Gifts of Desire (18 page)

             
“Just who do
you
imagine this
enemy
to be,
Ceann
?”  Ethan began more gently.
“The Camerons?  Surely the
y aren’t
cunning
enough to come up
with such a plot.  The MacDonald
s, perhaps?
  They
are
always trying to
take
the land on the western border, but even still…”
 
Ethan
paused as he
saw Maggie pass by the door and called to her.  “How fares the lass
Maggs
?”

             
Maggie stopped, her arms full of linens, an
d stood in the doorway.  “She’
ll be fine.  She has had a bath, and I put a salve on all of her
cuts and scrapes, but there isn’t
much I can do for the bruises.  As
dreadful
as they are, I suppose they will heal…”

             
Ceann
felt his heart lurch
uncomfortably
.  “What bruises?”

             
“Oh the ones o
n her arms, especially.  Did
you
not see them?  No, I supp
ose
you
wouldn
’t have.  I’ve nev
er seen the like, as if someone held her tightly and shook her.
  You can see the finger marks, clear as day.
  Must
have
h
urt something
terrible
.  And she didn’t complain once when I tended her; such a brave lass
she is.
  And she asked after the guard that was wounded outside the library.  When I told her that he lives, but barely, she insisted she tend him herself.
”
  Ceann started to object, but Maggie held up her hand.  “Don’t worry, I told her she couldn’t see
James until the morrow.  She needs her own rest first.”  With that she bustled off, not waiting to be dismissed
, the mark of a servant who was more a part of the family than the hired help
.

             
Ce
ann
turned
back
to the other men again. 
“
I ride for Rossmoor in the morning.  I will
settle the lass’s claims against my uncle, and then we can turn our efforts to finding out
once and for all
what is really going on here.”

             
Gregor drained the last
drop from his cup and thumped it
down on the table.  “Do
you
think Ross would admit to taking the lass, had he done so?”

             
“Again, what cause does my uncle have to lie to me?”

             
Gregor looked thoughtful.
“But if he has decided to claim his prize now, instead of waiting…”

             
Ceann
cut him off with an impatient gesture.  “Then he could just have
me
killed.  Why would he bother to take the lass?  I ride tomorrow to speak with my uncle.  And if anything happens
with
that wench
while I’m gone, it will be
all of
your heads.”

***

             
Much later,
after several glasses of whiskey that did nothing to quiet his mind,
Ceann
left the others and headed for his chamber
.  He came to
Ella
’s door, next to his own. 

             
Keep your enemies close
…
his mother had always said.
Or at least that was the excuse he
gave
himself when he put her in the room adjoining his. 
He paused, listening, but there was no sound from within.  Slowly, carefully, he lifted the latch and opened the door just a crack.  He could see her there on the bed, asleep
, her breathing soft and slow
.  Before he knew what he was doing, he
had
stepped into the room
and walked
softly
over to the bedside
.  She was sprawled
on top of the coverlet, as if she had been tossing and turning b
efore she finally fell asleep
.  One arm was flung over her head, and the thin fabric of her night rail had fallen back.  Even in the faint light from the hearth and the half moon
hanging
in the window, he could see the angry black bruises.  He sucked in a breath.  Who had done this to her? 
And why? 
He felt the rage rise in his chest again, that anyone would harm something so beautiful, so perfect.  No, it was more than that, he admitted.  He wanted to protect her, had from the first time he saw her.  Something deep inside of him had wanted to lock her in a tower room,
safe from the world, his alone, like the most delicate piece of porcelain.  But even if he could, he knew s
he would never stand for it
.
  She was a f
ree spirit, and would never be his to hold, no matter how he wished it.

             
Besides the bruising
and the scrapes
, t
he rest of her skin was flawless ivory, and her golden hair lay
loose and
tangled around her.
She was a complete and utter mystery to him, and not only because she would not tell him who she was…
no
,
it was more than that. 
He was drawn to her like a magnet to a lodestone, inexorably, as if an invisible force existed between them. 
When he was near
her, he wanted to touch her, no
needed
to.
She alone among
all the
women
he had ever known
made him feel weak
with want whenever he saw her
. 
He wanted to touch her
now
.  More t
han that, he wanted to take her,
as much as he wanted his next breath.
  His heart raced, and suddenly his breath
ing sped up
as waves of heat washed over him. 
Lust
.
 
