“He had two blades,” Keenan said (22 page)

Mari squeezed her hand. “Think daughter, were his words given while desire numbed his mind? Would he have said just about anything to touch you?”

Serena looked down at her lap, her face so hot it should have melted. All she could do was nod.

“A man in such a state can barely remember his words let alone intend to honor them,” Mari said gently. Her duy ran a hand down her hair, and Serena tried hard to forget the feel of Keenan’s fingers working the tangles out.

“Àngelas, just consider Damin Yallow. Meet him. Give him a chance.” Mari cupped her cheek and Serena looked up into her duy’s bright eyes. “I want you to be loved. I want you to have a life next to a man who is worthy of you and your gift, who can give you children of your own to love. That is all a mother wants for her child.”

Serena’s words were so soft she almost couldn’t hear them herself. “Keenan could give me those things.”

“Your Highlander speaks of curses and death, not love and children.”

Her duy’s words were true, painfully so. When had she heard words of love from Keenan? When had he ever talked of a future? He didn’t even think he would father children of his own. He actually believed that she should marry his brother.

Serena sniffed back the tears that wet her vision and nodded. “I will consider, Duy.”

****

“Here Keenan,” Brodick said, handing him a tankard of ale. “It’s a celebration after all.” Brodick ran his hand down his beard, pulling slightly as he eyed the small clusters of Rom.

“If ye keep tugging on that thing, it will fall off,” Gavin said to him and also turned to scout the area.

The Faw tribe celebrated the news of William and Serena and the gift of gold. King Will sat near a lantern counting the contents of the chest. He was on his third count when Keenan sent Gavin over to make sure the man didn’t see a problem.

Gavin walked back over to Keenan moments later, shaking his head slightly. “Na’ a problem. I just doona think the man’s held so much gold before.” Gavin turned towards a boisterous knife throwing game.

“He should put that out of sight,” Thomas said cynically, looking around.

“I think the people here are all Faw,” Ewan murmured, “not likely to steal their own money.” Ewan smiled at one of the young Faw women. “Perhaps I should mingle with the natives a bit, to better understand their customs,” he said with a wink, and sauntered off in the direction of the colorfully dressed woman.

Thomas walked over from the knife toss game. “Where’s Ewan off to?”

“To find a Romany wench to warm his pallet tonight,” Brodick grumbled and looked around. “Not many of them out now, mostly just the men. Where did they take Serena?”

Keenan didn’t move his eyes from the fire as he took a long pull off his drink. “She’s still in that wagon over there,” he pointed toward the wagon he had seen Mari pull her into an hour ago.

Several musicians came forward on the outskirts of the fire glow and began to play a familiar rhythm. Keenan’s eyes moved to the wagon door. Would she dance then? King Will had asked her to. Keenan’s body grew taut at the thought of watching Serena’s body moving around the bonfire just like that first night weeks ago.

“That’s a fine melody they’re playing,” Brodick said. “Perhaps a show is about to begin.”

The door remained shut. Would she come out? Keenan’s eyes stared into the shadows. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw two riders approach King Will.

“Who’s that?” Brodick asked suspiciously.

“I ken that old man should put his coins away,” Gavin said and moved his hand to the hilt of his sword.

Keenan watched two men dismount and greet King Will with formal bows. One quick glance told him Serena’s door was still closed. He turned back to watch King Will motion them to sit down. Both visitors were dark of complexion, much like the entire Faw tribe, except Serena. They must be Romany, perhaps from a neighboring tribe.

The older man did most of the talking while the younger man surveyed the area. He looked strong, could possibly make a good warrior. His eyes were piercing, searching. As he moved from one end of the lit camp to another, he finally came to Keenan. The two men locked gazes. Keenan felt the man weigh him, judge his capabilities. Keenan shifted his weight into a battle stance, legs apart, arms at his side, ready to move toward his weapons. He moved with the natural reaction of a warrior. Something had triggered it. Was the visiting Rom a threat?

The man spoke without looking away, and King Will glanced over at Keenan. Keenan nodded once to the Faw patriarch. King Will nodded back and then went on talking to the visitors.

