One & Only (11 page)

CHAPTER eight

All the uncertainty of what Laird
Gunn told her brought forth more mystery.

Bree moaned, feeling each pain as it
coursed through her. She sank to her knees, not minding that the ground was
sparsely covered with grass and hard from lack of rain.

“Cait, come and sit with me.” Her maid
left Duff, to her surprise and did as she asked. Duff seemed to let his guard
down and actually spoke to Cait briefly on their ride.

“Are you as sore as I am?”

“Just a little, but I am all right,”
Cait said and sat next to her.

Grey took a plaid from his horse and
set it on the ground. He collected wood and started a small fire. “Have you any
food?”

She wanted to smile, but only
nodded. It made her happy to cook for someone especially now when she needed to
take her mind off things. When he, James, and Duff moved off, she reached for
her satchel. “Men always have one thing on their minds. I’d best get making
something to eat and quick about it.”

Cait rolled back on the cover with
laughter. “If ye think that’s the one thing on their minds, Bree, you are mistaken.
Men only think about bedding, and that is that. Food is but a necessity. I have
it on good authority.”

Bree shook her head. Whenever Cait
said that, she assumed Cait had first-hand experience in the matter. She was
coming to the conclusion that Cait’s good authority was turning any topic to
her advantage.

Once she retrieved the small pot
from her satchel, she began putting some of the items Adeline had given her
before she left. She added a few onions and a fat carrot the cook had chopped
into small bits, and to that added some cloves and peppercorn. When the men
returned, she noticed she’d be able to add rabbit meat—they would have a
delicious feast by the time she finished.

Soon, only the crackle of the fire
could be heard. They’d eaten and each satisfied with the meal considering they
hadn’t let it cook properly and the carrots were a mite hard. Bree lay on her
side watching the men. They were quiet, but then Duff looked at her.

“Will we travel more this night?”
She became concerned since the night’s darkness had fallen, and she wasn’t sure
she could sit a horse for even an hour’s ride.

“We’re on Gunn land, and can rest
easy tonight.”

“Thank God. I fear I wouldn’t have
been able to ride further.” Bree smiled, as happy as she was to hear that.

“Milady, we’ll reach the Gunn keep
in the morning.”

She groaned. Laird Gunn moved closer
to her and began massaging her shoulders. “It’s a short ride, only an hour or
two. We should have kept riding and could have arrived this night.”

“I would have died,” she said
seriously. “I am not used to riding if you had not noticed.”

Duff moved closer and sat next to
Cait. “What did you do with your time besides cook, milady?”

Bree relaxed, letting Laird Gunn’s
hands work magic on her aching muscles. His fingers moved sensually over her
arms, brining her attention to the slight touches.

“Milady?”

She didn’t know how to answer Duff.
“I spent a lot of time with my lady. We would tend the gardens, invent new
dishes, and sew tapestries. What a woman typically does.”

Cait tossed her hair over her
shoulder and smirked. “Aye, she was a slave to the Champlains. Constantly
bidden to cook for them. Spent all her days in the kitchens and what thanks
does she get? Being sent off to marry the dastardly MacHeth!”

“Cait! I enjoyed cooking and I
certainly did not slave for anyone. I lived a sheltered life. Luckily, my lord
didn’t send me to court. I never wanted to go and King John never insisted we
attend. I was thankful for my life.”

Laird Gunn squeezed her shoulders.
“I won’t have ye exhausting yourself for anyone. You won’t lift a finger.”

“What are the women like in the Gunn
clan?”

“Much like you, except …” he trailed
off.

“Grey’s not used to you being
reserved, his memories are of a wild-child. You used to drive him daft, chasing
after you. Aye, we told him he should have tied you to a tree,” Duff said.

Bree gasped and turned in his arms
to scrutinize him with her eyes. “You didn’t, did you?”

“Nay, I would never do anything so
harsh. But Duff speaks the truth. You were a hard lass to keep track of. You
have changed.”

She looked into his eyes and hunched
her shoulder. “I suppose I grew up. I do not believe I have changed. I am the
way I have always been, Laird Gunn.”

“Grey,” he said quietly.

“Mayhap she has changed,” Cait said
with a laugh. “She used to wake up crying in the middle of the night though.
She called out a name, but I never understood. I do think she spoke in Gaelic.”

Bree glanced at Cait and felt
mortified. “Cait, please they don’t want to hear about that.”

“Aye, we do,” Duff said.

“Do you speak Gaelic, Bree?”

She looked at Laird Gunn. “Nay, I do
not know how to speak the language. Mayhap I did when I was young, but I must
have forgotten it.”

“She always mumbled in her sleep and
she’d always awake crying. I tried to get her to tell me of her life before …
but she wouldn’t speak of it. As she grew older, she became reserved as she is
now. I think it’s because she was afeared of being sent away—”

“Cait, please, you make me sound
like a cow. I am not so reserved. I just think before I speak unlike some
people.” She gave a hard look at her maid.

“Let’s get rest. Morning will come
sooner than we want.” Laird Gunn lay on his back next to her.

Bree used an extra plaid to cover
herself for modesty’s sake. The night was chillier than the previous nights,
but still warm enough to be comfortable. She assumed it was because they’d
traveled much higher in elevation. The mountains rose with each passing hour on
their ride this day, and she was sure there couldn’t be a hillier climate.

Forcing herself to close her eyes,
she thought about what Cait said. Those times when she’d awakened, she
remembered being heartbroken and lonely as if she lost the only person who
cared for her. Forgotten memories were too hard to bear and were best left
behind her.

Bree didn’t want to recall that
sadness and so she willed herself to sleep. Her mind finally ceased the
thoughts and she drifted off.

