Gifts of Desire (3 page)

             
T
he first of the
other warriors
reappeared, shouting to
the leader
from across the
small
clearing
.
“
Ceann
!  The tracks of three horses!  S
topp
ed
just over there,
then turned
back. 
Naught else. 
Do we go after them?”

             
Ceann
shook his head.  “No
, they could be long gone by now, we’ll not waste our
time.  We’ll take the girl.  If they want her back, they will
know
where to look.  In the meant
ime, we’ll
learn
what
her game
is
.
”

             
Ella
glared
up at him
,
offended
.  Did he
really
think her just a
lass
playing a game?  B
ut at least now she knew his name. 
Ceann
.
 
A strong name.  It suited him.  Before
she knew what he was doing
, h
e
had
urged his horse forward a little and
grabbed her
around
the waist, lifting
her
easily
,
if
a bit roughly,
onto the saddle before him
.  She tensed
instinctively
at the sudden contact
and tried to pull away, but he held her firm and settled her
between his thighs
, his arms encircling her as he
leaned forward and
picked up the reins. 

             
When she got over the shock of being hauled so effortlessly onto the back of the horse, her senses
were swiftly and unexpectedly
assaulted
with
the heat from his body, and
his warm, spicy, masculine scen
t
.  It seemed to be
making her heart beat faster and her head feel just a little dizzy.  With the first jolting movement of the horse, she fell back against him, and the feel of rock hard muscle flexing against her body made her
shudder
.  She didn’t dislike the feeling of b
eing in this
man’s arms, it felt…
exciting
, and just a little bit overwhelming
, different than anything she’d ever felt before
.
She found herself wanting to turn in the saddle and press her palms against his powerful chest
, press her
body
against him.  Had she been so sheltered in her life that she had never seen such a man as this?  True she grew up in a small hamlet, and hadn’t travelled too often, but Ceann made every other man she had ever met pale in comparison.
  

             
Ceann
pressed his lips together in a grim line
.  He didn’t really need this problem right now, but he had no choice but to bring
the lass
along. 
Finding her by herself
so deep in the woods
on this little-used trail
was not
natural, and h
e couldn’t take the risk that sh
e was more than what she seemed
.
  Had she been just a village girl, he might have let it pass, but he was almost sure she was high-born.  Her clothes
were fine, as was her speech
and the grace of her movements, the very way she held herself.
  He in fact had a distinct feeling that she was more than an ordinary lass; a feeling he couldn’t quite place.
  He looked down at her
, held snug between the front of the saddle and his thighs
.
  She had not fought him, had not even seemed frightene
d.  Truly she was a mystery; the last thing he had expected to find when he and his men had left on
a
patrol two days ago. 
The MacDonalds had been growing bolder lately, raiding not just at the MacKenzie borders, but farther in as well.  At least he would not have to worry about keeping his skills sharp. 
And he lived
now
for the thrill of battle; the overpowering rush that drown out all other
thought.  The weight of a massive claymore in his grip, the clash of metal on metal.
  The
roar of a battle cry and the
sweetness of victory…

             
But the lass
he now held before him
, she was inspiring a different lust all together, and no less intense than his lust for battle.  S
he
was
uncommonly lovely.
 
When he had seen her there in the wood, his heart had jumped, and he thought for an instant he was seeing a fae creature come to life. 
The porcelain skin of her face was accentuated by high cheekbones and
soft
feminine contours.  Her hair, a dozen shades of
blond
woven together to look like spun gold, w
as long and think and wavy, and in wild disarray from being blown about in the wind
.  His eyes fell lower. 
Her breasts were high and full, her waist slim, he
r hips curvy…
aye, she was
extraordinary
.  Such beauty was rare
;
he
was sure he
had never
seen her equal
.  His body
had
responded
to her
the moment he saw her
, flooding with heat, and
then
the pri
mal urge to claim her as a man claims a woman
, stunning him with its intensity
.  He
tried to pull
his mind forcefully back from the unwe
lcome direction of his thoughts, but failed miserably. 
He was only a man, after all, and right now he was a man holding an
incredibly
beautiful w
oman
.  It was only natural that he should
respond to her
nearness
, wasn’t it?
  H
e leaned forward
just
a little to inhale the sweet scent of her hair.  His groin
began to throb
mercilessly, and the gathering power of the impending storm only
seemed to heighten
his
restless
hunger
.  Every part of him was
tensed, humming.  God, h
e had not felt such desire in a very long time, perhaps never.
 
