My Tempting Highlander (Highland Hearts #3) (17 page)

Ronan hadn’t said a damn word about his marriage to Kenna or the fact that breaking the curse entailed Mairi saying “I do.” Mairi sucked in a deep breath and slowly blew it out. She’d force herself to remain calm and attack one lie of omission at a time.
And then I’m going to kill him.
“How long were you two married?”

“Only a few weeks.” Kenna kept her voice low as she gently rocked to and fro and continued feeding her son. “I have always loved my Colum. He’s the only one who ever made me tingle.”

“Then how did you end up married to Ronan?”

“It’s kind of complicated. I married Ronan as sort of a deal to save Colum.”

Mairi clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms. This might be no big deal to Kenna, but it was a big-ass deal to her. “I don’t give a damn how complicated it was. Explain it. Now.”

Trulie snorted out a disgruntled huff and struggled to heave her ungainly body out of the deep pillows on the bench. “You know how Kenna always plays with fire. She tried to make Colum jealous so he’d swallow his stupid pride and marry her. Her game nearly killed them both and the only way she could save Colum was by agreeing to marry Ronan. Long story short, it was all a sorry misunderstanding. Now she’s married to the man she really loves and Ronan Sutherland is meant to marry you.”

“Like hell he is.” Mairi stomped across the room, away from the hearth. She didn’t need a fire right now. Her temper had her so damn worked up she was about to burst into flames. “Why the devil would I want to marry a man who’s just looking for a way to break some curse? And apparently, he’s so damn stupid that he married the wrong Sinclair sister the first time!” She stomped back and forth in front of the sunny windows, her fists trembling at her sides.

She’d heard enough to make her ready to jump back to the future this very minute. Both the curse and the Fates could go straight to hell and have a freakin’ tea party. “And by the way, I haven’t even seen proof of this curse. His mother and friend were apparently healthy enough to travel back to their homes and all of you seem to be doing just fine.” A firm knowing settled deep in Mairi’s gut. Granny was up to her old tricks. She’d picked Ronan out of the blue as the man she wanted Mairi to marry and decided now was the time to do it. When Mairi had rebelled and refused to jump back, Granny had upped the ante. Well, she had news for Granny. Curse-breaking nuptials weren’t about to happen.

“This is just another one of your games, isn’t it?” Mairi whirled about and pointed at Granny. “Fess up, Granny. This is just another one of your manipulative games.”

The heavy oak door to the solar suddenly slammed shut with a room-shaking bang. The wall of windows behind Mairi rattled and moaned as a bone-chilling howl raced through the room. The taut membranes of the oiled parchments covering the windows swelled and shifted between the narrow strips of wood, writhing into distorted shapes as though hordes of angry spirits were trying to burst their way into the room.

Mairi backed away from the windows, one hand pressed to her pounding chest. “What the hell is going on?” She stumbled back a few steps and shouted to Granny without turning around. “What the hell are you doing?” She stole a glance at Granny. Her heart fell at the uncharacteristic pallor of her grandmother’s face.

Granny rose from her chair and motioned Mairi closer. “This is not of my doing. Come away from the windows, gal. Slowly.” She held an open hand toward Mairi as she eased around the tapestry stand in front of her chair. “Come to me, child. Now.”

Before Mairi could move, Trulie gathered Chloe into her arms and hurried to the corner of the room farthest from the windows. Oren vaulted from his perch, circling the room with wings outspread, constantly staying between Chloe and the rattling windows. Karma and Kismet eased forward toward the howling energy. Both the massive dog and lithe black cat moved in unison as though stalking the same prey.

Kenna clutched squalling Caedan close as she scooped his brother up from the cradle and curled him against her body. Both women held their children shielded toward the wall, keeping their bodies between their babies and the unearthly howling windows.

Despite Granny’s warning to move slowly, Mairi rushed to her side and pulled her close. “What the hell is it?” The unholy moan deepened and the strips of wood lining the windows rattled harder against the stones.

“The darkness,” Granny intoned. Her voice disappeared in the din of the howling wind racing through the room.

The grief-filled wail immediately stopped. The windows banged back into place and the room went silent as though nothing unusual had just happened.

Shouting sounded from the other side of the door. It exploded open with such force, it bounced against the wall. Gray burst into the room first, sword drawn. Colum followed, rushing forward with the odd hopping gait caused by his twisted knee. Ronan stormed in last, a pair of long-bladed daggers held ready in each hand. He crossed the room in three great strides until he towered in front of Mairi, keeping her snug to his back as he scanned the room.

