Plight of the Highlander (The MacLomain Series: Next Generation Book 5) (9 page)

Torra took a deep breath before she spoke. “We will never see Keir defeated if you both dinnae set aside your differences.” Her eyes went to Valan. “Colin is not at fault for my betrayal. He knew naught who I was when we met and well you know it.”

Valan’s eyes never left Colin’s. “Nay, but he did soon enough. ‘Twould have been then that he should have let you be.”

Torra had not been looking forward to this moment but too long had she come between their friendship. “He tried,” she said softly. “But I wouldnae have it.”

Valan’s eyes shot to hers, but he said nothing.

It was impossible not to feel bittersweet pain as memories resurfaced and she remembered the past…

“There ye are, lass.”

Torra had barely caught sight of him when Colin MacLeod swung her around. Laughing, she batted him away but not before a lingering moment when their gazes tangled and breathing became a struggle. Pale silver flecks ignited in his eyes as the sun crested through the trees and hit his face.

It had been her fourth visit back in time since she first met him at the Highland Defiance and he was in rare form. But she imagined that they both were. Their friendship had fast blossomed along with something else altogether. And with that something else grew a niggling of guilt. She’d not seen Valan again since Colin had traveled back. While she had not entirely understood her feelings toward the Hamilton before, now she did. And they couldn’t compare to what she felt toward Colin.

Yet her guilt only ran so deep. Because though he claimed to love her, Valan had a secret of his own. A secret he had only just shared before she met Colin MacLeod.

Colin pulled her after him, a wide smile on his face. “Have ye ever had a swing into the water then, lass?”

“A swing into the water?” Torra laughed as she ran to keep up with him. “I cannae say I have.”

The day was warm and a light wind blew through the trees as they stopped at a riverbank. A fairly sharp decline led down to a narrow shore.

Colin pointed. “See there.”

Torra put a hand to her forehead to block the sun and peered up. A rope was tied to the top of an exceptionally tall tree that slanted out over the water. She looked at him with a frown. “I dinnae ken.”

Colin grinned and pulled off his boots. Though she suspected he wanted to remove his tunic and plaid he did not. While Torra knew she should appreciate the courtesy, she was surprisingly disappointed. But her interest soon became ensnared by his actions as he climbed the tree.

“What are ye doing?” she yelled.

He climbed to the top of the tree, grabbed the rope then climbed down a bit. With a grin that she could only describe as fun-loving, he yelled, “‘Twill be obvious soon enough.”

Wide-eyed, Torra put her hand over her mouth when Colin jumped from the tree. He released a loud whooping sound as the rope swung him far out. Then he let go and splashed down into the river. When he broke free from the water laughing, she laughed as well.

The MacLeod had lost his mind!

Colin nodded at her. “Now ye.”

“Me?” She shook her head, still laughing. “Nay.”

“Oh, aye.” He nodded at the rope. “Go on then, lass. Dinnae be a coward.”

Coward? Her? Never! But she still shook her head.

“What are ye afraid of?” He cocked his head. “‘Tis naught but a tree and a rope and some water.”

Torra stood a little straighter at the taunt, at the unabashed challenge in his eyes. Well, she’d wipe that look right off his face. While it might be indecent to remove her chemise, the shoes and dress would definitely have to go so they didn’t weigh her down. Colin made no move to leave the water, just watched as she determinedly started to climb the tree.

“There ye go, lass,” he cheered.

Torra did not look down but kept focused on the climb. It didn’t matter in the least that she’d never climbed a tree before. In truth, she found the experience rather enjoyable if not downright fun. And she was good at it! Only when she reached the rope and looked down did she realize how high she actually was.

“Now make your way down some with the rope, hold on tight and push off hard,” Colin yelled.

Not afraid in the least, Torra did just that, excited. She couldn’t remember ever smiling so much. Determined to savor the moment, she braced herself against the tree, tilted back her head and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on her face.

That moment would prove to be one she would think about many times over the years. The way the bark had felt against her skin. The way the sun covered her face. But what made it all that much more profound were Colin’s words from below, said just loud enough that they whispered on the wind.

“Ye are so bloody beautiful.”

Her eyes found his in an instant. He waited, breathless it seemed, as he stared up at her. It was the first time she saw herself through another’s eyes. How the sun ignited her multi-colored hair and her chemise brushed against her skin in the wind. But even as she saw the appreciation in his gaze she looked back at him with matched desire. Without doubt, Colin MacLeod was remarkably handsome but she suddenly saw beyond his outer appearance to the man behind the face. Stunned, she couldn’t pull her eyes away as her initial feelings upon meeting him once more flared.

I know your soul. Somehow I always have.

“Come on then, lass,” he whispered, but she heard him regardless. “‘Tis time.”

Blinking several times, she ripped free of the revelation and offered a jerky nod as she held the rope tight and pulled back. Caught somewhere between the intense feelings she’d just had and the sudden exhilaration of swinging from the tree, Torra squealed.

It felt like she was flying!

Torra let go of the rope once it had swung out to its furthest point. Then she was falling fast and let out another squeal of delight as wind rushed by her face.

She smiled when she hit the water.

Though she swam plenty of times in the loch as a bairn, many years had passed since. Kicking her legs, she burst through the surface and laughed. Colin laughed as well and pulled her in until she could stand. Then they just continued to laugh and splash and…play. Or at least that was what it felt like as they bantered with words, challenged one another in swimming contests and even skimmed rocks. Then they’d swing from the rope again and again.

Later that day, they lay in a wide patch of grass not that far from the river, content to enjoy the sun and silence. But then it really wasn’t all that silent. The wind swayed the trees, brushing the branches together. Fish jumped. Birds chirped. Nay, there was plenty of sound to be had in a highland forest without saying a word.

