Courting Carolina (30 page)

How goddamned wonderful, considering how well things had turned out the last time a group of mounted men had stopped by for a visit. Alec started to get to his feet, but Rana grabbed his arm and pulled him back down with one hand even as she reached for the bottle of Scotch with the other. She filled her cup and his mug to their brims, then corked the bottle and gave it an impressively accurate lob into the woods, where it landed on a bed of moss. The woman then picked up her cup and held it up for a toast, her sparkling brown eyes dancing with laughter as she gave him a wink.

Christ, he missed Jane.

Not being the idiot everyone accused him of being, Alec clinked his mug to her cup, then hid his grin by taking a drink as he decided the safest place right now was sitting beside the wife of the king of the drùidhs. His decision was reinforced ten seconds later when Titus came galloping into the clearing followed by three men, the wizard looking meaner than Jane’s imaginary bear.

Nope; not going to end well at all.

“Are you thinking to protect her,” Nicholas asked Alec from across the fire, his eyes also filled with amusement as he nodded down at Rana, “or hide behind her?”

“That would be up to him,” Alec said, using his mug to gesture at Titus just as the six wolves crowded up against the other side of Rana, making Alec wonder if
they
were protecting her or hiding.

“Wife!” Titus snapped as he dismounted and strode toward them, only to halt when brotherly Nick stepped in front of him, making Alec also wonder exactly who Nicholas was
to the Oceanuses, as the man certainly didn’t act like an errand boy.

“We left you a note saying we’d be back shortly after dark,” Nicholas said calmly.

“Yet you failed to say
where
you were going,” Titus growled while glaring at his wife. He turned that glare on Nicholas. “It’s a damn good thing you told your guards.”

“Titus, you remember Alec MacKeage, don’t you?” Rana said brightly, slipping her arm through Alec’s and leaning into him—making him wonder if she didn’t remember that he and Titus had met quite recently, which he still had the loose teeth to prove. “Come try some of this Scotch he just poured for me,” she added, holding up the silver cup. “Apparently the Scots know a thing or two about distilling spirits. Come on,” she sweetly coaxed when Titus didn’t move, “and I’ll explain why I asked Nicholas to bring me out here today.”

Alec saw the old wizard fold like a house of cards, but not before giving Nicholas one last glare as he stepped around him and strode to the fire. He took the silver cup from his wife, downed its contents in one swallow, then wiped his mouth. “That’s really quite smooth,” he said thickly, holding the cup toward Alec for a goddamn refill.

“Come sit down,” Rana said, shooing the wolves away and patting the ground on the other side of her. “And I’ll tell you all about the wonderful idea that came to me just this afternoon,” she added, waving her handful of envelopes when Titus didn’t move.

That certainly deflected his attention from a refill. “What in hell are those?” he asked, sitting down and snatching them away from her.

He started to open one, but Rana covered his hand. “No, don’t ruin the seal. I don’t have enough left to rewrite it again. They’re invitations to the ball.”

“Who are these men?” he asked, thumbing through the envelopes, only to still in surprise and snap a confounded glare at Alec.

“They’re gentlemen who live in Spellbound Falls and
Turtleback Station.” Rana took the envelopes from him and carefully arranged them into a neat pile again. “And some are from Duncan’s crew.”

“But we posted an open invitation to everyone in town,” Titus said gruffly, eyeing the pile on her lap, “as well as to all the employees. So why are you giving these particular men engraved invitations?”

“Because I want these particular men to come to the ball. That’s why I’m doing exactly as you did, and am delivering my invitations in person.” She patted Alec’s knee while still looking at her husband. “Starting with Alec here, because I think it’s important that Carolina have a wide variety of
dance
partners to
choose
from.”

Alec looked over his shoulder when he heard coughing and saw Nicholas’s shoulders shaking as the man fiddled with something on his saddle. The three guards who had arrived with Titus had dismounted and were also busy adjusting their saddles.

Alec downed the rest of his Scotch, then stood up. “Could I interest the two of you in staying for supper?” he asked, deciding that if he couldn’t have Jane, he could at least enjoy her mother’s crazy antics. Damn, he had a thing for smart and sassy women. “Nothing fancy, I’m afraid, but I promise it’ll be filling.” He slid his gaze to Titus. “And I believe I have some stout beer on ice in my cooler.”

