Page 55

Chapter

“ C ome with us.”

Kieran watched Maisie dress, knowing he should do the same. But holding her, making love to her as they woke, being with her as she prepared for the day . . . he was loath to leave.

“When I was gone so recently? I cannae.”

Once the idea took hold, he could not abandon it. “All was well when you returned, was it not?”

“Aye, but—”

“Come with me. I may likely meet my aunt this day, and would have you by my side.”

Maisie licked her lips, a tempting sight if he’d ever seen one. If his brother and the others were not already waiting for him below, Kieran would pull her back into this bed at this very moment.

Instead, he reluctantly began to dress.

“You have your brother with you,” she said. And back and forth they went until, finally, Kieran pulled her toward him.

He silenced her pleas with a kiss. A slow, lingering, full-of-promise kiss. When he finished, he looked into her eyes. This woman that would be his wife.

She may deny it. Think she did not will it. But as he’d watched her sleep last eve, the problem of their future became less and less of one. In fact, it was a simple matter.

He’d not be parted from her for one simple reason.

“I am in love with you, Maisie.”

She froze in his arms. Opened her mouth to speak, but he silenced her with his finger.

“Say nothing until you are ready to accept me fully. But I tell you this. After yesterday, and last eve, there is nothing you could say, or do, that would convince me to leave you. I’ve never felt such terror in my life as I did when MacBrannigan held you against your will.

I knew then, and perhaps much sooner, but worried you may not want a man such as me. ”

“A man such as you? Surely, you jest.”

“My past—”

“Means naught to me. As I said, I am the daughter of a farmer. Not some noblewoman who cares for titles and the like. I wish only for food on my table. And freedom.”

“Which you think you’d be forced to give away if we were to marry. But you must know already in your heart, Maisie, I am not that sort of man. I would have you do as you wish. My only aim is to please you.”

“I do not think you are like him in any way.”

“Then marry me.”

She said naught. It was too soon.

“Then it will be my duty to convince you. In the meantime, I would have the woman I love with me this day.”

That seemed to sway her. It was only some time later, as Maisie rode beside him toward Aberdale, that he began to truly consider the implications of this day. Speaking to Lina’s brother, a man who, if all he’d learned were true, was not truly the enemy but, in truth, his clan chief.

“You are more quiet than usual,” Maisie said as she rode beside him. The others rode in front of them, their party of six heading toward Castle MacKinlay.

“I was raised the son of the Duncraig clan chief,” he said, voicing his thoughts. “And yet Lina’s brother, if what I’ve learned is true, is my true chief.”

“Nay, Kieran. Your true chief is the man you choose to follow. When we met, you were wroth with your brother until you spoke to him. You must do the same with your parents. Surely you realize as much?”

The topic was a serious one, and yet visions of Maisie above him, his hands guiding her soft hips, were all he could think of suddenly.

“Kieran, when you look at me that way, I canne remember our discussion.”

“We discussed,” he said as they approached a river crossing, “how beautiful you are. How much I cannae wait to make love to you again.”

She pretended to think on that. “I do believe we discussed a very different, and important, topic.”

“Nay,” he said immediately. “There is naught more important.”

As he said the words, Kieran realized the truth of them. How quickly Maisie had become more important to him than all else. When he’d asked for her to accompany them this day, Kieran had not realized how much he needed this woman by his side.

He loved her and would make her his wife. Of that, he had no doubt.

“When you say such things, I think . . .”

Though she did not finish as their riding party stopped at the riverbank, there was no need. He did not have to hear the words. She loved him. It was plain enough in her expression. But Maisie was scared too, and that fear overrode all else.

They found a spot where the water was shallow and crossed.

Lina led them expertly, as they were now on MacKinlay land.

She gained entry for them through the castle gates, and it was not until all six of them entered the hall of her home that Kieran realized something.

He pulled Lina aside as they waited for her brother to be fetched.

“When I was here last,” he said, referring to the time when she and Niall met, when they’d come to inquire about the MacKinlay cattle grazing on Duncraig land, “there was a familiarity about this hall I could not place.”

“You’ve been here before,” she finished for him.

“Aye,” he said, that feeling he had now making sense. “I have. As a child.”

Lina frowned. “I am sorry I do not remember you, Kieran. If you were here, then surely we met before.”

“Perhaps,” he said, knowing a blacksmith’s son likely had little reason to frequent the clan chief’s hall very often. “What sort of reception do you believe your brother will offer?”

