She lifted her lips to his and he lost himself in the taste of her. His ears filled with a strangely familiar humming, and for just an instant he felt as if the world around him exploded in a burst of light.
His knees weak, he lowered Isa to the bed, climbing in beside her.
Outside, on the grassy bank, he had taken her hard and fast. And though it had been a magnificent coupling, this time he intended to take it slow and easy, pleasuring her long into the night.
The Magic might well take him on the morrow, but tonight belonged to him and Isa.
Chapter 21
“Yer wasting valuable time sitting here.” Roland Lardiner paced back and forth, his eyes darting around the large guest bedchamber at Castle MacGahan as if following the flight of birds. “As I tried to tell you before you even entered the gates, you should no be here. You’d be better served by going out to retrieve the lass this very night. I’ll send my own men along to assist you in finding her.”
“You’ll do that for me, will you?” Malcolm MacDowylt leaned back in the big wooden chair, lifting his booted feet to the small table in front of him. He tired of toying with this deceitful dog. “And why would you want to help me secure the means to take over the MacGahan holdings?”
More bluster from the idiot as he continued his frantic pacing. Nothing of any worth spewing from his mouth. There was little of any value this deceitful dog had to offer. A few well-placed silvers on Malcolm’s last visit here had guaranteed him loyal spies within the household. He knew all that he needed to for the moment and had no reason to pay attention until the fool uttered the words he’d expected from the beginning.
“As the MacGahan’s tanist, I can assure you...”
“Yer no that.” Malcolm interrupted. “So dinna try to waste my time with that blether. The MacGahan named no tanist, only a succession order.”
That stopped the fool’s prancing about. Left him with his eyes bulged and his mouth opening and closing like that of a trout lying on the bank.
“Yes, Lardiner, I ken the whole of it. All that went on here. Yer daughter’s marriage and the babe she carries. The babe that inherits only should it be a male child.”
“But, but...” Roland sputtered.
“Yer absolutely right about one thing. Until I’ve decided exactly what I plan to do here I’ve no intent to let this Isabella slip through my fingers, either. While I’m inclined to have her brought here to me, I’ll think on yer offer, Lardiner. And we’ll talk on it tomorrow.”
“But the longer you wait...”
“Leave me!” Malcolm shouted, watching in satisfaction as the annoying man scurried from his bedchamber.
“I wouldna trust that slime of a man as far as I could toss him.”
Malcolm nodded his agreement as his brother stepped from behind the massive draperies hanging around the bed.
“There’s something no right about his urging you to go after the crazed lass.”
“My thoughts exactly, Paddy. And exactly why yer here with me.” He offered the tankard of ale, setting it back on the table when his brother shook his head in refusal. “Tomorrow I’ll have the rat and his men bring the woman here to me.”
“As you say,” his brother acknowledged. “Do you think it might be wise for me and some of the boys to follow along? At a proper distance, of course.”
“I do at that.” Malcolm agreed.
Therein lay the beauty of naming his own brother as his tanist. They’d worked together so well and so long, it was as if Patrick anticipated his thoughts.
Malcolm pulled his dirk from the strap on his boot and cut a slice of cheese off the hunk on the table, tossing it to Patrick. His brother grinned and snatched up a piece of the bread as well, dropping down into the chair across from him.
Though they’d need to stay on their toes, Malcolm felt confident the MacGahan holdings would soon be his, made all the sweeter by the fact that he wouldn’t have to raise his sword against anyone in the process.
“Agneys? Agneys! I order you to open this door at once!”
Agneys dropped into her chair, clutching the polished silver mirror to her breast. She had absolutely no intention of opening that door to her father. Not this night or any other.
She’d known the instant she’d seen the MacDowylt enter through the big gates this afternoon that her father would end up in a crazed frenzy of anger. MacDowylt at the castle was not what he had planned, and he detested having his plans go awry.
Nonetheless, Agneys had plans of her own and too much to accomplish this night to subject herself to Roland’s madness.
With the MacDowylt only two doors away in the castle’s best guest chamber, her father would be unwilling to raise too much of a fuss and risk drawing the man’s attention. At least she hoped that would be the case.
