Untamed Hearts (A Highland Hearts Novella) (Entangled Edge) (7 page)

“Foolhardy seamen,” he answered. “I bathe everyday off the decks of the
Queen Siren
.”

One of the maids looped her arm through his. “We have a fresh water loch just a ways off where ye can bathe.”

“Just point me in the right direction.”

“Oh, we’ll show ye,” the simpering girl said and nearly rubbed up against his arm.

Good Lord, the two would accost him as soon as they had him outside. Jonet stood. “I’d like to see this bathing hole, as well. I need to wash and so will the children, if it’s warm enough.”

Jonet gave the maids a tight smile, ignoring the glowing one Will cast her way. The pair shrugged and continued to lead Will out the door, Jonet trailing behind them. Caden raised an eyebrow as they trudged past him.

“We are touring the bathing loch,” Jonet explained.

“Will and three lasses?” Caden asked, and the maids giggled.

“’Tis a challenging number,” Will teased.

Jonet frowned and nearly reached up to shake the two tittering twits.

“Lizzie, Ruth,” Searc called, “Cook is looking for ye in the kitchens. She needs help with starting the pies for supper.”

The girls deflated. “But we were showing them where to bathe.”

“Just Will,” Jonet added. “I was going to bathe inside later.”

“So ye were just along to watch?” Searc asked her and glanced at Caden.

Jonet felt the blush in her cheeks. “Certainly not to watch.” She huffed. “Someone had to protect the innocent,” she defended and looked pointedly at the two maids.

“Noble,” Will said, “but I’ve been able to fend off the ladies since I was a lad. And to tell the truth, I’m not all that innocent anymore.” He winked. Lizzie and Ruth giggled, and Searc pointed toward the kitchen. Jonet turned to the cluttered table and busied herself stacking empty bowls and cups.

“He’s left,” Ann whispered. “But he watched ye the whole time until Searc tugged him out the door.”

“I don’t care,” Jonet said in defiance of her own easily swayed heart.

Lizzie and Ruth brought over their cups and the few leftover rolls. Lizzie whispered something in Ruth’s ear, making the maid glance at Jonet. “Och now, I don’t think we need worry. Will Wyatt needs a lass who will keep him entertained.” She gave Jonet a look that clearly showed she didn’t think Jonet was up to the task.

Jonet’s indignant fury dissolved under the maid’s pitying look. Ann took a step toward the cart with a bowl and stumbled, sending cold stew flying forward to slop all over Ruth.

“Pish!” the girl yelled as Lizzie gasped. Ann tossed the bowl on the cart.

“So sorry,” Ann said and held her hands to her cheeks in feigned shock.

Ruth growled, shooting her evilest look at Ann, and stormed away. Lizzie wheeled the full cart after her. When they rounded the corner, Ann turned to Jonet.

“I don’t think he would have done anything with those fools. Men like the attention, like bairns.”

“Well, if he thinks I am one of those maids he can love for a night and walk off, then he’s mistaken,” Jonet said.

“Surely he’s smart enough to know that,” Ann said. She leaned into Jonet. “That will be yer way of knowing if he’s really sweet on ye. If he stays away from the rest of the lasses, then ye know he’s waiting for ye.”

“Aye, but what if he waits for me and
then
goes after the other lasses?”

A memory of her husband from years ago surfaced in her mind. He’d been kind to her, but she’d been young, scared, and rather shy in her new home far away from her clan. After their very awkward wedding night, she’d caught him kissing a more experienced maid at Druim. The more time he spent with other lasses, the more pitying looks Jonet got from the villagers. It soon became obvious that Machar only came to her bed to try to get her with child, which didn’t happen before he was killed.

As she’d grown and distanced herself from the stigma of being undesirable, she’d relaxed, made her own friends. But she’d never again been intimate with anyone, preferring instead to flirt and maybe try a kiss with Ewan, nothing that would make her vulnerable. And she definitely didn’t need a swarthy pirate showing everyone that she wasn’t worth more than a quick tumble.

Jonet shook her head at her friend. “Nay, Will Wyatt can do whatever he likes. I care naught.”