It was only lust
.  A terrible, aching, mind-numbing lust.
  It would be so easy to slide into the bed next to her
and ease it…
  Would she
welcome
him?  Or would she cry out and push him away?

             
Taking a trance-like step closer to the bed, h
e thought he heard a voice in between the hammering beats of his heart.

             
“
Y
e
s
ss
….
she belongs to
you
.
”

             
Ceann
tensed. 
He
had
heard the voice clearly, but when he turned, there was no one else in the room
.
He must have imagined it.
Startled from the spell he had fallen under, he backed
quickly towards the door.  Reaching it, h
e stepped into the hallway, and looking at the bed o
ne more time, closed
it behind him.  He leaned
for a mom
ent against the cool stone wall, struggling with his will, before going
t
o
his own room,
where he
sank down in a chair by the fire.  His whole body trembled as he
fought
to
re
gain control
of himself
. 
What
the hell
had just happened?
  Maybe he
was
going mad.
He poured out a glass of whiskey, but then set it on the table, untouched.  It wouldn’t help
anyway
.
He had never wanted anything so badly
as he had wanted
Ella
in that moment.  He had never come so close to losing control, of not caring about the consequences.  Had this woman been sent here by the
very devil
to torment him? 
Had someone put a spell on him, or another curse? 
He
really
should send her away
somewhere
before he did something he would regret
…
but that thought was equally distressing.
 
His head dropped down into his hands, and he
groaned and
pushed his hands through
his hair in frustration. 
He was torn.
  Hopelessly so.
 

Chapter 8

             
By the next morning,
after spending a largely sleepless night,
Caen
had decided it was
Ella
he was angry at
for the way she had made him almost lose control.  It was at least better than feeling
so
vulnerable. 
Never mind that
he
was keeping her here
,
and
that it was
he
who
had gone
into her room to watch her sleep. 
She seemed to be always in his thoughts, and yet he still didn’t know the first thing about her. 
He knew her name; that was all. 
It angered him even more that he
was thinking about her being in his thoughts
.
 
God’s blood!
 
But there was something about her, something that made him long
to pull her close
and forget the past.  To have her naked in his arms and make love to her slowly and gently, and to claim her
violently
like some wild beast.  The urge was primitive and powerful, beyond all rational thought
.  Damn her for appearing out of nowhere to pl
ague him with such desires
!

             
He slipped out early so he would be sure to avoid
her.  By leaving
at dawn
, he could easily make it to Rossmoor and back in a single day.  The only problem, of course, was that the long ride left him alone with only his thoughts, and his thoughts kept turning back to
Ella
. 
Curse the
damned bloody
day I
found her!
  She had turned his whole world upside down without even trying.  Never had he wanted so badly to believe the curse was just a legend, but he knew that wasn’t so.  Something had happened all those years ago when his father had disappeared, and what deal the man had made with the devil, he couldn’t fathom.  But the end result was his own heartbreak.  The
se
past days, his mind had turned unbidden to dreams he had thought long banished.  Having
Ella
here,
even
though he barely knew her and
couldn’t
trust her, was changing him.  Her spirit and gently teasing nature had actually made him want to smile, made him
want
to be
happy
.  What would it be like to have a
woman like her love
him
?  To come home
from a battle hard won and
see
her rush out to greet him, his own bairns following on her heels?
  He hadn’t let himself think about these things in years, not since he had finally admitted to himself that the curse was real.  All of those women, all of those nights spent in
the arms of one he didn’t love.  O
r sometimes he didn’t even spend the whole night, but
callously left them right after the act. 
Aye, they would give him anything he asked
for
because he was Laird, but not one of them had been able to give him a child.
  Not one.  And in the end he had only felt
more
empty and alone
than ever before
.
 
He was not proud of that time in his life, a
nd he hadn’t l
ain with a woman in three long years.
I
n truth it had been no hardship.  He could no longer bear any pretense of closeness, of intimacy, where none existed.  It had begun to feel cheap and vulgar.  A useless act, when his own hand behind closed doors was release enough
when he needed it
.  He had been fine…
perfectly fine,
until Ella had come along and awakened lust
in him
again.