Highland Wolf (16 page)

“Will it be safe enough for them in the village?” she asked. “We dinnae get many strangers staying around and they must be easily spotted.”

“E’en MacKay will balk at killing a king’s man and he will ken exactly who Simon is. Simon said he had met the mon a few times and I suspect MacKay will remember each one of those meetings. Nay, they will be safe enough as long as they keep one eye open when they sleep.”

Annora sat down on the blanket he spread next to Meggie. “I havenae been verra good at this,” she said quietly.

“Lass.” James sat down beside her, draped his arm around her shoulder and very gently kissed her bruised cheek. “Ye have done verra weel for a woman who was fighting off a big, hardened warrior only a few hours ago.”

She smiled her gratitude for his kind words even though she did not really believe them. “What will we do, James?” she asked in a very soft, slightly unsteady voice as she realized more fully what they had done.

“Run and hide until I can get ye and Meggie to a safe place. No one will care if MacKay and Egan hunt me to the ends of the earth and murder me. Until I am rid of the taint of being named an outlaw, anyone can kill me and many would help MacKay in his search. Ye and Meggie dinnae carry that burden. Aye, MacKay has claimed Meggie as his, but she was born to my wife and so his claim carries no weight. He was only allowed to get away with it because I was as good as dead. Ye are naught but his cousin, and although kinsmen are considered the rulers of the women in their care and family, no one will help him hunt ye down, either. In truth, who ye are will be your best protection now.”

“Ye mean being a poor, landless bastard whose own kinsmen dinnae want her?”

“Sad to say, aye. Rest, Annora,” he said as he gently pushed her down onto the blanket.

She stared up at the starry sky she could see through the big holes in the thatched roof. James spread a blanket over her and then crawled beneath it to curl up around her body. She held herself very still and just allowed the warmth of his body to soothe her aches and the chill of the night air. This was exactly where she wanted to be, but she could not completely stop her weary mind from chewing over all the difficulties they now
faced.

“I am such a coward,” she whispered even as she pressed her body hard up against his.

“Nay, lass, ye are no coward. Ye didnae hesitate to come with me. There is no cowardice in seeing all the problems we now face. Do ye think I dinnae worry o’er how we can elude MacKay and the men he will send to hunt us? I am nay alone now. It will be verra difficult to get away and find a refuge with a woman and a child with me nay matter how fit and willing they are. There just wasnae the time to make a good plan.”

“Nay, I ken it and I had only just begun to make a few myself in case I had to flee a marriage to Egan.”

“I will take ye to my kinsmen. Ye will be safe there; ye and Meggie.”

“It willnae bring any trouble to the doors of your kinsmen?”

“It might but nay anything they cannae handle. They have had to deal with many a danger o’er the years from lasses taken for ransom to sons accused of near any crime ye can think of. But they can hold Meggie in their care without much trouble. After all, they are seen as Meggie’s blood kin by the law and the church. MacKay willnae have any power to wield if he tries to take ye or Meggie back.”

James touched a kiss to the back of her neck and then held her close, trying to warm the chill in her body. He still ached to kill Egan and the feeling swelled up each time he saw the bruises on Annora’s face. After the pain his family had suffered when his sister Sorcha had been raped and beaten, James knew his rage was easily stirred beyond reason by the rape of a woman. Any man who did such a thing, or tried to do it, deserved to be killed, but he had had to let Egan live. One just did not kill an unconscious man. He certainly would have had an even more difficult time clearing his name if he had done that.

When he felt Annora’s body go limp in his hold, he smiled and kissed the top of her head. He would have liked to travel even farther but she had been staggering by the time they had reached the cottage. Considering how many miles they had to travel before he could hand her and Meggie over to his family’s care, James had known that they had to stop for a rest.

James glanced over at a sleeping Meggie and smiled. She had not argued or whined at all. He suspected it was because the child would go anywhere just to stay with Annora, but it still made him proud. After reading Mary’s journal and realizing that MacKay’s claim to Meggie might have some merit, James had expected to feel differently about Meggie, but he had not. He might never be sure whose seed had fathered her, but she was his sweet wee Meggie and no one else’s.