“What the hell happened here?” Ronan’s murderous scowl startled Mairi. She’d never seen such raw fury. His almost beastly growl lowered to a soft ragged hiss. “Tell me, lass. Are ye whole? Are ye well?”

Mairi opened her mouth but couldn’t make a sound. How could she explain the feeling of being trapped by an unknown force? She tried to swallow the knot of terror closing off her throat. All she could manage was to weakly nod her head and point toward the once again sunny windows.

Ronan looked to the windows then turned to Colum and Gray. “The evil ye spoke of?”

“Aye.” Gray slowly sheathed his sword, strode across the room, and gathered Chloe and Trulie into his arms.

“It was scawwy,” Chloe squeaked as she wrapped her tiny arms around her father’s neck. “Make it go way and no’ come back.”

Gray nodded as he rubbed little Chloe’s back. “I will m’wee one. I swear it.”

Colum limped across the room to Kenna and curled her and both the babes into his arms. “The roaring swept through the bailey first. ’Twas a great black, roiling cloud that rose from the sea.”

Mairi tightened an arm around Granny’s trembling shoulders. Granny never trembled. She didn’t fear anything. “What was it, Granny? Do you have any idea?”

Granny gently slid free of Mairi’s embrace and moved to the fire. She held her gnarled hands out to the flames and stared silently down at the glowing coals.

Mairi turned back to Ronan. She needed answers. She needed the truth. She needed all the details. “When it first started, I heard her say it was the darkness—something related to the curse. It’s time you told me everything.”

A shadow fell across Ronan’s features for a brief moment then disappeared just as quickly. Without a word, he bent and placed first one dagger and then the other into the leather sheaths strapped to his calves. His movements were slow and purposeful, almost painful, as though he was trapped in a battle with his own demons. Ronan straightened and faced Mairi. His expression chilled her to the bone.

“I leave at dawn.”

“You leave at dawn?” Mairi shook her head. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“I can trust no other to fetch
Máthair
and Graham. I willna risk another’s life to bring them here so this evil can be purged.” Ronan slowly made his way toward the windows across the room, glaring at the oiled squares of parchment as though the entire ordeal were their fault. “If she completed the trip to Draegonmare, ’twill take nearly a month to get there and back at this time of year, barring any winter storms. If she merely took to the Highland wilderness for safety, I will return sooner.”

“I’m going with you.” Mairi ignored her sisters’ sharp intake of breath at her announcement. “But before we leave, I need the truth.”

“Perhaps we best leave the two of ye to yer discussions.” Gray motioned them all toward the door.

Mairi held up a hand. “No. I want you all here. I want my family around me…to witness.” She kept her gaze locked on Ronan. Apprehension glimmered in his eyes.
Good.
His reckoning was nigh. If he didn’t tell her the complete truth this time…Mairi swallowed hard and silently swore an oath to herself. If he didn’t tell her the complete truth this time, she’d never trust him again. “Tell me, Ronan. All of it. I want the details of this curse.”

Ronan’s shoulders slumped with a weary sigh as he stared down at the floor. “Ye already ken the details well enough. Mistress Eliza and I already explained.”

“I don’t think so.” Mairi eased a pace closer, calculating every word and move. He wasn’t weaseling around the truth this time. “I know the results of the curse—the immortality and the Fates’ reprimand of the Sinclairs. I know the riddle you said your mother heard when the curse took her. But you’ve always been a bit vague when it came to the explicit details and the exact way to break the curse. I know I’m supposedly the secret ingredient, but what the hell is the rest of the recipe for this magical curse-breaking elixir?”

Ronan slowly lifted his head. He clasped his hands in front of his waist and widened his stance. His face hardened into an emotionless mask as he rolled his shoulders.

“Ye must wed me.”

“Wed you?”

“Aye.” Ronan nodded. “And Graham and
Máthair
must be present to witness.”

Mairi fisted her hands in the folds of her skirt, willing herself not to react. Ronan had never said they had to get married to break the curse. She thought it was just a matter of her laying hands on his mother and friend and healing them. She eased in a deep shaking breath. It all made sense now. The protective attentiveness and incredible sex were nothing more than a calculated strategy to lower her defenses. Ronan needed a token wife, and she was the gold coin stamped with the winning number. A cold certainty settled over her as her heart resurrected its old protective walls.
Fine.
She’d get the job done then shed herself of her sham of a marriage by jumping back to the future. After all, once she returned to the twenty-first century, her husband would be considered long dead.

Mairi straightened her shoulders and swallowed hard. She’d be damned if she gave him the satisfaction of an explosive reaction—which was what he expected, from the look of dread currently plastered across his face. “Is that all of it? Are there any other details I need to know about this…” Mairi flipped her hand as though shooing away a fly. “About this…curse?”

