“I’m glad you have that to look back on. We live in places where life is hard. The weather is fierce, and we often face too little food, too little heat, and too little time. Having something to think about that cheers you up is important. Or at least, I think so.” Liam rolled to look at Elene. He pulled her wet hair over her shoulder, noticing that it was dampening the back of her gown. He wrapped a tendril around his finger before they leaned in for a kiss. They pulled apart to look at one another. Liam released her hair and cupped her jaw as her hand slid over his heart. They inched closer until their forearms pressed together. Their languid kiss remained as tender as the first.
When they parted to catch their breath, Elene asked, “What are your brothers and sister like? You’ve met mine.”
Liam’s grin revealed white teeth that gleamed in the moonlight. “Alec, Hamish, and I all look just like our father. We have his hair, his eyes, and his build. Alec is a year younger than me. Hamish is two years younger than Alec. Ainsley is the youngest, and she looks just like our mother. The older she gets, the more people confuse her for Mama. She’s the smartest of all of us because she’s patient and cunning, like our mother. Mama and my uncles have a dirk they pass back and forth. They use it when they bet against one another on something happening or not. Mama has had it the most times and always for the longest. She watches people, understands them, and plans before she acts or speaks. Ainsley is the same. Alec, Hamish, and I gave her a dirk for her saint’s day.”
Liam grinned as he remembered that day three years ago.
“It was Ainsley who said it would be what the four of us would use to bet. She looked so innocent. Before any of us knew it, she’d maneuvered Hamish into daring she couldn’t hit a target if she stood sideways. We all know Mama trained her, and Mama is the best knife thrower in all the Highlands—not that Uncle Callum likes to admit it, since he’s the best man. But Ainsley got us to agree. Not only did she keep the dirk, my brothers and I ended up mucking out her horse’s stall and picking weeds for a sennight. Da laughed—hard, and Mama chided us for being so gullible. She told us of the time she played hide-and-seek with my uncles while she traveled with my grandparents. They feared they’d lost her or that she’d floated away in the river. She had my grandfather and uncles in a near panic. It was my grandmother who told her she had to come out and stop tormenting my uncles. She was the most patient and waited them all out. She was five.” Liam chuckled.
“Sounds like the men in your family are very lucky to have your mother and sister.”
“That we are, and we know it.” Liam grew serious. “Naught is more important to me than my family.Prima familia. Family first. It’s our motto among the Sinclair and Mackay families. It includes the Sutherlands too. My grandmother was a Sutherland, so my parents named my brother Hamish for my mother’s uncle, Laird Hamish Sutherland. My mother and uncles are very close to their Sutherland cousins, and in turn, their children—my cousins and I—are very close to our Sutherland family.”
“How many of you are there?” Elene wondered.
“Good question.” Liam released Elene’s hand to hold up his. “Mama and Da have four. All together my aunts and uncles have—” Liam ticked them off on his fingers “—twelve. Three each. Then, on the Sutherland side, there’s another nine. So four and twelve and nine, that’s five and twenty cousins. If you add in Mama, Da, my four uncles and their wives, my grandfather, his brother-by-marriage—that’s Laird Hamish—and his three children, their mates, and his wife…that’s four and forty. I don’t know if everyone is done having bairns yet, so mayhap there’ll be more before it’s my generation’s turn.”
“Is that the entire Highlands?”
“Just about. Through our Sutherland relatives, we’re connected to the Rosses, the Camerons, and the MacLeods of Lewis. Through my aunts, we’re connected to the Frasers of Lovat, the Comyns, the Mackenzies, and the MacLeods of Assynt. I have a Lowlander aunt, and one Sutherland married a Lowlander. So we add the Kerrs and the Johnstones.”
“Good Lord!”
“If you extend our Ross connection, you reach the Campbells too. So yes, pretty much the entire Highlands and a good portion of the Hebrides.”
“And we’re connected through Lorna Mackay and her family.”
“Yes. I just remembered that Bjorn Jansson was Leif and Freya’s cousin. They were related on their mother’s side. His father was Lena’s brother.”
“That means his second cousin, Leif and Sigrid’s daughter, married your great-however-many-back grandfather, Alex Mackay’s son and Lorna Mackay’s distant cousin.” Elene lowered her voice to add, “Mayhap there is fate.”
“I think so.” They shared another kiss before they heard voices. They scrambled to their feet, and Liam drew his sword. They moved to hide behind the boulder Liam used the previous night. Liam wrapped the plaid around Elene and tucked her head against his chest, shielding her from any prying eyes. The men passed, and Liam realized they were villagers doing night hunting. It wasn’t long before the night air fell silent again. Liam whispered, “We need to head back.”
Elene nodded, lifting her head from Liam’s chest, regretting an end to the comforting position, but she knew he was right. They moved back to the path and made their way to the village. Liam watched as she passed through the wood portal and waited before he followed her. He watched the door to her croft close before he slipped into Androw and Janet’s home to gather his belongings, then he returned to the loch for his own bath.
