Warrior's Moon (27 page)

“Hmm.”

“You do not sound convinced.”

“And you sound much too certain.”

“I am not claiming all Cahir, much less all Chrechte, can read a man’s nature upon meeting him, but
I
can.”

“How?”

“Our sacred stones bestow many gifts.”

“So?” Would she spend the rest of her life trying to understand this maddening man’s riddles?

“So, one of my gifts is to read a man’s heart.”

“What does that mean?”

“Even his most deeply hidden tendencies are as transparent as a loch in the still morning air.”

“You can read thoughts?”

“Nay. Character.”

It was all so very confusing.

“That explains it then,” she said, her intention to tease as she felt nothing had really been explained at all.

“Aye.”

“You don’t know my meaning.”

“What is it then?”

“You were so quick to judge me lacking when you learned of my country of birth.”

“That was a mistake.”

“Yes, but an understandable one.”

“I am glad you think so.”

She nodded. “If I had been a man, you could have read my heart. But since I am a woman, you had to spend time with me first.”

She giggled at his outraged expression, her laughter ending on a yawn as the tea took its effect.

“You will lead me a merry chase, I think, Audrey of England.”

“I do not think I am of England any longer. I have no home to return to.” Not if she wanted to keep Shona safe.

“I am your home now.”

That sounded nice.

She yawned again, trying to smile. “After the Chrechte ceremony, you will be.”

He did not argue and she counted that a victory with the overconfident Éan warrior.

Vegar helped her to get comfortable in the furs, laying down beside her in a most comforting manner as she slipped into tea-induced sleep despite the hour of day.

*   *   *

W
hen they returned to the keep, Maon and the two
others who had promised fidelity were taken for intensive retraining with those assigned to the task by the Sinclair. They would learn the ways of true Chrechte honor that Caelis himself had undertaken before going to Balmoral Island to train with the Cahir.

The warrior who was not MacLeod was taken to the prisoner’s tower. He had yet to reveal his clan and the Sinclair had declared him prisoner until such time as his loyalty could be ascertained.

Unlike a year ago, Caelis was no longer shocked by the fact the Sinclair did not simply kill the offenders. Talorc had not ordered Caelis’s death, either.

He was far more impressed by the laird’s wisdom and strength of character now, though. As Talorc had taught him, and later the Balmoral had reiterated, it was easy to kill. Not so easy to convince a man to change his path.

Shona insisted on Caelis and the children eating, though she did not even pretend to pick at the food Abigail had placed before them.

“How is Audrey?” she asked Abigail as soon as Marjory and Eadan were tucking into their food.

There could be no doubt that Shona wished she could be with her friend, checking on her well-being in person. She put her children’s needs ahead of everything, however.

The fact that included staying with Caelis was to his benefit.

“Audrey will be fine. She’ll heal fast, you’ll see,” Abigail promised. “She is resting with Vegar in his room.”

“But…” Shona stopped, clearly unsure how to go on. After a guilty look at Caelis, she simply bit her lip and nodded. What was that about?

And then it hit him. Shona was upset her friend was in a compromising situation with the Éan warrior, but did not feel she had the right to say anything after the way Audrey had caught her with Caelis that morning.

“When is the ceremony?” Caelis asked Abigail, no doubts at all that one was planned.

“This evening.”

“What ceremony?” Shona demanded. “You aren’t telling me that Audrey and Vegar are getting married,
this evening
? Are you?” Shona’s emerald gaze implored Abigail. “They’ve only just met.”

Abigail bit her lip and looked at Caelis as if asking him a question.

He had no guess as to what that question might be.

After a couple of tense seconds, Abigail blew out a clearly frustrated breath and frowned at Caelis before smiling tentatively at Shona. “Talorc heard their vows before he would let Vegar take her upstairs.”

“But…” Looking lost, Shona seemed to sink in on herself. “What is the ceremony you two are speaking of then?”

Caelis reached over and brushed her cheek. He wanted to touch her all the time. It was only more acute in his
conriocht
form.

This time, though, he was seeking to give comfort. “It is for their mating.”

“She is my dearest friend and she was married without
me.” Shona gave Caelis a very unfriendly look. “I do not believe I like this world of the Chrechte.”

“Things are not done the same in the Highlands, Chrechte or not,” Abigail offered in a clear attempt to smooth things over.

The gaze Shona leveled at the Sinclair lady was not exactly warm either. “Even in the Highlands, weddings do not happen in such an unplanned fashion.”

“You would be surprised.” Abigail’s tone was wry, her expression knowing.

Shona crossed her arms and went back to glaring at Caelis as if the circumstances were entirely of his making. “I won’t have it.”

“She will be there for ours,” he promised, hoping that reminder would improve Shona’s rapidly deteriorating mood.

Her eyes snapped green fire. “Our
what
, Caelis who would be laird to Clan MacLeod?”

“Our wedding.” He had made his intentions clear. Did she doubt them now?

“I am no Chrechte to be dictated to by my animal nature. And none can deny that I have earned the right to choose my own future. There will be no second marriage
dictated
to me.”

“Y
ou would deny me?” Caelis asked, his dizziness
after shifting nothing compared to the swirling in his head now.

Was she intent on denying his claim on her and their children? “Is it because you have seen my
conriocht
and now find marriage to me too frightening a prospect?”

“It is not your
conriocht
I find objectionable.”

Meaning what? It was his wolf she found unpleasing? No. She’d claimed to trust him in animal form and had behaved near entranced by his beast when Caelis had shared the wolf with her.

