Untamed Hearts (A Highland Hearts Novella) (Entangled Edge) (11 page)

Eric didn’t come to supper, and Ruth left with Lizzie early on. Perhaps the giggly young women had finally stopped trying to entice him into their bed.

“I need to…talk with Stephen,” Will told Jonet. “I still haven’t caught up with the lad. I wonder if he’s sulking somewhere.”

“I’ll help the girls get the little ones ready for bed,” Jonet said.

He nodded and winked. “I’ll think of something for us to do later.”

Her smile reached her gorgeous eyes, and the heat from her gaze warmed his middle. “Later then,” she said and turned to head out with Ann. Caden and Meg rose with little Kincaid, and Searc walked out with the other warriors to finish their duties for the night.

The three elderly council members sat at the table, observing everything. Angus took a long drink of ale. He seemed a little unsteady. Perhaps that batch of brew was strong. “Jonet is a lovely lass,” Angus said, and Bruce agreed heartily.

“Loves those children as her own,” Bruce said. “Too bad she has none of her own blood, not that it’s her fault.” He elbowed Old Kenneth, whose one good eye seemed to again take Will’s measure.

“She was married for a year?” Will asked casually. No one seemed to like to talk about Jonet’s past, including her.

“A little more,” Kenneth said. “Almost two, if I think on it.”

“And no children? Perhaps her husband wasn’t very interested,” Will said, throwing out the bait.

Angus snorted. “That man was interested in anything draped with a skirt.”

Will didn’t move, just raised an eyebrow. “He stepped out on her?”

“The man tupped every female that would have him, and there were many,” Angus supplied and hiccupped. “And didn’t father even one bastard. Me thinks that his seed was dead.”

“Poor Jonet,” Bruce added and shook his head. “Stuck with a scoundrel and didn’t even get a bairn from it.”

Will sat back, taking in this new information. Jonet must have known her husband was unfaithful. That would explain her easy jealousy over flirting lasses.

Kenneth took a sip of his own ale. “Someone courting her needs to know she’ll have nothing to do with a man who plants himself in other fields.” He narrowed his eyes.

Warning received. Did Jonet know she had so many papas looking out for her? Will nodded and stood. He really needed to talk with her about her past. It could very well be affecting how she felt about him. But first he had a meeting with Eric.

…

Jonet left the cottage where the bairns were nearly asleep. Margery and Jane had become best of friends it seemed. She smiled. What would she do without Ann? Aye, it was good to have a confidante. She walked into the empty great hall. Where was Ann? She climbed the stone steps to their room and stopped when she saw a scrap of parchment skewered to the door with a small dagger.

She smiled wickedly and yanked the blade to free the note. The letters scrawled across the small leaf were uneven, hastily written.

Come to the last empty stable stall for our next adventure. Will

Jonet hastened into the room to wash and freshen her teeth. Adventure? The word sent a thrill through her to the pit of her stomach. The man and his adventures were amazing. He’d opened a whole world of passion for her, and she loved it. Hopefully, he was enjoying their romps as well. He seemed to be. The happy flipping in her stomach tightened into an ache. What if he grew bored of her? Bloody hell, she wouldn’t let that happen again. Not this time, not when she was falling in love.

Jonet brushed her hair and chewed one last piece of mint before sliding on silent feet out of her door. She didn’t want to keep Will waiting. Her heart sped up as she walked across the dark bailey, her slippers crunching on the pebbles. The smell of fresh straw made her smile at the memory of the kiss he’d given her there. That was before they’d… She heard a sound way back in the dark stable.

“Och, Will, that feels so good,” came a breathless moan. Jonet froze, her whole body contracting into one solid ache. She took a few steps closer until she heard the jolting sound of skin slapping against skin.

“Lizzie, leave some of him for me.” Ruth giggled.

Could she be really hearing this? Was this the adventure he had planned? Was she not enough to keep him from straying?

“Will, oh Will,” Lizzie crooned and let out the breathless moans of one reaching her peak. His own growls of pleasure tore through Jonet’s heart. No words, just deep, guttural moans of pleasure.

“Now me,” Ruth insisted. “I’ll show ye what that cold fish, Jonet, never can.”

