend to go on, Winter, and establish your authority in this marriage. If you don’t set the tone right from the start with these ancient men, you may never catch up.”
“You make marriage sound like an ongoing battle.”
“No, baby girl, not a battle, but a wonderful and exciting dance,” Grace said with an utterly feminine smile. “And you’ll find it quite pleasant if you’re the one leading.”
With her mother’s final bit of wisdom still echoing in her mind as she lay in her childhood bed beside Matt that night, Winter decided it was definitely time she took over the lead in this marriage. Matt hadn’t made love to her since their first night in the cave, nor touched her in an intimate way, not even a kiss. For newlyweds, there hadn’t been much honeymooning going on, and Winter was feeling insulted. She didn’t care if Matt thought he was being noble by not bothering her that way, or if he was feeling guilty for railroading her into this marriage, or even if he felt uncomfortable making love in her childhood bed with her father sleeping just down the hall. Curses, if she could get over that last fact, so could he!
Only With a Highlander Page 23