T is for Temptation (31 page)

Jake lost sight of Tee within seconds. Men pulled him off his horse, and he craned his neck trying to signal Tiny to go to her aid. Taut knots formed across the length of his trapezius when he spied Tee and the giant edging onto an evergreen-lined trail at the side of the castle. They hung witches in the past, burned them at the stake, and the vision that thought engendered made his gut do a freefall. Jake dug his right foot into his mount’s flanks, but his attempt to follow Tee proved fruitless.

Oversized warriors bristling and shouting and laughing overwhelmed Alex and Jake, and dragged them off their horses. Every two steps someone slapped them on their shoulders or lifted them off their feet. Never in his life had so many macho males slobbered kisses and so many bodies slick with sweat and ale embraced him. By the time they made it to the castle doors, he’d drunk an uncertain number of mugs of wine, carried a large poultry leg in one hand, and smelled like smoke and spilled ale.

Alex suffered a similar fate, and when they caught up, a glaze shadowed his blue eyes. He’d lost his shirt in the melee, and a slash of red cloth crisscrossed his bare chest.

“Christ, we’re in trouble,” he muttered. “These men are bored, Jake, and they’re itching for a brawl.”

“Did you see where Tee and Tiny went?”

“No. He’s got her? That’s good.” Alex dragged a hand through his wind-mussed hair. “We need a safe spot, a place where we can strategize. Someplace far away from this lot.”

“There’s always the castle.”

Both men stared at the wide arched entrance to the building. Massive oak double doors guarded six terraced stone steps. They ran the length of the structure and curved into a semicircle reflecting flickering shadows.

“And the fiancée. Crap, you realize we’re riding a fine line here.”

“Blasted hell, I’d give my left nut to get Tee back to safety.”

“You may have to.”

“May as well get this over and done with.” He grimaced. “With me?”

“Always.”

They trudged up the stairs.

Grabbing the enormous iron handle in the middle of the door, Jake hesitated, squared his shoulders, and shoved it open. He took one step into a cavernous room with a domed ceiling lit by evening dimness, the kind of shadowy half-light, which made distance perception hazy.

As if it mattered.

One impenetrable line of eight colossal males armed with massive glinting silver swords and wearing identical acrimonious expressions barred further movement.

“This is the famous
Ferguson
heir? Weaponless?”

The statement came from an older man with white hair. He stabbed an enormous jewel-handled sword into a wooden table, folded his arms over his chest, and narrowed his ice-drenched brown eyes.

“Never wanted a weapon more in my life,” Alex muttered. “Preferably a stack of Uzis.”

Jake studied the quivering sapphire- and ruby-encrusted weapon and clasped his arms behind his back, letting the turkey leg fall onto the stone floor.

“Impertinent puppy,” the man roared, his face contorted into a ferocious scowl, thin lips curling in derision. “Who is this?”

The seven men at his side took a step forward. In unison, each man wrapped large hands over their swords.

“Introductions in order,” Alex quipped.

Right.

“Laird Alex Mayfield, a colleague.”

“Heir to my illustrious father, the duke.”

Duke? Blast it, Alex’s warped sense of humor couldn’t pick a worse time to surface.

All eight males studied Alex, grudging respect crossing their features.

“The Undefeated Knight,” muttered one.

“Pickle him,” the older man growled. A long stride brought him eye to eye with Jake. “My daughter, your betrothed, awaits your presence. ’Tis long past Beltane. Either handfast or marry. Choose.”

“The laird can do neither,” Tiny’s low rumble came from behind.

Jake willed himself not to jump or turn around at the surprise interruption. Out of the corner of one eye, he shot Alex a quick look, and read the silent message in Alex’s narrowed squint,
wait.

“Graham,” the man said, inclining his head. “You speak for your laird?”

“Nay, for his da, who ceded Brodick to my control before starting his journey.”

It took considerable effort not react to that statement. Jake cut to Tiny, wondering why the giant had come to his aid. A barrage of critical questions peppered his brain. Who was his father? And where had he gone?

“His son and my daughter have been promised since birth. ’Tis time to seal the union. She is of age.”

“Not until his da’s return.”

His jaw clenched as he identified a nebulous undertone to the conversation between Tiny and the man Jake presumed to be Laird Ramsay. In an almost imperceptible motion, the line of warriors shifted a couple of inches closer. Who had the final authority at
Brodick
Castle
? Tiny? Ramsay? His absent father?

Tiny clamped a large hand on Jake’s shoulder blade.

“For marriage, aye, but handfasting does not need formality. Prepare yourself. Tonight, before the meal, you and Kathleen will handfast.”

“And consummate,” one of the brothers said. “With witnesses.”

“Aye, we will hang the sheets for all to see.”

“Tomorrow.” Tiny stated, his rumble, low, even, spoken as a command. “This evening we celebrate the laird’s return.”

A silent eye-battle ensued, and Tiny stared the man down until he dipped his chin and grouched, “Done.”