The terrible words slapped across Jonet. Her hands flew up to her hot cheeks. Tears streamed down as she backed up. Whispers from the time of Machar rose up in her head. They’d haunted her for seven years, but now they reared up to pierce her soul. No matter what she did, she was undesirable. Even when she thought, when she’d hoped… Jonet turned and stumbled right into a broad chest.

Chapter Eight

What the bloody devil was going on? Will caught Jonet to him in the darkness. She was sobbing uncontrollably. He could hear his name being exalted from back in the stables.

That son of a whore, Eric, had locked him in the farthest back larder behind the kitchens. He’d still be stuck there if he hadn’t learned to carry a small pick on himself since his time locked in the Tower of London. He’d worried over Eric’s foul plan and ran to find Jonet. It wasn’t until he found the slip of parchment in her room, a note that he hadn’t written, that he knew to look in the stables.

“Jonet,” he said and leveled her frantic eyes on his. “I’m here. I’m not in there.” He could clearly hear the sounds of two women calling his name as some bastard pleasured them. Eric, no doubt, and the two fool girls from the kitchen. He must have told them to call Will’s name. His face heated as he realized just how guilty he would have looked if he hadn’t found her while they were in the act.

She still stood rigid as if in shock. “Jonet, ’tis Eric trying to turn you against me. I’m right here. He locked me in the larder, but I’m here.”

She nodded, her inhale full of trembles. “I…I just need to be alone.”

She pulled back. He didn’t want her to go, not so upset, but he released his hold on her and followed her out of the stables. Donald, Gavin, and Searc stood talking in the bailey as Jonet ran past them like the devil was chasing her.

“What the bloody hell?” Donald called and leveled a piercing gaze on Will.

“Don’t fucking look at me,” Will threw at them and pointed back toward the stables. “It’s that whoreson, Eric, and those two Munro lasses in there pretending I’m sleeping around on Jonet. If I hadn’t escaped the bloody kitchen where Eric locked me up, Jonet would believe it, too.”

The men walked to the stable doors. Will heard Donald curse.

“I’d ship those two lasses off to a whore house before they meddle with the wrong bloke,” he called and turned to go after Jonet. She’d run into the castle, probably to her room. He charged up the stairs. She’d asked to be alone, but the more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t let the night end like that. He slammed on the door with his fist and tried the latch. The door wasn’t barred, and he pushed into the room and stopped.

Jonet sat before the low embers of an old fire in a puddle of her skirts, her head bent. Her shoulders shook. Will shut the door behind him and barred it. He didn’t want anyone interrupting them. He walked over and knelt beside her, but she didn’t look up.

He stirred the fire until it came back to life and added some peat from the box next to the hearth. It flared up, and slices of light flickered against Jonet’s brilliant, black hair.

“Jonet,” he said softly.

She shook her head. “I can’t do it,” she whispered.

“Do what?”

“I’m just a cold fish.”

“What the bloody hell are you talking about? Did someone call you that?”

She nodded. “Everyone, back when Machar was alive,” she said numbly. “He—”

“Was an idiotic fool who I wish was alive so I could slice him in two,” Will said. “You are no cold fish, Jonet Montgomery. You are warm with a golden heart.” He crawled to sit in front of her. “You are hot and lush and full of adventure, in and out of bed. Anyone who calls you cold is plainly lying.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t know anything about entertaining a man when he was alive.”

“You were young, a virgin when you wed him.”

Jonet nodded.

“You weren’t supposed to know anything about entertaining a man,” he continued. Will’s fists ached at his sides. What he wouldn’t give to have that damn bastard in front of him. “A proper husband would have schooled you privately, slowly, showing you all the pleasures of love.”

“One time,” she looked back down, “he said he’d teach me.” She swallowed hard. “He took me to watch him with two other girls.”

Goddamned bastard of a swiving jackal!
Will held his tongue and forced himself to breathe. “What happened, Jonet?” he said slowly, softly.

“He wanted me to join them.” Fresh tears dripped down onto her hands in her lap. “I wouldn’t. He laughed at me. One of the girls called me a cold fish. The name stuck.”

“I’ll kill anyone that calls you that,” Will swore with such vehemence that Jonet glanced up. “It’s a lie, and it hurts you. I won’t stand to let anyone hurt you again.”