Ronan stood taller. “Nay.” The muscles across his broad chest and shoulders rippled as though his body was tensed to spring.

A pointed
ahem
echoed from the corner of the room.

Mairi turned in time to catch Granny giving Ronan a threatening look. Mairi turned back to Ronan. “This is your last chance to tell me the complete truth. All of it.” She raised a tensed hand and jabbed an accusing finger at him. “If there are any more
surprises
, any more
omissions
…we’re done.” Mairi shook her head. They were pretty much done anyway, but she’d wait until later to spring that revelation on Mr. Lie-by-omission.

Ronan steadied his stance and lifted his chin higher. “I understand…there is nothing else I wish t’add.”

“Yer a damn fool. She’ll skin ye alive when she lays eyes on yer wolf mother and yer dragon friend. And what the hell do ye think she’ll do when she sees ye shift?”

Ronan balanced his forearms atop the wagon’s side and shook his head. “If I play this just right, she’ll no’ see them ’til they’ve resumed their natural forms.” He slowly turned and glared at Gray. “And I’ll ne’er shift in front of her—ever.”

Gray shook his head. “How the hell will ye keep them hidden when the woman’s goin’ wi’ ye to fetch them?”

“She is no’ goin’ wi’ me.” Ronan sucked in a deep breath of the icy air and held it against the pain gnawing at his core. “Winter in the Highlands is no place for a woman. Ye ken that as well as I.”

Gray tightened a rope lashed about several bundles. “Aye. Ye have the truth of it there, but ye ken there’ll be hell to pay when ye tell her of yer plans.”

“Aye—I’ve already worked up quite the debt with hell. I might as well add this to the tally
.
” Ronan circled to the other side of the wagon and yanked on the rope. “Better to endure the pain of a tongue-lashin’ than bear the ache of watchin’ the woman I love freeze to death.”

“And how do ye plan to wed the lass in the presence of yer mother and Graham without her noticin’ there’s a wolf and a dragon standin’ amongst the witnesses?”

“Ye’ve a fine deep loch to hide Graham and caves to hide
Máthair
.” Ronan shrugged a fur hide about his shoulders and secured it with a heavy brooch encrusted with the Latin phrase a
mundo ultra.
A world beyond. The ancient phrase that opened the mists and allowed access to the reality of Draegonmare, his ancestral keep built on the shores of Loch Ness. “Ye can wed us on the bit of ground between the caves and the water.
Máthair
and Graham can witness the joinin’ and all will finally be settled.”

Gray shook his head. “Would it no’ be easier just to tell her, man? Ye weave a treacherous path when ye use the slippery stones of half-truths.”

Ronan clenched the knotted rope and yanked so hard, the rough fibers burned his palm. “I canna lose her. To do so would mean losing m’verra soul.”

Gray clapped him on the shoulder with a sad shake of his head. “I ken that feelin’ well, m’friend. At times I’ve wondered if it be a blessing or a curse to love a Sinclair woman.”

“Aye,” Ronan agreed.

A deeper uneasiness rubbed an icy hand across the hairs on the back of his neck. Ronan spared a glance back at the gray green of the sea churning out to the cloudy horizon. What miserable evil did those waves hide? And would that evil remain at MacKenna Keep or follow him to Draegonmare? That was the one fear he couldna assuage. Was he leaving his precious Mairi unprotected?

A heavy thud drew his attention back to the wagon. Two burly men hoisted another stained wooden keg up into the wagon and rolled it to the front, snug against its twin.

“Two barrels of fine MacKenna whisky?” Ronan turned to Gray, now standing a few feet back from the rear of the wagon as he scrutinized the loading of supplies.

“Aye.” Gray spoke without smiling, his dark hair flying wild in the cold winter wind. “ ’Tis a long journey and ill-advised for this late in the season. MacKenna whisky will warm ye better than any fire.”

Ronan hooked one hand atop the wagon’s side. “I dare not wait ’til spring to finish this task.” Gray knew as well as he, ’twas far more risky to stay at MacKenna Keep with the curse unbroken than pass through the Highlands in the midst of winter.

Gray stared at him a long moment before he spoke. “I wish this done and over.”

Ronan nodded. “As do I, m’friend.”

“Brother.” Gray held out his right arm, hand open, palm up.

Ronan linked his own sword arm with Gray’s, his heart warming with the gesture. “Aye.” Ronan acknowledged the pact with a curt nod. “My brother.”

