Kahleena MacCarthy ~ To Meet a Highlander (13 page)

             
He watched as the bar wench looked from side to side, contemplating. Yes, he was positive Zarik was here or at least had been. “Well, lassie?” Drostan jingled the coins in his hand.

             
“He be upstairs. Second floor, third door down.” She hurriedly snagged the coin from his hand and ran back to the kitchen area.

             
“Well, that was easy enough.” Caelan grinned as they both downed the rest of their drinks and got up to find their friend.

             
When they got to the room, the noise they heard was unmistakable. A woman was moaning and crying out and there was a banging, likely from the bed, from Zarik pounding into the lass.

             
Drostan looked as his friend. “I paid to find where he was; ye get to knock on the door.”

             
Caelan shook his head. “Can I just give ye back the coin?” They both laughed as Caelan knocked on the door.

             
No answer.

             
Again, Caelan knocked.

             
No answer.

             
The third time, Caelan pounded so hard that a dead man would have answered the door if he’d been in the room.

             
Still no answer.

             
Shrugging, Caelan pulled out coin, tossed it at the man watching them that cleaned the rooms for the bar, and kicked the door in.

             
“Chirst, Zarik! Cover yerself. I dinnae want to see your bullocks.” Drostan groaned as they went inside the room.

             
Caelan and Drostan shook their heads as they watched their friend slam into a wee sized whore which he’d bent over the table in the room. “Ye could have at least taken her in the bed. Yer to be Laird soon. Have a little tact.” Caelan pointed out.

             
Zarik still acted as though he’d heard nothing and continued until he finally spent his seed. Turning around, he grabbed a cloth and wiped off his cock. “I’ll have a bath brought up again.” He tossed the whore more coin after she had pulled on her shift. Zarik had been seeing her almost daily and she knew the routine.

             
Once she’d left the room, he turned his focus onto his friends. His annoying and nosy friends. “Why are ye here? I dinnae send fer ye.”

             
“It seems as though ye need us, Zarik.” Drostan told him as he eyed the small room.

             
“Nay, I’m perfectly fine at fucking. Mayhap it was ye and Caelan in need of tips?” Zarik eyed them both, not bothering to reach for his clothing.

             
“So, ye dinnae have the bullocks to get yer woman back. Ye dip yerself into a whore each night. What are ye waiting for? Yer cock to fall off from some disease? When ye get with Tsarina, how will ye explain all of this?” Caelan couldn’t hide his disgust.

             
“I’d hold yer tongue. And I'll no ever be explaining anything to a lass.” Zarik seethed.

             
“This from the naked man who’s so deep into his cups that I’m surprised his cock even got hard? The man that’s making a fool out of his Da because one day he’ll be Laird and cannae manage to act like a man. Yer a fookin’ coward.” Caelan met Zarik’s step forward.

             
“Ye forget yerself, Caelan.” Zarik took another step closer.

             
“Nay, I think it’s ye that has forgotten who ye are. Tsarina would be disappointed.” Caelan knew he took a huge chance bringing her up again.

             
Drostan walked between the two. “Now, Zarik, we’re no here to fight ye. We just want to help. We need to right the things that are going wrong before it’s too late. Ye aren’t happy without Tsarina. We can see that and it’s all right. There’s still time to fix it.”

             
“She wants to marry me brother. How is that all right?” Zarik sat in on the bed and put his head in his hands.

             
“Tsarina is doing what she thinks is best. She’s heard the gossip of how she does nothing and hasn’t been forced to take a husband. She was even refused in front of the clan. Or have ye forgotten? She's no happy either, Zarik. She's doing what must be done.” Drostan sat in one of the chairs in the room.

             
“I’ve no forgotten. I can’t seem to drink it away. I didnae mean to do that to her.” Zarik's admission clearly surprised both him and his friends.

             
“I ken it. Ye just weren’t thinking. Only of yer own survival and no of anyone else’s. It seems ye’ve become right the selfish bastard.” Caelan pointed out as he took the only other chair in the room.

             
“She just makes me not able to think. I dinnae care for it.” Zarik shook his head. “I lead ye all to battle. I need be clear in the head. With her, I cannae seem to be. All I see is her.”

             
Caelan and Drostan nodded at one another. Now they just might be getting somewhere. He admitted she affected him.