“Thomas,” Keenan said evenly, “find out who they are. Quietly.” Thomas moved off into the opposite direction. He would skirt the area and try to hear the conversation.

The constant murmur of the small crowd changed, hushed, as the rhythm of the music turned more hypnotic, like undulating waves.

“Bloody, look at that,” Gavin said in awe, and Keenan turned to see Serena break into the circle of firelight. She wore the same type of gypsy dress she had worn the night he’d met her, but this one shimmered in a shade of blue turned nearly purple by the red glare of the fire. She stretched her arms over her head, bare except for her gloves. The blue silk wrapped around her waist accentuating her trimness and the womanly flare of her hips. The bodice was cut low enough to see her collarbone but not her cleavage. The way the material hugged her breasts was even more enticing than the low necklines that were in courtly fashion.

Her red hair hung in waves, free to dance around her hips as she moved with the waves of music. Her eyes were half closed like the other time he had watched her. Without conscious thought, Keenan moved forward to stand with the others around the perimeter. Would she feel his presence, the void she had felt the first time? The outline of his scar tightened slightly as he remembered how she had run her fingers down it to read him. He rubbed his jaw.

Keenan watched her move, her hips and arms, her torso, her feet dressed in leather slippers. Serena mimicked the waves of flame in time to the melody that surrounded them. He heard the tinkling of the small bells tied to a scarf around her tilting hips. As she disappeared on the other side of the fire, Keenan noticed that Gavin and Brodick stood next to him, their mouths open like fish thrown ashore. Thomas stood across the fire with much the same expression.

“Sweet Lord Almighty, our Serena can dance,” Brodick said.

“Uh huh,” Gavin answered, the same dim-witted expression marking his face. Keenan frowned as he noticed the appreciative looks of the men around him. Keenan’s hands clenched into tight fists. They were watching Keenan’s woman. He wet his lips remembering the kiss in the cave while the unnatural storm raged.

The younger Rom visitor stepped forward and caught her hand. No one stopped him. Fury, from watching the men ogle Serena, fed into his need to protect her. Keenan shouldered his way quickly through the onlookers. With one quick grasp of the man’s hand, Keenan flipped his arm off of Serena.

“Doona touch her,” Keenan warned.

The man looked mildly amused but Keenan saw the restrained anger in his eyes. Despite his coloring, he would fit in nicely with the snakes at court.

“I was introducing myself to King Will’s daughter.”

“She was in the middle of her dance.”

The man smiled. “I could hardly help myself.” Then the man said something in Romany, something that made Serena look down at her shoes. Had he offended her?

“I doona speak yer tongue.” Keenan began to pull his long sword from the scabbard across his back until the soft touch of Serena’s hand on his arm stopped him.

“He didn’t offend me, Keenan.”

Mari and King Will stepped up next to the visitor. Keenan noticed that Brodick and Gavin flanked him. Thomas stood across, his hand on his sword as well. No one spoke for a long moment as everyone assessed one another.

Finally Serena spoke. “Keenan Maclean of Kylkern, this is Damin Yallow of the Yallow Romany tribe. He is here,” she stopped as everyone looked at her. “He’s here on family business.”

“Ye ken this man?” Keenan wanted to run the man through, wanted to face him across a bloody moor, wanted to run him into the ground.

Damin Yallow’s voice was smooth as he spoke in the lyrical Romany language.

“In my land, it is rude to speak in a language that isna’ understood by everyone present.”

Damin turned his gaze away from Serena to lock with Keenan. Controlled annoyance lurked there. “Forgive me. My native language flows more easily from me.”

“So what are you?” Damin asked Keenan and smiled. “I mean, I know who you are, Keenan Maclean of Kylkern, but what are you to the Faw tribe?” He inclined his head to Serena. “What are you to Serena Faw?”

Bloody hell, what was he? Keenan’s eyes rose directly to Thomas’s pinched face. What could he say? What was he to Serena? Was he her lover or her soon to be brother? The last one turned his stomach so he threw it out immediately. Was he her soul mate then? Time stood still as he warred with the words in his mind.