A scrawny lad with a runny nose led
Airgead
slowly across the bailey. The boy raked his dark sleeve across his face and sniffed before tying the silver gray horse’s reins to the side of the wagon.

“I canna accept another fine horse from yer stables.” Ronan smoothed a hand down the great horse’s muscular neck then patted his side. He felt an affinity with the blue roan, but he couldna accept such a valuable beast.

“Consider it a wedding gift.” Gray waved a hand toward the piles of blankets and cloth sacks of provisions stacked in the back of the wagon. “Know our blessing is upon yer vows whene’er ye return to say them.”

Ronan nodded. Words escaped him. He hoped and prayed the vows would in fact be said. A knot tightened at the core of his chest. Mairi had been strangely cold ever since yesterday in the solar. He supposed he couldna blame her. Not after witnessing such a strange unholy sight. But something deep in his gut told him ’twas much more than the attack troubling his dear sweet lass. Whene’er he caught her studying him, he nay cared for the hurt he saw in her eyes.

Ronan turned and searched for the small cloaked figure huddled atop the skirting wall. His heart was heavy with the task before him. Mairi had already bid a tearful goodbye to her family. Now she stared out at the sea, waiting for the final supplies to be packed. He had yet to tell her, she’d no’ be crossin’ the Highlands with him.

“Patience, man.” Gray clapped a hand atop his shoulder. “A Sinclair woman takes a great deal of patience.”

Without taking his gaze from the lone figure silhouetted against the ever-lightening gray of the sky, Ronan barely shook his head. “I fear I have no time for patience. She has to be mine. I canna imagine life without her at m’side.”

“Leave it to the gods and the Fates, man.” Gray shrugged the wool pelt tighter about his shoulders and squinted up at the sunless sky. “Ye might as well. Both do what they damn well please.”

Truer words were ne’er spoken. Ronan turned back to the wagon just as three men, clothed for the severest of weather, led three heavily packed horses to the center of the bailey. One of the men tossed the reins of his mount to the man closest to him then hurried over to Ronan and Gray.

“We be ready, m’chieftain.”

Gray settled one hand atop the man’s shoulder and turned him toward Ronan. “Daegan MacKenna and his brothers…” Gray paused and looked toward the other two men waiting across the courtyard. “…Dirk and Doughal will travel wi’ ye.” Gray clapped his hand harder against Daegan’s shoulder and gave him a meaningful shake. “These three can be a worrisome lot but they’re strong and fearless and willna shame the MacKenna name when it comes to battle.”

“ ’Tis my hope there will be no need for battle.” Ronan studied the three young men more closely. He appreciated Gray’s concern, but he nay needed any help when it came to crossing the Highlands. All he need do was trust his wolf to find the quickest route. If not for the fact it would stir Mairi’s suspicions even further, he’d leave all the supplies at MacKenna Keep, and then when all had retired for the evenin’, he’d shift into his wolf and lope across the Highlands. But no—he couldna risk it. Mairi had grown too watchful and the look of distrust in her eyes made his heart ache. He nodded toward the men. “Ye realize what they’ll witness once they reach Draegonmare?”

“Aye.” Gray released Daegan and motioned for him to return to his waiting brothers. As the broad-shouldered lad trotted back to his horse, Gray huffed out a strained sigh. “And that too is for the best. Those lads need temperin’ by such sights, and ’twill also give several nearby clans time to cool down. My hope is also that a few wandering wives will rekindle a bit of interest in their own husbands rather than the MacKenna rogues who’ve been visitin’ their beds.”

Ronan understood completely now. Apparently, Daegan and his brothers had dallied a wee too much with wives of high-ranking clansmen. What better way to cool a young man’s wandering ways than to send him across the Highlands in the middle of winter, to a strange keep most ne’er knew existed?

Two lads scurried forward, bending low under the weight of shoulder yokes bearing baskets filled with cloth-wrapped bundles. They settled the baskets on the ground and backed out from under the poles. Working together, they hefted the baskets up into the wagon and lashed them securely to the sides with rope.

“That be the last of it.” Gray squeezed Ronan’s shoulder then turned toward the entrance to the keep. “I’ll no’ be watchin’ ye go. Sinclair women say if ye watch a kinsman’s departure, ye risk ne’er seeing them again. Those women are too wise when it comes to what the future holds. I’ll no’ challenge their superstitions and risk angering the Fates.”

“I owe ye a great debt.” Ronan lifted his black woolly cloak from the side of the wagon and shrugged it around his body.

“Ye owe me nothing.” Gray walked away, his right hand lifted in farewell. “May the gods be with ye, brother. I fear yer going to need them.”

“Aye,” Ronan whispered.
I fear the same
.