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Colin watched the man play a few notes. “It’s called a lute. It’s been brought over from England.” In a low voice to Ellie, he added, “Lutes are very new here. In fact, there’s only a couple in all of Ireland at the moment. Most people here have never seen one.”

Gwen clasped arms with Ellie and beamed. “This is so unbelievable. We’re at a faire, Ellie. A real one, not the ones where we dress up and pretend. A real one! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to attend a Ren Faire ever again!”

Ellie patted her arm sympathetically. “I’m sure you will, Gwennie. Perhaps Claire will let you keep a gown or two for just such an occasion.”

“A girl can dream.”

The music started without warning, and Ellie became swept up in the spectacle before her.

Brianagh stepped into the ring, then began to dance a set of complicated steps that brought her forward, then back, then forward again.

Her upper body and arms remained still, and her fists held the fabric of her dress up from the ground so her slippered feet were visible.

The steps were quick, almost what Ellie imagined a jig to look like, and the crowd watched in a hushed, expectant silence.

The music swelled, then Nioclas joined her, matching her footwork with his own. His booted feet made muted thuds on the dirt, keeping time with the lilting melody of the musicians. Their feet became somehow even faster as the fiddler began a rapid-fire solo.

“Oh my God,” Gwen whispered, awed. “They’re Irish step dancing!”

Colin laughed. “Yes!” His voice was hushed as he added, “This is called a carole. Once this dance is complete, other dancers will join the laird and lady, and begin a song. Once they do, we will dance around them in a large circle. We’re to call back the next line in the song, and so it’ll go, until they light the bonfire. ”

After another moment of frenetic, perfectly timed footwork, the music halted. Bri and Nioclas took their bows, then fifteen dancers joined them.

“Why so many?” Ellie whispered, her eyes never leaving them as they lined up in three rows.

“Seventeen is a mystical number,” Claire answered, her arm linked through Gwen’s. “Irish legends say that magic happens either seventeen days or seventeen years after an event celebrating the gods.”

“Are we celebrating the gods? ”

Claire shrugged. “Depends on who you ask. Many in our village practice the Old Ways. But there are many clansmen who claim Christianity, too. I think of this as a blend of those two ways of life.”

The music started up again, the harp note floating out to a reverent crowd. As one, the dancers moved forward, then sang a line in Gaelic.

The crowd sang a line back, and, clasping hands, danced as one to the left until the line was finished.

When the people stopped moving, the dancers repeated their dance, singing another line, and this time, the people danced to the right as they sang the answer back.

On it went, until Ellie was dizzy and the people were gasping with laughter and flushed with joy.

Then, someone brought a torch to Nioclas, and he took it, holding it high above his head.

The clan went wild. They cheered and screamed and whistled as they created a makeshift aisle for him to pass through. Ellie glanced through the cleared space and saw that a large pile of wood had been stacked during the dancing, and that it sat ready to be lit.

Colin followed Bri and Nioclas, and Claire, Ellie, and Gwen followed him. They joined Brianagh’s other children, and for the first time Ellie got a glimpse of the powerful family all together as they stood at the bonfire’s edge.

“The eldest there is Rian,” Colin murmured to her and Gwen.

“He’s usually off training and politicking for his father, and just recently returned home.

He’s considered a braw lad, and well-respected at his age of twenty-four.

Then there’s Austin, who’s twenty-one. He usually acts as the villagers’ first counsel in land matters.

He is, however, frequently away with Rian, traveling as a member of his guard.

And, of course, young Aidan, whom you’ve met.

Bri and Nick named him after the very same Aidan you met back home; suffice it to say that they never thought they’d see him again.

Aidan’s the youngest, at just fifteen. ”

“That’s a hell of a lot of natural childbirths,” Gwen muttered, forcing a bark of laughter from Colin.

“Who said they were without medication?” James asked innocently, joining them. “I hope you’re all having as much fun as I am.” He took a large bite out of the mutton in his hand.

The crowd held its collective breath as Nioclas, still holding the lit torch above his head, slowly brought it down in a sweeping arc. He touched it to the kindling, and the resulting flame held steady as he removed the torch.

If Ellie thought the clan had gone wild before, that had been nothing compared to the level of crazy it went when Nioclas then tossed the torch into the center of the wood.

“Welcome to the night of eternal light,” Colin murmured low in Ellie’s ear.

The anticipation of something indefinable flowed through her veins, and Ellie couldn’t help but grin up at him.

As dusk fell, James and Colin kept a close eye on their charges, though each woman had a number of guards assigned to her. Gwen and Claire danced with the villagers in the firelight, but Ellie hung back, content to enjoy the show from a distance.

“I’ll miss her. Claire,” James clarified. He watched the women break into laughter, and his mouth quirked up. “She has so much energy and light. I hope her husband treats her well.”

“Nioclas will make sure of that,” Colin assured him. He slapped a hand to his back. “She’s a wonderful young woman. She’ll choose wisely.”

