Page 5 of The Highlander’s Virgin Nun (Highlanders’ Feisty Brides #2)

CHAPTER FIVE

H is sister and his man-at-arms waited to greet him. They must have been looking out for him, expecting his return an hour earlier. Not bad for a man who had battled four assassins and acquired a bride.

Caelan steered his horse through the gates and pulled to a halt at their side.

“By Christ, lad, what’s happened to ye?” Jayden asked, with both happiness and confusion in his expression.

Caelan swung his leg behind him and over his horse, landing firmly on the ground. He offered Rosaline his hand, and once she had modestly swung her leg while holding her skirts, he lifted her down with a firm arm around the waist.

After an afternoon’s ride in such close proximity, he felt familiar with her body, and his hands itched to reach for more of it. Nevertheless, he restrained himself.

“Are ye all right, Caelan?” his sister asked.

He touched his hand to his face and realized that the blood of his opponents was still crusted on his skin and clothes. He must have looked like a savage to Rosaline as she emerged from the woods. He half wondered how she’d trusted him.

“Another attack, but nay better than the last,” he explained.

“And who is this bonnie lass?” Alexandra enquired further, at least satisfied that her brother was safe for now.

“Why, she is me savior,” he declared, holding her hand out as if to prompt a curtsy. While there was sarcasm in his tone and expression, Rosaline smiled politely and awkwardly. “And me new bride.”

Rosaline turned her face towards him instantly, and he felt her hand tense. He gave her a reassuring half-smile before dropping her hand and moving to greet his sister.

“Excuse me?” Alexandra sputtered. “Caelan, what’s goin’ on?”

“Dinnae fret. She shouted out when an attacker sneaked up behind me while the other three fought me from the front,” he explained as he pulled his horse to a nearby post and secured it there, before grabbing his bags. “She needed to leave where she was comin’ from, and I needed someone to join me where I was goin’. It’s that simple.”

His explanation would have to suffice for now, although he knew Rosaline would be reading into it as much as she could. In the short time he had known her, he had seen how much she sought and devoured information. She was investigating the situation.

His friend and his sister looked equally confused.

“Greetings. I’m Alexandra.” His sister introduced herself to Rosaline, seeing the confusion on her face, too, and feeling sorry for her.

She had always been a sympathetic soul, and she would be glad to have another woman around.

“Rosaline,” Rosaline replied sheepishly, but with a soft smile.

“Alexandra, if ye could take Rosaline to one of the empty rooms in me wing and get her settled please, that would be grand.”

“I dinnae need much,” Rosaline immediately protested, clearly careful not to take too much from a man she had yet to fully trust.

Clever, but there was no need.

“Hush now.” Caelan went to her and placed a hand on the small of her back, gently nudging her towards Alexandra. “Be a good lass and do as ye’re told. Follow me sister.” He nodded at Alexandra to take her away.

“Come, Rosaline,” Alexandra urged with a reassuring smile and a nod, and his bride-to-be followed his sister into the castle.

Caelan watched for a moment as she tilted her head up and took in the high ceilings and lavish interior. He could not get close to her, that much he knew, but he could offer her a happier life than the one she had left behind.

“Caelan, are ye hurt?” Jayden followed him into the castle, marching in the direction of Caelan’s study.

“Nay, I’m fine. Although me best boots took a hit. Is the cobbler around today?”

“Yer boots… Ye have plenty of boots, Me Laird. I’m askin’ about yer health. Were ye wounded?”

“Nay, Jayden. I’m fine, as I said. Although Rosaline’s ankle is injured. We’ll have to get it cleaned and dressed.”

“Caelan,” Jayden protested, slamming the study door behind him.

Caelan turned around, a little irritated but not surprised by his friend’s mood.

“What the hell happened?”

Caelan moved to his chair and plopped down. He kicked his feet up onto his desk to get a closer look at his boots. The toe of the right boot was entirely ripped. He doubted they could be repaired.

Frustrating.

He sighed and leaned back to recount the events to his man-at-arms.