             
“Besides, she’s now betrothed to me brother. I’d not hurt him to try to force her into marriage.” Zarik was trying to be logical. They’d already announced the wedding for Tor and Tsarina. “And force it would need be as she's refused me. I think she'll no be saying aye anytime soon.”

             
“Aye, my friend. I can see yer point. But, he doesnae love her. So, he’d not be hurt. He wants ye to be with the lass. He's doing what he feels to be the right thing in all of this mess.” Drostan hoped they could convince him to see reason.

             
“Nay, she doesnae want me. I dinnae love her either, not she me.” Zarik picked up his kilt and put it on, deciding to skip the bath that was taking far too long to get hot water for.

             
“Ye really going to tell yerself that? Yer cheating her and yerself out of happiness.” Caelan told him.

             
“Warriors dinnae love, Caelan. Ye ken it.” Zarik then looked at Drostan. They’d been friends forever and most of that time; Drostan had been madly in love with his wife. As children he’d even take her flowers he’d find in the fields and forests.

             
“I should run ye through for that, Zarik. I love me wife and it’s no made me weaker. Has it?” Drostan looked at Zarik and waited for the shake of his head. “It’s made me stronger. Real love. When ye want to come home and death is nay an option. I'd go through anything to get back home to me Jenny.”

             
“I’m not running through a bunch of whores, ye ken. I’ve been seeing this same one each time I’m here.” Zarik didn’t know why he felt the need to explain himself. He’d never done it before.

             
“And that makes it all well and good? So, what are ye going to do to fix yer mess?” Caelan asked.

             
“My mess? It’s no mine. It was, but I already tried to fix it. I’ll not be made an arse by her again. She told me no. Demanded me on my knees.” Zarik looked at his friends as though his last sentence explained everything.

             
“Zarik, I proposed to my wife that way.” Drostan admitted.

             
“Ye did? How come no one knew?” Caelan asked before Zarik could. This was news to him too.

             
“Because it was private, between Jenny and I. No one knows. In private, ye’ll learn that ye’ll do damn near anything for a woman ye love. And ye’ll also learn, if she loves ye back, she’ll keep your secret to her death and beyond. It's not to be ashamed of. It's something to honor.”

             
“Anything?” Zarik didn’t realize how hooked Drostan was. And it was true, he was still every bit the warrior he had been. Perhaps even more so. Could having someone to come home to and wrap your arms around actually make you better rather than weaker?

             
“Aye, absolutely anything.” Drostan smiled and grabbed his sword and led his friends down the stairs, out of the bar and back to the keep. He made certain to dunk Zarik in the loch, several times, before allowing anyone in the keep to see their soon to be laird in such a state.

Chapter Seven

Current time

             
Trystan slammed the front door and punched the wall across from him. It had been several months since he had finally given in and moved Tsarina’s stuff out of her house and into storage. He hadn’t given up on finding his sister; he just figured it was time to be a little more practical. Although, she’d surely kill him for getting rid of her place. She had loved it. But, paying on his home and hers was becoming stupid.

             
Still there was no word on her. No sign of her anywhere. Not in this country or in Scotland. Trystan had argued with police, hired detectives on his own dime and splashed flyers across towns anywhere within one thousand miles.

             
Nothing.

             
No one with a clue, no one remembering seeing her.

             
The cops had even tossed her case aside. Not closing it, but no longer actively pursuing it.

             
She couldn’t have just vanished into thin air.

             
Kaeden and Trystan’s friendship had become tense since Tsarina’s disappearance. Kaeden felt he should be long over this and just accept that she’d likely not be found and if she was, it wouldn’t be any condition he’d want her to be in. It was terrible, but it was time to be realistic. The odds were not in their favor.

             
Tsarina couldn’t be dead. Trystan wouldn’t accept that.

             
Trystan finished packing his last suitcase and impatiently waited for his house sitter to arrive. He was going to Scotland. All he had was what they told him. He couldn’t see that they were looking for her. So, he’d go there and spend his season break from the NFL in Scotland. The land his sister loved so much that may have taken her from him for good.

             
Since their parents had passed on, they were all they had. Though he’d get frustrated with his sister, he loved her dearly. They’d always been close. Trystan smiled as he remembered his mom, during her last months of life, reminding the two of them that they fought more as adults than they ever had as children.

             
Tom, their dad, died a year and a half before their mother. He went to sleep one night and never woke up. Their mom had been devastated.

