“Would milady like for us to wrap her toy?” an older male merchant asked.
Smiling even wider, she handed it to him. “Aye, please.”
Simon frowned at her as he joined her and she paid the man for the toy. “Is it a gift for a child?”
“Nay. It’s for my protector.”
“Lochlan?”
She nodded. “I think he could use a bit of merriment. He seems far too somber to me.”
Simon scratched at cheek as he looked skeptical. “I’m not sure how he’ll welcome this gift.”
Neither was she. “I suppose we’ll find out, eh?”
“I suppose.”
She thanked the merchant as he returned with her parcel. Taking it from him, she started back toward their tent.
Lochlan paused in the crowd as he again had the feeling that he was being watched. He scanned the people around him, but he couldn’t find anyone who seemed to be the least bit interested in him. Still the feeling was there, tingling his skin and begging him to look until he found the source of it.
“Lochlan?”
He turned to see Julia heading for him, with Bryce three steps behind. “Aye, lass?”
“Would you please escort me about so that Bryce may be free to annoy someone else? The saints as my witness if I don’t have peace from him soon, I shall have to kill him.”
Lochlan suppressed a smile at her mortal tone.
Bryce let out a disgusted breath. “I have no choice. Bracken will kill me if I don’t. Think you I enjoy watching you fawn over stupid woman things? Oooh, aah,” he mocked in falsetto. “How lovely. How beautiful. This would make a most splendid gown…It’s only cloth for Peter’s sake. Who cares what it feels like?”
She growled at her brother. “You’re such a boy.”
“And glad of it. Especially if it’ll save me from the need to pet every piece of fabric at the fair. Why can’t you go watch the joust like a normal person?”
“See!” she shouted at Lochlan while gesturing at Bryce.
Lochlan cleared his throat as he felt sorry for the lad and grateful that he’d only had brothers. “Aye, lass, I see quite clearly. Bryce, hie yourself to the lists. I’ll take over the guardianship of your sister for you.”
One would have thought the boy had just been crowned king by the look of relief and joy on his face. “May God bless you, Lord Lochlan. Your kindness truly knows no boundaries and I am sure the Lord will be merciful to you always. Truly, you have just bought yourself sainthood.”
Then the boy shot off so quickly that Lochlan didn’t even have a chance to respond.
Julia let out an audible sound of relief before she closed the distance between them and took his arm. “Thank you, my lord. You have truly saved my sanity this day…and most likely my brother’s life. For my next stop had I not found you was surely at an armorer’s booth for a dagger to stab him with.”
“Then I’m most glad you found me.”
Laughing, she released his arm and flounced off before him so that she could stop and browse at more cloth.
Graham MacKaid stepped back into the shadows as he saw Lochlan pass by and bumped into his brother Sean who was directly behind him.
“So we have two women to choose from,” Sean whispered. “Which one do we take?”
“The one without a brother to back him.”
Sean started away from him, but Graham grabbed his arm. “Not yet. We haven’t been following him all this time to act quickly now and risk losing all. Let’s find out more about the woman with him, then we’ll take her.”
Graham paused as another thought occurred to him. It was so evil, it made him smile. “Or better yet. Let us use that brother, shall we?”
“Use him how?”
“Remember the MacAllister was accused of killing his lover in England?”
“Aye.”
“What if another young woman is found battered and raped with a bit of MacAllister plaid in her hand?”
Sean laughed. “They’ll hang Lochlan for sure.”
Graham nodded. “And then their clan will be divided over who should lead them. Let the MacAllister brothers fight it out. It’ll be a perfect chance to show the crown what they’re made of and regain our honor.” He pulled his brother away from the crowd. “Tonight we’ll take the girl while she sleeps.”
Sean laughed. “And come the morrow, Lochlan MacAllister hangs.”
Chapter 9
By the time Lochlan returned Julia to the tent she was sharing with Catarina, he completely understood why Bryce had sought a reprieve. She really had gone booth to booth, touching everything, ooohing and aahing. Sometimes even shrieking in delight. But he’d enjoyed watching her. She took so much pleasure in the smallest of things and that reminded him of Catarina, which made him ache for a taste of Catarina.
Since the moment he’d rescued her, Catarina seemed to stay on his mind whether he wanted her there or not. And the taste of her lips hung heavy on his own.
Trying to get his thoughts away from that venue and the painful need he had to sample more of Catarina than just her mouth, he deposited Julia in her tent, then headed toward his own to rest for a bit. He had to find some reprieve from his unsated lust before he lost his mind.
He was almost to his tent when someone called out to him.
Pausing, Lochlan turned to see a man old enough to be his father nearing him. He wore a fur-trimmed red surcoat and stared at him as if he were seeing a ghost. But for his life, he couldn’t recall ever meeting the man before.
“May I help you?”
“You look just like a man I once knew. Giles MacAllister.”
Well that explained it then. “That would be my father.”
The man curled his lip in distaste. “And you admit it? What kind of bastard are you?”
Before he could respond, the man backhanded him a blow across his face that split open his lip.
Lochlan’s temper broke. Aged or not, no one hit him in such a manner. No one. His days of tasting blood were over.