“I was ridin’ back through the Friar’s woods and I stopped at a loch for water. I was drinkin’ when I heard footsteps rush after me. I had me sword on me as always and turned and swung immediately. They were amateurs like the rest of them—they had nay chance.”

“Did ye get any information? Surely this time we got a name or a clan. Somethin’.”

“Nay, nothin’. I injured three of them, and when the fourth attacked, he angered me. I had to kill him. They threatened more attacks, but once I had the other three injured and pinned, they pulled the same trick.”

“The poison vials again?” Jayden slammed his fists on the desk, and Caelan saw his knuckles turn white. He was furious.

“Aye, exactly the same.”

“Why didnae ye stop them—at least one?”

“Ye think I danae want this to end? Ye think I am nae tryin’ hard enough?” Caelan yelled before taking a breath to try to calm himself. “I just fought off four men on me own, Jayden. I cannae control everythin’.”

Jayden paced the room, lifting his hand to his forehead and massaging his temples. “Where are they comin’ from?” he muttered.

But Caelan knew this was not a question that required an answer. If either of them knew, their problem would have been solved long ago.

“And the lass. What is she doin’ here?” Jayden probed, angered now by the situation and misdirecting that fury at Rosaline.

“I was battlin’ the first three when a voice from the trees warned me that there was someone behind me. When I turned, he was only a few paces away. I hadnae heard him at all. If she hadnae shouted, I would have at least caught a serious injury.”

Sweat beaded on Jayden’s brow, and he paced back towards Caelan’s desk, trying to gather his thoughts.

“And so for that, ye ask her to marry ye?”

“We made a deal.”

Jayden’s eyes narrowed. “What deal, Caelan?”

“She was on the run…” Caelan let the words hang in the air for a moment, just to stir more panic inside Jayden. He found it humorous.

Jayden fed right into it, his gaze flicking up, and his brow creasing in anger.

“From nuns.”

“What? Caelan, hurry up and explain.”

“All right, all right.” Caelan sat up, freeing Jayden of his torment. “She had been held in the nearby convent, I think. There were women chasin’ after her, and she was hidin’. I dinnae ken the details, but she seemed very desperate to go anywhere but back to where she came from. We both ken I need an heir, so I offered to save her from them if she would be me bride.”

Jayden finally sat in the chair opposite the desk, relieved to have the full story at last, but still unsatisfied.

“Caelan, ye ken ye can have an heir in a much easier way. Ye dinnae need to pick a woman out of the forest. Who kens why she was even on the run in the first place?”

“I’m nae goin’ to live long, Jayden—ye ken that. All of the women here who would have me would fall in love, and me death would break their hearts. This lass doesnae ken me from Adam, and she doesnae need to get to ken me. We will provide her with a safe and warm home, and she will give me an heir and nae be heartbroken when I’m eventually killed. She will stay here to raise the bairn because she hates where she has come from so much, and she will be loyal to us for savin’ her.”

Jayden dropped his head into his hands again, shaking it.

“It’s a nae bad plan, admit it,” Caelan prompted.

“Me plan is to keep ye alive as long as I can, Caelan, nae to plan for yer death. And a complete stranger movin’ into yer castle, into yer wing , sounds like a threat to me.”

Caelan shook his head. Jayden was missing the point.

“She’s already passed the ultimate test, Jayden,” he explained.

Jayden looked back up at him.

“If she wanted me dead, she could have already had me dead. Instead, she chose to save me. She’s like the feminine version of ye.” Caelan laughed.

“That’s all well and good, Caelan, but she might decide she wants ye dead all of a sudden. And then she’ll have direct access.”

A point he hadn’t considered, he had to admit.

“Well, I’ll just have to stay on her good side then.” He shrugged. “This clan needs an heir, Jayden. It cannae be passed on to someone cruel. We have to keep Rosaline safe until she can provide me with an heir— and after. The child willnae be raised without both parents. Ye are to protect her too now, Jayden. Understand?”

Jayden stood up. His brow smoothed over, but there was no hint of softness on his face. “I understand, and I’ll obey, but I dinnae agree.”

“That’s enough for me. Now, let’s go find the cobbler.”