The Highlander's Temptation (20 page)

“Mmm,” she said around a crisp bite. “I’ve never had an apple that tasted so good.”

“’Tis a special apple,” Jamie said, taking another bite.

“How so?”

“Because it has witnessed something beautiful.”

“A starlit night?”

Jamie grinned and winked at her. “Our love making.”

Lorna blushed.
“’Twas beautiful.”

“Nothing is more beautiful than ye, love.”

Lorna rose before the sun, well, if a night of restless bliss and endless magical dreams counted as sleep. She tugged on her clothes and rushed from her room, certain she was the only one awake. She had to speak with her brother before he went down to break his fast.

There was absolutely no way that she’d be able to sit through an entire meal of porridge without bursting.

Indeed, she couldn’t wait another minute.

She knocked on Magnus’ door, hoping he wouldn’t be too angry at her for waking him, but really how could he be when she had such wonderful news to share with him? She was in love!

No answer came. She knocked a little louder, and still there was no reply. Not wanting to wake anyone by pounding on his door, she turned the handle and stepped inside. The room was darkened still, and his bed rumpled but empty.

Magnus usually rose early, so there was no surprise that he wasn’t in bed. She could only pray he was in his library—else she’d have to search the moors and sea for him and it didn’t seem likely that she’d have luck when the sun had yet to rise. Besides, the guards wouldn’t raise the portcullis for her, and she’d have to somehow steal away through the postern gate with
out the guards there seeing her. Unlikely.

Lorna hurried down to Magnus’ study and tapped at the door.

“Aye?” Magnus’ voice sounded heavy with suspicion.

Lorna sighed heavily with relief. “’Tis Lorna,” she called.

“Enter.”

Lorna thrust the door open. There was no going back now. She beamed a smile at her brother who sat behind his desk studying several scrolls.

“Good morning, brother.”

Magnus frowned. “’Tis not even light yet. What’s got ye out of bed?” He set down the letter he was working on and stared hard at her.

Lorna shut the door and hurried forward. “I’ve something to tell ye.” Her stomach suddenly plummeted. What if Magnus brushed her feelings aside?

Saints!
After last night, she knew there was no going back. Even now she felt the glow of a woman well-loved on her skin.

“Out with it. I’m trying to finish these letters afore the whole of the castle rises.”

Lorna swallowed hard, finding it difficult to put forth the words she needed. She took a deep breath, folded her hands in front of her and spoke. “I’ve fallen in love, brother.”

Magnus sat back heavily in his chair, his eyes wide with surprise, mouth turned down in a frown. “Love?”

Suddenly her throat felt constricted. Her fingertips cold. “Aye,” she said softly. “I wish ye to break my contract with MacKinnon.”

Magnus shook his head vehemently. “Not going to happen. Who is the cur?”

Anger burned like fire around her heart. “He’s not a cur! Dinna ye want me to be happy?”

“Lorna—” Magnus cut himself off as he stood and came around his desk. He put his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “I canna break the contract. ’Twould ruin our reputation for our word, our honor.”

Tears came swiftly, stinging her eyes. Lorna shook her head. “Did ye hear me, Magnus? I love another! Please dinna make me marry MacKinnon. ’Twill ruin my life. I wish to wed the man I love!”

“Who is it?”

“Promise me!” She wouldn’t give him Jamie’s name, not if he intended to exact revenge simply because she loved him.

“Nay, lass. I canna.” His voice was stern. More so than she was used to and it shook her to the core.
His tone belied his gaze which held regret and sadness.

What did he have to regret? To be sad about? He’d just sentenced her to life with a man she didn’t love. He’d sentenced her to heartbreak.

Lorna beat at Magnus’ chest with her fists. “I hate ye! Ye’ve ruined my life!”

As she ran from the room, her brother’s voice trailed after her, “Dinna do anything ye’ll regret, Lorna. I canna undo what has been done.”

How true and deep his words cut to the truth—more so than he realized.

Chapter Nineteen

Lorna did not come to breakfast.

Nor the nooning.

Throughout both meals, Magnus stared Jamie down as though he’d a nest of maggots on his nose. Pure disgust. He could only surmise Lorna had told her brother everything. Yet, the laird said nothing to him. Only watched him with unwavering revulsion. Which made Jamie wonder if she had not confessed his identity, and the man simply was suspicious.

Either way, he needed to find Lorna and speak with her
,
before
he sought out a private meeting with the Sutherland chief. As soon as men started to rise, Jamie set down his spoon, even though he’d only eaten about half of his soup. He’d spent so much time worrying over where Lorna was and why, that he’d not eaten, and though his stomach growled, he didn’t have time to finish his meal. He had to find her. Now. The tension was eating him alive.

