Highland Grace (6 page)

Jesslyn’s heart slammed against her ribcage.
She shook her head. “Nay, we will
not.
”

“We will.”

She swallowed hard. “‘Tis not yours.”

His eyes widened. “‘Tis not
mine?
”

“Nay, ‘tis not,” she said with more force. “I
knew you’d think it was the moment you heard of my condition,” she
rushed to say, “and that is why I wanted to meet with you
forthwith...to explain.”

“Whose else could it be?” he asked harshly,
tugging her hood down off of her head. With narrowed eyes, he
studied her, then shook his head. “You lie.”

Jesslyn rose and strode away from him, her
hands clasped over her belly. “Nay, I do not. I told you after
we...”—she shrugged—“that I’d just past my monthly courses.”

“If I didn’t father this babe, who did?”
There was a note of angry disbelief in his tone.

“It matters not, the deed is done and the man
is miles away and wed to another.”

“
Wed to another?”
There was a long
pause and then his eyes narrowed once more. “Are you saying ‘tis
Callum’s bairn you carry?” After only a slight pause, he said,
“Nay, I think not. ‘Twas clear when I had you, you hadn’t been with
anyone since your husband.”

Oh, lord. Of course,
he
would be able
to
tell
whether she’d lain with anyone recently. A man with
his sordid experience. “I only lay with the father once.”

“Aye,
that,
at least, is true.” In the
next instant, he was behind her, swinging her around to face him,
tipping her chin up, forcing her to meet his eye. In spite of
everything, her body betrayed her, sending a tremor of awareness
across her nerve endings and making her womb pulse. She darted her
tongue over dry lips.

She saw his reaction as well. His eyes
widened then settled, their coal-black centers a near eclipse of
their surrounding umber. She heard his harsh intake of breath, saw
his nostrils flare and before she knew what was happening, he
enveloped her in his strong embrace and devoured her mouth. No
gentle kiss, this, but open-mouthed, tongue-thrusting,
teeth-grinding near-brutal domination and pleasuring.

And her body responded. Hot, hard need burned
her insides.
This.
This was what she’d once dreamed of
having with him. After their time together. Before he’d dashed all
her hopes of a marriage between them and returned to his life of
soldiering and pleasuring of ladies in the King’s court.

Which he would return to again, quickly and
with relief, once she’d convinced him about the babe. She twisted
her head to the side and broke the kiss. “Nay! We mustn’t.”

As if scorched, he let go of her and took a
step back. She stumbled, but managed to right herself without
falling. His breath harsh and loud, he pressed his arm to his
mouth. After a split moment, he said, “Aye, that much is true.”
Then with a glare that pierced through her, made it impossible to
breathe, he added, “But wed, we will.”

She felt her alarm like a swift silver-cold
tide rush up her spine and into her brain. Crossing her arms, she
said, “You want no part of marriage! Why do you demand it now, when
I’ve told you the babe I carry is not yours?”

Arms akimbo, he stood with legs spread, like
an ancient statue of some conquering god of war. “Because you lie.
It
is
my babe you carry in your belly.”

“I do not! The father is someone else
entirely. Why will you not believe me?”

“Because, though you may own other loathsome
faults, this I know: You would never lay with a married man,
Jesslyn.”

Loathsome faults? Which are?
She
didn’t have the courage to ask. And besides it only proved her
belief that they should
never
wed. But he was right about
her and married men. Another tack then. “All right! I’ll tell you
the truth.”

He crossed his arms over his chest as if in
judgment. “Finally.”

“I’ve told no one who fathered this babe
because I wanted to speak to the man first, which I have recently
done.” Feeling chilled once again, she moved over to stand by the
fire and lifted her hood back over her head. “The babe’s father is
Steward Ranald.”

“Steward Ranald! Daniel’s fleshy, foolish
steward?” He snorted and strode to the other side of the fire so
that, once again, they faced each other. “He’s old enough to be
your father!”

“He’s agreed to wed me,” she said, keeping
her eyes on the fire. “So you see, there’s truly no reason for you
to sacrifice your freedom for me.” And tho’ she hadn’t in truth
spoken with the steward yet, the man had been so avid for her that
she was sure that she could convince him to wed her—and lie about
his fathering her bairn. And it wouldn’t be
such
a bad
match. Oh, he was a bit too zealous in his attentions to her. But
surely, over time, his enthusiasm would wane, would it not? And a
mature man would be good to have as husband because he wouldn’t
require the same amount of attention—would he? Nay, surely not.
And, really, his portliness was not
so
unattractive, now was
it? Nay, ‘twas not.

