Return Of The Highlanders: The Guardian Part 15

"Where are they?" Hugh demanded.

The cow on the other side of the half wall mooed in complaint as one of Hugh's men pushed her aside and slashed at the straw with his claymore.

"If ye throw my cow off her milk, ye'll answer to me," Tearlag said.

"The other three can't be far off, if you're here," Hugh said to Ian. "Why don't ye save us both a lot of trouble and tell me where my nephew is? Connor and I need to have a talk."

"I'm sure ye already know that Alex is staying with my family," Ian said, leaning back in his chair as if they were discussing how the fish were biting. "But I haven't seen Connor and Duncan."

"I have to ask myself why Ian MacDonald would be coming to see this old woman," Hugh said, tilting his head in Tearlag's direction. "And the only answer that comes to me is that ye wouldn't. So I'm guessing that you're here because the others are hiding nearby."

Hugh waved to his men and headed for the door. "Come along lads, let's find them."

"I came with my wife," Ian said, resting his arm along the back of Sileas's chair. When Hugh turned around, Ian added in a low voice, "Female problems, ye know."

Hugh raked his eyes over Sileas, making her feel as if he could see beneath her clothes. "The la.s.s looks fine to me."

"There's nothing's wrong with her," Tearlag said, and all heads turned toward her.

"I knew Ian was lying," Hugh spit out and reached for his dirk.

" 'Tis true his wife brought him here." Tearlag pursed her lips and shook her head. "Sometimes a la.s.s has a problem with her husband, though I rarely see it in a man as young as Ian."

Ian coughed and banged the front legs of his chair to the floor.

"Tearlag!" he said, glaring at the old seer.

"Are ye saying our lad Ian here is having trouble pleasing his pretty wife?" Hugh was grinning ear to ear.

"Nothing to fret about," Tearlag said, sounding as if there was plenty to worry about.

Sileas choked back a laugh and put her hand on Ian's leg to prevent him from rising from his chair.

"Sileas is such a patient la.s.s, waiting on her husband for five long years," Tearlag said, looking mournful. "I'm sure she's willing to wait a wee bit longer for him to overcome his... battle injury."

"I wasn't injured there," Ian shouted. "There is nothing wrong with me parts."

Hugh and the other men roared with laughter.

"Sometimes the injury lies here," Tearlag said, tapping her temple with her k.n.o.bby finger. "But don't fret, I have a potion I'll mix for ye. It works... sometimes."

At the look of outrage on Ian's face, Sileas had to bite her cheeks to keep from laughing.

Hugh and the other men were guffawing. The angrier Ian became, the more they believed Tearlag's story.

"If ye lose patience with Ian, I can find ye a new husband," Hugh said, giving Sileas a broad wink. "One who will be up to the task."

The men burst into a new round of laughter.

"Don't trouble yourself," Sileas said, dropping her gaze to her lap. "I'm sure Ian will be right as rain soon."

"It's a hard rain she's hoping for," one of the men said, and he was rewarded with snorts and snickers.

"There's nothing wrong with me." Ian jumped to his feet and clenched his hands in front of him. "I'm ready to fight any man who says there is."

"You'd best save your strength," Hugh said, choking with laughter. He turned to Sileas and added, "Don't forget my offer."

When Ian took a step toward Hugh, Sileas stood up in front of him.

Ian's breathing was harsh, and the muscles of his arms were taut beneath her fingers. It would be foolish for Ian to attack Hugh with five of his men in the room and another fifteen waiting outside.

Hugh threw his head back, letting his laughter fill the tiny room. Sileas was certain now that he was trying to bait Ian-and he was close to succeeding.

" 'Tis not wise to laugh at the misfortunes of others," Tearlag said, "especially when ye will be facing worse ones yourself."

Hugh's smile disappeared. "What are ye saying, old woman?"

"I see your death, Hugh Dubh MacDonald."

Hugh's face drained of color, and he took a step back.

Tearlag reached into a small bowl on the shelf above the hearth and threw what looked like dried herbs on the fire, making it spit and smoke. Then her good eye rolled back into her head, and she began making an eerie high-pitched sound as she shifted from foot to foot.

"I see it clear as day," Tearlag said in a distant voice, as if she were speaking to them from the other side. "Ye are laid out on a long table, and the women are preparing your body for the grave."

"Don't say it, witch!" Hugh held his hands up as he backed up to the cottage door.

"I see your death, Hugh Dubh MacDonald," Tearlag called out, waving her arms. "I see your death, and no one is weeping!"

"d.a.m.n ye, woman! Ye know nothing. Ye see nothing," Hugh shouted, then turned and left the cottage. The other men stumbled over each other in their hurry to follow him out the door.

As soon as the men had gone, Ian turned blazing eyes on the old seer. "Why did ye find it necessary to tell them lies about my manhood, Tearlag? All the men on the island will be having a good laugh at me by this evening."

"The women, too." Tearlag's three good top teeth showed in a wide grin.

"Her story did divert them from looking for Connor and Duncan," Sileas said in a soft voice, as she tried to hide her own smile.

"Ah well," Tearlag said, waving her hand. "Ye deserve it after what ye done to Sileas."

"What?" Ian said, banging his fist on the table. "I've done nothing to deserve being humiliated."

"Do ye not suppose the entire clan discussed how ye left Sileas the morning after ye wed?" Tearlag said, shaking a n.o.bby finger at him.

Ian sat down. After a long moment, he turned to Sileas and took her hand. "Did the women tease ye, then?"