She was shaken awake and cried out,
sitting upright. It was still dark and looked to be the middle of the night.
For a moment or two she wasn’t sure where she was until she heard Laird Gunn’s
voice.

“You were dreaming, lass.”

Lying on her side, she faced him. “I
am sorry, Laird Gunn.”

“Grey, call me Grey.”

She whispered so as not to wake the
others. “Did I wake you?”

“Nay, I wasn’t sleeping.” He pulled
her close to him, hugging her body next to his.

“Oh, that feels good. You are so
warm. I am cold.” Bree tried not to let her teeth clank, but honest to God—a
chill seemed to settle inside her. Her hands set against his hard chest and if
she wasn’t so cold, she would have blushed being so close to him and in such an
intimate position.

“You were weeping.” He wiped a tear
from her cheek.

“I never remember why. Sometimes I
think I can recall those I left behind and then, they are gone. It is
frustrating.”

His hand moved over her back,
comforting and calming. Bree wouldn’t go back to sleep, not with him lying so
close with his hands gliding along her spine, sending tingling sensations
through her body. “I cannot fall back to sleep. Tell me about my past.”

Grey whispered, “Your name is Albrey
Mackay, the daughter of the laird of your clan, Ian. Your mother loved ye. Her
name is Maud. She loved her daughter and was so proud that you caused hell. I
heard her once say your father deserved such a daughter. She blamed him for
spoiling you, but everyone did. Your mother taught you to cook at a very early
age. Your father was an honorable man, Albrey, ah Bree. I respected him. He
wanted peace and made a pact with my clan. When you went missing all the
Mackays and Gunns mourned you.”

“I thought they didn’t want me.”

“Oh, lass, they certainly did want
ye. We searched for you for a long time.” He touched her face with the tips of
his fingers, slowly moving them over her cheek.

“Why did I go missing? Why did
MacHeth take me from my family?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping you
could tell me that. When I find out, I’ll enact my revenge. I always suspected
the MacHeth, but there was no proof.”

“My father, Baron Thomas, made an
agreement with Laird MacHeth. He’s the one who brought me to them. I wouldn’t
speak a falsehood, Grey. Cait overheard my lord and lady speaking of it the day
my father told me of the betrothal. Baron Thomas said he would bear arms and
ready for the war. I do not know more than that.”

“Are you certain, Bree?”

“Aye, I am positive. My lord knew
they would return for me and he had agreed to help them when they did. I heard
him say he would send word to King John. Mayhap my lord will help to unseat
your king. He would be rewarded for such by our king, wouldn’t he? I can only
suspect he would want King John’s favor by attempting such a thing.”

“If the baron is intent on aiding in
the war against our king it will only cause his death. Many clans are allied to
fight for Alexander. I will have to think on this matter.”

“I don’t understand why MacHeth
would come to claim me when he was ready to war. I have nothing to do with the
political matters of your country or mine.”

Grey squeezed her arm in a soothing
gesture. “On the day you went missing you told me you feared the MacHeth. I
should have forced you tell your father then. You said you overheard a secret
and that he forbade you to tell anyone. Do you remember?”

“Nay, I do not. But I was so little,
was I not?”

“Aye, but you were the smartest lass.
You spoke well and understood a great deal. I overheard our mothers talking and
your ma told mine that she began speaking to you even when you couldn’t speak.
Apparently you spoke at an early age.”

Bree couldn’t stop weeping. She had
been loved. Silently thanking him, she hugged him for telling her of them. “I
thought I had done something wrong and they banished me. I am sorry I don’t
know them, they sound like loving people.”

“They loved you more than life. Only
one other loved you more than they did.”

“Who was that?”

Grey squeezed her again. “Nay, we
need to get rest. Close your eyes and sleep, lass.”

But Bree couldn’t sleep. All his
words kept replaying in her head. If she had been so loved then why would
someone abduct her? Why would the MacHeth laird take her to Baron Thomas? It
didn’t make sense. All the years she’d been gone, all the pain she felt when
she tried to remember her past … Once again, she drifted off to sleep.

Her eyes shot open when she felt
someone’s arm touch her breast. Bree realized Grey’s chest was to her back and
he held her firmly in place with his forearm. She couldn’t move an inch, so
pressed he was against her. What struck her was that his hand was positioned
just below her breast and an unusual feeling came. Her face had to be bright
with embarrassment.

She moaned at her aching muscles.
“Grey, wake up.” Gripping his arm, she pulled at it to get him to awaken.

He tightened his hold on her,
forcing her breast to shift with his arm. “God is surely testing me this morn.”
His words whispered by her ear tickled.

“Please, let go of me.” Bree hurried
to her feet when he released her. She kept her eyes on the tree in front of
her. Even though she was young, she wasn’t that naive and knew what Grey meant.
Alone now, she calmed her racing heart and tried to make herself presentable.
She wanted to give him a few minutes privacy as well and hopefully when she
returned she’d be able to face him without humiliation.

“Bree, we must be off.”

She heard Grey’s call and when she
returned to the clearing, she found them all ready to leave. Fortunately, she
didn’t have to look at Grey’s eyes. He’d know how mortified she was, waking so
close to him, having his body pressing so intimately against hers. The most
awkward fact was that she felt parts of him she wasn’t wont to admit.

“You’re going to make this hard,
Bree. You make me want you fiercely.”

“I am not doing it on purpose, Grey.
You should not have lain with me. I am shamed by my behavior.”

Grey turned her face. “Never be
shamed, sweetheart. I’m not. One day you will laugh at this conversation. Aye,
when we’re old and—”

“I am not laughing, Grey, this is
not a humorous situation at all.” Her face burned with brightness.