“I don’t want to leave,” Liam admitted, finally finding his voice again. “I want to stay, but I must conduct my grandfather’s business before I can consider aught else. I have a duty to him. But I’ll be back in three days. I heard—”
“I know. That’s what Katryne came to tell me. She heard some of the other children talking about Gunter’s return. My mother is—she told Katryne and Johan that they needed to find somewhere else to sleep while Gunter is here. She’s never been—discreet. It worries me why she wants them away but said naught about me sleeping somewhere else.”
Liam glanced back over his shoulder at where his men waited, watching him. Some appeared annoyed while others were positively nosey. He turned back to Elene. “I will be back in two and a half days. I’ll be here when he arrives because I must for the sake of politics.” He knew he contradicted what he’d just said, but he needed a reason to return sooner. “I also don’t want you here and afraid of your own mother and him. Elene, I don’t have a solution. I can’t make any promises. But I also won’t turn my back on you. Even if we hadn’t… You deserve someone to take up your cause.”
“Thank you. Don’t rush because of me. I told you, he won’t do aught while we’re still here. I worry about what he will say.” Elene cringed. “I worry about what my mother will say. But I don’t fear him harming me.”
“I do. I heard more about him during the morning meal. I fear he’ll shove you on his ship and sail away if I don’t return before he can.”
“If he marries my mother, no one will have a say but him. It won’t matter what you fear. Liam, you said you don’t have a solution. That’s because there isn’t one. I don’t expect aught from you. That wasn’t what I meant or why I…” Elene grew flustered, ridiculously nervous to admit that she’d wanted their kisses, even though it had been obvious she did.
“And even if we hadn’t kissed, I would still worry about you. Elene, I told you I would worry about any of my cousins put in a position where they couldn’t defend themselves. I worry what he will do to your brother and sister. I’ve been raised to protect and defend those who can’t do it for themselves. That’s what a laird does. But there’s something about you. Something that a man like him will do his best to extinguish. It’s the very thing that draws me to you, and we’ve known each other a few days.”
“Whatever this is,” Elene flicked her fingers between them, “makes me trust you when I trust no one.”
“I will do my best never to betray that trust.” Liam grasped her fingers and gave them a quick squeeze. “I will be back before he arrives.”
The couple gazed at one another, both wishing for another kiss, but knowing it was impossible where they stood. A nod was the best they could offer one another. Liam spun on his heel, his plaid swishing against the back of his thighs. Elene watched him mount his steed, tempted to wave when he looked at her. Without a word, Liam nudged Urram forward, leading the other Highlanders to the east, away from Elene and the people of Skaill. She watched until he faded from sight, dreading going back into her croft. She looked toward the bay, praying a storm materialized that would delay Gunter’s arrival. She prayed a great serpent would pull him to his death in the sea’s great depths. With a sigh, she accepted that there was little precedent of her prayers being answered.
The next two days passed in a muddy and windy blur for Liam. Uncooperative weather prevented him from traveling as far as he’d planned. The few villages he’d reached varied their reception from disdain to downright hostility. It shocked him that even places where he’d once visited were disinclined to welcome him. He assured all and sundry that nothing would change now that his grandfather assumed control of the local government. It tempted him to promise that their lives would improve, but it was one he couldn’t guarantee, so he refrained.
Liam understood it was apprehension rather than dislike, but it made the journey even more miserable. It was with a sigh of relief that he and his men returned to Skaill, sodden, hungry, and disillusioned. Their reception surprised his men as much as it had him, since Laird Liam selected every warrior on the voyage from the Sinclair guard because they’d traveled to Orkney before. Only Dermot was a Mackay. The others were men who Liam had known for his entire life. His Mackay and Sinclair family visited one another often, and Liam fostered with the Sinclairs. While Skaill’s villagers hadn’t been effusive, they hadn’t been rude.
