Page 120

*

“Do ye see what yer lust

has cost me…?”

*

August, Year of our Lord 1288

Village of Strathpeffer

Lands of Clan MacKenzie, Scottish Highlands

“Y e know I’ve been a-wantin’ ye, lass. I never thought I’d be alone wit’ch ye.”

A soft giggle filled the stale, urine-smelling air of the barn. “Dunna keep me waitin’,” a woman long, dark hair said, lurching forward to capture his lower lip between her two teeth. “I canna promise we will be alone for long.”

The man groaned as she nibbled at his lower lip. A hand, rough and calloused, began to pull down the shoulder of her simple shift. He very much wanted the treasures that lay beneath that garment.

“I thought ye said yer brother was a-huntin’,” he said, the hand on her shoulder moving to her breast.

“He is– but I dunna know when he’ll return!”

The woman gasped as the man pinched her nipple through the fabric.

Buried in a pile of dried grass that was shoved back into a corner of a sod-roofed barn, they had as much privacy as they were going to get given the circumstances.

Two cows, a calf, three goats, and a smattering of kids watched as the big, auburn-haired Highlander suckled on the woman’s neck as he fondled her through her shift.

As the woman moaned and writhed, he managed to get both hands underneath her shift, pulling it up to reveal the unfurling flower between her legs.

When he touched her there, she squealed, causing the goats to jump nervously.

And when he inserted a dirty, rough finger deep into her woman’s core, she grabbed at his hair, pulling his face down to the junction between her legs.

The man growled, hungrily, and she moaned as he descended on her, feeding furiously on her flesh.

He had waited a very long time for this moment and he was going to taste this shameless piece of female meat if it killed him.

And it just might.

“Eva!”

The shout came from outside the sod structure and the woman started, spurred by the sound of her name. The man’s head came up from her groin, his blue eyes narrowed.

“I thought ye said he was a-huntin’!” the man hissed.

The woman nodded wildly even as the man bolted to his feet, struggling to tie up the breeches that had been unfastened and twisted around his thighs.

“He was!” she gasped, quickly attempting to pull down her shift and cover up the breast the man had managed to expose. “Quickly, Robbie! Go from the window!”

Robert Munro was already heading in that direction.

The problem was that he was certain that he was too big to slip through the narrow ventilation window built into the sod wall.

Still, he had to try. More than that, he was angry to find himself in this situation because he’d brought his brother along to prevent an occurrence such as this.

Why hadn’t Jamison warned him?

Infuriated, he raced to the ventilation window and immediately determined that there was no way he could squeeze his bulk through it.

The call came again, a concerned brother crying for his sister, and Robert turned swiftly towards the sound only to realize the woman was standing directly behind him.

He’d ended up smacking her in the head with his elbow when he turned around, hitting her so hard that he knocked the woman unconscious.

Anger turned to disbelief when he realized what he’d done.

He bent down and scooped the woman up, trying to figure out what in the hell he was going to do now.

If Eva’s brother came in and found him with the man’s unconscious sister in his arms, his life would be worth no more than the dirt beneath his feet.

In a panic, he caught a glimpse of the ventilation window again and a thought occurred to him– Eva was small enough to fit through it.

Sweet Jesú , he didn’t want Connell the Crazed to find him with his sister!

“ Eva!”

Frantically, Robert pushed Eva right through the ventilation window, hearing her hit the ground softly on the other side.

That was all he could do for her, God forgive him.

Cast her off like so much rubbish to save his own foolish life.

Brushing his hands off, making sure there were no signs of a woman on his body, Robert very casually emerged from the sod barn.

“Are ye lookin’ fer yer sister, Connell?” he asked oh-so-casually. “I canna find the lass, either. Did she go tae the town, then?”

Connell MacKenzie’s eyes narrowed at Robert Munro, third son of George Munro, chief of Clan Munro.

Connell’s father, Somerled, was also the head of his clan.

George and Somerled weren’t exactly allies but they weren’t exactly enemies.

There was a strained peace between them at the moment.

However, that didn’t give Robert leave to trespass on MacKenzie lands.

