Dangerous Highlander

CHAPTER SEVEN

Cara rolled over and stretched. She had slept deeply, never waking, as she usually did, from nightmares involving creatures with eerie shrieks and her parents’ screams.

She opened her eyes to see the first rays of dawn pouring through the window to fill her chamber. It surprised her to find all the candles blown out and the embers of the fire barely visible. Yet she was warm.

Lucan.

In a blink, the events of the previous day played in her mind, from her near fatal fall, to the attack, to the shared memories between her and Lucan. He had held her, reassured her, when she would have fallen apart. His sleek, hard body had cradled her, awakening a desire, a craving, to touch and caress him. To learn the man beneath the clothes. She ducked her head, embarrassed by her thoughts, but despite the shame, the thoughts didn’t go away. Instead, her mind grew bolder.

His mouth had been close to hers. Had she but tilted her head, she could have brushed her lips against his. Warmth spread through her as she imagined what it would be like to kiss Lucan MacLeod. He was a warrior, a Highlander with raw sexuality that would have made even Sister Abigail have such impure thoughts.

Cara sat up and saw an indentation on the bed. She leaned forward and smoothed her hand over the blankets. There was still a bit of warmth there and a hint of sandalwood, which meant Lucan had stayed with her all night.

Just knowing what he was—what was inside him—should have frightened her. But he had saved her, protected her from the very things that tried to take her from him. She shouldn’t trust him, but she found that she did.

She threw off the covers and spotted her shoes and stockings near the hearth. With a smile, she hurried to dress. It wasn’t until she was descending the stairs to the hall that she wondered if the dead bodies were still there.

With her hand on the stone wall beside her, she slowed her steps and glanced around the great hall. There wasn’t a dead body or spot of blood to be found. Everything was just as it had been before the attack. Even Fallon lying on the bench at the table, an arm draped over his eyes. After Lucan’s tale, she understood why Fallon drank as he did.

Quinn strode into the hall and to the table, his light brown hair ruffled from the wind. Her heart broke for Quinn. After three hundred years he still hadn’t gotten over the loss of his wife and son.

Cara took the final steps down the stairs and looked toward the hearth. Somehow she had known Lucan would be there. He stood with his back to the fire, his gaze on her.

Just looking at him sent a little thrill running through her, making her impossibly aware of him. She found herself walking toward the hearth and didn’t stop until she stood in front of him.

“Good morn.” His voice was deep and rich, sliding over her as his gaze did.

“Good morn. I found my shoes,” she said, and lifted the hem of her gown to show him.

One side of his mouth lifted in a grin. “I thought you might need them. And your stockings.”

Cara glanced at the fire as she felt her body heat under his gaze. “You stayed with me all night.”

He nodded.

“Thank you. I haven’t slept that well in a very long time.”

“My pleasure.” He motioned to the table. “Are you hungry? We don’t have much.”

She followed him to the table. Fallon had sat up, his eyes bleary as he ran his hands through his hair. Quinn slid onto the bench beside Fallon while Lucan sat next to her.

Though she tried to ignore the stares of the three brothers, it was impossible to do so. Finally, she put her hands in her lap and said, “Thank you, all of you, for saving me last night.”

Fallon lowered his gaze from hers. “The Warrior nearly got away with you.”

“But he didn’t,” she said.

Beneath the table, Lucan’s hand closed over hers. She looked at him, amazed at how her heart sped up with just a touch from him.

“Lucan told us of your tale,” Quinn said between bites. “You don’t remember what clan you belonged to?”

She shook her head. “I wish I did, but I don’t know if that makes a difference.”

“It does,” Lucan said. “Remember how I told you there were a number of clans who had the god inside them? Your clan might be one.”

“I thought you said you dinna know what clans were involved, and I cannot see how my mother’s blood can help.”

Fallon coughed into his hand. “The Warrior said he had come for you and the Demon’s Kiss.”

“I think the Demon’s Kiss is my mother’s necklace,” she said, and pulled the vial from beneath her gown. She refused to take it off, so she leaned forward so that Fallon and Quinn could look at it.

