Gifts of Desire (5 page)

             
S
oon they were
moving at a
brisk
pace, the sun rising bright
now
over the
tops of the hills
. 
They had left the cover of
the
trees and rode through
the center of
a wide glen,
deep green,
with
hills rising sharply on either side. 
The rugged beauty of the highlands never failed to take her breath away. 
She leaned back against
Ceann
’s iron
hard
chest, the motion of the horse rocking their bodies together in perfect unison.  The smell of
horse and leather
and
peaty
earth
kicked up by flying hooves
co
u
ld not distract her from the clean musky scent of the man she pressed against to keep from
falling
out of the saddle.
 
How could a man smell so good?
 
             

             
“We’re nearly there now”,
Ceann
muttered absently
after a few hours of riding
in silence
, though she hadn’t asked.
 
T
hey crested a hill and
as
she
looked across to the next rise her breath caught in her throat
.  She
had never been here before, but she had seen several sketches of the castle standing boldly on the
hill.  Excitement coursed through her
and she leaned forward in the saddle
:
it was Tulloch.  Malcolm had indeed left her in the hands of the very man to take
her
where she needed to go.
  Now
her work would begin
.
  A part of her could not wait to prove her worth to the people who had taken her in as a child and raised her as their own.  Another part of her, a more secret part, reveled in the prospect of a bit of adventure.   She watched the castle grow larger as they rode toward it, and she wondered anew what lay within
that was so precious.  Something so powerful and mysterious that she had been sent here at great risk to retrieve it.  And even she was not allowed to know what it was.
  At least not yet.

             
“
You
’ll
know
when
you
find it
”
, they had said
. 
“
It is the most beautiful
and precious t
hing in the world, something
you
’ll want to have above all else.
”
 

             
“And what do I do when I find it?”
she had asked.

             
“Have faith that
you
will
know
in your heart what is right.”

             
They were e
ve
r talking in riddles.  It seemed t
here was always a hi
gher reason for any answer, if she was even given an answer
that made sense
. 
More often than not she was told she already knew, or that she would learn in time.  She
had been continually
frustrated
as a child
, especially when Aunt Esme told her to go sit quietly and look within herself
for the answer to her question
.
  She had never been good at sitting quietly; there was too much else to do.
  She had always been one to follow her heart and
its
whims, and her heart wasn’t always wont to follow a path othe
r than its own.
  But this she would do, this she
wanted
to do.  To fail now would be a blow to her pride, and she did not want to disappoint the people she loved.
 

             
They rode on towards the castle stronghold, which rose up
magnificently in front
of them, its
high
tower
s
flanking the substantial keep. 
Surrounded by strong walls on three sides and a
pristine
loch on the fourth,
it looked to be impenetrable, and indeed had been for
its
many years
.  Sprawled out before the castle walls was a sizable village, with smoke wafting up from the chimneys of the rows of cottages.
 
Beyond the cottages, there were fertile fields, rich with
spring
crops.
  Even from a distance, she could smell the acrid scent of burning peat, and hear the
myriad
sounds of village life. 
A shout went up as they were spotted, “The Laird returns!”

             
Ella
sucked in a breath, the sound of which was thankfully
drowned
out by
the clatter of hooves on the hard-packed road. 
The Laird
.  She had known that
Ceann
was leading the other four men
who were with him, but she hadn’t even considered that he could be
the
Laird of Tulloch.  A
very
powerful man, then.  No wonder he carried himself like a king. 
She turned to look up at him. 

    
“You are Laird.”

    
“Aye, that I am.” 

             
She felt her stomach sink a little as she realized that the castle, and everything in it, belonged to him.  Would she have to dece
ive him?  S
teal from him?  God, she didn’t
want to.

