Ravished By A Highlander Part 9

"No, I mean the Prince." The man brought the cup to his lips. He took a sip, then looked up at John. "You speak the truth, Tavernier, I've never tasted anything so fine."

John couldn't be happier and bowed his thanks, listening to the soft jingle coming from his pocket. "There is plenty more."

"This will suffice."

John cast his eyes around the table at the others. They remained silent and stoic and none of them looked at him. Tucking the tray under his arm, he scratched his temple. "You're not from here."

Those cool gray eyes slid to him. "Why do you say that?"

"Your speech, it has a peculiar sound to it. Like nothing I've heard before."

"Tell me, old man." The patron set down his cup and turned to look directly at him. "Has a lady stopped here seeking food or shelter? She is my master's wife and has fled without a trace. She might have been alone. Perhaps donned in a nun's robes?"

"A nun? Traveling alone?" John chuckled softly and rested his hand on his belly, then stopped and quirked his brow. "I saw no nun, but I did see hors.e.m.e.n. I didn't think anything about it at the time, men have been riding toward England for the past fortnight, but now that you mention a nun..."

"Yes?" The patron set down his drink slowly and narrowed his eyes on John.

"Well, the hors.e.m.e.n were riding the other way, toward the Abbey."

The stranger rose to his feet and swooped toward him like a hawk that had just spotted its prey. "Abbey? Where?"

John mopped his forehead with his sweaty palm. Something about the stranger had gone so terribly cold and threatening. Even the air seemed to pulse with foreboding around him. "Old Courlochcraig in Ayrs.h.i.+re," John said and darted his eyes toward the stairs. No need to fear, he rea.s.sured himself. He'd dealt with mercenaries before. He would serve them, tell them what they wanted, if he could, and then see them out the door.

The patron moved closer; his genial smile returned.

"You've been most helpful," he said and turned to one of his men. "Maarten, ride south and collect the rest of my men who left us at our last stop. Tell them their search is over and bring them with you to Ayrs.h.i.+re. I will meet you there."

John was about to let himself breathe again when the patron stopped and set his gaze upward.

"Are there rooms above stairs?"

"Only mine, and I'm afraid I'm quite weary. If you wouldn't mind finis.h.i.+ng your..."

"You would not be untruthful to me, would you, my friend?" The patron slipped his arm around John's shoulder. His breath sluiced warm down John's neck. "Not after I paid you so handsomely."

"Of course not."

"Who is in the room?"

"Only... only my wife, Millie, good sir."

"I believe you," the patron said gently against his ear.

John did not see the flash of the dagger that sank into his belly, but he felt it. His mouth opened when he looked down at the blood soaking through his ap.r.o.n and his gold spilling to the freshly swept floor. He wanted to scream. He thought he did. The patron was still close, watching him as John's last gurgled breath left his body.

Admiral Gilles yanked his dagger from the Tavernier's stomach and set his eyes on the stairs as the old man crumpled in a heap at his feet. Pus.h.i.+ng the body away with his boot, he ordered Hendrick to collect his gold and wait for him with the others outside while he searched the room above.

"Millie?" he called, turning the hilt of his dagger around in his fingers. "Are you alone?"

"I don't think she understands the propensity for evil running through Gilles's veins."

Asher stood with Rob and Colin by the banks of Loch Awe just south of Kildun Castle. Despite the laughter coming from the water's edge, or, it would seem, because of it, the captain raked his fingers through his hair.

Rob couldn't keep himself from smiling when Davina, crouched beside Finn while they washed their hands, splashed the lad in the face instead. She had changed much since he'd plucked her from the flames. In fact, it seemed the farther away they rode from England, the better her moods became, and his, as well. Her prayers were filled with thanks and every day her laughter rang out like music filling the meadows and glens as they rode through them. Rob loved the sound of it and the way it made her eyes dance. He would have liked to be the cause of her joy, but he had trouble giving himself over to meaningless pleasures like chasing grouse or hiding behind trees while she tried to find him. He wondered if her heart had been this light at St. Christopher's and if she had enchanted Asher's men with her graceful movements and the tinkling melody of her mirth the way she did with his. She seemed most alive, though, when she talked about the new king and his determination to stand for what he believed in-a topic Colin, at least, never grew weary of discussing with her late every night when they thought everyone else was asleep. Still, there were times when she spoke to no one, withdrawing into herself to a place that still haunted her eyes. "She understands evil well enough, Asher," Rob told the captain without severing his gaze from Davina. "I think she still dreams of the ma.s.sacre at St. Christopher's."