When they were done, she sat back and ran her fingers over the cool metal of the vial. The memory that had nagged at her while she told her tale to Lucan had come to her in her dreams. “I heard my mother call it Demon’s Kiss only once, late at night when she thought I was asleep. Da had told her then there was something coming for her. I hadn’t remembered that until last night.”

Lucan’s thumb moved back and forth over her knuckles. “Did your father say what was coming?”

“Nay.”

“And you never heard them talk of magic or Druids?” Fallon asked.

Cara shook her head.

Quinn pushed his empty trencher away and drummed his fingers on the table. “Why does Deirdre want Cara and the necklace?”

“Deirdre?” Cara repeated. “Surely it cannot be the same Deirdre who awakened the god.”

“Believe me, it is,” Fallon said, hate dripping from every word. “She may not have a god inside her, but she is immortal thanks to her knowledge of black magic.”

Cara found what little appetite she had, had vanished. She hoped to never meet this Deirdre who had destroyed the MacLeod clan, the brothers, and now Cara’s people. Too late she remembered the village. “I want to see the village.”

Lucan’s stroking of her hand paused. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We haven’t had a chance to bury the dead.”

“I need to see it.” She looked into his green eyes and saw worry there. “Please, Lucan.”

The brothers exchanged a glance. Lucan let out a sigh and gave a quick jerk of his head. “Only if you promise not to wander off. We stay together.”

“Are you expecting those . . . things . . . to attack again so soon?”

Quinn snorted. “There’s no doubt the wyrran will attack again. They want you and that vial, not to mention Deirdre will do anything to get us back under her control. She’ll most certainly send her pets back for another attack.”

“With more Warriors,” Fallon added.

Cara turned her gaze to Lucan. His jaw was clenched, a muscle working in his cheek.

After a moment of silence, Quinn rose and leaned a foot on the bench. “If Cara is going to stay, and it looks like she is, she needs to know how to defend herself.”

“She doesna stand a chance against a Warrior.” Fallon sent a glance at Quinn that said he didn’t think Quinn was thinking straight.

Lucan, still holding her hand, leaned his other elbow on the table. “Quinn has a point. I don’t want Cara in another situation like she was in last night. Deirdre’s wyrrans aren’t immortal, and they’re small enough Cara should be able to hold her own against them.”

Fallon sighed heavily and rose from the table. “I suppose I’ll see if I can find her a weapon.”

Cara didn’t know whether to be glad they were going to show her how to protect herself or worried that they were going to show her how to protect herself.

When Fallon and Quinn moved away from the table Cara grasped Lucan’s arm. “Can’t I just hide like before?” she whispered.

His smile was tender as he looked at her. “If I thought that would keep you safe, aye. The Warriors were able to find you despite me putting you deep in the dungeons. That Warrior said he smelled you, which means he smelled the magic. Hiding will do you no good.”

“Wonderful,” she said, and briefly closed her eyes.

Lucan rose and held out his hand for her. “Everything will be all right. Trust me, Cara.”

“I do,” she said before she even realized the words passed her lips. She put her hand in his and let him pull her from the bench.

His eyes darkened when her body brushed his. She found it difficult to take a breath being so close to him, and even though she knew she should put some distance between them, she couldn’t.

Cara forgot to breathe when his hand cupped her face, his fingers sliding in her hair and teasing the skin at her neck. Tremors of delight, of anticipation, raced over her skin.

She tried to remind herself she was going to take the vows of a nun, but never feeling Lucan’s touch again seemed a sin in itself.

“I’m supposed to protect you,” Lucan murmured.

Cara rested her hands on his muscular chest and nodded. “You do.”

“Then who protects you from me?”

Before she could begin to understand what he meant, his mouth covered hers. His lips were firm, insistent, as they moved over hers seeking, devouring. She was powerless to pull away as she sank under his spell, her desire flaring to life like dry wood on a fire.

She clung to him, her hands fisting in his tunic as he pulled her against him. A moan tore from her throat at the feel of his hard body and his arousal that pushed against her stomach.

He slanted his mouth over hers, while he held her head with one hand and gripped her hip with the other. He groaned when his tongue slipped through her parted lips to mate with hers. He kissed with a skill that left her breathless. And wanting more.

A delicious heat spread from between her legs and settled in her stomach. Her breasts felt heavy, her nipples aching and hard.