“I,” he began strong and hesitated. “I helped to save William Faw from the false accusation of murderer.”

“Serena’s brother,” Mari supplied to Damin.

Damin nodded. “So you are a friend,” he said stressing the title. “A friend to the Faw Tribe. A friend to Serena.”

He was so much more than that. But what could he say here in front of his men, in front of her family? Did they know that he had claimed her? Keenan looked at Serena. She watched him, her eyes glassed over with some emotion he couldn’t quite understand. She almost seemed to plead with him. But what did she want him to do?

Keenan felt himself nod. “Aye, I am a friend and protector.”

Mari seemed to release her breath as she took Serena’s arm. “Yes, and a very fine protector at that. He’s brought my daughter home to us and has my son safely up in his brother’s castle.”

“My thanks to you, then,” Damin Yallow said. His eyes followed Serena as Mari turned her toward the wagons.

“Good eve, men,” Mari called out. Serena looked back at Keenan over her bare shoulder. Were those tears in her eyes? Keenan’s chest clenched so tight he thought he might double over. What had just happened? All the Romany filtered away leaving him with his men.

Ewan walked over from the wagons, a scowl on his face.

“Rom women only let their husbands touch them,” Ewan grumbled at the dumbstruck Macleans. “What’s going on here?”

Thomas spoke first. “They only spoke in Rom over there. I couldn’t understand a word. They may have been discussing a couple of milk cows if I understood anything.”

“I doona like this,” Brodick said low.

Gavin frowned fiercely. “Why do I feel like we were just in a battle?”

Keenan slammed his fist into his other palm.
Crack
. “Because we bloody hell were. And I’m fairly certain that I just lost.”

****

Serena felt the hollowness that a shadow must feel if it had its own consciousness. Her will left her as Mari pulled her along behind her toward a new wagon.

“Àngelas, you will sleep here tonight.” She indicated the door and smiled. “It is nice inside, comfortable. Look,” Mari said indicating the edges along the wagon, “good sturdy holds for garden boxes. You can have your own.”

Serena nodded and ran her hand over the side of the wagon. “My own gardens,” she trailed off then turned to Mari. “Wouldn’t it be nice, though, to plant seeds in the ground?” Serena indicated the ground around them. Mari looked confused. “There is so much more space.”

“But you would leave them behind when the camp moved.”

Serena smiled slightly. “Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to move, but to settle and raise vegetables on the land where you live?”

Mari shook her head. “Àngelas, that’s not our way. We move on and take what’s ours with us.”

Serena couldn’t explain to her duy her newly recognized feelings. She was only beginning to realize them herself. Perhaps it was all the travel in the last weeks, perhaps it was the nights of luxury in soft, large beds. But the thought of moving on once again with her tribe or any tribe, made Serena’s head ache.

“Of course,” Serena said and turned back to the wagon. “It looks sturdy enough to hold many garden boxes.”

Silence sat between them until Mari’s voice broke into Serena’s thoughts. “You will be happy.”

Serena turned to her, realizing that her duy had tears in her eyes despite the smile. Serena had been so wrapped up in her own torment that she almost missed the deep sadness of loss underscoring Mari’s hope for her future. Her duy had just found her again, and now she was urging her to move away.

Serena looked at her. “It is still my decision.”

Mari nodded and let go of Serena’s arm. “Of course. But please, consider your future.” Mari smoothed one of Serena’s curls that lay along her shoulder. “He’s quite handsome.”

Serena nodded. “I will consider.” Mari seemed satisfied and left Serena standing there in the darkness, its fresh spring smell calming her. Calming her until she heard the sharp snap of a stick somewhere off to the right behind the wagon. Keenan?

Damin Yallow stepped from behind a tree. His hands were in the pockets of his coat, his broad shoulders seemed stiff up around his neck. She sensed his nervousness. Luckily he couldn’t sense her disappointment for it was so strong she could taste its bitterness on her tongue.