“What are ye doin’ here?” Connell demanded. “Ye have no need tae seek out me sister.”

Robert held up his hands to show he was no threat. “Me mother has a likin’ fer Eva’s goat stock,” he said, grasping at an excused he’d long planned were it to be needed. “I’ve come here tae do me mother’s biddin’, Connell. Me mum wants one of Eva’s young male kids.”

Connell was still frowning. He wasn’t entirely sure he believed the man; that was evident.

Standing in the yard of the sod barn, they were ankle-deep in fetid mud as the gentle sea breezes blew in from the east. But the mood that had settled between them was anything but gentle.

It was increasingly dark with suspicion.

Connell took his eyes from Robert long enough to look around again for his sister.

“I’ll not have ye wanderin’ the barn,” he finally said. “Go stand by the house. I’ll find me sister.”

Robert complied, or at least pretended to.

He needed to get out of there, and quickly, so going to stand by the house wasn’t part of that plan.

All Connell had to do was walk around the side of the barn and find Eva lying in the mud, unconscious.

If that happened, Robert needed to have a head start on the man.

Therefore, he had to leave, and leave quickly.

“There’s no hurry,” Robert said, backing away across the yard. “I’ll come back another time. I’ll tell me mum she’ll have tae wait. Mayhap she will come see Eva herself.”

Stop rambling! He silently scolded himself, turning for the fence that enclosed the mucky yard. If Connell wasn’t already suspicious enough, mindless chatter would only make it worse.

Robert deftly leapt over the stone fence of the barnyard, praying he could get away cleanly and wondering all the while where Jamison was.

It wasn’t like the man not to be near, especially in a circumstance like this.

Robert had come to see the woman he loved, or at least the woman he thought he loved.

He’d been dreaming about her long enough.

That brief taste of her flesh had only served to fuel his fire.

“Wait,” Connell called after him. “Ye’re not a-leavin’ yet. I told ye tae go stand by the house.”

Robert was still walking as he turned to the man, who was beginning to follow him. “Why?” he asked. “My business is finished here. When ye find yer sister, tell her what I came fer. That way, she’ll know when me mum comes tae see her.”

“I told ye not tae go.”

“I’m not stayin’.”

After that, the chase was on.

*

Damn Robbie.

Astride a big, shaggy brown stallion, Jamison Munro was perched on the rise to the north, overlooking the MacKenzie farm where his brother, Robert, had so recently run off to.

A lass , Robbie had said enthusiastically.

A lass with the beauty of the angels . Jamison knew the lass and he also knew her brother, and he was quite certain no good could come of Robert’s lust.

Eva MacKenzie had an older brother who was called Sach , a term in Gaelic that meant madness.

Connell the Crazed was not someone Jamison had any desire to defend his brother against but Robert was, after all, his brother, and the man was lusting seriously after a woman who had sampled more than her share of men.

Eva was pretty but she wasn’t pure. At least, that was the rumor, which was probably why Robert was so determined to have a piece of her.

Little Robbie Munro liked women too much and, more than once, Jamison had been forced to protect his brother from irate fathers and uncles and brothers.

Therefore, Jamison felt a good deal of disgust as he gazed down at the MacKenzie stronghold from his position on the crag.

He could see the house and the farm for the most part, including the sod-walled barn his brother had disappeared into.

The biggest and most intelligent of the four Munro brothers, Jamison was the second son but always found himself in a position of command and control within the family.

His father depended on him and his brothers adored him.

He was feared and respected by his peers as well as men from other clans, and he was careful with his reputation.

A man’s character is all he really has , his father once told him, and Jamison stuck to that belief, which is why he didn’t like playing the lookout when Robert engaged in his mischief.

Jamison didn’t like being put in that position but if he didn’t look out for his brother, the man would surely get himself into trouble, or worse.

Had it not been for Jamison on numerous occasions, Robert would have been dead.

Damn Robbie!

And then, he saw it….

Lured from his thoughts of his devilish brother, Jamison caught sight of movement in the distant complex.

He suddenly saw a small, female body being tossed from one of the narrow barn windows– or, at least, that was what it looked like.

The woman slipped right through and fell heavily to the earth below.