As one, the congregation kneeled to accept the priest’s final blessing.
At the end of the service, both Lachlann and Aldred pressed back to allow Niall to lead the way, but Lachlann yanked Aldred’s shoulder to pull him back from the coveted second position, forcing him instead to follow at the rear. He was being petty, but the small gesture made him feel better. Lachlann snorted at his own idiocy.
Outside the chapel, Niall stopped just to the side of the entrance. Lachlann cringed at his own behavior and tried to ignore Niall’s overly firm tugs as he donned his leather riding gloves.
Those passing by as they exited the church said nothing, but the darting glances of the young lasses accompanying their parents were not lost on any of them. Niall, Lachlann, and Aldred were unmarried warriors, flesh-and-blood versions of the heroes haunting their maidenly dreams. They always returned the smiles even when a glowering mother or father intercepted the young lady’s show of interest.
“Aldred, what ails ye? Yer lack of respect can be trying,” Niall finally said.
Lachlann’s sigh of relief was quickly replaced by a feeling of dismay. How childish it was to be happy someone else was being taken to task. He opened his mouth to accept responsibility, but Niall cut him off.
“And whose bed were ye in this morning when the chapel bell began ringing?” Niall’s patient expression, his eyebrows raised in expectation, filled Lachlann with satisfaction. It was only right that Aldred be taken to task.
Aldred chuckled a quiet sound, then stretched his torso as if only now feeling the tiredness of that particular event. “Ah, not just the one bed, my friend.”
Their eyes wide, Lachlann and Niall turned toward the shorter man. Lachlann recovered first. His irritation unchecked, he lowered his brow and quirked his lips into his most doubtful expression. “Ye always claim such grand experiences yet offer no proof.”
Aldred shrugged then tapped at the multi-colored sash that lay across his chest. The braided hair of his many virgin conquests, or so he claimed. “Look closely, lads. These locks are given willingly with no shame involved.”
“No shame until they’re tossed out by their new husbands on their wedding night.” Niall crossed the open green of the village with long strides.
“Men old enough to be their fathers,” Aldred spouted his usual justification. “Why should a young lass be used so?”
They headed toward the narrow path that led into the woods and away from the villagers to where their prized horses were stabled.
Niall merely huffed, having heard the argument many times before, but Lachlann shoved the shorter man. “Ye’re full of shite.”
“Doubt it not.” Aldred kept up the pace Niall had set and spoke over his shoulder to Lachlann. “And what of ye and the twin lasses?”
Lachlann shrugged, not willing to share more than was necessary, though the twins’ interest in pleasing him was something he’d not experienced for quite some time and certainly not from simple highland lasses. The more exotic, dark-skinned lasses had taught him quite a bit about lovemaking while he was away learning Latin.
“Oh, forsooth! I canna help that the two thought I could more easily choose between them if they each took a turn so I could better compare their...abilities.”
“Choosebetween them? As in taking one to wife?” Aldred scoffed. “And ye with no plans to marry either.” He spat out the words and added, “For pity’s sake.”
A twinge of guilt settled in, but Lachlann quickly dismissed it. He was not about to share that he’d made that exact point to both of them, repeatedly, but they refused to be convinced. Quite the opposite. They believed they could change his mind once he had experienced their prowess. For pity’s sake indeed. If there was a woman intended for him, he’d know it not from the bedding, but from his own willingness to lay down his life for her. Like the great love stories the Bards sang of, his wife would be a gentle woman, passionate certainly, and caring. He didn’t need to try her out like a horse. They would discover together the private intimacies of being married, teaching each other what pleasured them most.
Lachlann spent too much time with such thoughts. He’d found no such woman. He sighed. “Leastwise I am not on a mission to find every virgin in our midst.”
“So ’tis fine then. . .” Niall halted to confront him where they stood in the middle of the open area, “. . . as long as they have been with another?”
Lachlann was surprised Niall was even listening, but before he could put words to his defense, Aldred responded. “He believes he is a better man than me by not taking a virgin. Even avoiding them like the plague! Never mind the service I provide by accommodating the married ones who have more desire than their aging husbands.”
“And that is called adultery.” Lachlann only said what they all knew and had no regrets at sounding so pious.
The shorter man smirked, his nose in the air, and swerved away.
Lachlann flattened his lips. “Iam only about the pleasure.Igive as well as receive, andIhave no bone to pick or hidden reason to make a fool of some husband.” He straightened to his full height, more than a head taller than Aldred. “And Iama better man than ye.”
Aldred turned about to reveal his anger in a nasty grimace. Lachlann prepared for the shove: shoulders back, feet firmly planted, body tight. When it came, he barely budged. The fist he planted into Aldred’s jaw had a satisfying thud despite the sting that shot up his arm. The man had a damn hard head.
“Enough!” Niall’s declaration halted them in their tracks as they were about to go at it. He glanced about before lowering his voice, which brought them in closer. “Ye’re both getting into trouble because ye’re bored, as am I. Besides…” The tall redhead got between them, his blue eyes glowering at each in the dramatic way he had. “We all know...I amthe better man.”
He shoved them both. Lachlann and Aldred staggered back with quick steps to catch themselves before they fell. Niall continued down the path, his shoulders shaking with his loud laughter. Aldred winked at Lachlann before trotting to catch up. Exhaling a deep breath, Lachlann shook his head. This had been the way of it for as long as he could remember. Rivalry. Competition. Though the three of them were closer than brothers, they were easily riled to anger.
He rose to take the bait every time, much to his irritation. And just like brothers, they were there for each other without question, having each other’s backs when it mattered. Like the time Niall’s father put his little sister, Thomasina, in harm’s way. After being shunned from their clan, he’d become a drunkard. Both Aldred and Lachlann stepped up to protect her as if she were their own sister.
Though glad to see her happily married to Sean, the Irish warrior, Lachlann missed her still.
