Highland Legends 04 - Captive Highlander (23 page)

“Of course,” Katie said.

Asilinn smiled. “Good, I will
make the necessary preparations. I will come to you after Ian has left.”

“Thank you,” Katie murmured.

“Dinna thank me yet, I am not
sure how all this will unfold.” Asilinn smiled. “But I would give you a few
words of advice.”

“What?”

“Enjoy your last moments with Ian
in case things do not go the way we intend.”

The warning echoed in Katie’s
ears as she watched the Enchantress of Dunbocan walk from the great hall.

Chapter 29

Rannoch prowled the halls of
Duntaigh Castle. Brianna occupied his mind. All night he dreamed of the things
he would do to her when he took her innocence. Sorcha’s elixir would assure her
willingness to bend to his every dark desire. When the pain came, she might
find the spirit to fight him. Either way, he would take her until he got her
with child. His offspring issued from her loins would do much to quell any
dissent over his ownership of Duntaigh Castle and its surrounds. He groaned and
held his tarse as the very thought made him hard, but the wedding vows would
come first. No child of his would ever be a bastard. He knew too well what that
life entailed.

He heard fast footsteps in the
hallway ahead. Turning the corner, he ran into Brianna. “Where are you off to
in such a hurry?”

“I am going to tell father about
our wedding.” She blushed. “I dinna think he understands what we say to him,
but I would have him ken how well you are taking care of me and tell him of our
plans.”

He ran his hand lightly up her
arm and felt her tremble. “I trust you wilna go in to any details of the things
that have transpired between us.”

Her face turned scarlet. “Rowan,
these things are only between us.”

In past days, Jamie and Tessa
seemed ever in their father’s chamber. Perchance when Sorcha cut back on the
poison, she freed Brian Blackburn from his prison. Rannoch stroked Brianna’s
flushed cheek. “I would go with you to see your father,” he said. “We will tell
him of our upcoming wedding together.”

Brianna’s expression reminded him
of a doe he surprised in the woods. Her eyes grew wide with a glaze of panic.
He could sense her heart pounding. “Rowan, I… I….”

Leaning down, he kissed the pulse
point of her neck, felt the throbbing rhythm, and tasted her fear. “Brianna,
you are to be mine. It is only right that I should go to your father. In truth,
I should have done this before I proposed. With his infirmity, I had not
thought of it.” Stroking her hair, he kissed her lips lightly. “Dinna be
afraid. I will make your father see why we should marry.”

“This is hard for me. Even if he
doesna understand, I must tell him how you protect us all when he is unable.”
She paused and looked up at Rowan with tear-rimmed eyes. “If he hears me, he
may not be happy for us.” She placed a shaky hand on his chest. “I beg you. Let
me see him alone first. His eyes tell the tale of how he feels. If he doesna
desire our union, I would spare you the hurt of seeing his displeasure.”

Rannoch struggled not to laugh.
Brianna thought of his feelings. She did not wish him to be insulted if her
father reacted badly. How entertaining her innocence was. He took both her
hands. “I am a grown man, a warrior of some prowess. I desire your father’s
agreement, but if he doesna give his blessing, I will marry you anyway.” He
kissed her hand. “I could never have taken such liberties as we have shared if
you were not to be mine.” With a frown, he let go of her. “I fear he wilna
understand anyway. He is very ill.”

“Aye, it is true,” Brianna
agreed.

“So I may come with you?”

She nodded and took his arm. “Let
us go together.” Brianna smiled up at him. “I will find a way to soothe you if
my father insults you by not giving his blessing.”

“I dinna ken how I lived so long
without you,” he told her.

She gave him a shy smile. “Nor I
you, Milord,” she said. Brianna paused and cleared her throat. “I hope you
wilna have need of Sorcha once we are wed. I would have you all to myself.”

He forced his body not to react,
held himself in check, and became the steel sword, but sheathed. All the while
visions of what he would do to her danced through his brain exciting him in a
way nothing had before. “I am beginning to think that is so, love,” he said
slowly, “As long as you bend to my will.”

Her face lit. “I am so glad,
Rowan,” she babbled.

If only she knew what she
invited. He would get her well acquainted with what he expected on their
wedding night.

They stood together outside her
father’s chamber. He would see exactly how much Brian Blackburn understood.
“Time to go in,” he said. “Are you afraid?”

“Not with you at my side.” She
opened the door.

