“I lost the damn thing halfway up here.” Alexander lowered himself to the seat then held out his hand. “Sit with me, Catriona. Please.”
Skirts rustling as she padded across the room, Catriona seated herself some distance from him.
“I willna bite, ye ken?” Although, if given the opportunity, he couldna guarantee that he wouldna nibble. He shifted on the bench and adjusted his man parts that had roared to life as soon as Catriona had pushed into the tower chamber. He patted the seat beside him then held out his hand. “Come, lass. Sit closer and tell me of your troubles. Mayhap I can help?”
“I verra much doubt that,” Catriona said as she scooted across the bench until she sat beside him. Color now rode high on her cheeks but Alexander knew 'twas because she’d been out in the cold. Her eyes narrowed as she stared into the fire. “Ye never answered me, Alexander.”
He breathed in deep, picking up on her beguiling scent of wood smoke, wintry wind, and young vibrant woman. “I had planned on leaving as soon as I was able.” He reached out, took hold of her hand, and held it tight. “But I willna leave ye unsafe. No' after all ye have done for me and my kin. What do ye fear, Catriona, for that’s what I see in your eyes, ye ken? Tell me, lass, so I might slay those demons that trouble ye.” He set his jaw and decided to speak the evil he knew in his heart she wouldna wish to face. “Tell me true, Catriona, is it that damn brother of yours? I ken he's returned and ye've no' been right since.”
Her tear-filled eyes flared wide for an instant. Catriona caught a trembling fist to her chest, hitched in a shuddering breath, then released it with a despairing cry. One corner of her lower lip trembled and the unshed tears welled up then overflowed, streaming down her cheeks. “Hell fire!” She swiped her fingers across her fair skin to chase the tears away.
He couldn’t hold back any longer. Alexander pulled her into his arms, tucking her head to his chest and holding her tight. He closed his eyes as he stroked her hair. Hair soft as silky threads of a spent thistle weed, just as he’d known it would be. “It’s all right, lass,” he said in a crooning whisper. “I’ll keep ye safe.”
Catriona responded with more high-pitched sobs and a fist thumping soft against his arm. Alexander smiled to himself when she burrowed deeper into his embrace, buried her face into his chest and howled. Whilst she still hadn’t told him what ailed her, he considered this a good start. He rocked her back and forth with a gentle swaying, stroking her back, and making all the reassuring sounds he could think of until she cried herself out.
When her sobbing reduced to the occasional hiccupping sniff, Catriona eased herself free of his arms. She wiped her face with the backs of her hands and sat ramrod straight on the bench beside him. “I truly beg your pardon, Alexander. What must ye think of me?”
“I think ye be a fine braw, beautiful lassie in need of my help.”
Catriona smiled but her lower lip set to trembling again. “Dinna make me cry anymore, aye? My head’s fair throbbing as though about to burst.” She pulled a crumpled square of white linen from her sleeve and dabbed it to her pitiful red nose. “I must look a sight,” she added with a pat to her tousled hair.
“Ye’re a bonnie lass, Catriona,” he said and meant every damn word. He’d ne’er seen a lovelier, red-nosed, scarlet-cheeked, unkempt woman in his life. “Now talk. 'Tis time.” He missed the loss of her warmth but made no move to return her to his arms. He sensed she needed space, a bit a distance to tell her tale.
“It appears I’m to be married once the snow melts.” She knotted her fists in the gray-blue folds of her woolen skirts. “In the spring. Calum has arranged it.” She turned and faced him with a bitter smile, malice glinting in her red-rimmed eyes. “With my father’s blessing, of course.”
“Married?” Her announcement hit him square in the chest, making it difficult to breathe.
“Aye, married.” Catriona fixed her narrow-eyed scowl on the fire in the room's center. “Calum fears me. 'Twas an easy enough choice to be rid of me—save having me murdered and disposing of my body.”
“And your father agreed?” Alexander could scarce believe it. 'Twas the strongest and most consistent rumor amongst all the servants in the keep, especially Mrs. Aberfeldy. Catriona had sworn on her mother’s deathbed she’d never desert Clan Neal and leave them to the mercies of her father or her brother. The rumors also claimed her father couldna lead the clan without her.
