To Tempt Highland Fate (The Mac Coinnach Brothers) (14 page)

             
“Be nice James, please.”  Willa put a hand on his arm with a worried frown.  “He’s a good man, I… I can tell.  And he’s been through a lot.  His troubles are likely no concern of ours.” 

             
James gave her a terse nod.  “I’ll try.”  As soon as he opened the door to the bedroom, Willa commandeered Maura, who was emptying a basket of food onto the table.             

             
“I need to talk to you right away!  Alone.  I honestly can’t wait another minute.”  Willa dragged her sister-in-law by the arm, steering her out to the little stable behind the house.  She shut the door and bolted it, then motioned to a little wooden bench.  Maura, looking perplexed and slightly worried, sat down, and Willa pulled up a bale of hay to sit across from her.

             
Maura leaned forward and spoke in hushed tones.  “What is it, Willa?  Has something bad happened while we were gone?  Och!  Yer brother will kill me if anything at all has happened to ye!”

             
“What?  Why would he be angry with
you?
”  

              “Because I am the one who convinced him to leave ye here on yer own, that’s why.”

             
“Not on my own, with Drust”, Willa said, and even she could hear the dreaminess in her voice.  “But oh Maura, don’t worry.  Nothing bad happened, I promise you.”  She crossed her arms in exasperation.  “And nothing particularly good, either.”

             
“Oh. 
Oh
!”  Maura’s eyes widened in understanding  “Ye mean…”

             
“Yes!”  She grabbed Maura’s hands in her own and squeezed them tight in her excitement.   “I’ve never had such feelings for any man.  Never in all my life.  I think he’s the
one
!  No, I know he is.  I had a dream, before I came here, and there was a man that I… I helped, I think.  Only he wasn’t injured in the dream, it was more as if he was sad, tormented by something bad that had happened.  But then we were together, and he was happy again.  Oh Maura, it was honestly the best dream I ever had.  And you know that I don’t have dreams like that very often.  Not like you do.  With me it only happens once in a great while.”

             
“And the man in the dream, it was Drust?”

             
Willa nodded.  “I didn’t know right away because I couldn’t see his face, in the dream, I mean.  But he said the same thing to me just before you arrived that the man in the dream said, and right then I knew for certain they were one and the same, just as if it was a key that opened a lock in my mind.  And I
knew
him.”

             
“Oh Willa!”  Maura gave her a broad smile.  “How verra romantic!  What did he say?”

             
“He said ‘Stay away, Lass.  My trouble is no’ yers to bear.  Leave me be.’”

             
Maura’s grin faded and she looked a bit taken aback.  “Oh…  well…”

             
“And I don’t think I could even get the stubborn man to kiss me if I tried”, Willa continued.  “He has completely closed himself off.  He seems to have barricades around his heart that might be impossible to ever overcome, and yet I find myself wanting more than anything else to break through them.”  She sighed.  “Am I completely mad?”

             
Maura grinned at her, the wheels in her mind already turning.  “Nay, no’ mad.  If ye feel so strongly, it must surely be yer calling to help him, to heal him.  A woman almost always kens these things, and they should no’ be ignored, no’ if ye are wise.”

             
She tapped her chin with one finger in thought.  “Is there any sign he might no’ be so immune to yer charms as he pretends?  I mean, after all, he’s a man and yer a beautiful woman.  Have ye noticed if…um…he’s at all attracted?  But then again, he’s badly injured, there may no’ be an obvious…”

             
“Oh, no, Maura.  He’s able.  That much I noticed.”  She bit her bottom lip and blushed in spite of herself at the memory, well, memories, then lowered her voice and leaned closer.  “I have this feeling… one I can’t rid myself of no matter how I try.  I am so very drawn to Drust, that I think he is the one who is meant for me.  I think… I think he might be my
soul mate,
my other half.  I can see no other reason for the way I feel, and how strongly and quickly.”

             
Maura smiled knowingly and reached for Willa’s hands, giving them a squeeze in return.  She had found her own mate not so long ago, and she knew that when one of their kind found their mate it was no small thing. 

             
“Then we must make a plan.  And ye mustn’t give up.  The verra best things in life are always the hardest fought to come by.  Remember that always, even when ye feel that all is lost, it is usually no’.”

             
Maura sat back on the bench, once more tapping her finger against her chin as she always did when she was deep in thought. 

             
“I think James plans to head west on the morrow, to speak with the clan chiefs there about what has happened, and perhaps appeal to them with the promise of future alliances.  It’s a long shot, to be sure, but we must cast our net wide if we are to have any hope at all.  I will insist on going with him.”