The staccato dialogue had Jake’s head spinning, the deal cut in less than thirty seconds. Tiny’s bargain bought him one day. One lousy day.

“May as well get the lay of the land,” Alex muttered, not bothering to lower his voice. “Are we stuck with them for the whole evening?”

“Your mouth relishes trouble, pretty boy,” Tiny uttered the warning without taking his eyes off the Ramsay front.

“That does it. Let’s step outside and settle this once and for all.”

Arms akimbo, Alex’s challenge wrung an affirmative growl out of Tiny.

Jake shoved between the two bristling men.

Their audience sniggered, barking encouraging comments.

“Keep your cool, Alex. Tee, remember her?”

“Crap. Sorry.”

“Take us to her, Tiny.”

“Aye. Follow me.”

Eight pairs of eyes daggered Jake’s spine as they followed the giant though another set of doors. A fireplace the size of giant TV screens popular at live football games dominated the room. A huge cast-iron cauldron hung from sooty metal chains over a blazing fire, and the smell of cinnamon and apples swirled to his nose.

Women, men, and children bustled about. Knives met stone surfaces over to the right, where a team butchered some animal, a large bird from its skeletal remains. One long table displayed dried grasses and withered flowers, and at another, a gaggle of women chattered and slapped dough onto a floured surface.

Tiny weaved through the room, and in his wake, women sighed and stared, hands clasped to their chests. Then they caught sight of Alex, and a low murmur of appreciation swept across the room, twenty or so women mooning and swaying.

“Come back, darlin’,” said a pink-cheeked, buxom young woman as she reached over to pinch Alex’s bottom.

He grinned, winked at her, and returned the caress. “Later, I promise.”

“I’ll take Tiny,” said another.

“We’ll share,” the two said in unison, each the mirror image of the other.

“Twins.” Alex rubbed his hands together. “Twins. Every man’s fantasy. Forget Tiny, ladies. I’ll keep both of you well occupied.”

“Hell and damnation.” Frustration laced Jake’s growl louder than he intended. “Blast it, man. Now’s not the time for your prick to take charge.”

“Sadly, you’re right. Get us out of here, Green Giant, before I succumb to these lovelies.”

“What did you say?”Narrowed aquamarine eyes fixed on Alex.

“Stop it. You two are acting like dogs slavering over a bitch in heat. Take me to Tee, right now,” Jake ordered.

With a final glare at Alex, Tiny shrugged and ushered them down a wide hall, into a narrower one, and out of the castle’s rear. A few twists and turns later, and they re-entered the building from a hidden door.

He led them up five flights of steep stairs. They arrived at a mahogany door turned ashen by a thick mass of cobwebs.

“No one’s been through this door for some time. Tee can’t be here.”

Tiny’s sly smile chased Jake’s suspicion threshold to cliff point. A back of the eye-socket headache sprouted, he knuckled the spot.

“This is the fairy addition to Brodick.”

“Huh?”

A familiar shadow crept over Jake’s brain, and, in that instant, he knew the truth behind Tiny’s subtle insinuation. “I think he means fairies built this portion of the castle. Am I right?”

“Aye. Seemed fitting to house your witch here, where she’ll be safe from the Ramsays. They do not know of this section.”

“I smell roses and, yep,” Alex said, dark pupils widening, lips curving, “cupcakes. She made more of those. Thank you, God.”

“Maybe she has more of the MacDonald fare as well. Those little potato sticks and the thing she calls a milkshake.” Tiny’s stare veered into the distance. “Nay, those other buns with the meat.”

He left the two of them musing about food and discussing what items to request from Tee. Halting in front of the door, Jake studied the brass handle.

She’d refused to move in with him.

He’d never planned to ask her, should be grateful she said no. The word clogged his throat, fogged his lungs, clouded clear thinking.

As the door eased open, he straightened and marched into the room to find Tee fast asleep on a modern-day bed with a high mattress, curled around a soft pink pillow, lashes casting shadows on rosy cheeks, elegant features softened in repose.

His witchy woman.

The devil’s sweetest temptation.

He did want in, in the most tortuous way.

Edging onto the soft mattress, he aligned his body to her relaxed limbs, content to follow the rise and fall of her chest, see the pulse throbbing in the magnetic hollow of her throat, study a tawny strand as it fluttered on her cheek.

Somewhere along the line, his sexual obsession with Tallulah Inglefield had morphed into this, this what? He couldn’t, maybe didn’t want to, describe the emotions she forged in him. It made him weak, needy, and under her control.

Buying her flowers, asking her to move in with him, signs of her power.

“Did you bewitch me, Tee?” he whispered, almost to himself. “Set me free, if you did.”

“Jake?” Her amber-rimmed eyes peeped up at him. “Are you all right?”

“Great,” he said. And in that instant, life indeed grew bright and shining and full of promise. He traced the curve of her shoulder, running a finger up her long, slender neck to her mouth.