             
As they rode
past the first of the cottages
, people paused
their work to greet the men
, and many curious eyes gazed upon
Ella
.  She saw
them exchange puzzled
glances, even as
Ceann
must have.  But he offered no explanat
ion for her presence.  He only
traded
brief
pleasantries with his people
without stopping or even slowing his pace
, then continued on to the castle gates, the horses
kicking up dust and
scattering a flock of chickens that had been scratching
industriously
in
the road.  Despite his fierce and forbidding demeanor,
Ella
coul
d feel that the people
respected their laird,
liked him, even,
which
to her
meant he
must be
a fair man and treated them well. 
She could see it in thei
r eyes; they admired him;
a less than common thing between most Lairds and their
clan
. 
Her sense of
the
character of the
man beneath the
grim
coun
tenance
was becoming clearer
.
  If the people he ruled thought him honorable, then he almost certainly was.  It would be a very difficult thing to fool so many, for so long.
 

             
They rode through the gates and entered the bailey, stopping before the stables, where
Ceann
handed her down
without a word
before dismounting himself and
passing
the reins
off
to a waiting groom. 
H
e
started
purposefully
for the keep, leaving her staring after him.
  When she made no move to follow, he stopped and turned to look
back
at her
, crossing his arms across his chest
. 
“Come on, then,
” he said gruffly, and began walking again.

             
Ella
heaved a sigh
and followed him
despite his lack of manners
.  She could hardly feel her feet touch the ground, with her mind racing and nerves suddenly
even more on
edge.  Coming here had seemed so abstract, as if she had been reading a story in one of her books, or making one up in her mind, as she so often did.  But now, she was really here at Tulloch, and it felt so
very
strange…
so different than what she had imagined.  But then, she hadn’t imagined Ceann at all.

             
T
hey went through the huge oak doors into the great hall,
and she paused to look around.  The room was grand, to be sure.  The furniture was fine, large windows let in light from every side, and rich tapestries adorned the walls. 
It was by every appearance a warm and comfortable hall, b
ut
as she paused just within the room,
she felt immediately
as if somet
hing was missing. 
It was that feeling
she had when she
kne
w
she’d
forgotten
something, but couldn’
t remember just
what
. 
There was
an emptiness
that
should
not to be there…
but
she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was. 
It was…
hollow
somehow,
wanting,
and she found herself
longing
to fill it and make it whole.
  What an odd feeling to be having just now, she mused.
 

             
Ceann
’s
powerful
voice interrupted her thoughts as he
gave orders to a waiting servant. 

             
“
Take
the lass
to the south chamber and have her
bat
hed and fed
.  When she is
ready
I will be waiting in
my
study to speak with her.”
  He looked at
Ella
, his e
xpression
as ever
hard
and unreadable,
but his eyes seemed to pierce her very heart.
  “
Don’t
keep me waiting
lass
, I am not
a patient man, and we have much to discuss.
”

             
With that he turned and left her with the maid, who
m she followed
to a staircase at one end of the
room
. 
They climbed the
narrow,
winding
stone steps to the second floor, where the maid showed her to a
door
at the en
d of the
short
hall
way
.  Opening it
, she ushered
Ella
inside, giving her a shy smile.

“I will see to having
you
r
bath brought up, and a me
al.  Until then, please make
you
r
self comfortable.”

             
Ella
nodded
and gave the girl a warm smile
, “Thank
you
,
you
’r
e
very kind.
”

             
She closed the door and looked curiously at her
new
surroundings, her heart still beating too fast, her hands still trembling just a little.
 
God!  She was really here, on her own at Tulloch! 
It was a fine room, well furnished and
cozy
.  T
he centerpiece was a large four-
post bed with red velvet curtains drawn back
to show fine white linens and plump pillows.  Beautifully woven rugs covered the floor, and colorful tapestries lined the stone walls. 
And this was the guest
solar
, no doubt
!
 
The laird was evidently not short of coin.  She went to the window, which stood open to the fresh air.  Looking out, she
couldn’t help but
admire
the lovely view of the loch below, and beyond it, the mountains stretching into the distance. 
The mountains
…
old as time
itself
.
  She loved how they seemed to enfold and protect h
er, so different from being in
the
open and flat terrain
to the south
.