Growling, he lunged at the man, only to have someone pull him back.
“Easy, Lochlan,” Bracken said in his ear. “’Tis King Henry’s cousin you’re about to attack. Think.”
Think his arse. He wanted blood.
Still there was no tolerance in the older man’s eyes as he sneered at Lochlan as if he were a leper. “I should have you arrested.”
“On what grounds, my lord?” Bracken asked, tightening his hold on Lochlan, who had to force himself not to attack him for it.
“His father raped my sister.”
Lochlan curled his lip. “And I am not my father.”
Still, there was no reprieve in the man’s eyes. “That remains to be seen. Evil like that only begets more evil in this world. I shall see to it that Lord Reginald is notified of your presence here forthwith. Were I you, I’d leave.”
Bracken finally released him. “Forgive me my stupidity, my lord, but I don’t understand your anger at my friend. If his father did as you say, why was he not arrested?”
The fury in his eyes was potent. “The bastard cut out her tongue and broke her arms. By the time she’d recovered enough to write down the man’s name who’d assaulted her, he’d fled to Scotland, where we couldn’t reach him.” He spat on the ground at Lochlan’s feet. “I can assure you, no one here will welcome you once I tell them who you are.”
Lochlan narrowed his eyes. “Whatever lies you can live with.”
“Amusing words coming from something like you.” He turned and left them.
Lochlan stood silently as the revelation went through him like shattered glass. He knew his father was ruthless, but this seemed extreme even for him. The man didn’t believe in sparing his fist, but this…
This defied cruelty and if his father had done it, then he’d have been the first to hang him for it.
Bracken met his gaze levelly. “Is what he said true?”
“I honestly don’t know. My father never once spoke of
such brutality and normally he bragged whenever he punished someone. But I can’t say for certain. All I can do is hope he didn’t and pray for the poor woman who was forced to suffer such monstrosity.”
Lochlan couldn’t stand the thought of a man capable of that fathering him. Feeling ill, he headed into his tent to try and blot the image of the unfortunate woman from his mind.
Cat looked up as Julia entered their tent with a bright smile on her face. “I take it you had a pleasant time?” Something she found incredulous given how much the younger woman fought with her brother.
“Oh you can’t imagine,” Julia said breathlessly. “I take back what I said earlier about Lord Lochlan. He’s a wonderful man. Truly.”
Cat arched a brow at the singsong quality of the girl’s voice. “Oh?”
Even giddier than before, she knelt on the floor in front of Cat and giggled. “Aye and after spending some time with him, I was thinking I might make a good wife for him.”
There was no reason for those words to anger her and yet as soon as they left Julia’s lips, Cat wanted to yank her hair and beat her for them.
She had to force herself not to betray those thoughts.
Julia took her hand into her own. “Do you think I could win his heart?”
“Doubtful.” She cringed as she heard the hostility in her tone, but Julia didn’t seem to notice. “Lochlan has already entered into negotiations with a Scottish lord for his daughter’s hand.”
Julia’s face fell. “Has he finalized it?”
“Nay.”
The joy returned instantly to her face. “Then there’s hope for me. I shall make him fall in love with me and he’ll forget all about that other woman. You’ll see.”
That was not the intended outcome Cat had been hoping for. Unable to listen to the girl lay bare her plans to seduce Lochlan, Cat picked up her gift from the bed beside her and excused herself.
She loved Julia, but this…This angered her to a level she would never have thought possible. The very idea of the woman with Lochlan…
Julia knew nothing about handling a man like him. Nothing about being a lairdess.
Still fuming, Cat had just made her way to Lochlan’s tent when she saw his confrontation with the older man. Those angry, bitter words hung heavy in her ears. Just as the look of hurt and shock on Lochlan’s face hung heavy in her heart.
As soon as Lochlan was in the tent, she approached Bracken slowly.
He was about to turn away when Cat stopped his retreat. “How could he be so cruel?”
The pained look on his face seared her to the spot. “I understand his anger. If something like that, God forbid, ever happened to Julia, I wouldn’t rest until I made sure the person responsible was dead…by my hand.”
She could respect that and she’d expect no less from him. “But Lochlan’s innocent of it.”
Bracken nodded. “Aye, but emotions seldom listen to reason.”
That was true enough and well she knew it. Her uncle was forever chiding her over allowing her emotions to get the best of her.
But still, how could someone be so harsh to an innocent man whose heart was second only to his generous spirit?
Bracken dropped his gaze to the package in her hands. He quickly blanked his expression. “I’m going to find Bryce. I’ll be gone for a little while.”
She frowned at his strange words as he left her rather quickly. There had been a bitter note in his voice, but she wasn’t sure why.
Disregarding it, she approached the tent flap. She hesitated at barging in on him. “Lochlan?”
There was only the slightest wait before she heard his deep, rumbling brogue. “Come in, Catarina.”
She didn’t know why the sound of her name on his lips made her tingle, but it did. She walked in to find him standing before a chair as if he’d just stood. He looked so stiff and formal. Powerful. Reserved.
And she thought of Simon’s disclosure about the woman he’d loved. The woman who had betrayed him in the worst sort of way imaginable. Her throat tightened as unnamed emotions for him washed through her.