Fresh tears broke out of her, and she choked on an inhale. Enough with leaving her alone. Will pulled her into his arms, cradling her against his chest as she sobbed. He rocked gently like he’d done with frightened children on the ship, keeping his fury at their mistreatment in check. Bloody devil, one didn’t have to be stuck in a slave-trading ship to be abused.

“Is that why…?” he said and paused. “Why you’ve been so…adventurous in loving me?”

“I didn’t want to lose ye,” she said, crying harder. He tucked her head under his chin and kissed the soft hair there.

After a long moment, she calmed down a bit.

“You certainly seemed to enjoy swiving with me,” he whispered. Could she have been pretending with him?

She looked up. “I did, I do, every second.” Her eyes looked even greener with the fire lighting their watery depths. “’Tis truth, I’ve never felt so wonderful before.”

He smiled. “Well then, you’re not a cold fish. Perhaps a tired one, perhaps a bit tender now,” he said. “But definitely not cold.”

He ran his thumb over the lines furrowing her forehead, smoothing the worry away. “Jonet, you are the most beautiful, passionate woman I’ve ever met in all my wanderings on this earth. I am honored to know you and flaming hot to bed you, and only you.”

She studied him and sniffed.

“I pledge it on my honor,” he said. More words sat on his tongue, words he swore he’d never utter because they were for fools. But they were there.

She smiled, and he breathed. He didn’t have to say them.

She nestled back into his chest. “Yer the most amazing man I’ve ever encountered. And I’m flaming hot for ye, too.”

He chuckled and held her close, his heart full. He pushed aside all thoughts of the future, all regrets of the past and focused on the warm, sweet woman in his arms. “My sweet Jonet,” he whispered, and as she glanced up, he met her lips, telling her with his kiss the words he wouldn’t say.

…

Jonet and Will walked hand in hand through the bailey toward the houses where their children were sleeping. Ann had stayed with them again, giving the couple an ample opportunity for a private night together. Even though there had been passion, Will had refused to let her do anything to pleasure him.

Tonight is all about you, Jonet
, he’d whispered in the firelight, his hot kisses and caresses running down her feverish body. She blushed in the sunlight as she remembered the intimate details.

“I love your pink cheeks,” he whispered by her ear. “I hope it means you’re thinking about swiving with me.”

“Always,” she said with a confident smile. As they passed the stables, her grin faltered. “What happened after I left?”

He shrugged. “Searc, Caden, and Donald handled it. Those two sluts would make fabulous whores. I should send them back with Captain Bart to introduce to Adela.” He’d never wanted to throttle women before, but they best not get in his way any time soon. “And if Donald or Caden didn’t do something about Eric, the man won’t live the day.”

She squeezed his arm. “Let’s just check to see how the children are this morning before ye go off plotting murder.”

“Bloody too late. I’ve already planned a hundred ways to kill the bastard.” He kissed her quickly while they walked. “And after that, I plan to boast to every Macbain and Munro how hot you are in my bed.”

She gasped and slapped his arm. “Ye wouldn’t.”

“Not a soul will ever utter your name and the word cold in the same breath again.”

“But what if it’s snowing, and I forgot my cloak?” she teased.

“Then I’ll just have to kiss you until you burn enough to change the snow to rain.”

“So poetic,” she said.

“I can make it into a rhyme.” He lifted his eyebrows up and down until she laughed heartily.

“Will!” Charissa yelled and launched herself at his legs as they walked into the crowded cottage. He caught her up in a hug and kissed her cheeks soundly. He placed her on his shoulders where she nearly strangled him with her little legs.

“Where is Stephen?”

Margery and Jane exchanged looks. “He didn’t come back here last night,” Margery said.

“What happened?” Jonet asked and hugged a small boy.

“He was really angry about not being able to climb onto a horse. Some of the boys teased him,” Margery said. “And I made a mess of things.” She looked down at her hands and nodded.

“What did you do?” Will asked.

“I hit him,” Margery said.

“Ye hit Stephen for not mounting a horse?” Jonet asked.

“Nay, the other boy.”

“She punched that bully Peter right in his nose,” Jane said.