He’d woken in a dream state, elated.
Visions of the night before dancing behind his eyes. She’d been beautiful, passionate and his feelings for her soared. Full of vigor and energy, he’d leapt from bed, eager to speak with Magnus about marrying Lorna. But with every passing hour his urgency to meet with the laird depleted.

His left his meal unfinished a
nd shoved past a few lingering warriors in his haste to leave the room, but Magnus’ voice stopped him in his tracks.

“When are ye taking your leave of Dunrobin?” Magnus asked just as Jamie’s foot touched the first of two stairs leading out of the great hall.

He turned around and walked back toward the laird’s table, hands behind his back. ’Twas a question he’d been expecting. Dammit!

Now was not the time to answer such a question, for what he really should be doing was asking Magnus for a private audience. Hell, the man’s sister’s scent still lingered on his skin. Jamie glanced around the great hall, praying that by some miracle, Lorna would have shown up and he could have some sort of clue as to whether she’d spoken to her brother. He’d promised her he wouldn’t speak with Magnus until she had. And now the man was asking for his departure date.

Jamie drew in a long lingering breath. He’d have to lie. “Day after tomorrow if that is acceptable to ye, my laird. I had thought to wait to hear back from a few more clan chiefs who knew I was headed this way. I’m expecting several missives.” Not entirely a lie.

Magnus nodded. “Aye. I believe ye had one come this morning. ’Tis in my library. I’ll have Ronan fetch it for ye.”

Ronan Sutherland stood from his place beside his brother and left the great hall. It seemed at that moment everyone else chose to depart as well, leaving Jamie and Magnus alone.

Magnus set down his spoon and turned to face Jamie. “Have ye been leaving my sister alone like I bid ye?”

Jamie kept his face cool as he stared at Magnus. The man was forever testing him. How was he to respond to that? That he’d not only
not
left his sister alone, but he’d been well and truly inside and outside of her the night before? That he’d stolen her innocence and she’d cried out her pleasure beneath him?

Nay, that would likely get him a bloody lip
again, at the least and murdered at worst.

“I have done nothing but treat Lorna with honor, my laird.” Honor due a wife…

Magnus grunted. “Ye’ve sisters, aye?”

“Aye.”

“Are they married?”

Jamie nodded.

Magnus shoved his soup away. “When she was born, my parents signed a betrothal contract between her and the MacKinnon lad—soon to be laird as his father is gravely ill. My parents are gone. His mother passed awhile back and his father’s mind was never the same after, and yet we still honor this contract. ’Tis a mess since she fancies herself in love with another. I dinna know how to break it without destroying our alliance. With times the way they are, ’tis best not to make enemies.”

Jamie reeled from Magnus’ confession.
Lorna was in love? A near two decades old contract? For the love of all that was holy… Lorna had not confessed to Magnus that it was Jamie, only that she loved another. Loved
him
.

He couldn’t speak, stood stock still ready to spill his guts to her brother, but knowing that doing so would like
ly get him well and truly gutted.

Magnus wasn’t going to break the contract with MacKinnon… Which meant that Jamie wasn’t going to marry Lorna. He felt as though his heart was being ripped savagely from his chest.
To find out this way was horrid—he could not react to the devastating news, which made it doubly hard. He kept his features cool while inside he boiled.

He loved her. Oh, God, how he loved her! He’d not realized it until now. Not until Magnus told him he’d never have her. Hell, he knew he cared for her deeply. That he thought it was a feeling that could grow into love. He adored her, wasn’t lying when he told her she held his heart.

“Here ’tis.” Ronan’s return startled Jamie from his profound thoughts.

He cleared his throat, trying to regain some semblance of control. Neither of the Sutherlands realized how close he was to losing it.

“My thanks,” he managed, taking the missive from Ronan. “If ye would excuse me.”

“We’ll be practicing in the field later, if ye care to join us. My men seem to have taken a liking to the way ye fight,” Magnus called after him.

“Aye, I’ll be there.” And he would, if only to have the chance to beat the piss out of Magnus.

Lorna had never felt so miserable in her life. Well, perhaps she had the day her parents were murdered, but what she remembered most about that time was Jamie, and here he was haunting her again.