This was his family, his future. James knew they were all in danger, but he could not help but feel a sort of peace come over him. This was what he fought for and he would not give up. Donnell MacKay had stolen three years of his life, his good name, and his land. James now knew that Donnell had also held full control of his wife, Mary. He would not allow the man to take this from him. The warm woman he held so close and the sweet child murmuring in her sleep were his and he meant to keep them, to have a life with them. James knew that if he lost them, it would make his previous losses seem small and unimportant.

James looked down at Annora and Meggie, the child curled up in the woman’s arms. At some time while he and Annora had slept, the child had woken up enough to seek out Annora for warmth or for comfort or even for both. He knew they had had little choice but to flee Dunncraig as swiftly as possible, but he felt a little guilty for the way the child had had to be dragged away in the middle of the night.

What he had to do was make a definite plan about what to do next. He could not expect a little girl and a slender woman to live the same life he had led for the past three years. Nor could they stay too close to Dunncraig and still try to find the proof needed to remove the threat of MacKay from their lives. MacKay would be searching high and low for them, pushing all his men to do the same. He had to take his women far away from here, and he no longer felt that France was a good idea, even if it would allow him to live with them. That left taking them to his kinsmen and asking their help in keeping Meggie and Annora safe.

His women, he mused, and grinned as he grabbed a wineskin and headed to the burn to fill it with water. He really liked the sound of that. And they would soon be his to claim openly and to take care of. James knew that he was very close to defeating MacKay. The need to run and hide now was only a brief stumbling point on the road to success in the long battle to regain all he had lost. James knew he had to believe that or the battle was already lost.

Just as he finished filling the wineskin, James heard a twig snap from a few feet behind him. He turned swiftly, his dagger in his hand before he even completed the move, and then he cursed, more from a sense of relief than of anger. A wide-eyed Annora stood only a few feet away from him dressed only in her shift. Eyeing him warily, she moved to the edge of the burn to wash her face and hands.

“Ye startled me, lass, and with enemies at every turning, I acted accordingly but I didnae mean to frighten ye,” he said as he sheathed his dagger.

“I am sorry. It will take me a while to fully understand that we are, weel, running and hiding from a dangerous mon and to act accordingly.” She patted her face and hands dry with the skirt of her shift. “I didnae think I was being verra quiet as I approached ye. S’truth, I stumbled along quite noisily, more asleep than awake.”

“Weel, I was deep in my thoughts, which isnae a good thing to be right now. Mayhap spending time at Dunncraig has taken the edge off all the skills I learned whilst being an outlaw. Meggie?”

“Still sleeping, and considering how early in the morning it is, I suspicion she will be sleeping soundly for a few more hours. She had a busy night, aye?” Annora suddenly smiled. “And wee Meggie likes to sleep and sleep verra deeply, too. I was most surprised that ye were able to rouse her so quickly when we went to the nursery to fetch her. If by some chance she does wake ere I return, she will wait for me or e’en call for me.”

“Good, I wouldnae wish her to wake alone and be afraid.”

“’Tis so verra difficult to believe that it has come to this. We were so close to finding out the truth, to wiping the false stain from your name and getting back all ye have lost. And all this because some whore of a maid couldnae abide the fact that ye told her nay. I hope she is still tied to the bed.”

James smiled and pulled her into his arms. She looked so beautifully angry on his behalf despite the violence she had suffered herself last night. He was afraid that he had
become increasingly resigned to a life of running and hiding. Annora’s outrage reminded him that it was unfair, unjust, and that he deserved a better life. It was enough to keep him from changing from a man who was only declared an outlaw into a true outlaw. The step needed to cross that line was a small one and he knew he had been very close to making that step before he had come to Dunncraig.

“S’truth, I am glad that Mab tried yet again to seduce me.” He kissed her scowling mouth, pleased with that hint of jealousy. “It was what sent me to your bedchamber and allowed me to save ye from Egan.” James lightly brushed a kiss over her badly bruised cheek and wished he could beat Egan senseless all over again. “Does it pain ye?” he asked as he tentatively stroked his fingers over her bruises.