When he ended the kiss, Cara opened her eyes to find her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers in his thick locks. She hadn’t even realized she had risen up on her toes.

“My God,” Lucan murmured.

Cara couldn’t agree more. Her gaze rose to find his eyes hooded, the desire there for her to see, to feel. She tried to swallow, but her body wasn’t her own. Her gown was confining, her skin too tight. The emotions inside her left her feeling confused . . . and wanting. Needy.

Somehow she managed to step away from Lucan, to loosen her hold on his tunic. It was with much reluctance that she let her hands fall from his chest. The absence of his heat was instant, the loss of his hard body against hers immediate.

What would the nuns think of her if they knew she longed to rub her body against his, to feel the rigid length of his arousal, to have him lie atop her with nothing but their skin touching?

Cara turned to face the door, anything to bring her heated emotions back under control. To her mortification, Fallon held open the door, watching them.

“Stay with us,” Lucan said as he guided her toward the door.

Lucan, his hand on her elbow, helped her down the slick steps of the castle to the bailey where Quinn awaited them.

“Fallon?” Quinn called.

Cara paused beside Lucan and turned to see the eldest MacLeod brother standing in the doorway of the castle.

Lucan’s brow furrowed and he took a step toward his brother. “What is it, Fallon?”

“I’ve not left the castle. In over two hundred years I’ve not left the castle.” When he raised his gaze to them, Cara saw the panic and desperation.

Lucan bounded up the steps and pulled Fallon out of the castle. “There’s no one left. It will be fine.”

“I need my wine.”

Fallon tried to return to the castle, but Lucan stopped him. “Nay, you don’t.”

A moment later Quinn was on the other side of Fallon. “Come, Brother. I’ve ventured out plenty of times, and no one saw me. Well, no one besides Angus,” he said with a grin.

Before Cara realized just how much Angus had known of the brothers, she was halted by Quinn’s smile. It transformed him. Gone was any trace of the god, and in his place was a handsome man with teasing green eyes and brown hair streaked with gold.

She watched the three brothers, wondering how many hearts they broke before their clan had been killed and they were turned immortal. All three were incredibly good-looking, but it was Lucan with his sea green eyes and secret smile that made her heart miss a beat.

Lucan and Quinn got Fallon down the steps and out of the bailey. He stopped after they walked under the gate house and turned to look at the castle.

“God’s bones. I’m amazed it’s still standing,” Fallon said.

Lucan chuckled. “Our ancestors built it. Of course it’s still standing. Not even Deirdre’s army could topple it.”

His comment brought a smile to Fallon’s lips. With a nod, the eldest brother turned toward the village. Cara hadn’t missed the sparkle in his eyes. She couldn’t imagine staying confined to one place for days, much less centuries.

She liked watching the brothers interact. Even Quinn had softened, his rage almost forgotten. Cara smiled as Quinn punched Lucan in the shoulder over some comment, their laughter blowing on the breeze as they walked to the village.

Lucan looked over his shoulder at her, his smile gone. She frowned, wondering if he was upset because she had lagged behind. All she had wanted to do was give the brothers some time alone.

Then she saw the smoke.

The three men stopped and waited for her. Lucan threaded his fingers with her. “Are you sure?”

Nay. “Aye.”

“There isn’t much to see,” Quinn said.

Cara didn’t pull away when Lucan tugged her beside him. At the sight of the first dead body she knew she was going to need his strength.

Fallon glanced at her. “Why do you need to see this death?”

“I want to make sure they didn’t leave someone alive, or someone that needs help.”

“They didn’t.” Fallon stalked away.

Cara looked at Lucan. “How does he know?”

“Quinn came last night to check.”

Words eluded Cara as her gaze fell on person after person lying dead. It was like a bad dream she waited to wake from. People she had talked with, laughed with, were forever gone.

She couldn’t stop the tears when they came to the nunnery and she saw the nuns lying dead atop the children. The poor Sisters had done their best to shield the children, but not even the nuns’ prayers helped them.

Cara’s gaze caught sight of bright red hair. She hurried toward it, ignoring Lucan’s call. The sight of little Mary’s pale face brought another rush of tears. Cara didn’t glance up when Lucan knelt beside her.

