Ciara glanced up at Alec where he perched as a lookout in a nearby tree and shot him a look imploring him to speak up in her defense. She knew Alec was never short on words. Alec declined with a decided shake of his feathered head and turned his back to her. Ciara scowled back at the bird.Fine.Apparently, she was on her own with this one. She would deal with Alec later.
“Then what exactly would you suggest I do?” Ciara fumed to the still rippling reflections.
As their images faded from the dark waters of the goddesses' pool, their voices rang out from the depths. “Do what ye do best, our precious Ciara. Embrace your obsessions fully.”
Ciara scoffed at this vague bit of advice as she lobbed a pinecone at Alec’s back. With an indignant squawk, he rose from the branches to glide in a circle over her head. “Ye know I have eaten a great amount of berries today. ’Twould be a shame for such a stain to ruin your lovely gown.”
Glaring up at the bird, Ciara narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. “Do it and you’ll find yourself in the kitchens with Mistress Sorcha plucking you for a pie.”
Alec perched upon a nearby bush in a blue-black huff. His dark form ruffled as he gawked at Ciara, preening each of his feathers back into place as he balanced on the limb. “How do ye know ye’re not already carrying his child? God’s teeth, I thought the two of ye would never go to sleep last night. Ye would think ye were a pair of lust-crazed minks.”
Ciara paced back and forth beside the well, snapping back at him with an irritated shrug, “I’d know it if I were pregnant! I’d feel the presence of the child’s soul, even if it were just conceived.” She paused in her pacing and whirled on Alec with a shaming look. “And you could’ve left the room, you wicked bird. You didn’t have to stay and watch. I didn’t think you were such a perverted creature.”
Alec continued running his beak through the feathers beneath one wing, while ignoring Ciara’s scolding. As he raised his head, he fluttered his wings and settled all the feathers back into place. “Then what do ye plan to do to entice him back into your bed? That is, once he returns to the keep.”
With a determined huff, she took hold of her skirts and found the hidden pathway back out of the woods. “If he won’t come to me, I’ll go to him. He’s not the only one who knows how to travel through the Highlands. I remember how to ride a horse.”
With a disappointed chirrup, Alec spread his wings and rose to circle above Ciara’s head. “Ye know how I hate traveling in the cold. Do ye think we’ll be back to the keep before the dead of winter sets in?”
Winding her way out of the overgrown thicket, Ciara didn’t attempt to look up at the great bird as she picked her way through the underbrush covering the ground. “That all depends upon our fine obstinate laird and when he decides to play by my rules.”
Alec flew higher, just out of range of a well aimed pinecone. “Then we’ll be seeing the winter solstice from the back of a horse. The man’s stubbornness is an even match with your own.”
* * *
The makeshift meetingplace in the dining area of the local inn served his purposes well enough. Faolan knew his people realized such a late seasonal visit from their laird was an unexpected treat.Hell’s fire.He didn’t realize this village to the north held so many. The usual turnout to air grievances and seek favors swelled to an unusually large crowd. Clenching his teeth, Faolan wondered just how many gathered there due to curiosity alone. He’d heard the whispers; they all hoped for a glimpse of his wife.
One of the northernmost settlements within the borders of the MacKay lands, very few had made the trip to witness his betrothal. This time of year, winter preparations demanded the villagers remain close to home.
Faolan didn’t miss how their faces fell when they discovered he traveled alone. The remote settlement thrived on any bit of new gossip whenever it wandered into their midst.
Shuffling through the papers on the makeshift desk, Faolan looked up at the sound of a familiar voice he’d not expected to hear in this part of the Highlands. Angus. What the hell was he doing here? He’d left Angus at the keep to ensure all remained safe while Faolan traveled the MacKay lands. He had charged Angus with keeping the clan seat guarded. This was the first time he’d entrusted the man with such a responsibility.
Faolan still burned too hot from Maxwell’s faulty advice to consider leaving him in his stead. He seethed a few degrees hotter whenever he thought about it.
Damn the man and his fool ideas.Faolan had ordered Maxwell to travel as part of the laird’s personal guard and sleep in the stables with the men. Maxwell was to ensure they didn’t dally with any of the local maidens and leave behind any future mouths to feed. If Faolan suffered with never lying with his wife again, then Maxwell should damn well suffer the pain of celibacy too. As far as Faolan was concerned, an aching cock was apt punishment for the disastrous opinion Maxwell had given.
Faolan tapped his quill on top of the table as Angus’s voice boomed across the room. Wherever Angus entered, his volume clearly announced his identity; his deep rumbling brogue shook the floor. The huge MacKay’s ancestors must’ve lain with the giants. With Angus MacKay’s wild black hair and dark wooly beard, Faolan easily imagined a cross between an ogre and a bear taking great lumbering steps toward him.
But Faolan also knew that contrary to Angus’s fierce appearance, the great man’s nature was generous, his heart as huge as his body. But heaven help the man who pushed Angus too far; he’d best have his soul ready for judgment because when Angus finished with him there would be nothing left to pray over.
This couldn’t be good. With a sinking feeling in his chest, Faolan rose to his feet. There must be something dire indeed for Angus to have personally come to fetch him.
“Angus, why have ye left the keep? Tell me, man, why are ye here?”
Angus came to a halt directly in front of the table and then appeared suddenly struck mute. He dropped his head to stare at his shuffling feet, his huge hands clenched behind his back. He cleared his throat as though choking on a bone, risking a glance at Faolan’s face every moment or two.
“Well?” Faolan prodded.
With one final sheepish glance up at Faolan, Angus motioned toward the doorway with a slight jerk of his head. “Lady Ciara decided she should join ye so all your people could know your new wife. She thought it best if she traveled at your side.”
Ciara pushed her way through the throng of people milling about in the inn. Cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling, she wound her way into the room. Shedding her green woolen riding cloak and gloves, she beamed her brightest smile up into Faolan’s startled gaze. “My lord, I thought you might enjoy introducing me to the northernmost members of our clan.”
Faolan cleared his throat and shot a chilling glare at Angus while battling to curb his irritation. Grinding his teeth, he made his way around the table and buried his fingers into the huge man’s arm. With a forced smile, he nodded to Ciara while he maintained a vise-like grip on Angus’s meaty arm. “My dear wife, I thought to introduce ye to our people when we visited here together next summer. I thought ye might need more time tosettleinto your new role as lady of Clan MacKay. I feared such a journey so soon after our betrothal would cause ye undue…discomfort.”
Fingers tightening into the flesh of Angus’s arm, Faolan effectively transmitted his rage.
Head hung low, Angus stared at his feet, doing his best to avoid looking Faolan in the eye.
