The Accidental Highland Hero (26 page)

 Until his hand touched a soft, silky warmth as he stretched his fingers underneath a pillow, unaware he had even done so at first. But recognition dawned at once. A lassie was in his bed. A servant or a maid seeking his attention?  He stifled a snort. Nay, ‘twas a servant sneaking an afternoon nap in his bed, thinking he would not discover her.

He lifted his head and stared at the buried figure in the shadowed darkness of the curtained bed. Could not be an assassin, or the brigand would not still be lying quietly in his bed.

 Nay, was the petite figure of a woman, made larger by the number of quilts and furs covering her.

One manner in which to send a woman away he didn’t wish to dally with, kiss her and give her such a fright, she’d run screaming from the chamber. None other would try such a thing once the word spread.

He moved closer to the woman, but although the mattress swung slightly, the servant didn’t stir. He slipped his hand underneath the quilt, sliding his fingers over her waist. She didn’t respond. His eyebrows rose. The lass was more tired than he had been. With his free hand, he lifted the pillow off her face, but ‘twas too dark to see her. No matter. He slid closer to reach her lips with his, her hands folded upon her chest, and kissed her mouth.

Her tongue pierced the seam and licked her lips. He kissed her mouth again, and she kissed him back!  Just a gentle movement. God’s teeth, the woman wasn’t supposed to want him!

He touched her breast, rubbing the mound, and she moaned, the sweet, sultry sound stirring his groin. He was about to remove his hand from her breast and order her from the room, since his frightening her away wasn’t working, when someone pounded on his chamber door.

God’s knees, he truly didn’t want the servant caught in here with him, only wishing to scare her off so she wouldn’t sleep in his bed again.

“Oh,” she cried out and touched his bare chest, squeaked, grabbed his pillow, and tried to scurry away from him in the bed.

He seized her arm and said in a hushed voice, “Hold, woman.” To the new knocking at his door, he called out in a gruff manner, “Yes?”

The door creaked open, and footsteps hurried across the chamber. About to be discovered with a woman in his bed, James pushed her back and buried her with his pillow. “Lie still and be quiet,” he whispered.

He jerked the curtain aside and scowled at Niall. “What is the matter now?”

Although James knew better than to be angry with his cousin. From the concerned expression on Niall’s face, he knew it couldn’t be good.

Niall looked at the bundle next to him then his expression changed from worry to surprise. “Fergus said Nesta came to stay with Eilis. But she was not there when the maid arrived.” He looked at the bundle next to James again.

  James glanced at the maid in his bed. It could not be Eilis.

Niall waited expectantly. James let out his breath in exasperation.

Niall said, “If the lass is tucked somewhere safe, then I will need to tell everyone to cease searching for her.” He again looked at the bundled figure. And waited.

James reached out and ran his hand over her blanketed thigh. “Is it you, Eilis?”  She moved away from him.

 Niall raised a brow. “You know not who is in your bed?”

“Niall.” James gave him a sharp look.

“What do you wish me to do?” Niall asked, half serious, half amused.

As much as James didn’t want to reveal the woman in his bed, especially if it was Eilis, Niall was right. They couldn’t have half their people searching for her if she was safe.

‘Twas the lass’s folly that she got herself into this predicament. He pulled the pillow away from her face, but a quilt still hid her identity.

“’Tis a wonder you could breathe under all that.” James pulled back the quilt.

Tears shimmered in Eilis’s eyes as she looked from James to Niall. “We…we did not…I mean to say, he did not even know I was here until you came barging into the room.”

Niall raised his hands with a shrug and turned to James. “Shall I fetch the priest?”

James frowned at him.

“I am fully dressed.” Eilis jerked the covers aside, but her gown rested above her knees. She yanked the covers back up, her face flushed.

Niall smirked. “A lady does not need to remove her garments for a gentleman to have his way with her.”

“I cannot wed the lass unless I know her name,” James warned.

“I will then.” Niall folded his arms and smiled at her.

“You cannot either, Niall. No one can.”

“Make up a name then.”

James ran his hand over the hint of beard on his jaw. “She has already done so.”

Fergus poked his head into the chamber. “Lady Akira is frantic to think we have lost Eilis. She wishes to see you, my laird.”

“Tell her the lady has been found.”

Fergus waited, undoubtedly to learn where the lady was now. James waved at him to leave. “Go to your guard post. The lady will return to the chamber shortly.”

Fergus glanced at the bed, but from where he stood, he could not see Eilis. “Aye, my laird. Do you wish me to inform Lady Akira—”

“I will tell her shortly.”

“No need,” his mother said, stalking into his room.

His chest bare, his lap covered with a quilt, James growled inwardly. “I am not dressed.”

“Of that I am well aware. What I want to know is where Eilis has slipped off to.”

His mother glanced at the bed. James looked back, expecting to see Eilis in tears. But instead, he found she’d pulled the pillow and quilt over her face again.