"Oh, aye," Sileas said with a dry laugh. Pitching her voice high, she imitated their voices. " Can ye no keep your man at home, Sil?' What do ye suppose is keeping Ian?' If ye had given him a child, perhaps your husband would want to come home.' "

Ian brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I'm sorry. When I was in France, I still thought of ye as a young girl who would have no use for a husband."

If ye thought of me at all.

"Ian, go get the other lads now," Tearlag said, taking the bowls down from the shelf. "They haven't finished their dinner."

It amused Sileas to hear Tearlag order Ian about as if he were a boy of ten and not a man three times her size. Her amus.e.m.e.nt faded as soon as Ian had gone and Tearlag focused her single eye on her.

"So why have ye no taken that fine-looking husband to your bed yet?" Tearlag said. "I know it isn't for the reason I gave that devil Hugh Dubh."

Sileas felt her cheeks go hot, and she dropped her gaze to the floor.

"Give him time," Tearlag said, covering Sileas's hand with her gnarled one. "Ian has it in him to be the man ye want him to be. Do ye have that pouch I made for ye?"

Sileas nodded.

"Ye sleep with it next to your heart?" Tearlag asked.

She nodded again.

"Then ye know what to do, la.s.s."

CHAPTER 15.

Ian feared for his health.

Sileas was driving him near witless with l.u.s.t. It could not be good for a man to want a woman this much without satisfaction. Collecting the kisses he said she owed him only made the torture worse.

He lay awake at night imagining her creamy skin in the moonlight. Every time he heard her voice in the next room or caught a glimpse of her across the yard, he hoped she had come to seek him out, to tell him she was ready.

He imagined her walking toward him, slowly, with her hips swaying and a sparkle in her eyes. Then she would rest the flat of her hands on his chest and say, "I've made up my mind. I want ye in my bed, Ian MacDonald."

Ian shook his head and set down his hammer before he did damage to himself. Every time he backed her into a corner to steal a kiss, someone would come in and distract her. A few times he got his hand on her breast-ach, he was hard just thinking of that-but no further.

He could not take much more of this.

And he didn't have time to waste. With Samhain just over a fortnight away, they needed to do something dramatic. He had discussed it with Connor and Duncan when he went to get them from the cave that day at Tearlag's. All of them agreed that the best way to sway their clansman into backing Connor was to take Knock Castle.

To justify attacking the MacKinnons, Ian needed to remove any question as to his right to Knock Castle as Sileas's husband. Of course, they could take the castle without a rightful claim-it was done all the time-but that would draw the Crown into the dispute. Connor and the MacDonalds didn't need that kind of trouble on top of what they already had.

Which meant Ian needed to consummate his marriage. Bed his bride. 'Twas fortunate, indeed, that the needs of the clan matched his own precisely.

Everything was arranged. Ian had convinced his mother and Niall that taking his father out on a sail around Seal Island would do them all good. Of course, Alex had no trouble persuading Dina to disappear with him for the afternoon.

Finally, Ian would have Sileas alone.

He found her in the kitchen. She was leaning over the worktable, pressing an oat mixture into the bottom of a flat pan. He sucked in his breath as he imagined lying on that table and having her work over him. She looked fetching with her hair pinned up, save for a few loose tendrils curling down her neck and the sides of her face.

"Smells good," he said. The kitchen was warm and smelled of oats and honey.

She started at the sound of his voice and looked up, wide-eyed. "I didn't hear ye come in."

"What's that you're making?"

"A treat for your da," she said with a smile. "He has a sweet tooth, ye know. And I'll have some left over to take to Annie up the road. She's just had a new babe."

Ian rolled up his sleeves and came around the table to stand beside her. "I used to help my mother in the kitchen."

She gave him a sideways glance. "I'm sure you were a verra big help to her."

"Ach, I'm hurt ye don't believe me," he said. "Come, I'll show ye how good I am."

She raised her eyebrows, showing him she suspected he wasn't just talking about his cooking skills.

He wasn't.

She dipped a wooden spoon into the honey jar and dribbled honey over the oat mixture.

"Dina was supposed to be helping me." She gave the wooden spoon a hard whack against the side of the pan. "There it's done."

"Ye won't be seeing Dina this afternoon," Ian said, taking the spoon from her to lick the honey off. "She and Alex are... keeping each other company."

Her hands stilled, and her cheeks turned a couple of shades of red. "So that's the way of it."

Ian was pleased for the opportunity to warn her off Alex. "I hope Dina doesn't expect to be the only one."

"I hope Alex doesn't, either."

He laughed, then added for good measure, "Alex is not the sort of man to stay in one woman's bed."

"I don't think ye are in a position to criticize Alex, when ye can hardly claim to have been living the life of a saint yourself." Sileas picked up the pan and slapped it down so hard the table rattled. "That helps settle the mixture. I'll wait to cook it 'til they're home."

Ian leaned into her. "I'm living a monk's life now, if that's any comfort to ye."

"Ach, such a sacrifice," she said, as she moved ingredients around on the table for no purpose he could discern. "What has it been, all of a week?"

He moved behind her and took a firm hold of her hips. Ah, she felt good against him.

"A week seems a verra long time," he said as he nuzzled her neck, "when every moment of it I'm wishing I had ye naked."

He kissed the side of her neck and felt her pulse racing beneath his lips. She drew in a sharp breath when he pressed his throbbing erection against her b.u.t.tocks.

"I'd love to lay ye back on the table here," he said, as he ran his hands up her arms.

"Shhh! Someone might come in and hear ye." She sounded scandalized, but she shivered at his touch.