“I hope she does.” Reilly appeared behind the two men. He took in the scene before conceding, “But no matter what happens, we mustn’t interfere. ”

Colin watched her dance freely, her arms open wide as she spun in circles as a child would. Her dark hair, left loose, spun out from behind her as she lifted her face to the sky, joy written all over her face.

Colin adored Claire. She was the little sister he never had, and while she fought incessantly with Reilly, she rarely questioned Colin. Perhaps it was due to the unfailing support he always gave her, or maybe it was that she knew she could trust him with her life.

He would—and had—killed to keep her safe.

He would give his life for her, and not only because she was important to the O’Rourke line.

She was his family. He held her in his arms when she was a day old.

When she was four and kidnapped from her nanny, he plucked her from an enemy campfire, tucking her safely against him as he rode like lightning to safety.

When she was eleven, he caught her as she fell from a tree.

The list went on. And as she was eighteen now, he prayed that her days of needing rescuing were drawing to a close.

Despite her outer happiness, she trusted no one outside of her small circle.

She didn’t even trust her guards, as they’d failed her time and again.

Despite new guards, despite her choosing her guards, she still trusted only a few men.

He pitied the fight her future husband would have in wooing her.

The child he’d known was quite suddenly a woman, and he tried to rub out the pang in his chest. “This is it, isn’t it? Claire has to choose a husband within the next year. She’ll never be this carefree again.”

“Being the lady of a castle is no easy task, but she’s been preparing for it the whole of her life.

She’ll make do, lads.” Reilly clapped a heavy hand on Colin’s shoulder.

“Tomorrow, we go home. I’m clear to return as well, for no harm has come to Claire.

Best to keep a close eye on her tonight, though, just in case; I’ve a powerful need to sleep on a true mattress. ”

Colin stopped listening to them when he saw the glow of smaller fires dotting the outlying streets of the village. With a feeling of nostalgia, he left the men behind and approached Ellie.

“Care to dance, lass?”

She spun around at his low voice, her face instantly shuttering in the firelight.

She shook her head, then waved towards Claire and Gwen.

“No, thank you. Those two are like peas in a pod. Outgoing, untroubled, at ease in a crowd. I don’t mind being a little bit different.

I like to watch them enjoy themselves. It gives me joy. ”

Gwen let out a peal of laughter, and Claire grabbed her hands. They danced in a circle with other clanswomen, their faces flushed.

Colin looked back at Ellie, whose entire being gave off guarded vibes. He couldn’t blame her; after his behavior on the battlements, then his subsequent avoidance of her, he’d be guarded around himself, too.

He took a deep breath, then admitted, “I feel the same way.”

“But you’re good around other people,” Ellie immediately protested. “I’m always worrying about what I should say, or how the other person is going to react, or all the things that could go wrong. You’re so easygoing.”

Colin shook his head. “I struggle with it sometimes. A lot of times.”

“But—” she began.

He stayed her with a touch on her arm, and he wasn’t immune to the spark between them. She carefully pulled her arm away, her face showing no emotion, but her self-preservation tactic was highly effective. He forced himself to continue.

“I was pushed out of my comfort zone when Bri left the entirety of Celtic Connections to me. Before that, I was a matchmaker. She called me a VP, but at the core of it, she saw that I worked best one-on-one. When our matches started to marry—and tell others about us—she started doing these mixers. I hated them. I still do. All that pretentious mingling and pretending…that’s not me.

It can be very superficial with that many people, each trying to outwit or out-smile the next person.

It becomes tiring, and at the end of it, all I want to do is go home, kick off my Docs, and binge-watch some mindless TV. ”

She glanced down at his leather boots and a smile teased her lips. “Ah. I see you do indeed own a different kind of footwear.”

He smiled ruefully. “See? I told you they weren’t work-appropriate.”

“You remember so many details,” Ellie noted. “When we had Reginald’s mixer, you remembered something about each woman, like you’d had hours of conversation with her.”

“Practice. Choose one or two things about each person, review that person’s file before the event, and fake it until I make it.

It’s how I made it through the mixers when I was a matchmaker.

Now that I’ve stepped back from that role, I usually don’t have to attend them, unless the client pays extra for me to be there. Typically I delegate that out.”

“The benefit of being the boss,” she murmured.

“Absolutely. During your store book signings, who is out with the audience, encouraging the crowd to ask questions?”

“Usually Norman,” she conceded. “I agree. Being the boss is pretty amazing.”

“Especially for people like us. I’m comfortable around my family. And I’m only comfortable around new people when I’m introduced one-on-one. If I can avoid mixers and news conferences, I’m happiest.”

“I hear you,” she muttered, making him chuckle. She smiled at Gwen’s loud laughter, and Colin felt it all the way to his soul.

Ellie needed someone who could give her all the things she wanted out of life. He wasn’t relationship material; he bounced from place to place and time to time so much, even he lost track of it sometimes. He knew what he wanted to do, but he also knew what he should do.

And both options scared the daylights of out him.