“We would love to stay,” Rana said just as Titus started to shake his head, her eyes sparkling in the firelight. “Carolina assures me that besides being a very good hairstylist, you’re also quite a talented cook.”

Now
she decides to bring up the ten days he’d spent with her daughter, just when they’d all been getting along so well?

The woman looked around the darkening forest, her eyes widening as she looked back up at Alec with a lopsided smile—that sparkle intensifying. “The smell of cooking food won’t bring a mean old bear nosing around, will it?”

His next nocturnal visit to Nova Mare, he was going to bind and
gag
Jane and lock her in a closet—naked. “No,
ma’am,” he said, striding to the lean-to before she said something else outrageous.

Nicholas joined him at the food locker. “May I ask what you’re doing?”

Alec bent down and opened the locker, took out his tin of trail mix, dug two six-packs of beer out of the food sack, and straightened. “I’m making sure
this
visit doesn’t end in more bruised ribs and loose teeth.” He thrust the beer and trail mix toward him. “Here, these are for your men.”

The bastard chuckled as he took Alec’s offering. “Sorry, my friend, but plying them with food and liquor won’t make them any gentler when they catch you.” His amusement vanished. “Which, I assure you, they will.”

“They certainly have my permission to try,” Alec said cheerily, grabbing a frying pan off the back wall, then snatching up the sack of food as he headed back to his royal dinner guests—determined to make
this
visit end well.

“Mind telling me what that was all about?” Alec asked, using the vellum envelope Rana had just handed him to gesture at Titus and the guards disappearing into the darkness, Rana riding in front of her husband.

“That was a mother trying to get a handle on the man her daughter has fallen in love with,” Nicholas said, lifting the stirrup on his saddle to expose the cinch.

“Jane’s not in love, she’s just infatuated with a ski bum who treated her like an ordinary,
grown
woman.”

Nicholas gave a snort, tightening the cinch strap. “Keep telling yourself that, MacKeage, and maybe you’ll start believing it.”

“Two questions,” Alec said, deciding to ignore that comment and move on. “First, why doesn’t Titus just use the magic to come and go?”

Nicholas lowered the stirrup and turned to him. “The official story is that he and Rana made a conscious decision to live like normal,
ordinary
people. But unofficially,” he said with a grin, “I happen to know that popping around the
world and traveling through time upsets Rana’s stomach, so Titus only uses the magic when he absolutely has to if she’s with him. Next question?”

“Will you marry Jane and live in this century?”

Nicholas stared at him for several heartbeats. “Do you have a sister, Alec?”

“Aye, one, a couple of years younger than me.”

“Then you understand my feelings for Lina. And I’m sure you also understand that I will do whatever is required to make sure she’s safe and as happy as is possible.”

Not particularly liking that answer, Alec asked another question. “Can you explain to me why Titus simply doesn’t tell Rana and Jane about the birthday deadline? They’re both strong, intelligent women, so what’s he protecting them from?”

Nicholas hesitated, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at Alec, then released a heavy sigh. “Titus nearly lost Rana when Carolina was born,” he said quietly. “My mother was the island’s midwife, and I was only seven at the time, but I’ve subsequently learned that up until that point, Titus hadn’t believed he
could
lose Rana—or his children, for that matter. He was so shaken by that realization that he appointed my mother as the family’s personal healer and moved us into the palace.” He grinned. “My father was quite excited to be named royal gardener, and I was immediately given a bedroom next to Carolina’s, along with the job of keeping the princess safe
and happy
until the day I turned her over to her husband.”

“At age seven?” Alec said in disbelief. “You became Jane’s bodyguard while still a kid yourself?”

“It wasn’t exactly taxing for the first six or seven years, and I was fourteen by the time Lina was old enough to start roaming the island.” He grinned again. “And by then Titus had made sure I was well trained.”

“That still doesn’t explain why he won’t tell them
why
Jane has to get married.”

“He’s afraid, Alec. If Rana ever finds out that he made a deal with the gods to keep his daughter safe until her thirty-first
birthday, and that in three months they’ll be free to come after Lina, Titus is afraid the worry might be too much for her.”