CHAPTER4
The next two days were blissful for both Liam and Elene. Watching his men rest and socialize with the locals confirmed Liam made the right decision. Elene’s mother took an unexpected reprieve from drinking, so there were no serious arguments between the two women. Elene toiled in her gardens, surprised when Liam silently picked up a basket and kneeled beside her to weed. They worked in companionable silence the day after he escorted her to the loch. Liam learned Androw told villagers he sent Liam to help Elene. He urged his villagers to think it was Liam’s endeavor to show the people of Skaill that the Sinclairs valued the Orcadians. They sat together at the meals they shared, Katryne and Johan always present as chaperones of a sort.
The second day, Liam spent the morning sitting with Androw as the chieftain adjudicated disputes among the villagers. Liam spent most of the time observing, but there were a handful of matters where his presence as the earl’s delegate was fortuitous. That afternoon, Elene and he slipped away to fish again. They spent the time talking about the places Liam had traveled and the battles in which he’d already fought. He feared sharing the tales would bore or scare Elene, but she asked insightful questions about tactics and what happened to his home when he and his father rode out.
Both nights, Liam accompanied Elene to the loch. He gave her privacy, holding onto his honor by his fingernails and not peeking while she bathed. He considered himself eligible for sainthood. When she finished, they would lie beside one another and point out constellations, sharing the stories they’d learned as children. They made up wild tales about dragons and serpents slithering across the night sky, chased by St. Michael and St. George. They confessed what they’d thought being an adult would be like when they were children. Both agreed there wasn’t nearly the freedom they’d expected. Through their conversations, they both learned things about the other that were never said. Elene learned that family and duty drove Liam just as much as it did her. They both were loyal to a fault, and it was likely born of a similar stubbornness. They enjoyed one another’s dry sense of humor, finding they both tended toward self-deprecation while making keen observations about mankind.
They shared kisses during those nights where they shared Liam’s plaid, but neither pushed for more. Liam and Elene understood that their time together was brief and pursuing more would only leave them both heartsore. But neither denied their mutual attraction or how they enjoyed the feel of their bodies pressed together, the hunger it created for more. Keeping limits on their passion offered them the chance to foster a friendship. It allowed them to realize they enjoyed each other’s company beyond the physical. They lingered outside the village for as long as they dared before Liam escorted Elene back. He opted to drag his exhausted body to the loch in the early mornings rather than returning each night. Their late-night talks left them fatigued, but neither regretted it.
On the third day after their first tryst, Liam watched Elene as he finished saddling his horse,Urram. She stood near her croft, shading her eyes against the midmorning sun. Liam looked for her in the mead hall as he sat with his host to break his fast, but she never arrived. When he didn’t see her brother or sister, he realized she likely made that meal at home. She appeared and smiled at him as he stepped out of the hall. He moved to walk toward her, but Dermot waylaid him with questions about their impending journey to several nearby villages. They would be away for at least three days, and he’d already discussed their plans with his second-in-command. His heart sank when Elene changed course.
It was Liam’s turn to make a detour when he finally freed himself from Dermot and tried to make his way inconspicuously to the well, where Elene stopped when she could no longer walk to Liam. However, Katryne bounded over to her older sister and pulled her back toward their croft. With no time left, it forced Liam to ready his horse and prepare to leave without speaking to her. Everything felt unresolved, and Liam sensed Elene felt as adrift as he did. He didn’t want to ride away without speaking to her, especially since he learned that morning that Gunter was due to return to Skaill in three days. It was far sooner than Elene predicted, but fishermen had spotted Norse longboats the evening before. They said they recognized the sails.
Running out of time and frustrated, Liam abandoned Urram’s side and strode to Elene. Standing to block the sun from her eyes, he feasted his eyes on her, recalling how she’d tasted and felt the night before. Her eyes roamed over him, memorizing all she could see and remembering the shivers that ran along her spine while his teeth tugged on her earlobe.
“I won’t go to the loch alone. I promise.”
“Elene, I didn’t mean for you to give up something you love doing. Is there no one who can go with you?”
“He’ll be away.” Elene watched hurt flash in Liam’s eyes before she winked. She watched his shoulders lower in a movement she was certain he didn’t realize. “I thought about what you said the first night. I’ve always known the risk I take. I just hadn’t a reason not to take it before the last three nights.”
Liam nodded, suddenly at a loss for words. He didn’t know if Elene implied she believed they had a future. He knew what he wanted with her while he was in Skaill, but he wasn’t certain he was ready to make a lifelong commitment. And since he wasn’t sure, he wouldn’t act out what he’d fantasized about restlessly all night. Elene watched the unease return as Liam struggled to respond. She could have kicked herself for scaring him away.