             
Two years prior to Tom’s passing, Nadine, their mom, had been diagnosed with liver cancer. She was told she wouldn’t make it a year. She made it three and a half, though the last year had been torture on Trystan and Tsarina. They had watched her fade away and it had ripped them both apart. In that time, their mom worked incessantly to make them close again. To let them know they still had one another and they needed to take comfort in that.

             
Trystan shook his head from the sad thoughts when he heard the doorbell. He quickly gave instruction and cash to his house sitter and darted out the door and off to the airport.

****

              Once Trystan landed in Edinburgh, he went directly to the police station. He’d settle in later, if at all. He would never find comfort in the place that took his sister from him.

             
If she hadn’t loved Scotland so much, would she have turned down the trip? Had her passion for the land and stones took her from him? What if…

             
Trystan shook his head again. What if’s weren’t going to bring his sister home. He needed to focus.

             
“I’m Trystan Fraser.” Trystan spoke as he reached out to firmly shake the officer’s hand that approached him. Were they called officers in Scotland? He gave himself a mental shrug. It didn’t matter. Tsarina did. “I’ve been speaking with several people in your department about my sister, Tsarina Fraser. She went missing about a year ago.”

             
“Are you certain it happened in Scotland?” The officer asked, obviously trying to hurry Trystan on.

             
“I’m positive. We’ve pulled all flight records. Her return ticket was never used.” Trystan held up a hand to stop the man from speaking. “And even
if
she had purchased a different ticket, there are no travel records of an Tsarina Fraser being on any flights since the initial one she left to come to Scotland on. This has been an investigation in the United States for a year now.”

             
“What has this office told you?”

             
“That you’re looking.”

             
“Well, then, we’re doing what we can.” The officer turned to walk away.

             
Trystan grabbed his arm. “Look, this is my sister. She’s my family. I want her home.”

             
“Maybe she decided to stay here. Maybe she liked Scotland. Since you're here, I'm guessing the United States closed her file.”

             
“Not closed, but not completely active. They say there's nothing state side. So it has to be here. Tsarina would have called. Disappearing isn’t something she’d ever do.”

             
“People do things that no one expects them to do every day, lad. Do you think a murderer’s brother would say they expected them to kill someone?”

             
Trystan shot the officer a glare.

             
“Maybe check the hotel she was staying at?” The officer hurried to lighten the conversation, seeing that he’d clearly annoyed the overly large man. “It's been a long time, but maybe someone will remember something.”

             
“I have. I’ve called them numerous times and they all say she never checked out and never returned to get the rest of her stuff.” That got the officer’s attention.

             
“So, there’s proof that she may have disappeared from here? She didn’t stay for her full reservation?”

             
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell everyone I’ve spoken to here. She didn’t finish her stay, she never checked out, she never got her stuff and she never used her ticket, or even a new one, to fly home. Someone has my sister.”

             
“Come fill out some paperwork and let’s get you and your sister all the way in our system with all the details written by you. We’ll see if we can’t figure out what happened.”

             
Trystan sad down and contently filled out paperwork and went through four interviews. Six hours later, he was on his way to the hotel. The same hotel Tsarina had stayed at.

****

Scotland 1650’s

             
As Zarik and his friends made their way to the hall, he instantly saw Tor and Tsarina sitting by the fire. They were talking and laughing. Happy. It should be him with her. Instant rage took over. Why couldn't he make her laugh like that?

             
“Zarik,” Drostan placed a hand on his shoulder. “Ye cannae run yer brother through and ye ken it. This is yer fault, not his or hers.”

             
“Now I want to run ye through with my sword as well. It’s no my fault. Tsarina’s impossible. Besides, we barely speak, yet she has laughs and giggles for him.”

             
“Love doesnae need words. It’s clear in the way the two of ye look at each other. Sometimes ‘tis just the way of it.” Drostan shrugged.

             
“Ye’ll both be sorry if ye dunnae come to yer senses. Tor would be good to her, but they aren’t the match that was to have been made. She's to be yers. See it done.” Caelan said as he watched Tor and Tsarina almost as intently as Zarik did.