She sat in her room, the shutters drawn closed and her candles left unlit. It wasn’t completely dark, but dark enough for her tastes. After her horrible conversation with Magnus she took to her chamber, barring the door, refusing anyone entrance—even Heather who’d arrived with a tray full of Cook’s hot honeyed buns and a bowl full of freshly picked berries. Not even her favorite treats could entice her to come free of her despair.

Lady MacKinnon would be her new name, and not Lady Montgomery as she’d come to dream of. Jamie had her heart, she’d given him her virtue.

She pressed her hand to her belly. Even now life could be sparking within her womb. Her breath caught. MacKinnon would know she wasn’t a virgin on their wedding night, and if she quickened with a child, he would always wonder if it was his. Knowing her tongue, she’d probably tell him the truth anyway.

Their marriage was doomed before it even began.
Oh, Jamie!
Had Magnus already sought him out, having guessed who it was she’d fallen in love with? Her brother would have to be blind not to realize who it was.

A deep sigh blew out slowly from between her parched lips. Maybe if she stayed in her room forever, refusing food and drink Magnus would see the right of it. Och, who was she kidding? He was as stubborn as an arse! What was the reason behind his refusing to break the contract anyway? He’d not given it to her. Unshakable mule that he was.

A soft tapping sounded on the other side of her door.

She looked away from it, hoping that by ignoring the knock the person would go away with
out her having to tell them so.

The knock came again, a little louder now.

Lorna stood from her place in the chair by her closed up window and trudged over to her bed where she burrowed her body beneath her blankets and her head underneath her pillows. After a few minutes, she popped her head up and listened. Nothing.

Good. Whoever it was, had given up.

Lorna yawned, too tired and drained emotionally to deal with the day. Just as she was starting to doze, the knocking came again, incessant and irritating.

She leapt from her bed, yanked off the bar and ripped open the door, prepared to
give hell to whoever it was that insisted on disturbing her.

Jamie stared back at her with shock.

“Jamie,” she gasped.

“What is wrong?” he asked, his face filled with concern.

“I’m in mourning,” she said sardonically, turning away from him and going back to her bed, not caring at all that he’d followed her into her room and shut the door behind him.

Totally improper. But so was what they’d done in the orchard when she was betrothed to another man. What would Aunt Fiona say? Something about her being an immoral sinner.

’Twas enough to make her chuckle just before her head slipped beneath her pillows.

A blast of air hit her as Jamie plucked the pillows away. “What are ye mourning, lass?”

She rolled over, looking up at him and instantly remembering how he’d looked above her in the orchard the night before. Her body tingled, coming alive, and she felt her skin flush.

“Dinna look at me like that,” Jamie said.

She raised a brow. “Like what?”

“As though ye wish me to make love to ye.”

“But I do.”

Jamie shook his head. “Ye spoke with your brother?”

Lorna looked away. “Aye.”

“I take it, the conversation didn
a go well.”

“Not at all.”

He didn’t look surprised.

“Did ye talk to Magnus, too?” Lorna asked.

Jamie turned from her and grabbed the chair she’d vacated earlier and tugged it over to the side of the bed. She propped onto her side to see him better.

“Aye.”

“When will ye leave?” she asked, her eyes stinging with tears.

“Not without ye.”

“How?”

“I dinna know yet, love, but I will figure it out. I canna live without ye.”

“And I canna live without ye either.”

Jamie sat forward, his elbows on his knees and he swiped his hands through his hair and then over his face. “Did he tell ye about your contract with MacKinnon?”

“Only that I have no choice but to follow it. Oh, Jamie! How can I ever go through with it? Especially after last night. I’ll run away before I marry him.” She swiped angrily at her tears. “I know he’s not a bad man, nor has bad intentions, but I just canna. We are not meant to be together, MacKinnon and I.”

“Ye dinna have to explain it to me, love.” He reached forward and wiped at a tear, then planted a kiss on her forehead. “Your brother wishes he could break the contract. ’Twas signed by your parents and MacKinnon
’s, and now they are all gone—well, except his father who’s not in his right mind now anyway. Magnus and MacKinnon were simply following the edicts of those who ruled in the past.”

“Then why doesn’t he just break it?” she asked, exasperated.

“He’s afraid that breaking it will ruin the decades old alliance that was formed.” Jamie shook his head. “I’ve got to come up with an idea to help Magnus out of it. I swear it, if it takes me until the end of my days, I will.”

“Oh, Jamie, w
ould ye?” Lorna sat up now, launching herself into his arms.

“I will do my best.
I’ll be relentless. Ye have my word.” He put his arms around her, burying his face in her hair.

Lorna closed her eyes, sinking into his embrace, wishing he could carry her away from Dunrobin today.