His man, then?

He had never heard of such a thing. How could she find the form most like her humanity unacceptable?

“Because it was the man who betrayed me and who seeks to run roughshod over my feelings and rights as an independent widow now.”

What rights as a widow?

“Those recognized by the law; while not near the
freedoms granted a man, they are far superior to those of a never-married woman.”

She was right. Having questions he had not uttered aloud answered would take some getting used to. He had thought the question, though. Mindspeak seemed limited to directed thoughts and he would have to guard his own if he did not want to share them with his mate.

Chrechte were taught that though mindspeak was a benefit of a true bond, it did not always happen immediately upon bonding with one’s sacred mate. It was like other gifts of the Chrechte, bestowed in its own time and growing stronger with use. Just as his ability to shift had been.

“What have these legal boons granted to your status to do with my claims to our children, or you, my mate?” he demanded, more confused than he’d ever been.

Talorc had once given the opinion that women were more different from men than the Chrechte from their human brethren. The man obviously knew what he was talking about.

“Everything!”

“Mama?” Marjory asked around a mouthful of berries. “You mad at our new daddy?”

Expecting Shona to deny it to protect her daughter from upset, he was shocked when she nodded her head without hesitation.

“I am, sweeting. Very angry.”

“Oh.” Marjory went back to eating, taking a bite of her bread and cheese, apparently unworried.

Why this was different than her mother’s upset before, he did not know.

Shona turned her glacial green gaze back on Caelis. “Well?”

He had no idea what it was she was expecting. “You can invite anyone you like to our wedding,” he promised, hoping she didn’t have anyone in England she’d want brought north to witness their vows.

They needed to marry quickly, as he had to return to the
MacLeod lands and wrest the pack and clan from Uven’s control.

“There. Isn’t. Going. To. Be. Any. Wedding.” Each word came out with precise enunciation, her voice as cold as the look in her eyes.

Unexpected pain lanced through Caelis. “You are denying me my mate and my children?”

There was no softening in her expression, but she shook her head with firm decision. “No.”

“You said—”

“There will be no wedding or mating ritual, or any permanent bonds acknowledged between us until you have done what needs doing.”

“What needs doing?” he asked with genuine confusion.

The way she reacted, it was clear she believed he was being sarcastic. Shona’s eyes narrowed, her body going rigid as a distinct string of words came across the mating bond.

She’d called him a
half-witted son of a mange-ridden dog
inside his head.

The expression on her face said she was proud of herself, too.

Unamused, he opened his mouth to let her know just how little he liked being called names by his mate when he spied the way Eadan watched them with wide-eyed interest. Caelis snapped his mouth shut.

“I
will
have a proper proposal, Caelis, as I should have six years ago after you convinced me to give you what only my husband had a right to.”

He had no answer to that. He should have married her six years ago and the young man he’d been had had every intention of dropping to one knee and asking her properly. Of course, he’d also been sure of her positive response.

He’d no desire to drop to one knee before her now. She was as likely to kick him in the teeth as she was to agree to marry him.

“If you believe that, there is a great deal to be learned between us before you ask such an important question.”

“Stop reading my thoughts,” he ordered.

And then felt the futility of the demand. Their mate bond only strengthened each moment they were together.

“Furthermore, you will go to my relatives and state your intentions before asking for anything further from me.” She got up from the table, her movements precise and deliberate, her expression and thoughts closed to him. “Make sure the children both take a nap. They have been through an ordeal.”

And with a whirl of velvet skirts and flying auburn braid, Shona flounced out of the great hall.

“Uh-oh…” Eadan looked worried.

“Aye?” Caelis asked his son, hoping the five-year-old understood what had just happened.

Because Caelis did not.

“You’ve gone and made her cross now.”

That Caelis knew. “She becomes irate easily these days, I think.”

Eadan shook his head and Marjory stared at Caelis mournfully. “You’s in trouble. No pudding for you after supper tonight.”

Caelis would have laughed, but he was beginning to suspect his situation was far from amusing.

“Mum only gets scrunchy-faced angry and all quiet when you do something very bad. What did you do, Da?” Eadan asked.

“I wish I knew.”

“Men!” Abigail exclaimed, reminding Caelis she was still there.

“You know why my mate has just abandoned me with our children?”

“Of course I do. The wonder is that you do not,” Abigail retorted, frustration with him turned to pity in the blink of an eye. “As to leaving the children, it’s the one aspect to this situation that can give you hope.”

“Aye?”

“Oh, yes. A woman of Shona’s caliber does not leave her children with someone she does not trust.”

Put that way, but no. ’Twas small compensation in the face of her clear refusal to marry him. “She’s furious I want to wed.”

“No, you idiot, Shona is angry you didn’t ask her properly. She said so. She’s also terribly disappointed she wasn’t here to witness the vows between Vegar and Audrey. Your mate is upset and overwhelmed by all that has happened. It is your privilege and duty to make that better.”

That was a simple pronouncement for the Sinclair to make. She obviously did not understand how impractical Shona’s demands were. “She wants me to travel to Balmoral Island and approach relatives she has never even met to state my intentions toward her.”

“That is not an unreasonable request.”

“Mayhap not on the face of it, but every day I put off returning to my clan, Uven does more to destroy it from within.”

Abigail’s brows rose and then her eyes narrowed. “You have spent the last year training and did not resent the time taken to do so.”