Chapter Six

Jonet kept to her word, at least on the outside. She’d busied herself making certain the children and adults of Druim were as comfortable as possible during their exile. Food was rationed, though the warriors brought in fresh meat almost daily from the surrounding forests. Will had been quite creative in the kitchens working with whatever he was given. It was amazing what flavorful creations came from so little. Jonet could only imagine the flirting going on with Lizzie and Ruth, so she kept well away.

Meg and Caden, along with Searc, kept both clans running smoothly while Alec and Rachel were away with the Davidsons quarantined at Druim. A rider from Druim came on the fifth day to let Caden know that Dory and Rachel were working together to help the most serious and that although things were still grim, they felt the majority would be healed. But it would take a fortnight at least. Fiona, Rachel’s best friend, and the elderly Druim housekeeper, Evelyn, returned with the rider with a wagon full of herbs, blankets, and baked breads.

Jonet stepped silently to the door of the small bedroom she shared with Ann above the great hall. It was before dawn, but she hadn’t been able to fall back to sleep after the dream she’d had, a dream of laughing brown eyes and a burning touch. Her face still flushed over the achy sensations that had awoken in her, sensations she’d never experienced before. She’d successfully avoided Will during her waking, but at night the blasted devil snuck into her mind.

She slipped through into the dark hall and turned to close the solid oak door. She stopped, her gaze riveted to the protruding blade in the center of the door. A scrap of parchment curled up from the piercing blade. She held the glow of her thin candle so she could read the slanted script.

Time for lessons
.

She yanked the
sghian dubh
from the door and whispered a curse. The stubborn man still thought she was helpless. She set it inside the door on the floor and continued to the stairs. When had Will stuck it there? She hadn’t heard anything. Aye, she was too busy rolling around with the pirate in her dreams.

In the great hall, Druim warriors slept on scattered pallets. Some were already up. Luckily, Will seemed absent, probably half-undressed in the kitchens. Jonet strode across the bailey toward the stables. Perhaps she would go for a short ride along the edge of the village before the children came looking for her. She needed time to collect herself after the fitful night.

The barn was quiet, just the swishing of horse tails and the scurry of mice fleeing Searc’s numerous cats. A crunching sound and a deep murmur came from a stall near the end. Jonet froze.

“There now, an early apple for you this morn. Mayhaps you’ll keep me on your back today.” Will stood in the soft glow of a lantern, rubbing his hand down the horse’s long nose as it munched. The beast tossed his head as if to nod, and Will chuckled.

Jonet’s chest burned with the need to inhale. She turned and cringed at the sound of her skirts brushing the straw scattered on the dirt.

“You didn’t strike me as a woman who ran away.” His voice, so like the voice whispering in her ear from the dream, sent a tingle down her back. But the tone was different, disappointed. He stood still and silent, as if waiting with her to see what she would do.

She should continue out of the barn, put as much distance between them as she could. But the thought of him thinking her a coward made her turn back instead. “There is a huge difference between running away and refusing to be made a fool of.”

Will leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed over his broad chest. The dawning light filtered into the stable, reflecting a scowl on his face. “So talking to me makes you a fool?”

“No,” she said and crossed her own arms. “But kissing ye does, and every time ye get close enough to talk to me,” she paused to huff, “ye kiss me.”

“You don’t seem to mind.”

“Not when we’re in the middle of it.” She flapped a hand. “But afterward, when it’s obvious to everyone that ye kiss a lot of lasses. I won’t be made a fool of, Will Wyatt, and I won’t be one of yer simpering, giggling, tupping lasses.”

He took a step closer, and she steeled herself not to retreat. She wasn’t an idiot, damn it, and she wasn’t a coward. If she could just stop her heart from flying as he approached like a giant cat stalking a mouse. “So people say I’ve been swiving with the maids here?”

She frowned at him. “No, not yet anyway, but it’s just a matter of time. They fall all over ye, and ye encourage it.” She tapped her foot on the hay, thinking about Ruth and Lizzie from the kitchens. “Even yer own sister warned me that ye’d never been loyal to one woman.”

He stopped, his features turning even darker, making Jonet go over what Dory had said at Druim. The lethal look on his face made her worry over what Ewan’s new wife would have to deal with when Will met up with her again.

