Page 16

Chapter

Sixteen

S urely, he misheard her.

“A likelihood,” Niall repeated.

“Aye.”

“The sister of the chief of Clan MacKinlay and the eldest son of the chief of Clan Duncraig?”

She nodded.

“Married.”

Lina nodded again, this time with no hint of anything that might make Niall believe she jested with him.

Did he want to stand up from this bench, take Lady Avelina in his arms, kiss her, hold her, make love to her?

Aye, he did.

Even still. . .

“Do you understand the implications of your words?”

Lina did not hesitate. “I do. My brother will likely forbid it.”

So, she did understand.

“And you would. . .?”

“Defy him.”

“Defy him,” he repeated. “Seems an extreme act, does it not?”

“Indeed. Yet I know my brother, and eventually, he would come to my side.”

“And your clan?”

She sighed. “’Twould anger them, aye. But I believe you to be a good man, Niall. Mayhap, in time, others could see the same. Mayhap we could unite our clans with our union.”

“You truly believe such a thing is possible? You see what havoc a few simple cattle wreak. Our feud’s history is long, your slain too many in number for my ancestors to be forgiven, even though the battle was sanctioned.”

“And yet, I am the daughter of one of those slain men.”

“You could forgive me, but. . . could you forgive my father?” By her wince, he knew Lina’s response. “As a married couple, we would live with my clan. I am to be the next chief.”

She did not seem surprised by his declaration. Had she really given this matter some thought?

“Not an ideal arrangement, but one I would have to accept if I were to become your wife.”

"Why would you even consider such a thing? Marry a man you hated just days ago. Whose family you still hate. Whose kinsman you may never come to accept.”

Niall waited for her response.

“Because the way you look at me, the way you make me feel. . . ’tis the first time in all my life my body has come to life. The first time I felt anything as strongly as I feel a kinship to my brother or my friendship with my maid. I’ve been waiting for you, I think,” she finished.

’Twas quite a declaration.

“What, precisely, do you feel for me, Lina?”

“A desire to stand up, come to you, sit beside you. Feel you next to me again. Not be far from you. When we ride, I wish to ride with you. When I sleep, I think of you. When I wake, ’tis your face I see before I even spy it.”

He knew not what to say. “Your honesty is surprising.”

Lina shrugged. “Should I say it is otherwise? Why pretend when you could be gone in days or sooner?”

She was right, of course. Though surprising, her honesty also pleased him. Niall would offer some of his own.

“What you feel is desire. I feel it too, Lina. More powerfully than I can ever remember before. I would say one does not marry for desire.” Niall had to be careful with his words. “And yet. . .”

Niall had learned long ago that impetuousness could lead to dire consequences. Because of it, he’d learned to plan carefully. Make decisions based in logic. Which now held his tongue.

“Yet?” she pressed.

He let the silence between them linger as it must.

But then, she stood. Niall groaned at the vision of such a woman coming toward him. Groaned for the weakness that still resided in him, for as she sat beside him on the bench, he was now powerless. The air crackled between them. If they were caught in such an intimate manner…

But ’twas about to become even more so.

Mostly to dissuade himself, thinking the memory of their kiss must not be as powerful as Niall had made it in his mind, he leaned toward her. Lina met him halfway, and their lips touched. Gently at first. As if they were made for each other. But very quickly, the kiss spiraled.

Deepened.

He’d said one did not marry for desire, but if that ever could be a basis for two people’s union, this was the kind of kiss that could take them until the end of their days.

Never, not once, had Niall ever been sorry for the slain MacKinlay kinsmen. He’d been raised to hate the men who had long tortured his own. Stolen cattle, kidnappings, even murder if the tales were true.

But as he moved closer to Lina, deepening their kiss, his hand moving to sit atop her thigh, for the first time in his life he was sorry for the loss of her father. Likely, uncles and other relatives. Had they not fallen, perhaps her mother might not have gotten sick either.

Lina had been parentless, and she was here with her brother, showing a resilience that made him wish to deepen the kiss further.

To take her.

Make Lina his own.

Reluctantly, he pulled away.

Returned his hand to his own lap.

“Think on it more,” Niall said. “What it would mean to come back to my home. Live among the men who slayed your kinsmen.”

Her expressions, so serene just moments before, grew troubled. Though Lina had said she gave the matter consideration, he questioned just how deeply.

“My clan would not be pleased,” she acknowledged. “And yours would likely not accept me.”

It was true that they may not. “Think on it,” he said.

“And you?”

Niall sighed. “I will do the same. For I can admit, Lina, my affection for you continues to grow. I, too, wish to be with you when we are apart. Kissing you, in some ways, is like torture because I wish for so much more. Yet, I am a practical man, too, and know the hurdles between us may be too difficult to cross.”

Her smile could make a hardened warrior weep.

“I’d not have taken you for a man who gives much concern to hurdles.”

“’Twould be foolish to ignore them.”

“Ignore? Nay. See them as unsurmountable? Perhaps you are not the man I thought you were.” She moved to stand.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.

He looked into her eyes.“Your instincts are correct, my lady. I take what I want, but in this instance, what I want may be at odds with what’s best for my clan.”

“And clan above all?”

“For a man who would be chief? Aye.”

She seemed resigned, if not pleased, by the notion. “Of course.” Lina stood.

He did the same. “I do not wish you to be ashamed for telling me what you have today.”

“Ashamed? Why should I be ashamed for sharing what is in my heart?”

She was like no other noblewoman he knew. “Indeed, you should not.”

“Fortune favors the bold, Niall. You must believe that.”

“I do.”

“Then it seems we both have much thinking to do.”

He smiled. “It seems you are right. In the meantime, shall I escort you to the battlements? I wished to view the landscape around the keep. Perhaps you’d do so with me?”

Though he would very much wish instead to remain here, continuing to kiss this beautiful, passionate woman as he had last night, Niall found his discipline faltering a bit with her. Finding themselves in a more public place would serve him well.

“I would enjoy that,” she said.

He resisted the urge to reach down for her hand. Avelina MacKinlay was not his, and Niall had no claim over her. He wished he did.

And perhaps, in time, he just might.