"No, she is forgetting. She doesn't know him."

"And ye do?" Rob asked, turning to him. He almost wished Asher had remained uninterested in him. The man fretted like a woman with a dozen bairns and no way to feed them. And for some reason, which Rob suspected had to do with Asher making Davina happy, he was trying his hardest to make friends with Rob.

"I know enough," Edward said. "The man is called 'de Duivel,' for mercy's sake."

"My faither was called the same thing fer many years. Now there's a man ye should fear."

"b.l.o.o.d.y right," Colin agreed, then shouted to Davina. "Look out behind ye!"

She screamed with laughter when Will, sneaking up behind her, s.n.a.t.c.hed her up in his arms and held her over the water.

"I swear on my sword I'm goin' to beat him senseless one of these days," Rob growled, halfheartedly.

"A single strike ought to do it." Colin smirked and winked at him before he too was lured away by the laughter coming from the loch.

"By the way"-Edward cast his anxious gaze around the spa.r.s.e tree line behind them-"you are aware that we're on Campbell land, are you not? They don't take kindly to Highlanders."

Rob ground his jaw and prayed for patience. "My mother is a Campbell, dinna' fear. We will be safe here tonight."

But the captain wasn't listening. "G.o.d protect us," he muttered, looking suitably horrified at Colin tackling Finn. "I fear this noise will alert the dead."

Rob was about to turn and ask him how in b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l he had attained the rank of captain when he feared a man so much that the sound of laughter could make him tremble in his boots, but Davina broke away from her captor and came rus.h.i.+ng toward him, capturing his attention instead.

Instinctively, Rob opened his arms to her, pleased that she sought protection from him rather than Asher. He caught her up in one arm and with the other stretched out before him, palm open, stopped Will, who had been in hot pursuit, dead in his tracks. His cousin went down like a felled tree, clutching his nose, blood already seeping through his fingers.

Immediately, Rob bent to help him. He hadn't meant to hit him in the face, but Will ran straight into his hand. "Och, h.e.l.l, is it broken?" he asked as he hauled his cousin to his feet.

Still clamped in his other arm, Davina wriggled to be free then gave his chest a firm slap. "How could you do that to him?"

Rob angled his head at her, surprised by the flash of anger in her blue eyes.

"He was only having some sport with me!"

If she was trying to make him feel worse than he already did, she should have said anything but that.

She shoved his arm off her and went directly to Will. "Oh, you poor thing," she cooed like a wife whose husband had just returned from battle. "Sit back down and keep your head tilted forward."

Rob rolled his eyes heavenward. h.e.l.l, 'twas just a b.l.o.o.d.y nose. Will had received worse than that training with him. When he looked at Davina again, she was glaring at him. Her cheeks were flushed, her nostrils flared, and her damp hair fell in wild disarray around her shoulders. h.e.l.l, she was bonnie.

"What is the matter with you?" she charged. "All you do is frown at everyone. You never just enjoy yourself. Why, you're no fun at all!"

Before he could reply, she whirled on her heel, fanning her long tresses in a wide arc around her, and stormed off to the water's edge.

He followed her, determined to set her straight. There were many things he enjoyed, like working up a good sweat on the practice field, and raiding, and playing chess. He liked playing chess.

"Davina, I-"

"What happened to Will?" Finn disengaged himself from Colin and stared at the man milking his wound like a la.s.s.

"Robert punched him in the face for chasing the lady," Edward informed him.

Rob glowered at him over his shoulder. "I didna' punch him, and why the h.e.l.l are ye right behind me?"

"Of course, now he's going to bite off Edward's head," Davina practically hissed while she soaked some reeds in the water.

"Mayhap our rogue cousin will have more sense now, aye, brother?"