“So the steward is now miles away and wed to
another,” Bao said, his voice jeering. “Was it his twin who showed
me into the great hall earlier, then?”

Jesslyn nibbled on her bottom lip.
Damn!
She’d forgotten she’d said that. “Nay. I confess, I
lied about that. Pray pardon me.” With more strength, she added,
“The steward
is
the babe’s father, however, and he is quite
free to wed me.”

“I see,” he said. “Hmm. So...you and he…lay
together only once? Or was that a lie too?”

Jesslyn began to feel as if she were walking
into a trap, but had no idea how to get herself out of the mess.
She fidgeted with the pin that held her mantle together. “Nay,
‘twas no lie.”

Bao crossed his arms over his chest. “Under
what circumstances? I’m curious how he won your favor, as I would
never have had the pleasure had you not believed me, in the
beginning, to be your husband back from the dead.”

She lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at
him. “Of what matter is it? We did the deed and he fathered my
bairn—'tis all that you need to know.”

“Beg pardon. I’m just having a hard time
seeing the two of you together, ‘tis all.” After a brief, but
tension-filled moment, he rose from the stool. “Well, I suppose
there’s naught else to be said, then.” He turned his attention to
the fire, kicking snow onto the flames. “You should leave here
first and I’ll follow a bit later after I’ve put this out and taken
the stools back inside the cave.”

“Aye, that would be best.” Relieved, and aye,
a bit saddened that she’d so easily convinced him that she wouldn’t
wed him, she turned and moved quickly toward the break in the trees
that led into the glen.

* * *

“I spoke with Jesslyn after the meal this
morn. She told me Steward Ranald fathered her bairn,” Bao said to
his brother later that day. It’d taken a while after his meeting
with Jesslyn to map out a course of action.

“So now she’s saying the father is my
steward?
Ha! I trow that’s even more fantastic than her tale
that a traveling minstrel fathered the bairn!” Daniel replied
before turning his focus back on his sword.

The two were seated near the hearth in the
great hall, each using the time to clean their weapons while they
had their discussion.

Bao cocked his head and regarded his brother.
“She told you that the bairn’s father was a
traveling
minstrel?
” He shook his head and rearranged the oiled cloth
against the steel blade. “Why does she bother lying? ‘Tis clear
she’s quite bad at it.”

“I know not,” Daniel replied.

“I intend to wed her,” Bao stated.

Daniel grinned. “Good. I’m glad I will not
have to compel you to do so, as I’d thought I would.”

Bao looked at his brother’s profile. ‘Twas
clear he knew naught of his and Jesslyn’s tryst, so…. “You were
going to try to compel me into wedding her? Why?”

He met Bao’s eye. “I think it quite obvious.
The bairn must be Callum’s. Callum’s mother is a Maclean. You’re a
Maclean. Wedding Jesslyn will keep the bairn in the family.”

“The bairn’s not Callum’s, it’s mine.”

His brother nearly dropped his sword. Eyes
wide with shock, he said, “Did you just say
you
are the
babe’s father?”

The tension in Bao’s neck tripled. “Aye.”

“How? How is that possible? And don’t even
think to give me a lesson in anatomy—you know what I mean.”

“Last summer, before I came forward to reveal
my identity to you, I met Jesslyn in the wood a few times.”

“A few—”

Bao held up his hand. “Nay, we only lay
together once, but we did meet in the wood a couple of times prior
to that.”

“I think you should start at the beginning,”
his brother said, his eyes drilling into Bao’s. “How did you first
meet?”

“She came to the forest the first time a few
sennights before I met with you. She was looking for a waterfall
that her husband had beckoned her toward in a dream. She said the
dream had seemed so real to her that she wanted to find out if the
place existed in truth.”

Daniel’s brows slammed together in confusion
and surprise. “And
is
there such a fall?”