             
“Oh Maura, you don’t have to do that… you’ve only just returned…”

             
“Nonsense.  Besides, I’d much rather be at my husband’s side rather than sitting here worrying about whether he’s safe.  I would have stayed only to keep ye company.  And…”  She gave Willa her most wicked grin, “Ye will have more time alone with yer warrior.”

             
The very thought made Willa’s heart leap in her chest.  “But what do I
do
?”

             
Maura laughed.  “Och lass, I’m sure yer instincts are already telling ye what to
do
.  Follow them, and they willna lead ye wrong.”

             
“And if he continues to do his best to ignore me?”

             
“That in truth is a good sign.  I think perhaps he is frightened of what ye make him feel, and so he fights to feel nothing at all.  If he felt nothing for ye, he wouldna care.  Fortunately, it is always a losing battle in the end.  One yer own brother lost nay too long ago!  He was much the same in the beginning.  Strong men dinna like to admit a woman can have so much power over them.  But we can, and we do.  And we women love nothing better than to try to fix a broken man.  Impossible as the creatures often are.”

             
“Tell me Maura.  Tell me how the wedding was, and then tell me everything you know about men.”

             
And she did.

***

             
All too soon, Maura and James rode away again, with Willa waving from the doorway.  There was little choice.  Time was of the essence if they were to have their home back.  Well, James and Maura’s home.  Willa had never really had a real home, and Dunbroch held precious few good memories for her, nearly all of which were of her reunion with James.  But to James, it was everything.  Without Dunbroch, he was landless; a born leader with no people to lead.  She wished fervently that there was more she could do to help, but if she left the protection of this valley, she would only become a liability that James could ill afford.  If she were to be captured, he would waste valuable time and money tracking her down.  She couldn’t risk doing that to him.  Before he left, he told her of the plea he had sent to the Mac Coinnach chief for aid, but there were rumors the Bren Mac Coinnach was both newly wed, and had recently lost one of his brothers.  It did not seem likely to Willa that help would be forthcoming from the Mac Coinnachs, and they had perhaps been their best chance.

             
Instead of giving into her frustration and screaming like she really wanted to, she turned to look at Drust, who was sitting at the table, absently pushing food around on his trencher with a knife.  Though his hair fell forward to cover his face, she knew he was scowling.  Was he unhappy to be left alone with her again?  It wasn’t as if he had enjoyed her brother’s company any more than hers.  He had spent the entire evening in his room, even though he could very well have sat at the table with everyone.  James had spoken with him at length, but had come out of the room with a frown, knowing nothing more about their guest than when he’d gone in, and mumbling about ‘stubborn, ungrateful arses’.

             
“Would you like me to tie your hair back?” she asked.  “I have some strips of leather in my…”

             
“No.”

             
All right, then.

             
“What would you like to do today?” she tried instead.

             
He looked up at her, seeming almost startled that she had spoken.  He must have been deep in his thoughts again.  She couldn’t imagine what he had to think so hard about.  His eyes met hers and as usual her stomach did a slow roll, her heart beginning to throb almost painfully in her chest. 

             
Must be what it feels like to be struck by Cupid’s arrow… the ache…

             
He looked back down at the food he wasn’t eating.  “What I want to do and what I can do are two different things, lass”, he grumbled.

             
“Well what would you do today, if you
could
do anything at all?”

             
He took a breath and let it go.  “I would go home.”

             
Willa felt her heart leap into her throat. 
No!  Not yet… not when I can’t even follow…
And God, why did those words on his lips feel so much like a betrayal?  Ruthlessly, she pushed back the feelings of panic that flooded her at the thought of him leaving… of never seeing him again.  What would her life be like, if he left now?  Would she always wonder, for the rest of her days, what could have been had she been just a little bolder?  Pushed a bit harder? 

             
Yes
.  The thought deepened her resolve.

             
“Well, since you
aren’t
going home today, what would you like to do while you’re stuck here with me?”

              Drust regarded her with a carefully blank expression.  Carefully blank because at her last question, all sorts of images flooded his mind without his permission, and he couldn’t seem to stop them.  They all involved naked flesh and the woman standing before him, with her hands on her hips as if she was about to tell him off for being stubborn and prickly.  Which he supposed he deserved.  She had been nothing but kind to him, showing him more care then even his own brothers would have. 

             
His cock was, as usual, swollen and now pushed uncomfortably against the fabric of his breeches. He shifted in his seat.  It didn’t help matters that Willa seemed to grow more beautiful every day.  Today she had on only a plain, simple dress of pale blue, but he had already noticed the way the light fabric hugged the soft curves of her body.  Now, as she stood near the open doorway, the bright morning sunlight caught the highlights in her unbound hair and lent a rosy glow to her cheeks.  She was perfection, an angel incarnate.  And not just because she had already saved his life. 
Aye
, he finally admitted to himself. 

             
I want her
.