Rob met Colin's knowing gaze and then closed his eyes. He knew how it looked. He didn't like Will or Asher giving Davina so much attention, but it didn't mean he wished his best friend harm. Or did he? What the h.e.l.l was happening to him? Davina was to blame, of course; his wee fairy G.o.ddess who enchanted all the men around her. He moved aside when she shoved past him on her way back to Will.

"I think ye should-"

"Shut up, Finn," Rob said, and set off after her again. When he reached her, he waited while she wiped Will's face with the wet reeds, patient even when his cousin slipped him a furtive smile from the corner of his mouth. Rob wouldn't be baited.

"Poor Will," Davina soothed, giving Will's nose a thorough looking over. "I do not think it's broken."

"'Twouldn't be the first time if it was." Rob only meant to ease her worry. He realized too late that it was a mistake.

"By your hand?" Davina straightened, wiping her hands on her gown, and gaped at him.

"Nae, not by me. I... I only meant..." Rob clenched his jaw. Why in blazes was he stumbling over his words? He could admit when he was wrong-though such occasions rarely arose. Mostly because he never acted rashly. He was usually patient, deliberate, never truly letting anything disturb his calm. But that had all changed since he'd met Davina. He could blame his brooding disposition of late on a dozen things, but he knew she was the cause. He wanted her. Despite the danger she might or might not bring to his clan, despite her promises to G.o.d, he wanted her, and not being able to have her was winding him up tighter than a bowstring. He barely recognized himself and he didn't like it. He looked down at his cousin. "I didna' mean to strike ye," he said, trying to make amends.

Still clutching his nose, Will-who'd faced his share of sword-swinging Highlanders bent on cutting off a limb, expelled a withering sigh. "'Tis understandable, cousin. I know how ye frown upon games." He finally let go of his nose and rose, as good as new, to his feet. "But mayhap with her, 'tis more than that, aye?" He winked and strolled off with a victorious grin on his face.

Rob fought the urge to fling his cousin into Loch Awe.

"You frown upon games?" Davina looked more stricken than when Will's face crunched under his hand. "And why would it be more than that with me? Is it my happiness that makes you angry, Rob?"

Och, h.e.l.l, he didn't want her to think that. He reached for her hand to stop her when she moved to walk away from him. "Davina, I..." He looked up and scowled at finding Asher and Finn standing close by, watching and listening to what he had to say. "I wish to speak to ye. Alone." He held out his arm to stop the captain when he moved toward them. Asher skidded to a halt, careful not to make contact with Rob's palm.

"Stay here." Rob softened the edge in his voice, sympathetic, though he hated to admit it, to what drove the captain to follow her, for he was just as pitiful. "She'll be safe with me."

Edward cut Davina a hesitant look, and then nodded and watched in silence while Rob lifted her to his saddle, leaped up behind her, then trotted off toward the woods beyond the campsite.

Chapter Fifteen.

What could he say to her? What should he say? Rob had no idea. The one thing he never spent much time training with was la.s.ses. He'd never had time for them. At least, not for anything more meaningful than a few hours of pleasure. After that, he threw himself back into what was most important. His duties to his clan. Duties he had tossed to the wayside since holding Davina Montgomery in his arms. Each day while he battled his feelings toward her, he also battled his logic for bringing her home, for not questioning her more about why an earl and a duke wanted her dead. 'Twas enough to drive his rational heart mad. But the more he rode with her, the more he came to know her, the less he cared. They had covered a good distance of leagues with her perched sideways on his lap, and not once had she complained. She had lost almost everyone she loved, yet she found joy in things as simple as a sunset or-he smiled rather hopefully at the stand of short hawthorn trees up ahead-a canopy of tiny pink blossoms.

Aye, he thought, bringing them to the trees. What chance did his sensible heart have against the sweet thrills she found in the mundane?

Clearing his throat, he dropped his gaze to the top of her head. He was glad she wasn't facing him. Looking at her had a way of muddling his thoughts. Then again, so did wee flowers in her hair. He plucked one from her silvery blond tresses-a harmless act that left him aching to touch more of her.

"Davina, I want to..."

