Lyon's Gift (8 page)

“
Nothing less, nothing more.
Simply that... I’ve changed my mind, wench.”

Meghan went wholly still before him.

The bloody wretch!

“
You mean to tell me you only now
have suddenly decided you no longer wish to feud with my
brothers?”

“
Something like that.”

“
Why?”

He had the decency at least to appear a little
chagrined by her question.

He might have said she looked like a cow, and she
wouldn’t have taken such offense! He could have told her she was
mad as a loon, and she might have bloody well agreed! He should
have admitted to anything but this, because Meghan was suddenly
insanely furious!

She inhaled a breath, and said when her temper was
restrained enough to speak, “Let me be certain I have this right,
Sassenach!”

He tightened his hold upon her waist, seeming to
sense her rising fury, but answered calmly. “Certainly.”

“
You did not mind the feud
before?”

“
Not particularly.”

“
But now you do?”

“
Aye.”

“
And you wish to end it. Why?” she
demanded once more.

He cocked his head, offering a waggish smile. “For
the good of Scotia,” he answered evenly.

“
I see.” Meghan gritted her teeth,
restraining herself, though barely. “And when did it occur to you
to be so blessed noble?” She narrowed her gaze at him, casting
daggers with her eyes.

His brows lifted. “Sudden inspiration, shall we
say?”

Meghan lost her composure at that. She twisted
wrathfully within his embrace, trying to little avail to free
herself. If he wouldn’t let her go, she was going to see both of
them toppled off his mount to the ground! “My sweet Minnie said you
were all wolves, and you are! Ravenous, gluttonous wolves!” she
raged, maddened at feeling so helpless against his greater strength
and unwelcomed good humor. “I’ll not wed with you, you thieving,
conniving, lascivious, shallow-brained oaf of a man!” Och, but he
would not budge. “What are you made of anyhow! Stone?”

No matter how hard she tried to free herself, he was
faster, stronger.

And he had the audacity to laugh!

“
I do not see what is so blessed
funny!” Meghan snapped.

He continued to laugh, restraining her with
too-little effort, and Meghan, in her frustration, lunged at him,
trying to find purchase for her teeth on his too-beautiful cheek,
the knave!

He jerked away, laughing all the harder.

CHAPTER 6

“
I think you’ve gone as
mad as the wench!” Baldwin leapt up and out of the fray.

“
She’s mad as a fox, I
wager!” Montgomerie declared, laughing still.

Mad as a fox.

Meghan ceased her struggles suddenly,
hearing her grandmother’s voice as though it were a murmur in her
ears.

“
They think I’m
mad,”
she’d oft said.
“I know they think I’m mad, Meggie dearlin’—and I am! I am!
Mad as a fox!”
And she’d wink and cackle
in amusement. And then more seriously she’d say, with a crook of
her long slender finger,
“You be the same,
Meghan, and with that face of yours you’ll possess the world in the
wee palm of your precious hand.”

Minnie Fia had certainly had a way with
people, as well as animals. Mad as they’d all thought her, she’d
always seemed a step ahead of everyone, bending folks to her will.
What would Fia do now? she wondered. What would she say to these
English boors? How would she deliver herself from a situation such
as this?

The little lamb bleated in that instant.

Meghan turned to see that the poor creature
had retreated against the brush and was watching them warily. They
had yet to accuse her outright of stealing the animal, which told
her in truth that they weren’t entirely certain she had.

She peered back at Montgomerie, gauging his
expression. He was watching her curiously, waiting.

Mad as a fox… you be the
same,
she heard Fia say to her.

The little lamb bleated again... and
suddenly Meghan knew what to do.

She cast another glance at the lamb, trying
not to smirk. So Baldwin thought her mad, did he? Well, it
certainly wouldn’t serve her to confirm that notion because he
wouldn’t believe her then, but Meghan could certainly prove him
right... if she tried.

She had mad auld Fia’s example to follow,
after all.