“I was collecting the mushrooms for Mary. She had a fever and Sister Abigail was mixing some herbs for her.”

Lucan didn’t say anything. He stayed beside her, giving her the time she needed to say farewell. When she started to rise, he was there to help her.

“Do we bury them?” she asked.

“Nay,” Quinn said from the doorway, his emotions guarded. “There’s too many.”

Fallon walked into the nunnery and shook his head. “If this hasn’t already gotten back to the MacClure laird, it will soon. We need to leave everything as it is.”

“I agree,” Lucan said. “The fewer people that know of us the better.”

Cara didn’t want to leave her people lying out to rot, but the brothers were right. They couldn’t be found out. If anyone learned what the brothers were, they would be hunted mercilessly.

“Let’s gather what we can,” Fallon said. “Any food or weapons you find bring to the castle.”

Lucan stopped her when she would have followed Quinn and Fallon. “Is there another gown you would like to get?”

She glanced down at herself. She was sure Quinn wanted her out of his wife’s gown. “I doona have another.”

“We’ll find you one.”

Cara nodded and walked behind him, numb and grieving, as he piled weapons and gowns in her outstretched arms. She blinked through more tears. The trek back through the village was worse than when she first saw it. The rain had washed most of the blood away, but her stomach turned when she saw a puddle filled with red.

“Don’t look,” Lucan warned.

“First my parents. Now the village,” she said through her tears. Anger and guilt consumed her and settled like a stone in her stomach. She had done this to the village. Had the wyrran found her, the village might have been left unharmed. “How many more people have to die for me? You? Your brothers?”

Lucan turned to her, his eyes warm and steady. “We’re immortal, Cara.”

“But you can be hurt,” she argued. “You might not die, but you feel pain, aye?”

“Aye,” he answered with a small nod. “But our wounds heal quickly.”

“So much death. Maybe it would be better if I went to Deirdre.” She didn’t want the burden of more deaths on her shoulders. Already her parents’ murders were too much to bear. Now Cara had the entire village on her conscience.

Lucan grabbed her shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that.”

“You don’t know what plans Deirdre has for me.” Fallon snorted as he walked past them. “Nay, Cara, but they cannot be good, whatever they are. Deirdre is pure evil. And if she’s hunting something, she wants it dead in the end.”

Lucan glanced at his brother. “Fallon is right. If Deirdre gets ahold of you, it’s over, Cara. Our best course is to find out what your mother’s blood means to her, and why she would want it so desperately.”

“More important, why wait until now to find Cara?” Fallon called over his shoulder as he walked out of the village.

Cara’s head spun as she thought of the times she had felt someone watching her but could never see anyone. How the Demon’s Kiss would warm and vibrate on certain occasions. All of which had begun at the equinox. Was it a coincidence?

She looked away from Lucan’s penetrating gaze and gasped when she spotted Angus. She rushed to him. He sat on the ground, leaning against his cottage with his head lolling to the side as if he were asleep.

“He warned me about getting near the castle,” she said to Lucan as he moved to stand behind her. “He knew about you, didn’t he?”

“He did.”

Emotion welled in her throat. Angus blurred in her vision as the tears filled her eyes. He had cautioned her to stay away, not because he feared the brothers but because he had wanted to keep them safe, keep them from discovery.

“He was a good man,” Quinn said from beside her.

Cara jerked her head to him, startled. Quinn had been at the castle not a moment ago, but then she remembered Lucan had told her one of their powers was speed.

She glanced at Lucan behind her. “Angus was a good man. He was always ready with a smile, always willing to help. He was one of the few who weren’t afraid to talk to me when I was brought to the nunnery.”

Quinn nodded, his brown hair blowing in the wind. “The first time I saw Angus he was a small lad of five or six. It was night and I was prowling as I’m wont to do. He never screamed or ran away in fear, not even when he saw what I really was. Instead, he started leaving food at the gate house. It dinna take him long after that to approach me. He helped get us anything we needed, and he guarded our secret well.”

Cara stared at Angus, his white fluff of hair lying over his eyes. Lucan laid his hand on her shoulder, his strength and comfort pouring into her with such a simple gesture.

With one last look at the people she had come to call her own, she turned toward the castle. It was time to face the future.