"Yes?"

d.a.m.nation. She turned. "I..." he began, but when she smiled up at the blossoms falling around their heads, he forgot everything else in the world and let his eyes bask in the sheer rapture of her. And here was another difference still-she was beguiling to the point of distraction, and utterly and delightfully unaware of it. "Davina, I have been a fool and though I canna' promise it, I will do my best to avoid bein' one in the future."

Her gaze fell to his and her smile remained, emboldening him to continue. Her forgiveness, like her joy, came easily. "I may no' partic.i.p.ate in the things ye like to do with the others, but I'll never stop ye from doin' them. I know ye need to."

Aye, he knew she needed more in her life than protection. She needed joy and freedom to be who she was-whoever that might be.

"Thank you." Her voice was whisper-soft while she looked at him, a mixture of surprise and hope stirring something within her that made his heart clench. "My life has changed so much since... since you came into it." She did not pull away when he lifted his fingers to the curve of her jaw but tilted her head to his touch. "I feel like I have just been born. I've always wanted to see what was beyond the Abbey walls, but I was afraid. I am not afraid when I'm with you."

Rob swallowed once, twice. He didn't think she could have made him any happier in that moment. But he was wrong.

"Your friends have become my friends, my family."

"Aye, that pleases me," he said, wiping a tear from beneath her lashes, and fearing the drum of his own heart that told him he would battle any army for her; a duke's, an earl's, or even a king's.

Nae, he couldn't. He was already sworn to another duty. He wanted her to understand. "While my brothers and sister were chasin' sheep in the meadows, I was bein' molded into a man who would someday wear my faither's tartan. When ye come to know Callum MacGregor and what he has done fer his clan-what he is doin' fer them now-ye'll understand how hard I must work at makin' certain his tartan will fit."

She studied him quietly, carefully, searching deep within his eyes. "It sounds like you had a childhood very much like mine," she finally said. "Your path was set for you and you had no choice in changing it."

"I've never wanted to change it."

She smiled at him rather sadly, seeming to understand the battle being fought inside him-the choice he had been "molded" to make. "Truly, Rob, the last thing I want to do is bring danger to you or your clan."

He said nothing, feeling worse than before.

"You've never wanted to chase sheep in the meadows then?" Her eyes s.h.i.+mmered with playfulness, tempting him to forget the battle.

"Nae," he smiled.

Her mirth faded watching him. She blinked, looking unnerved by something that just crossed her thoughts. "Did you chase many women?"

"Nae," he replied, dipping his gaze to her lips.

"Not even one of those MacPherson girls that Will told about?"

He would have preferred her not knowing about that day, but the dreadful antic.i.p.ation widening her eyes as she waited for his reply had the strangest, most satisfying effect on him. He'd been beating himself up every day telling himself that he wasn't jealous of her captain, and here she was a tad bit jealous of the MacPherson sisters. His smile deepened, his blue eyes teasing. "She chased me."

When she drew in a shocked breath, parting her lips beneath his curious touch, Rob bent his head to hers. He knew he shouldn't kiss her, but he was tired of fighting what he felt for her. G.o.d help him. G.o.d help them all.

Davina sat motionless, save for the heart thumping wildly in her chest. She had time to realize what he was going to do, but she didn't move away. She didn't want to. After days of riding perched in his lap, acutely aware of the powerful length of his fingers before her, his breath behind her, his arms around her, she wanted something more. Sinful or not, she could not stop her dreams at night, dreams that Rob had invaded, taking the place of everything else. She awoke most mornings breathless from his ghostly, sensual touch and a bit ashamed of the pleasure she took in touching him back. She knew she should stop him now as his fingers slipped behind her nape, drawing her closer, angling her head higher to receive him, but she wanted this too much. Having never been kissed before, she was frightened by the forceful need in his first kiss, but this time his lips grazed hers, a tender, beguiling caress so intimate she was glad she sat nestled in his lap else she would have melted into a pool of liquid at his feet. The smooth stroke of his tongue coaxing her lips apart sent fire through her veins. So much better than her dreams. He took her mouth with exquisite thoroughness, molding her lips to his, tasting her with a hunger he did all he could to control. When he curled his arm around her, drawing her closer and deepening their kiss, she had the feeling of falling deep into a chasm where only he existed, ready and waiting to catch her.