No, surely never. 
He wondered again who she was.
One just didn’t find comely lasses wandering in the woods
for the taking,
claiming to have no kin, and even stranger
still
,
professing
to have been abandoned by
their
escort.  He doubted any man would willingly leave such a beautiful woman behind, no matter how troublesome she wa
s. 
Even if she were the meanest of shrews, she would nevertheless be a valuable prize. 
H
e wondered
ruefully
if
perhaps
he was about to find out first-
hand what trouble she could cause.
  After all, capricious fate
did not just gift a man like him with a woman like this; he did not have that kind of luck.

             
Ceann
looked up at the sky.  The clouds were
still
darkening, the wind still rising. 
A clap of thunder sounded in the distance, then another. 
They would have to stop soon
and make camp, before the heavens opened up
.
  If it were just a matter of being soaked, he would have continued on, but the heavy rain would make the steep highland terrain into dangerous footing for the horses, and he w
ouldn’t risk them unnecessarily, especially not Fallon, his prized stallion.
 
He muttered a soft curse
under his breath. 
He had hoped to be home tonight.  H
e hadn’t counted on the bad weather, or
finding
a stray lass.
  A lass who could very well be the bait for
a trap; no, was almost surely bait of some kind or another
.
  He could think of no other explanation.
 

             
The
fierce
wind
was still rising and whistling through the glen.
The noise
made it
nearly impossible
to talk
as they rode
, so when he drew his mount to a stop, the la
ss looked up at him expectantly, holding her hair back out of her eyes as it whipped around her face.
  He swung down to the ground and turned, lifting her from the horse as if she weighed nothing at all.  She leaned into him slightly, and he thought
she must be cold.
Her gown was thin and she wore no cloak.
What was she doing out without so much as a cloak
?  In fact she
seemed to have
nothing with her at all.

             
He
signaled
to the other men
behind him that they would camp for the night, then
went
about
choosing a sheltered spot to set up a make-shift tent
. 
A bolt of lightning lit the sky, followed by a
deafening
clap of thunder. 
The horses shifted and whickered uneasily, but they
had been
hobbled and
secured to stout trees
so they c
ould not run off. 
He
instinctively
looked to the lass, expecting she would be afraid of
the
storm,
as many
women were.  B
ut she was
gazing
up at the sky,
a slight smile
curving her lips.  The look on her face was not fear, but awe.
She turned when he looked at her, and
rushed over
to help with the tent, which was flapping wildly in the wind
as he tried to secure it
.  Any moment now the rain would start.  The other men
had
since
secured their shelters and crawled inside, and
Ceann
bent to his own tent, pushing
Ella
in ahead of him j
ust before the first
heavy
drops fell. 

Chapter 2

             
The space inside
the
tent
was
small
, barely
enough room for the two of them, but at least they would
stay
dry under the oiled cloth.
 
Ceann
stretched out his
long
limbs
on the soft wool blanket that covered the earth
…
and
waited
for her reaction.  A
lady would sur
ely protest such impropriety
as sleeping in close quarters with a man
,
especially one who was a stranger to her,
but he could hardly put her in a tent by herself.  She could run off in the night, or worse
than that
, if she really did mean them harm. 
Although she would be hard-pressed to outwit his well trained men. 
No, she would have to stay here where he could keep an eye on her.  He remembered too well all of the tales
passed down
through generations
of great lairds
or
warriors
brought low by the treachery of a bea
utiful woman.
They were just tales, aye, but most tales held a grain of truth
somewhere
. 
He looked
again
at the lass beside him,
Ella
, if that was her real name. 
But she did not seem ready to throw a fit at the circumstances she found herself in.  She was
propped
on her elbows, using her fingers to
try to
untangle her wind-blown hair.  When she saw him looking at her, she gave him a little smile. 
Her full lips curved up at the corners, and in the dim light, he thought he could see the shadow of a dimple on her right cheek. 
His heart pounded a little faster, and he stared at her,
still
uneasy with the
intense
way his body reacted.  He muttered an oath
under his breath
and looked away. 
After a moment, he reached into his bag and took out two oatcakes, handing one to her.  She
accepted it
with a
little
smile
and he watched he
r eat
.