Alec snorted. “That woman is about as frail as a big old mama bear.”

“I agree. But few people realize that Rana’s actually a mortal, and after nearly losing her in childbirth, Titus lives in fear that even his considerable power won’t be able to save her next time.” He shook his head. “If anyone ever wanted to paint a portrait of what love looks like, they’d only need to have Titus and Rana pose for them.” He chuckled, gesturing at the campfire. “You saw them tonight; even after thousands of years of marriage, they’re still crazy about each other, and one of their greatest joys seems to be trying to outfox each other. You have to admit that Rana inviting her own suitors to the ball just to make a point was nothing short of genius.” He turned and mounted his horse. “You were given a rare treat tonight, Alec. Rana rarely involves anyone other than immediate family in her battles with Titus, which tells me one of two things. Either she’s getting quite desperate, or she’s already decided you’re family.”

But then Nicholas sobered. “I really don’t want to marry a woman I consider a sister,” he growled. “And I also hope that Lina gets to stay in this century. But unlike Mac, I
prefer
she marry a MacKeage.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if it’s you or Niall, just as long as she’s happy.” He leaned down. “If you care at all for Lina, don’t force her to sacrifice herself trying to uphold her father’s position as king of the drùidhs.”

“Are you saying she really won’t say no to him?”

Nicholas straightened with a sigh. “I’m saying that Lina feels the same powerful duty to protect the drùidhs that Titus does. She understands that the Trees of Life are all that’s ensuring mankind’s survival, so even though she doesn’t know
why
her father is demanding she marry, ultimately she will obey him. She might have come to you as Jane Smith, but at her core she will always be Princess Carolina.” He
softly snorted. “If there’s one thing that Rana and Lina have taught me over the past thirty years, it’s that men don’t hold a monopoly on honor and duty. And the Oceanus women have spent their lives walking a precarious line trying to honor their own self-worth
and
their duty to humanity.”

He spurred his horse forward toward the trail. “Marry Lina for me, MacKeage,” the bastard said with a suspiciously cheery wave as he disappeared into the darkness, “and if I stay in this century, you can introduce me to your sister.”

Alec stared after him, fighting the urge to throw up.

Christ, she was going to do it; Jane was going to marry one of those goddamn mortals in nine days. And even if he did manage to finish picking them off one at a time, she would just dutifully marry Nicholas—without even knowing
why
.

Something pressed heavily against his leg, and Alec looked down to see Kit staring up at him, the light of the fire reflecting in his lupine eyes, the braid of Jane’s hair looking somewhat tattered as the wolf held the bottle of ancient liquid gold in his mouth.

Alec shuddered trying to dislodge the bus sitting on his chest, took the Scotch away from Kit, and walked to the campfire. He sat down, uncorked the bottle and took a long, long swig, then poured a bit in his hand and held it out. “Go on, you’ve earned it,” he said, letting his thumb brush the side of Kit’s snout as the wolf gently lapped the Scotch. He then reached over and grabbed a leftover can of beer, poured it into his and Nicholas’s mugs, and set them out for the two remaining wolves—having seen the other three following Titus and Rana when they’d left.

Christ, his campsite felt emptier than ever and too damned silent without Rana’s laughter—which had grown increasingly musical as the Scotch had finally worked its way to her toes. Alec picked up the vellum envelope and stared at his name written in bold yet decidedly feminine script, and softly snorted. He’d like to be a fly on the wall of
the elder Oceanuses’ bedroom tonight to see how their royal battle of wills played out behind closed doors.

Thousands of years of marriage,
Nicholas had said, and Rana and Titus were still madly in love with each other.

And mother and daughter could be twins but for their age difference.

Dammit; Jane had no business loving him, because he sure as hell had no business thinking he could make an anything-but-ordinary woman happy for even ten years, much less thousands.

Alec leaned over just enough to reach in his hind pocket and pulled out the letter Nicholas had given him—that Jane had hidden in the privy. Well, the woman certainly didn’t lack for creativity, he thought with a humorless chuckle. He unsheathed his knife and slit open the envelope, pulled out the single piece of Nova Mare stationery and unfolded it, and chuckled again at the salutation written in bold, feminine script.