“Nay, not truly. The only thing that does pain me is that ye are having to run away again and now ye must try to do so with me and Meggie. Mayhap she and I should go back to Dunncraig, or e’en stay right here.”

“Nay, that isnae a verra good idea, love. I was nearly too late to save ye from Egan this time. I willnae, cannae, leave ye in his reach.”

“But Sir Innes and your brother—” she began.

“Will soon ken what has happened to me. Big Marta has been told to go and tell them if anything has caused me a problem. Having to flee Dunncraig in the middle of the night is definitely a problem. As soon as it is discovered that all three of us are gone, Big Marta will be on her way to the village to tell Simon and Tormand all she kens about the matter including everything she has seen and every word she has overheard. ’Tis a verra good thing that there appears to be no pursuit, at least nay yet. If there had been, Simon and Tormand would have been told about us a great deal sooner than they have been. Aye, sooner would have been better, but so long as they
are
told, I am satisfied.”

Annora nodded and then realized that James was slowly moving her back toward a small, sheltering circle of trees. “What are ye doing, James?” she asked, although the gleam in his eyes gave her a very good idea.

“I was thinking how difficult it will be now for us to be alone since we will have Meggie with us. Then I realized that we are verra alone right now.”

“Meggie,” she began to protest as he pushed her up against a tree.

“Ye said she would sleep awhile longer and bellow for ye if she wakes and is afraid or in need of help.”

“Weel, aye, I did say that.”

James kissed her and the way his tongue teased and stroked the inside of her mouth robbed Annora of any urge to protest further. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, as hungry for him as he appeared to be for her. She knew she should say a very strong no and rush away to be with Meggie, for it was full day and they were outside, things she felt a true lady should protest against. The way he was wrapping her legs around his waist and rubbing himself against her made Annora suspect that this would be no slow, genteel lovemaking, either. She had seen a man take a woman in this manner a time or two and had always thought it looked rough and crude. It did not feel that way to her now. Mayhap it was just because it was James and she could not think of anything he did to give them both pleasure as being rough or crude.

“Lovely, sweet Annora, I am verra eager to have ye, right now, right here,” James said. “Say me aye.”

Not only was her blood running hot from the magic of his swift but very thorough
caresses and his kisses, but Annora admitted to herself that she was intrigued by the idea of making love this way. “Aye,” she said.

“Ah, love, ye are a fine, agreeable lass.”

“I do try to be.”

He laughed even as he thrust himself inside her. Annora clung to him and hung on tightly during what proved to be a wild gallop toward bliss. There was no real tenderness, no soft stirring kisses over her heated skin, and very few soft words spoken. It was fast and furious and Annora found it intensely arousing. The release that tore through her made her cry out his name and she had the fleeting thought that it sounded so freeing to hear that cry echo in the air. A moment later he joined her in that sublime fall.

When he caught his breath, James slowly eased free of her body and set her down on her feet. He smiled when she slumped against him, her arms tight around his waist. Annora was not only passionate; she was adventurous. He desperately wanted the trouble with MacKay gone so that he could enjoy the happiness she gave him in more than brief moments snatched between troubles. He also wanted the freedom to make love to her as often as he wanted and in any way he could. Having an adventurous partner could give a man ideas, he mused, and moved away from her before she could feel the interest some of the ideas flickering through his mind were stirring in his greedy body.

He kept his hands on her shoulders, however, not wanting to give her the impression that now that he had had his body sated, he was done with her. Such rushed, eager lovemaking could be exciting, but it left no time for all the caresses and soft words that told a woman she was more than some easily gained release to a man. Moving away from Annora too quickly now would be much akin to rolling off a woman, getting out of bed, getting dressed, and going home. The very last thing he wanted Annora to feel was used or, worse, have her questioning her own behavior, deciding she was some wanton, and working to beat down her passionate nature. He had a lot of plans for that passionate nature.

“Ye are a verra welcome sweetness in the midst of all the bitterness that has been my life for too long,” he said and kissed the top of her head when she pressed her blush-stained face against his chest.