Will noticed the dark bruises on Margery’s knuckles. He took Charissa from his shoulders and knelt before the brave girl. She’d been raised in London streets and knew a thing or two about brawling. Dory, unfortunately, wasn’t here to heal her this time. “Well, I’d say you probably gave him a thing or two to consider,” Will said and ran his thumb gently over the fingers. None seemed broken. “We should get you up to see Meg.”

“Stephen was so furious,” Margery said. “Like I’d somehow made him seem weak for sticking up for him.” Her face began to get blotchy. “Stupid boy,” she said, but guilt lay heavy in her eyes.

“And he hasn’t come home since,” Jane finished.

Home? This wasn’t Stephen’s home. The boy had made it perfectly clear that he didn’t consider any part of Scotland his home.

“I need to find him,” he said to Jonet.

“We will find him.”

She must have seen the argument brewing in his face because she raised a hand toward him. “We’ll get farther faster on my horse.”

“Your horse? I believe Bart is my horse,” he said. He loved to watch the spark of unguarded irritation in her eyes. It meant that she trust him not to leave her over some little argument. He smiled over the victory.

“Just because ye named it doesn’t make it yers. Ye can’t even ride it well.”

He laughed. “Watch it, or Margery will punch ye in the nose.”

The girl turned brighter red but smiled when he winked at her.

“He might still be in the village or castle,” Jonet said and handed the little boy back to Jane. “Let’s start up at the castle.”

They jogged next to each other back toward the bailey. Noise ahead drew Will’s attention.

“Now where’s that ale-swilling brother of mine?”

Dory? Jonet and he ran under the spiked portcullis and stopped before the small group of dismounting Scots and his sister.

“Ewan?” Jonet said. “Is the plague over?”

Will noticed the older man and woman from the mad dash to Munro Castle, Searc’s parents. Searc was helping his mother down from her steed.

“There are a few who are still recovering,” Lady Munro said. “But thanks to God for our gifts,” she smiled at Dory, “even the worst are soon to be walking again.”

Dory looked thinner and tired, but she smiled beautifully at the woman. Ewan held her gently in front of him.

“When a visitor came looking for ye,” Ewan said, his gaze on Will, “Alec and I thought it a good time for our wives to take a deserved break.”

From behind another old warrior that had returned with them, stepped a medium-sized, scraggly-bearded fellow. “Seems me Panda is fitting right in here,” Captain Bart said.

“Captain,” Will said, a huge smile lifting his worry for a moment. He caught the old man in a hug.

“Now, lad, put these bones down. I’ve been jostled enough on that wagon seat.”

“Is everything well with the
Queen Siren
?” Will asked, his gaze flitting to Dory, but she just smiled.

“Aye, but purely boring without you there. The crew bemoans Pete’s stew, and no one can keep a rhythm like you—”

“Says all the ladies,” Dory and Bart finished his usual phrase at the same time. Will just shook his head. Hopefully, Jonet would find the saying as foolishly fun as it was meant to be. Her little grin allowed his own.

“So, lad,” Captain Bart continued, “you been having a grand time with the Highland lasses?” His eyes strayed to Jonet, an eyebrow raised. Leave it to Bart to poke the most sensitive spot in the room.

“Actually, just one Highland lass. Jonet Montgomery, meet Captain Bartholomew Wyatt, my father.”

She dipped a little curtsy. “Pleased to meet ye.”

“Well now, Panda, did you see that curtsy? Just as graceful as a London lady.” He nodded to Jonet.

“I’m graceful,” Dory said, a streak of stubbornness in her tone.

“Aye, she is,” Ewan confirmed and hugged her closer. Somehow, the overt display of affection didn’t irritate Will anymore. In fact, he rather liked the show of love Ewan displayed for Dory. He was an honorable man. Ewan’s eyes narrowed with suspicion as Will smiled at him.
Bloody hell.
Hadn’t he ever smiled at the man?

“Will,” Jonet said softly. “Stephen.”

“Blast,” Will cursed. “Captain, we’ll have to visit when I return. The boy from O’Neil’s ship seems to be missing.”

“When was he last seen?” Searc asked.

“Last night, but he didn’t sleep in the cottage he was assigned,” Jonet said. “We were about to start a search in the castle.”