Unsure of what to say, she forced herself to approach him. “I…um…I bought this for you.”
He scowled at her. “Why?”
That was a good question. Too bad she couldn’t think of an equally good response.
Clearing her throat, she shrugged. “I thought you might like it.”
Lochlan wasn’t sure what to think as he took the small package from her hands and unwrapped it to find a carved wooden monkey. What an odd thing to give him and he couldn’t fathom her reasoning. Did she think him a child? Or worse an animal like this one to be mocked?
Afraid of the answer, he met her dark gaze. “’Tis a child’s toy.”
“Aye,” she said with an enchanting smile, “and I thought you might find it amusing since you never play.”
Relieved that she wasn’t mocking him after all, he smiled down at her. “Thank you, my lady. I appreciate the thought and the gift.”
Cat swallowed as she watched him. The gift seemed to disturb him and she wasn’t sure why.
Seeking to comfort him, she touched his hand lightly and savored the strong feel of it. “You’re not your father, Lochlan.”
He stiffened. “You heard?”
“I heard.”
A muscle worked in his jaw as an uncomfortable wall came up between them.
It was a wall she was desperate to breach. “I don’t judge you by your family, Lochlan. I never have.”
His anger didn’t dissipate. “It doesn’t matter, does it? Now if you’ll excuse me, I wish to be alone for a bit.”
Cat didn’t want to leave. She wanted to soothe him, but she could tell he wouldn’t welcome her presence any longer. Nay, he needed his time. “I’ll be in my tent if you decide you want company.”
Lochlan inclined his head to her before she left.
He didn’t really want her to leave. Yet at the same time there was nothing more to be said. She’d heard his shame and, honestly, he was tired of dealing with it. He did just want to be alone.
Nay, that wasn’t true. He wanted Catarina with him and he wasn’t even sure why.
His heart hammering, he left the tent to pursue her. However, she was nowhere to be seen. Somehow, she’d managed to vanish into the crowd. Damn, but the woman could move quite quickly when she set her mind to it.
Assuming she was indeed headed for her tent, he made his way toward it. He’d almost reached it when he heard someone shout at him.
Frowning, he turned to see the tournament marshal leading a small group of soldiers his way.
Without a word, the guards took up position before him.
Confused by their actions, he turned to the one in charge. “Is there a problem?”
“Aye. You’re under arrest,” he snarled as he snatched at Lochlan’s sword.
His first instinct to shove the man back, Lochlan barely caught himself before he did something that would only result in worsening his situation. The guards surrounded him. He wanted to ask what the charges were, but there was no need as he already knew that answer.
Real or imagined, he was about to pay for his father’s crimes.
Cat froze inside her tent as she heard a loud shout from outside. She exchanged a frown with Julia before she went to the opening to see Lochlan being arrested.
Nay…
She started to go outside and demand they free him, but she knew the folly of such an act. Besides, they wouldn’t listen to her. She was only a woman and they were men determined to take him to the local lord.
“What on earth?” Julia asked from her side.
Cat stepped back into the tent. “We need to find Simon and Stryder.” Grabbing her cloak, she covered herself before she headed toward the lists, with Julia one step behind her.
Sure enough, Lord Stryder was in his tent. She ignored the guard as she went inside without a single announcement.
Stryder was bare from the waist up as he washed hi
mself in a large barrel.
Cat gasped at the sight of all his tawny skin before she turned around and forced Julia to follow suit. “Forgive me for interrupting you, my lord. I should have knocked or waited to be announced.”
A deep laugh rumbled from behind her. “I take it you have something of great import?”
“Aye.”
“Then turn around. I’m clothed now.”
Cat did and saw that he now wore a simple linen tunic. The laces of which were left untied so that even clothed, there was no hiding the fact he held an extremely well defined body. Not that she was attracted to his body, she just wasn’t blind to it.
“They’ve arrested Lord Lochlan,” she announced without any kind of preamble.
He scowled at her. “They? Who is they?”
She paused as she realized she didn’t really know. “I know not. They didn’t say.”
He took two steps toward her. “What are his charges?”
“Again, they didn’t say.”
He narrowed his gaze on her as if considering her nonanswers. “Interesting. Give me a moment, my lady, to finish dressing and we’ll go to the castle to see what’s going on.”
Grateful for his help, she gave a quick curtsy. “Thank you, my lord.”
Cat returned to where Val stood with a knowing grin on his face.
“Another moment, my lady, and he’d have been naked.”
“You could have told me that before I entered,” she snapped at the man, who was all but a giant.
“I tried, but you were hell bent to see him. Who am I to argue with a lady?”
“You’re a wretched excuse for a guard,” Stryder said from inside the tent.
Val shook his head. “I’ll be glad when old age takes that man’s hearing. It’s far too sharp for my tastes.”
Cat laughed before she sent Julia back to their tent and waited for Stryder to finish.
Stryder came out of the tent with a glare on his face that could have quelled the devil as he finished lacing his surcoat. “Remind me again why I tolerate you?” he asked Val.
“I saved your arse more times than you can count.”
“Are we not even yet?”