“I am a terrible wanton,” she whispered, terrified when she realized that she felt little or no shame for how she had just behaved.

“Ah, nay, lass, ye arenae. If ye were ye wouldnae have still been a nearly unkissed virgin at the great age of four and twenty.” He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning when she immediately lifted her head to glare at him.

“
Great age
?” she said, a little astonished at how her voice sounded very much like her cat Mungo’s did when it met another cat it did not know well walking on its land.

“I didnae really mean ye were old, just that most women have had a mon or two ere they reach that age.” He moved away from her to pick up the wineskin, for he had the distinct impression, that tickle of a warning up the back of his neck, that she wanted to kick him.

“Of course they have. Most lasses of my age have been wed, some for quite a while.”

“Wheesht, Annora, do ye really believe that they all dutifully wait for the priest to bless them?” He shook his head. “Nay, the moment a couple is officially betrothed, if they have any liking for each other at all, they are trying to get themselves into a bed as
fast as they possibly can. And the poorer lasses can often have several lovers ere they settle on a mon for a husband. S’truth, ’tis often only the verra young, the verra godly, or the verra rich maidens who cling tightly to their maidenheads.”

“I am none of those.”

“Nay, ye are a lady, and though ye are nay rich, ye have e’er lived amongst them, aye? Always within the walls of the keep or the manor, and always related in some way to the one who rules all the others. The poor work from dawn to dark all the week long. They have more of a greed for those few moments of bliss. Just where do ye think all those hungry young men get their experience, eh?”

Annora had absolutely no intention of answering that question. She certainly did not wish to hear the fool relate a tale or two about his undoubtedly extensive romantic past. The faint smirk on his handsome face told her that he knew it, too. She was really not so naive that she thought all women who never took a lover were saints or all women who did were sinners doomed to burn for eternity in the fiery pits of hell. On the other hand, women who allowed their lovers to have them while pressed up against a tree in the bright morning light on a riverbank had to be teetering precariously on some ledge that overlooked some part of the underworld.

Despite all her good intentions she had actually opened her mouth to say just that when she heard Meggie yell out for her. Answering that call was a perfect disguise for the retreat she had been considering. Annora bolted for the cottage.

“I need to look round, “James called after her rapidly retreating figure. “Stay close to the cottage.”

James knew it was foolish to be yelling in the woods when they were supposed to be trying to slip silently away from an enemy. It was too late to mend that mistake, however. He would just have to speak to Meggie and Annora about the need for silence when he got back to the cottage. He would talk sternly to himself about the danger of getting distracted by his own lust, another dangerous thing to do. When he was making love to Annora he was aware of only her and how she made him feel. MacKay could have gotten close enough to skewer them to the tree they were making love against and he was not sure he would ever have heard.

Although he was not sure what was pulling him in the direction he was headed, James decided to just follow his instincts. Someone had to have found Egan or Mab by now, so he could not waste too much time on a whim, but there was no real harm in giving in to it for a moment or two. Many of his cousins would insist that he do so, he thought with a smile as he edged into the shelter of the trees and began to walk back in the direction of Dunncraig. They were not his blood kin, however, so it was impossible to have the same skills so many of them did. He would concede, though, that he had very good instincts and they had been honed to a very sharp edge during his years of exile. Right now they were urging him to hurry along and study whatever it was that had caught their interest. James feared it might be a sign that he, Annora, and Meggie were already being tracked by MacKay and his men.

He was about to turn around and get back to the cottage, disgusted with himself for wasting time looking for nothing, when he heard voices. Slipping even farther into the shadow of the trees, he moved toward the voices until he saw five men watering their horses. James eased himself down until he was sprawled on his stomach on the ground and studied the men. He was a little too far away to see the badges they wore on their
muddied clothing, but he suspected they were from the MacLaren clan, the one MacKay had recently raided. The one where the laird’s eldest son was killed, he thought and was suddenly alarmed that what was obviously a scouting party was roaming on Dunncraig lands.

“I think we need to find out what has that bastard in such a frenzy,” said a huge, rather hairy man, his dark hair and beard nearly obscuring his whole face. “It could be useful.”