Chapter Seven
“What are ye going to do?”
Darach turned to look at the woman keeping pace with him while he strode down the long corridor leading to the kitchen. When he returned home he was going to break Malcolm’s nose, again, for sending him here. Saving Ravenglade was one thing. Putting him in the company of this woman was asking too damn much.
So what if she dreamed of him? Many lasses likely did. So what if looking at her delighted him? She was bonny. So were a hundred other women. She was braw, not unafraid, but not silenced by fear. Her saucy mouth and mane of wild golden curls made him want to conquer her to the ancient rhythm of his blood. He didn’t think she’d surrender easily. It only provoked his blood to burn hotter. Damn him.
Damn her.
“We’re goin’ huntin’.” He ignored the slight gasp breaking through her lips. She was going to be difficult, hot on his heels at every turn, wanting to know his every decision and then trying to dissuade him from it. And he would likely give in to each of her requests.
“Will,” he turned to her brother, who’d remained quiet for the most part this morning. “Arm half a dozen of yer men with bows and arrows, and bring one fer me, as well. I’ll meet ye and the others at the end of the tunnel.”
When Will nodded, looking a little pale, Darach turned from him and to his sister.
Her face distracted him from Will’s departure. The slight tilt of her dimpled chin urged him to smile. The lightning tempest in her eyes promised a worthy fight. She would be easy to pen a song about…
He closed his eyes for a moment, clearing his head of her. “Ye’ll remain here,” he ordered, then, at the risk of losing it, pressed his finger to her lips. “Dinna’ argue. If ye do, I’ll return to Skye later on today and ye and yer brother can do whatever ye wish. If the Menzies take Ravenglade, m’ kin will just take it back when we return next spring or whenever Malcolm decides.”
He watched the storm in her eyes darken her expression. He didn’t care if she hated him. He didn’t want her going out there and getting herself killed. But damn it, she wasn’t his responsibility. He had to keep a clear head around her. He’d ponder why she clouded his thoughts in the first place tomorrow. If she lived that long. Her hand on his arm stopped him when he turned to leave her.
“If the Menzies come upon ye, they’ll overtake the eight of ye.”
“They willna’ come upon us,” he assured her. “We’re goin’ only to hunt. We’ll fight another day.”
“If ye’re going only to hunt,” she challenged, “why not let me come?”
Hell, he couldn’t decide if he liked her stubborn will or if it was the most irritating thing about her. If she wanted the truth, he’d give it to her. She could handle it. “Because ye’re bloodthirsty,” he said. “If we come upon one of them pissin’ in the woods, ye’re likely to fling yer dagger into his throat.”
“What would be so terrible about that?” she asked, tempting him to conclude that, irritating or not, she was the most irresistible woman he’d met in his lifetime.
He liked that she wasn’t afraid of some blood, but the Menzies were too dangerous. Some of them would think nothing of killing her, woman or not. He’d have to kill every damn one of them then.
“I’m coming with ye,” she called out, stopping his departure again. “And if ye leave because of it, there might not be a Ravenglade left fer Malcolm to return to. Fires cause devastating spoil, ye know.”
He turned around to her slowly, his eyes wide with disbelief. Had he heard her right? Did she just threaten to burn Ravenglade down? She was mad, and she was determined to drag him into her madness, too.
Would she do it? He looked at her standing there, shoulders squared, chest out, jaw angled slightly upward like a fiery mare, ready to stand head-to-head with him, to call his bluff on whatever threat he cast at her. Was he confident about doing the same?
Nae. She would do it. She would put torch to the castle with a smile on her face. He thought of all the tapestries woven by his kin’s hands, the furniture his uncle Connor built, all ashes.
“Verra’ well,” he conceded, only vaguely concerned that she’d beaten him at his own game. There would be other rounds. He looked forward to them. “Come wi’ us, then. Start a fight though and I’ll let ye finish it.”
He ignored her venomous oath and continued on toward the kitchen. On the way, he lifted two torches from the wall and handed one to her. There were dozens of torch stands in the tunnel that needed to be lit so that the group could see where they were going.
He entered the kitchen and removed the trap door from the floor. He climbed inside and lit the first torch stand while Janet dropped through the door next.
“What about William and the others?” she called out to him when he kept moving, lighting the way.
“We’ll wait fer yer brother at the end of the tunnel. That was the plan, if ye had been listenin’.”
She ignored his jab and lit the next torch stand. “D’ye think we’ll run into any Menzies?”
“Tell me now, lass. Are ye goin’ to ask questions durin’ the entire excursion?”
She turned to him with frost in her eyes. “Are ye truly my only hope? Ye’re sure there is no way to send word to yer kin to send us someone else?”
In front of her, one corner of his mouth hooked into a smile. “If every man in the whole of Skye came here, I’d still be yer only hope.”