It wasn’t easy to smother her grin, but she
did, thinking that surely Montgomerie wouldn’t wish to wed with
her... if he truly thought her mad.

She turned to face the wee lammie, and
asked, “What did you say?”

“
Not a bloody thing,
wench,” Montgomerie answered, sounding suddenly bemused.

She cast him a glare. “I was not talkin’ to
you!” she snapped and turned again to the lamb.

The glade went utterly silent. It seemed
even the wind stilled in the treetops. She felt Montgomerie’s gaze
upon her nape—Baldwin’s, as well. Sweet Mary, but she prayed she
could pull this off.

She waited for the lamb to bleat once more,
and then replied, as though she were in actual conversation with
the creature, “I cannot, Fia! I simply cannot! And you cannot make
me!’’

Oblivious to her spurious indignation, the
little lamb cried out once more.

Meghan slumped her shoulders. “Nay,” she
said, hoping she sounded perfectly disheartened, but respectful,
“you never have.”

She lowered her head in a moment of
contemplative silence, and the little lamb bleated once more.

Both men were suddenly very quiet, Meghan
noticed, and it was all she could do to strangle the laughter that
welled within her.

She straightened, wholly aware of the grip
that slackened upon her arms. She thought he might be a little
bewildered.

“
Well,” she said, sounding
utterly resolved as she faced the lamb once more. “If you really
think so, I will. But I will not like it.”

Baldwin scratched his head. “Is she talking
to that bloody beast?” he asked, sounding quite appalled.

Montgomerie didn’t reply.

Please talk back, she pleaded with the sweet
little creature. Say something... anything...

The lamb bleated.

God bless you! she silently lauded the
animal.

“
I’ll do my best, Fia,”
she responded, then peered back at Lyon Montgomerie. “Verra well!”
she said, sounding exasperated. “I’ll do it!”

Meghan could have sworn she’d caught him
with his mouth agape, but he recovered quickly enough. “What?” he
asked, his expression clearly unsettled, though collected. “What is
it you will do?”

Meghan rolled her eyes. “Why, I’ll wed with
you of course, you silly dolt! What else?”

He blinked, and Meghan felt almost smug over
the look of surprise that appeared in his stark blue eyes.

“
You will?” Baldwin
sounded nonplussed as well.

“
Aye! I’ll wed with
him—though I will not like it!” she assured them both.

Montgomerie narrowed his eyes at her. “And
why the sudden change of heart?”

Meghan lifted a brow. “Who says I’ve had a
change of heart, Sassenach?”

“
Very well then, why the
change of mind?”

“
Because she’s mad, I tell
you!” Baldwin persisted. “Can you not see that, Lyon?”

Meghan smiled inwardly. Now was the perfect
opportunity, she thought, to introduce them to “Fia.” It was all
she could do to keep the laughter from her voice as she informed
them both, “Because Fia says so, of course!”

Montgomery frowned at her. “Fia?”

She gave him her most guileless look in
response. “My grandmother!” she explained, and smiled fondly at the
animal, waving at it as though it might wave back. “She never leads
me astray. My Minnie always knows best!”

His face screwed with what Meghan could only
interpret as disbelief, and she had to bite the inside of her lip
to keep from giggling-

He blinked. “You
are
speaking of the
lamb?”

Meghan returned a frown, pretending
ignorance, and prayed she’d not spoil the effect by laughing out
loud. “What lamb?”

He didn’t answer at once.
“
That
lamb,” he
said after a moment, pointing to the beast in question.

Meghan gave him a glower of the sort she
usually reserved for Colin. “That’s no lamb, you knave!” She
pretended to be insulted. “That’s my Minnie!”

He scowled. “You cannot be serious?”

“
Of course I am!” Meghan
assured him, trying not to laugh at the outrageous lie.

“
Of course she is!”
Baldwin maintained. “Do you not recall she was talking to the beast
when we discovered her?”

The lamb bleated. Perfect timing, Meghan
thought.

“
Och! Nay! I dinna think I
can do it, Fia!” Meghan exclaimed, effecting a tone of
defiance.