“And Searc warned me, too,” she added.

His eyebrow shot up. “What exactly left the lad’s tongue?”

“Well, it was more of a look, like I was stupid to follow after ye.”

“I don’t want you to follow after me,” he said slowly, as if he was trying to let his anger soften but having a hard time of it.

Jonet swallowed. “Ye don’t?”

He shook his head. “I want you to walk next to me.” He took another step toward her. She kept her arms crossed like it might keep him away. Will scrunched up his very talented mouth for a moment. He shook his head. “Those other girls don’t mean anything. They’re just giggly children.”

“Ye seem to like them,” she countered.

He grinned a lopsided smile. “I’ve always liked an audience to appreciate my antics. The more laughing the better. It doesn’t mean I want to pounce on them.”

Oh, he wasn’t softening her up that easily. “So ye haven’t kissed anyone here?”

“Aye I have,” he said slowly, “and it was so hot I nearly boiled on the spot.”

Jonet couldn’t quite catch her breath when he looked at her like that. “Ye mean…”

“I suppose it wasn’t really here,” he said and took another step closer. “It was on that dammed, tall horse on the way here.” He stood before her and let his large hands rest on her shoulders. “I wonder if the stables will ignite when I kiss her again.”

Her arms suddenly down, Jonet felt the heat of his body as he enfolded her against him. Could he feel the pounding of her heart? As Will’s lips met hers, Jonet felt her stiffness at his touch melt until she could have been a puddle at his feet. But he held her to him, not letting her fall or escape the onslaught of liquid fire tearing through her muscles, making her limp yet full of frenzied power at the same time. Those same arms that she’d used to block his advance now wrapped around him, her fingers tangling in his soft waves of brown hair.

Will growled low in the back of his throat, and Jonet answered with her own as she opened her mouth and tilted her face knowing…wanting…insisting he follow. And he did, tasting her, loving her mouth. Mint and clean man filled her, boiling her blood.

She flattened her hands down his back, running the lines of muscles to the top of his low-slung trews. She felt his fingers gliding in her hair, tugging out the two pins she’d put in to hold the mass out of her face. His palm cupped her cheek, a thumb teasing circles, while his other hand held her against him. She felt his hard body all along her softness, the contrast so immense that she felt dizzy. She tugged and crept under the edge of his linen shirt to the heat of his bare skin.
Och!
So hot. What would it feel like to be naked against his skin? Surely she’d burn.

With a swift tug, the heat was gone, leaving ice so stark she gasped. Will had spun them, tucking her behind him as he stood before the open stable door, blade in hand. She grabbed hold of the edge of his shirt to keep from falling.

“Bloody hell, Jonet!” Her still-pounding heart dropped into her stomach. Eric. She took a full breath and tucked her hair behind her burning ears before stepping up beside Will.

“You look tupped!” he yelled, a sneer on his face as he eyed Will. “He’s just sating his lust with you, don’t you see that? He’ll lie that he loves you, and then he’ll leave you after he gets what he wants. You should know better.”

Jonet’s breath hitched in her throat. Was that what people would say? That she should know a cheating man when she saw one, that she was a fool for falling for lies again?

“What are you saying?” Will demanded, and Jonet realized Eric spoke in Gaelic.

“’Tis none of yer concern, pirate.”

“Jonet is my concern.” Will looked down at her and put his arm around her stiff shoulders. “And whatever you just said, he looked straight at Eric, “is about to get your throat slit.”

“Nay,” Jonet managed and grabbed Will’s throwing arm. Face flushed and mind nothing but mush, she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Eric looked back at her, a look of genuine concern softening the disgust she’d seen there. He spoke in English. “He’s just like Machar.”

She stiffened, and it was as if a curling wisp of smoke exploded into a bonfire next to her. In the fastest lunge she’d ever seen, Will leaped forward, thrusting Eric against the wall next to the stable door. His palm spanned Eric’s throat, cutting off the man’s airway. Eric stood on his toes to keep from hanging.

It happened in what seemed like a heartbeat, but before she could move, Caden and Searc ran into the barn. “Bloody hell, Will, let him down,” Caden ordered.