Bao sighed. “Aye, there is.” He placed his
sword on the floor and got up. He took several steps away from
Daniel before turning to face him once more. “I’d dreamt of the
waterfall as well, not long after Branwenn and I had arrived on
this holding—and Jesslyn was part of my dream.”

“You dreamed of Jesslyn before ever meeting
her?” Daniel’s eyes grew wider still. “This whole tale is becoming
more fantastic by the moment.”

“Aye. Believe me, I know how strange it
sounds, but ‘tis true. I, too, was driven to find this mystical
place after seeing it in my dream, and I found it only days
afterward.”

“But how did you meet Jesslyn in truth? We
trekked the wood thoroughly in search of you—Alleck’s ‘magic
giant’—but found no trace. Did she somehow stumble upon your
cave?”

“Nay, I saw Jesslyn coming through the trees
one day and, tho’ ‘twas against my better judgment, I made my
presence known to her.” After a brief pause, he explained further,
“My seeing her first in a dream was the reason I felt so impelled
to speak with her, give her my story.”

“Let us leave the subject of the dreams for
another time. For now, I want more details of Jesslyn’s part in
keeping my brother and sister’s existence a secret from me for
several sennights
.”

It galled him to take her part in this
matter, but he’d given her his vow to do so, and he’d not break it.
“She didn’t know of our kinship, nor did she know of Branwenn until
we brought her here. But, she knew I was waiting in the wood,
waiting for the right time to speak with you. And that I intended
no harm.”

His brother jumped up and began to pace. “I
can’t believe her perfidy! We’ve been friends since we were bairns,
how could she—"

“Calm yourself, Daniel.” Bao strode over and
clamped his hand on his shoulder. “I made Jesslyn promise to give
me a bit more time. I convinced her that you weren’t ready to hear
what I had to say yet and I vowed that I would make it right,
should you learn of her secrecy and be angered by it.”

Daniel looked at him and a gleam came into
his eye. “I’ve a hankering to finish our wrestling match, what say
you?”

Bao grinned in spite of his dark mood. “I
look forward to it. But don’t think you’ll get off so easily this
time. I’ve been training rather vigorously the past moons and I’m
in much better condition to best you.”

“We shall see,” Daniel replied smugly.
“So...at what point did you lay with Jesslyn?” he said, turning the
subject back to their original discussion. “Was it after you’d
moved into the keep with us?”

“Nay, ‘twas before that time.” Bao sighed and
scrubbed his fingers across his brow. “The day after we first met
each other, I showed her the way to the waterfall, and that was the
last I saw of her until the day before I came to the keep to meet
with you. I’d decided to take a last swim at the fall, but Jesslyn
was already there.” An image of her standing, bared before him,
arms outstretched, her luminous hair and smooth white skin
glimmering as the blinding sun made prisms of the water droplets
running down those lush breasts and thighs, raced through his mind
and dazzled him once more. Until the sobering words of Alan,
Constable of Scotland—his first glimpse of her true nature—crowded
it out and enveloped his heart in a sheath of ice once more.
“Jesslyn MacCreary, the slave-trader’s sister abides at the
Maclean holding under your half-brother’s protection, does she
not?”
Bao swung around, stalked back to his place by the hearth
and sat down. He snatched up his sword and resumed cleaning the
blade with much more vigor than before. “Suffice it to say,”—he
heard the ill-temper in his voice and softened it—“we did all that
was necessary to conceive a bairn.” He’d deal with Jesslyn’s
inhumane, selfish greed on his own terms,
after
they were
wed, and with no input from his half-brother. This he’d decided
after seeing her again, after learning she carried his babe and
would gladly let another man raise it.

Daniel shook his head in wonder. “I confess,
I’m having a hard time believing this.” He placed his hands behind
his back and began to pace, looking at the floor as he moved.

“I assure you, ‘tis true,” Bao said.

“But ‘tis just so unlike her. She’s always
been quite adamant about being wed before she’d lay with a man.”
Daniel stopped and faced Bao once more. “Even Graeme, her husband,
whom she loved deeply, was obliged to wait until they’d wed. Which
was why, I’m sure, he’d insisted on wedding her so quickly once
she’d accepted his troth.” Daniel’s all-too shrewd eyes drilled
into Bao. “Yet, according to you, Jesslyn had only met you twice
before she allowed such intimacy. Something in this tale is just
not fitting together.”