             
Drostan shook his head. “Have ye even tried speaking to the lass?” Zarik went to speak and Drostan hushed him with a raise of his hand. “Nay, ye need to hear me well. Ye blame everyone around ye for what happens between the two of ye. I’ve never known ye to pass blame. Ye’ve always accepted things and fixed what ye could.” Drostan saw more rage begin to fill Zarik’s eyes and decided to get back on topic. “Ahh, anyway, have ye ever really talked to her? I mean really. Not when ye’re trying to force her to marry ye or walking her to her room to see to it that no one else might be tempted to join her there. Do ye ken? What is her favorite flower? Her favorite color? Favorite food? Of the dresses she has, which does she cherish the most? Does she have a favorite fabric?” Drostan paused to study the lost look on his friends face and had to stop himself from laughing. His friend was blessed with a gift of battle and leading, but had no knowledge at all when it came to love or any matters of the heart that might involve affection. Letting out a sigh, he continued. “Exactly as I thought. And ye know what? I’d bet me best sword Tor could tell you each.”

             
“Then Tor should start wearing skirts. It’s woman’s talk. What do we care of flowers and fabric? Food? Eat it for nourishment and go on. Ye do not have to like it or have a favorite. It simply serves a purpose.” Zarik felt his control slipping away with each word he spoke.

             
“Zarik, ye have much to learn of love. I do hope ye see the way of it before it’s too late. Women need some form of tenderness. I ken it's not much in our nature, but for the right woman, we learn to do it to make her happy.”

             
Deciding not to murder his best friend just yet, Zarik, shaking his head, made his way over to the soon to be married pair.

****

              Tsarina’s smile faded as she saw Zarik make his way over to them. She’d not seen him in at least a week. He was still handsome, though looked in desperate need of rest. And a shave.

             
“What is it?” Tor asked as he noticed Tsarina stiffen.

             
“Your brother is making an appearance. And, from the looks of it, he’s heading straight for us.” Tsarina suddenly felt as though she couldn’t breathe.

             
“Zarik.” Tor gave a short acknowledgment to his brother. He was in no mood to fight with him today. He’d been behaving like an arse since Tsarina’s arrival, well, more of an arse than he’d always been. But it was noticeable. Now that Tor was marrying Tsarina it had gotten ten times worse.

             
“I see ye’re still trying to take me lass.” Zarik stated as he looked from Tor to Tsarina and back. He didn’t like how pale and stiff she looked. “What has her frightened?”

             
Without hesitation or even a blink of an eye, Tor met Zarik’s gaze and told him. “You, brother. Ye have her looking pale as death and filled with fright. Why did ye show up today?”

             
“Me?” Zarik couldn’t believe the nerve of his brother.

             
“Aye, tis you. She was fine until your approach. Tell me what it is I can do for ye so that ye may take yer leave.”

             
“You dismiss me, Tor?”

             
“Aye, that I do when ye cause my soon to be wife distress.” Tor knew he had stressed the word my more than was necessary. Zarik had to learn he was the one that let Tsarina go. Tor was simply righting the wrong his brother had done.

             
“Do ye love her?”

             
“Love grows with time, Zarik. I will love her and I’m sure she’ll learn to love me as well. Father’s already speaking of bairns and his desire to be a grandda.” Tor straightened to stand slightly taller, with pride. Even though he wasn’t the eldest son it was looking like he’d be the first to give his Da the grandchildren he’d been wishing for.

****

              Tsarina tuned out the men as soon as it seemed they were about ready to whip their cocks out to see whose was bigger. Actually, that might solve the issue between the two a lot faster. Sighing, Tsarina tried to fight what she envisioned as her future. A lifetime of Tor and his brother fighting. All because of her. She just wondered how long it would take everyone to hate her because of her being the cause of the split in the family.

             
Would Zarik find indirect ways to punish her and Tor once he became laird? The MacKinnon’s didn’t have a council of elders as her research had shown most others did. Right now, decisions were made between Niall and Argus. Who would be Zarik’s right hand once he took over?

             
“Why won’t you try to send me home, Argus?” Tsarina spoke, but was ignored. If she left, all matters would be solved. She’d not have to marry anyone and could go back and share her research. All the MacKinnon's could go back to how it was before her arrival. They had struggles with other clans, but not within their own. Not before her.

             
But, would she even still have a job? She’d been gone forever. How would she explain her absence and not calling anyone? Did she still have a home? It seemed no matter the time period she was in; she had some sort of issue. How had her life become so complicated?

             
Trying to push her thoughts away from further trouble, she blocked out the voices and pictured herself at the loch, in her favorite spot. She always seemed to find shells there, though nowhere else.