“Who is Machar?” Will said, the words seeping out of his clenched teeth. Eric’s eyes bulged from his head. “Who am I being compared to?”

Caden glanced at Jonet, and she blinked back the moisture there. It had been such a terrible time in her life, full of pity and embarrassment. A young, thin lass that couldn’t keep her husband warm. Caden had been barely a man, but he’d known all about her disgrace. Yet he didn’t say anything. Of course not. It was her history to share if she wished.

“Caden,” Searc warned, watching Eric’s face turn reddish purple, but Caden held up his hand.

Jonet stepped forward but didn’t touch Will. “He was my husband.”

At her words, Will released Eric, letting him slide abruptly to the ground, gasping. Will stepped back, but Jonet stared at Eric floundering in the dirt. She clasped her hands together.

Caden and Searc hauled Eric up. “Serves ye right for meddling where ye’ve been told ye’re not welcome,” Caden rebuked loudly for the half-dozen warriors now standing outside the stable doors to hear.

“Ye’re lucky he didn’t gut ye,” Searc joined in. “A pirate will gut a man for looking wrong at him.”

Donald stood braced by the door and shook his head at Eric, his glance at Jonet grim. “Yer innards could be all over the ground for saying foolhardy lies, lad.”

Lies? Were they really lies? Jonet stood there, numb, while the other warriors became scarce after Caden and Searc dragged Eric away. Her feet felt stuck. Will stood apart, but his presence was so immense that she inhaled shallow breaths as if there wasn’t enough air.

“Are you all right?” he said softly.

“I need to go,” she whispered but still couldn’t move. He did instead. He moved to stand before her again, close but not touching.

She stared at the ground between their feet, her toes on the edge of her skirts, his boots large like the man. For a long moment, he didn’t move, didn’t say anything. She concentrated on breathing and not letting the old childhood tears roll out.

“So…” he started. “You were wed to a large, handsome devil of a man.” There was a casual grin in his voice as if he was trying to lighten the mood. “He must have loved you—”

Jonet snapped her eyes up to his. “No, he didn’t. He didn’t love anyone but himself.”

“Did he hurt you?” Will asked low, his mood switching from light to lethal.

Her eyes did water then. She couldn’t hold her tears anymore, but she refused to acknowledge them.

Will looked up at the ceiling, his hands in fists. “Swiving bastard of a whore’s pig. He’ll suffer the day I find him in hell.”

“Nay.” She shook her head. “He didn’t beat me. He hardly did anything to me.” She wanted him to understand. Maybe then he’d realize that she wasn’t the woman for him, a woman who could keep a man like Will Wyatt interested past simple flirting. She met his gaze. “He ignored me.”

“Jonet!” Ann’s voice came from the bailey. “Jonet, we need ye!”

Jonet’s feet finally released, and she brushed past Will out of the stables. Ann ran up and grabbed her arm. “It’s the bairn. Meg says ’tis coming.”

…

The babe was on the way. Women ran hither and thither throughout the keep fetching linens and rope and herbs. Twice Will hauled up cauldrons of water to the door of the room Caden and Meg had been staying in.

“Blasted women’s work,” Caden muttered at the door. “Won’t let me in.”

“Meg would know if something was wrong,” Will reminded him. “Dory always knew when she was catching the ague before it showed up.” He patted Caden’s back and headed down below. The corridor was too closed in, and the soon-to-be papa’s nervous energy would surely drive Will crazy. He’d tried to ask Caden about Jonet’s last comment, but the man could only focus on the muffled cries from inside the chamber.

Donald stood at the bottom of the stone steps. “You better go up to him,” Will said. “He needs someone besides the door to growl at.” Donald nodded but didn’t look too happy to replace Will.

Will strode outdoors toward the sparring field where Druim and Munro warriors trained. A group of boys fought a mock battle with wooden swords. Younger children chased spring butterflies and picked flowers in the fields. Margery and Jane waved to him. Very helpful girls. He walked toward the men who trained with long swords. His own sword was a cutlass and curved for close quarters fighting. On board a ship, the Scottish long swords would be more of a hindrance than a help.