“Who is here with you?” his mother asked. “’Tis not Eilis?”  Her frown dissolved. “Is it?”

Niall grinned. James gave him a sour look.

“Fetch the priest,” his mother said.

“We do not even know her name,” James warned.

His mother waved her hand dismissively. “All is well. We will make one up.” She sighed. “I wished to plan this more and ensure your brothers were here, but, well, it cannot be helped. When a man and a woman are in love…”

Eilis groaned under the pillow.

James’s mother smiled. “’Tis done.” She turned her attention to Niall. “What are you still doing here?  Fetch the priest!”

  Enruig poked his head into the chamber. “My laird?”

James shook his head. “Everyone out. Let me get dressed!”

“I will speak to Enruig,” James’s mother said. She hurried to leave the chamber. “I will send another gown for Eilis. At least now we shall have an heir.”

Eanruig looked to James to explain, but he just motioned for him to leave. Despite his mother’s wishes, James could not take a woman to wife who still did not know her family’s name.

Niall shook his head as he followed James’s mother out of the chamber and shut the door.

“Think you that you can find your way to your chamber without my assistance, lass?” James said, running his hand under the covers to her hand and squeezed. “You have gotten us into a fine predicament. And I fear nothing will stop my mother from having her way in this to save your honor, Eilis. Although truth be told, I am well pleased at the way things have turned out.”

She pulled the pillow aside, and her eyes pleaded with him to save her from this nightmare. “Nothing happened betwixt us,” Eilis moaned.

“Aye, but that is not what will be said.” And God’s truth, the woman had intrigued him and brightened his days from the moment he’d set eyes on her. Allowing her to return to her kin wasn’t an option. As far as dealing with her family, he was sure he could come to some kind of agreement.

But he still had to know her name.

Chapter Fourteen

Below stairs in the great hall, James intercepted the priest as soon as he arrived, delaying the inevitable, while his mother searched for just the right gown to have Eilis married in. Here, James did not know which clan Eilis truly belonged, whether she was betrothed, or even already wed. But complicating matters, Catriona was due to arrive at anytime, thinking
she
would be his betrothed.

Ian waited nearby, ready to do James’s further bidding.

“Niall called you here before I have need of your services, Father,” James said to the robed old man whose face was heavily wrinkled as if a river of tears had carved lines into the skin.

“Lady Akira said you have finally decided on a bride choice and that it is most urgent you proceed with the marriage.”

So Niall must have informed the old priest some of the reason for the urgency. James stiffened his spine. He would have a word with Niall shortly. “Aye, well, circumstances make it necessary to delay this wedding for a time.”

The priest narrowed his gray eyes. “Lady Akira insisted it was most pressing.”

“Later,” James said, with authority in his tone.

His mother hurried into the hall, her eyes sparkling with delight and a hint of a smile played on her lips.

“You have good news, I pray.” And not that she believed James would marry Eilis without knowing her family name.

His mother smiled broadly. “Aye. The young lady, Fia, just arrived. The one who knows Eilis. One of our servants hid beneath Eilis’s bed while the lady was in my chamber and will eavesdrop on their private conversation.”

James raised his brows, turned to the priest, and said, “Later, Father. I may need you sooner than I thought. Partake of the meal with us, and the wedding will have to take place later.”

The priest nodded and left the hall. Ian said to him, “Mead and something to eat, Father, if it pleases you?  Come, see how the south wall progresses in the meantime.”

James leaned down and kissed his mother’s cheek. “You have the devil in you, my lady mother.”

“Aye, now you know where you and your brothers get it from.”

“And here I always thought we got it from da.”

Eanruig escorted Fia into the hall, and James considered the way the lady looked from the top of her head to the hem of her brown woolen gown. She was small like Eilis and his mother, fine-boned, but sturdy looking. Her hair and eyes were dark brown and her skin more peach. Where Eilis’s face was small, Fia’s was longer, more determined.

Eanruig was right. The two ladies did not favor one another, except for the small smile that lighted her lips. Well, and the doe-like eyes the two had also. Her gaze flitted to James, and she quickly curtsied, her cheeks flushed with color. In that respect, she looked like Eilis also. Mayhap they were related after all.

With a smile, Lady Akira greeted Fia and motioned for her to come with her. “You say you do not know Eilis, yet our seneschal said he saw the two of you together last summer.”

The color washed out of Fia’s cheeks. James was certain Eanruig had guessed right.

They climbed the stairs while James followed some distance behind.

“Your seneschal was mistaken, my lady,” the woman said, her tone curt, but nervous.

“Aye, well, Eanruig is very observant when it comes to the beauty of fine lasses. He said that you and Eilis fairly shined as bright as the sun.”

Fia glanced back at James, her cheeks properly blushing. James withheld a smile, hoping the lass would soon confess the truth. Once he learned Eilis’s true name, the lady would be his.