“
Christ!” Montgomerie
exploded. “You cannot believe I would fall for such a ludicrous
tale? That’s a bloody rotten lamb you’re talking to!”

Meghan didn’t have to pretend outrage now.
His very tone vexed her. “I don’t know what you’re saying,
Sassenach, but dinna dare speak so rudely of my Minnie!”

“
You cannot be
serious?”

“
I can, and I
am!”

Lyon studied her face for some indication of
her lie.

Her expression revealed only her
umbrage.

She was a bloody stinking good actress, he
decided.

“
You would have me
believe...” He pointed at the lamb just to be certain there was no
mistake. “... that dumb beast is your grandmother?”

“
I would have you believe
naught at all, Sassenach! I dinna care what you think! I’d have you
let me go! And I take it back!” She tried to shrug free of him
again. “I will not wed a mon who is so rude!”

The little lamb bleated.

She turned to the beast, and said
vehemently, “You dinna ken what you’re askin’ of me, Fia! I will
not wed this brute! Not for Scotland, not for my brothers, not for
peace, nor anythin’ else at all!”

Lyon blinked in the face of her ridiculous
tirade.

She couldn’t be serious.

She certainly looked serious.

She was talking to the beast as though it
could comprehend what she was saying. And the animal turned away,
looking for all the world disgusted with her reply. If Lyon didn’t
know better, he might have imagined the two were actually
communicating.

He frowned as he looked from one to the
other.

What the devil was he thinking? They
couldn’t possibly be conversing. It was inconceivable.

Unless she truly was mad?

Something about the way she peered up at him
then, the shrewd sparkle in those beautiful deep-green eyes, gave
him pause. She watched him expectantly, and seemed to be searching
his expression. And it struck him of a sudden... she wasn’t talking
to the bloody animal at all. She was contriving. Cunning wench. She
was using Baldwin’s insult to her gain.

Well, it wasn’t going to work, because he
was suddenly resolved to his plan. He wanted peace and was willing
to sacrifice for it—particularly so when the sacrifice would make
such a lovely bedfellow.

“
Very well!” Lyon
exclaimed. “The more the merrier. We shall simply bring your Minnie
along, too!”

It was her turn to blink in stupefaction,
and Lyon could but grin at her startled expression.

“
We will?”

“
Aye!” he said
exuberantly. “Please accept my sincerest apologies for having
insulted your lovely grandmother. She does indeed know best,” he
declared.

She narrowed her eyes, and gave him a look
of apprehension that made him smile. “She does?”

He winked at her. “Of course she does. I can
tell she’s a very wise woman, besides.”

“
You can?”

“
Aye! And only consider
the good we shall accomplish, you and I, if we follow your sweet
grandmother’s counsel.”

“
We shall?” Meghan
blinked. Somehow, this plan had gone terribly awry.

“
If you can but forgive my
churlishness,” he continued, “and agree to be my bride... you and I
shall put an end to this feud once and for all. Only think of it.
No more fighting—peace to all!”

Meghan lifted a brow. She doubted that; men
were born to fight. She frowned. Rot and curse him, he didn’t have
to present it quite so nobly.

And yet, he spoke true enough. The feuding
would indeed be over, her brothers would be safe—and she would be
doing Alison a favor besides.

Still, she wasn’t quite willing to give up
her yarn. “Fia can come too?” she asked with lifted brows.

He nodded. “I give you my word,” he answered
much too soberly. “I shall do my utmost to make your grandmother
welcome in my home.”

Meghan’s brows collided. “You will?”

He didn’t have to be so blessed
accommodating! It wasn’t so easy to dislike him this way.

Nor was it easy to think when he smiled at
her so engagingly.

His blue eyes flickered with amusement.

At her expense?

She thought so, but was unwilling to sound
the retreat as yet. Stubborn she might be, but there was much to be
said for sheer determination.

“
And what of my brothers?”
Meghan persisted.

“
We shall invite them to
the wedding, of course,” he answered blithely.