As Liam passed through the gates, his eyes darted to where his Highland birlinns, orlonga, remained anchored in the bay. Reassured that nothing was amiss, he looked around the village. There were few people braving the elements, but he suspected there would be one. He spied Elene draping burlap over early-blooming vegetables in the dirt patch beside her croft. There’d been an unexpected frost the night before, so she couldn’t risk losing their meager harvest. Liam wondered if she realized her efforts were for naught if she and her family were leaving soon. That idea soured Liam further. He hadn’t ceased thinking about their kisses and conversations. They filled his dreams, and they were the only redeeming moments of his trip. With only his men and Elene outside, it tempted him to visit her. But he feared people within their crofts would spy him. He didn’t want to cause Elene trouble by stirring gossip.
When Elene spied the returning men, the noise drawing her attention, she barely turned her attention to them. Her disinterest made Liam wonder if she regretted their interludes. She didn’t look at him. He thought she might spare him a glance, even if she was in the midst of her work. It stung to think that their kisses left her unaffected when he couldn’t stop thinking about them. Forced to turn his attention to his horse, he led the animal to the stables. As he curried the enormous stallion, he told himself that it was of little consequence if Elene no longer shared his interest. He reminded himself that he would return to Scotland in a fortnight, and then he would never see Elene again. It was even more likely she would leave for Norway before he departed for home. That thought only soured his temper further.
Disappointed and hurt, with remnants of his earlier frustration, Liam encouraged his men to seek hot food and shelter in the mead hall. He dismissed them to find sustenance, then to find dry clothes and cots in the village longhouse for unmarried men. He shoved the brush into his saddlebag with disgust and muttered an oath before he stepped out of the stall. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he found Elene standing to the right, her shawl draped over her head and her hand cinching it beneath her chin.
His doubts and anger vanished as they fell into one another’s arms. It was an embrace, not a kiss, that they shared. There was an intimacy of its own kind as they held one another, drawing comfort and strength. The shawl slid from Elene’s head, allowing Liam to stroke the thick, blonde locks. He kissed her temple over and over as she burrowed against his chest.
“I missed you,” Liam admitted.
“I missed you too.”
Both knew their interest had already surpassed lust. It felt far greater than that. They respected one another and admired the person they were discovering.
“How are you? Did aught happen while I was away?”
“He hasn’t arrived. The storm was worse offshore, so it’s delayed him. My mother has been in a fit since the first drop of rain. But it means naught has changed.”
“Have you thought more about what you’ll do?”
“It’s nearly all I think about.” Elene squeezed her eyes shut as she continued to lean against Liam’s expansive chest. When his arms tightened around her, she suspected he knew what she meant and wasn’t put off. Liam leaned back and tilted Elene’s chin up. The kiss was just as soft as the first time their lips brushed together. Longing filled them both, but common sense told them to go no further. A deep and hungry kiss, like the ones they shared outside the village wall, would only lead to wanting more, and they both knew there could be no more with Gunter’s imminent arrival. Drawn to one another like a moth to a flame, they both understood they would get singed. “How was your journey?”
Liam eased his hold and sighed. “Less fruitful than I hoped. I understand people’s wariness, but I didn’t expect their disdain. But truth be told, I suspect it’s me. If it were my grandfather or Uncle Callum, I believe the reception would be different. I think they see me as little more than a messenger boy.”
Elene bit her lip as she leaned back, then nodded. “I’ve heard people say as much. People wonder why neither Laird Sinclair nor Callum made the effort to come.”
Liam’s hands slid to Elene’s waist, ending their embrace, but not their contact. “I was the one to suggest I represent them. I wanted to prove that I could.”
“And you are. People don’t know that’s the reason.”
“I’m not about to announce to everyone that I came because I want to show everyone I’m a man.”
Elene’s lips twitched before she swallowed, but she couldn’t contain her smile. It was wicked as her eyes twinkled. She glanced down between them before her eyes met his once more.
“Lass,” Liam muttered in Gaelic, forgetting himself. Elene giggled. The sound shot straight to Liam’s groin, which his sporran mercifully hid.