Torra even dozed at some point because when next she opened her eyes, Colin was no longer laying on his back staring up at the trees but on his side, head propped in his hand as he studied her.

“What?” she whispered.

Colin pressed his lips together as if ready to deliver dire news. “‘Tis a thing to know I look upon the most bonnie lass ever born to Scotland.”

Flattered but well aware it was likely a line he had said many times before she replied, “And what think the other lasses when ye say such?”

While she thought she’d bring forth a grin with her clever statement, his lips turned down a fraction. “Mayhap you didnae hear me clearly.” But then he grew more determined and tiny flecks of fire lit his eyes. “Or mayhap ye dinnae truly see in yourself what I see.”

Now propped up on her elbows, she kept her eyes locked with his and waited. If keeping to a tower for so long and repressing what lie within had taught her anything, it was that observing rather than speaking wasn’t always such a bad thing.

Yet it seemed Colin was not going to elaborate. Instead, he took her hand. “I came here before ye arrived, searched out that tree then hung the rope with purpose.”

Taken aback by his thoughtfulness, she said, “Thank ye. ‘Twas great fun.”

Colin nodded and his eyes dropped as he struggled with something. “Fun isnae something ye’ve had much of for far too long. ‘Twas important.” Then his eyes met hers. “But ‘twas not my sole purpose for doing such.”

“What was then?”

His thumb gently rubbed her palm, gaze direct. “I wanted ye to feel the sensation of flying…if only for a moment.”

Torra sucked in her lower lip on a small inhalation when she realized why. “Because of…the dragon within.”

“Aye,” he whispered, his gaze dropping to their entwined hands. “‘Tis not something to overly talk about. I just wanted ye to know.”

It took several long moments for his explanation to sink in. When it did, her heart clenched. She closed her eyes, vividly recalling the delight, the absolute freedom she had felt when sailing through the air. A feeling that had given her such incredible happiness. Gods above…

Colin MacLeod had given her just a small taste of what actual flight might feel like.

Her eyes flew open when he pulled her to her feet.

“Have ye been to the top of the Defiance yet?” he said.

It seemed he didn’t want to overly focus on the kindness he had shown but instead chose to offer her more adventure. Torra shook her head. She couldn’t stop smiling. But the gods knew this constant happiness had not abated a moment since she met him. Well, mayhap those long hours when she returned to her tower in the MacLomain castle. But even then she found herself often grinning because she knew she would see him again.

“Though the top of the Highland Defiance is often used for the chamber of whoever oversees the building ‘tis just a sitting area right now,” he enlightened.

It was early afternoon and very few people were about when they arrived. Only a handful of clan folk sat around a fire lost in conversation. None paid any mind to them as they climbed the winding stairs that wrapped around and around along the inner wall. With no railing on one side and naught but a wall riddled with arrow slit windows on the other, it was fairly treacherous.

At last they arrived at the top.

“Come.” Colin pulled her through a narrow hallway into a hexagonally shaped chamber with a bench seat on each side and an oddly shaped window. It was round with an x shape inside, much like a too-symmetrical cross on a pedestal. Beneath it was a long, rectangular shape with Celtic symbols inscribed in it.

“This.” Colin held her hands as he walked backward and glanced over his shoulder at the window. “Is the original Highland Defiance. ‘Tis what the building is named after.”

It was so incredibly inconspicuous. But then Adlin MacLomain had built this and never once had he struck her as the flashy type. If anything, it seemed very much like Adlin to put something so powerful and important in an unassuming location.

The sun shone brightly on the mountains beyond as they stood together in front of the window. Colin again took her breath away as he stared not at the beautiful view but at her. When he touched her cheek gently, she was startled by the contact. Pleasant warmth blossomed within. Since those first few dances they’d shared, he had not laid a finger on her. They’d but talked and talked since. She had shared far more than intended. But then she’d not been able to speak anything other than prophetic words for a very long time.

As if he read her mind Colin said, “We have shared so verra much in so little time. ‘Tis good but…”

When he trailed off, she cocked her head, curious. “But what?”

Colin hesitated another long moment before he at last spoke, emotion deepening his words. “Since first we met, I have thought of nothing else but you. I cannae quite explain…” Colin shook his head, struggling before his words grew surer. “Nay, I
can
explain.” He cupped her cheeks, gaze intent. “There isnae any denying it. I love ye, lass. Since the moment I laid eyes on ye. So verra much.”

A tremor rocketed through her and Torra realized she was both frightened and relieved by his words. Frightened because her emotional response was so strong and she worried what kind of future they had. Relieved because…she felt the same.

Torra couldn’t keep the tremble from her lips when she whispered, “I love ye too.”

Colin knew she feared intimacy so instead of kissing her as he so clearly wanted to, he stroked her cheeks. His silvery eyes twirled with fire and his chest heaved with excitement. Then, as if her words had truly just sunk in, a wide smile split his face. In response, she couldn’t contain an equally wide smile.

There was something so profoundly freeing in that moment, something far better than a swing off a rope or even traveling back in time.

She was about to say as much when he ran his hands down her arms and shook his head. “This needs to be shared. Thank the gods we both hail from the same era. I will go to your chieftain and let him know my intentions.” Colin’s eyes widened and they might have been bairns for the light in his eyes. “But first I must tell Valan. He will never believe we both found love through the Defiance…here!”

Pure joy fizzled in an instant.

“What?” The happiness in his face faltered. “Ye look as though I have read your death sentence.” He shook his head and took another deep breath. “Nay, you’re right, I shouldnae rush to your Laird until—”

Colin stopped speaking when she put a finger to his lips. Almost afraid to, she whispered, “Valan Hamilton?”