“A poor one,” Niall said, coming up to them. “Dougal and Hamish grow impatient to leave.”

Lina laughed. “We’ve only just arrived.”

“As I said.” Niall shrugged. Not long ago, ‘twould be unheard of for any Duncraig to stand in the hall of a MacKinlay. But things had changed with Niall and Lina’s marriage.

At least, for some things had changed. As Avelina’s brother strode into the hall, it was clear he did not share the sentiment.

Though likely pleased to see his sister, there was no doubt that having this many Duncraig warriors in his hall did not bring him comfort.

“Why do you bring them here?” he said to his sister, MacKinlay’s distaste quite clear.

“What sort of greeting is that for your sister?” she replied, clearly annoyed.

“As I said when you chose to marry him”—he nodded to Niall—“I dinnae accept it.”

“You’ve not changed your mind on the matter? His clan readily accepts me, Ewan. Can you not do the same? Perhaps we can bury this feud once and for all?”

“Bury?” The man looked, as he had most often when Kieran was in his presence, as if his head might burst from his body at any moment. “His family killed—”

“You do not need to say it. We are all aware, as you are, that Niall and his brother were children at the time.” As if realizing why they were there, she added, “If you willnae welcome us in your hall, we should retire to the solar for a more private conversation, after which I will take my leave.”

“‘Tis inconceivable,” Niall added. “That you willnae offer your sister a meal. Welcome her in her own hall.”

The MacKinlay clan chief had naught but vitriol for them. “I willnae welcome a Duncraig in my hall, and well you know it.”

Lina made a sound, lifted her skirts, and marched back the way they came. “Kieran, Ewan, follow me.” And to her husband, “Take the others to the courtyard. We will meet you there.”

Kieran exchanged a glance with Maisie. He smiled at her wide eyes, Maisie not having seen Lina in full force until now.

She was perfectly matched with his brother, and as he followed her to the solar chamber, Kieran was not surprised her brother did as well.

He was clearly equal parts angry but also in awe of her, as most people were.

Wait until they met Maisie.

Kieran had a vision of such a meeting, her and his parents. They would adore her, his mother especially. His smile fled from his face the moment he remembered.

“We come with a question. Do you know of a kitchen maid named Abele? I’d not heard of her, but thought perhaps you had.”

Clearly, as a servant closed the door behind them, this was not the question MacKinlay expected to be called on to answer.

“A kitchen maid? You came to ask me about a kitchen maid?”

“Do you know of her?”

Lina’s brother looked back and forth between them. “I remember her, aye. But am not surprised that you do not, as she left when we were children.”

“I was told she served here until recently. But that confused me, as I do not know her.”

“She is a twin, likely the reason for your confusion. Her sister served in the kitchen as well. Adeline.”

Lina’s jaw dropped. “Adeline?”

“Aye.”

“Is Abele’s sister?”

“She is. Abele left for Rosewood to live with her second husband. But Adeline never married and still uses her given surname. Why are we discussing kitchen maids, Lina?”

She looked at him.

“Because it is possible they are my aunts.”

If Ewan MacKinlay were surprised by Lina’s questions, he was even more so by Kieran’s statement.

“How is that possible? They had just one brother, a blacksmith who died in the Battle of Black Friars. He was a sworn warrior to Clan MacKinlay . . .”

Suddenly, he stopped. Stared.

It was in that moment, Kieran knew it was all true.

“You are the missing boy.”

“Apparently, aye. I am.”

“Ewan, how do you know all of this? You are not old enough to have remembered such a thing.”

“Nor do I,” the MacKinlay chief said, still looking at him. “But I am chief, and ‘tis my duty to know each and every person in the clan. How is it possible you dinnae know?” he asked.

This, he would rather not discuss, but Kieran supposed he owed the clan chief some explanation. “I’ve not yet spoken in depth to my parents of the incident, but have learned enough. Apparently, I ran from the battle and fell in a nearby river, nearly drowning. I was saved by the Duncraig’s wife.”

“Who kept you as their own?”

“Aye.”

“Did they not realize you must be a MacKinlay? And dinnae think to find your parents?”

“Father,” Kieran clarified. “My mother died in childbirth.” That was one thing the MacKinlay chief apparently did not know. “I’ve not spoken to them directly, but aye, that seems to be the case.”