“Father’s not been sober enough for me to ask since Calum gave us the news of the match, but my brother assures me that my sire was fair pleased with the bargain he’d worked outfor the good of the clan.” Her damp lashes fluttered fast as butterfly wings and despair sent a fresh volley of tears down her cheeks. “I canna bear the thought of it and yet I’ve no good choice of escaping it or figuring a way to protect my kin. If I refuse, and Calum allows me to do so, he’ll never let me stay here. He’s already said I’ll be sent to the priory to spend the rest of my days confessing my stubborn ways to the sisters. And of course, when I marry, I’ll go to my husband’s lands. Either way—Calum is rid of me and will rule Clan Neal with none to hinder him with something as annoying as the conscience of a nagging sister.”
Something akin to rage simmered dark and deep within him and the longer Alexander listened to Catriona and pondered her fate, the stronger the monster within him grew, until he came to realize the monster’s name:jealousy.“How dare he. I’ll no' allow it.”
“And just how will ye stop it, Alexander? He’s well within his rights and ye ken that as well as I. The elders willna take a stand against him. They’ve yet to name himTanistbut they fear him and his men too much to stand in his way should he force his claim of the chieftainship.” She bowed her head and lifted a shaking hand to her brow. “All is lost. In a few short weeks, I am to become Jameson Campbell’s wife.” She covered her face with both hands, her shoulders trembling with pitiful sobs as she did her best to speak through the tears. “I’m told we shall live at Breadalbane’s estate since Jameson Campbell is son to the earl and next in line to the title.”
The shrewd bastard had not only rid himself of his sister, but he’d given her to a bloody Campbell, the clan noted for heeling to the king’s whims better than any dog. Alexander pulled Catriona back into his arms. “I’ll no' allow this to happen, Catriona,” he whispered into her hair. “I swear it.”
She shifted, lifting her tear-stained face to him. "I fear ye canna stop it."
Tracing his thumb along the soft, wet curve of her cheek, Alexander brushed away the tears and struggled to keep from telling her all the ways he intended to make her brother Calum suffer for putting her through such. Nay. 'Twould be wrong to discuss such vileness with this dear sweet lass. His gaze settled on her mouth. The precious parted lips he’d often thought about tasting.
'Tis time.He lowered his head and helped himself to the treasured sweetness she offered. His heart soared when she opened to him, inviting him in with hesitant flicking touches of her tongue. He dove into the taste of her, a heady mix of honeyed wine and desperate need. Her hands slid up his chest, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tight, as though she feared the kiss would end and he’d let her go. He laced his fingers into her hair and cradled her head in his palm as he trailed the kiss from her mouth down to the line of her jaw and along the curve of her throat. He’d been right. She brushed softer than velvet against his lips and tasted sweeter than any precious nectar. He’d known she’d be so, thought of it often as she’d tended to his wounds.
He paused at the neckline of her overdress, brushing his lips back and forth across her collarbone. A delicious aching to go lower thrummed within him, urged him to sample more, but he stopped himself. ‘Twould no’ be right. Not now. Not as vulnerable as she was. He lifted his head and pulled her close, tucking her snug beneath his chin and cradling her like the rare woman he knew her to be. She was too fiery a woman for the priory and he’d be damned if he stood by and watched her be given to a bloody Campbell.
“Dinna despair, Catriona, dinna despair. I will figure a way out of this.”
“All is lost,” Catriona said so low he strained to hear her. “My oath. My people…” She shuddered then keened out a heartbreaking cry against the base of his throat, her renewed tears hot against his skin. “All I sacrificed…all for naught.”
Alexander shifted, pulling away so he could once more lift her face to his. “Dinna doubt when I say I will save ye from this fate. I swear—ye’re no' in this alone.”
She hitched in a shaking breath, despair in her eyes as she gave him a sad smile. “I’ve always been alone…and always will be.”
“Not anymore,” he said as he cupped her face in his hand and kissed away her tears. “Not anymore,” he repeated against her trembling lips. “I swear it.”