Sorcha stood by the bed giving
Brian Blackburn his medicine. She looked surprised to see Rannoch with Brianna.
“Milord, what can I do for you?” she asked.

Rannoch felt Brianna’s hand
tighten on his arm. “Please leave us with Laird Blackburn. We have some things
of great import to discuss.”

“Perchance I could help,” Sorcha
offered.

“Nay, Sorcha, we dinna need your
help. Brianna and I wish to talk to her father alone.”

“Milord, he is getting better.
Still I canna say for certain he will grasp your meaning.”

Rannoch shot her a stern gaze.
“Leave us.”

She nodded and hurried out of the
room. Brianna squeezed his arm. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Sorcha always closes the
curtains. Allow me to get a little light in here,” Rannoch said stepping away
from Brianna and pulling back the drapes. Better light would allow him to see
Brian’s expressions more clearly.

The chamber did not have the same
air about it. Something seemed different. Rannoch could not determine what. The
same orderly containers of medicines sat in one corner. Then it struck him. The
stench of illness no longer lingered in the chamber. Perchance Sorcha cut back
the dose too much.

Brian Blackburn still lay in his
opulent bedding. His eyes were open and Brianna already approached her father.
Rannoch walked up behind her and placed his hand on the middle of her back. Did
he imagine it, or did Brian recoil when Rannoch touched her? He would see soon
enough. Rannoch rubbed his hand up and down until Brianna gazed at him and
smiled.

“Should I tell father, or will
you?” she asked.

“I will tell him, love,” he said
kissing her hair. He stared straight into Blackburn’s eyes. Was there a bit of
fire there? “Brianna and I wish to marry, Laird. We ask for your blessing.”

Brian’s eyes locked on Rannoch.

“Father, I love Rowan,” Brianna
cut in. “Katie doesna wish to marry him and he has asked me to be his wife in
her stead.” She stroked her father’s face. “Rowan can protect us and see to our
lands until you recover or Jamie gets old enough to handle things himself.”

Blackburn lay motionless in the
bedding breathing hard. “Laird, I am sorry, but I dinna ken if you approve or
not,” Rannoch said.

Brian struggled to speak.
“W-w-when?” he finally spat.

Again Rannoch’s bride-to-be’s
face lit with a smile. “As soon as we can, Father,” she said.

Rannoch took Brianna’s hand.
“Love, let me speak with your father alone so that he may feel free to tell me
of this concerns. I will come and find you when I am done.”

“But… Rowan….”

“Please, Brianna,” Rannoch said.
“Sometimes men must talk alone when things are of such great import.”

“All right,” she agreed finally.
Kissing her father, she fled the room.

Crossing his arms over his chest,
Rannoch looked down at his enemy. “You should be glad I wish to marry her,
Laird,” he said. “Brianna is an impetuous girl. She tempts me at every turn and
allows me liberties no man should take without benefit of wedlock.”

Brian Blackburn’s face turned to
stone. It barely seemed like he drew a breath. Not quite the reaction Rannoch
expected. It could be the man still laid infirmed.

“I havena taken her yet, but the
temptation is great with her so beautiful and so willing. Her breasts are so
perfect. I have seen them… suckled while she held me to her.”

His enemy did not move. Arching
his brow, Rannoch studied Brian. “We will wed in three days. Do you remember
that date, Laird? ‘Tis when you took your beloved Katherine as your wife.” He
smiled. “Brianna picked it. She is anxious to be mine.” Rannoch shrugged. “I
will accept your silence as approval.” He leaned closer and grabbed Brian’s
arm. “Ken I will enjoy every part of her to the fullest, plant my seed in her
womb, and watch as my child grows within her. Our families will be joined by
the blood of my offspring.” Stepping back, he shook his head. “Sorcha’s medicine
has worked well if this doesna make you rise up and kill me.” Satisfied his
enemy could do him no harm, Rannoch left the laird’s chamber.

Brian Blackburn listened until
Rannoch’s footsteps faded in the distance. Finally, Brian let out the anguished
scream he held in the whole time the monster touched Brianna and told tales of
things that should never have taken place. Brian’s body chained him to his
ornate bed. Helpless, he prayed that Ian Innes returned in time to save Brianna
from the man who would ruin her life.

The door creaked open and Tessa
and Jamie entered. “Father, how are you feeling today?” Jamie asked.

They both came to his beside.
Tessa’s face wore a grim mask. “Ask Tessa how I am?” Brian said to his son. “I
can tell she kens more about what has transpired than you.”

Brushing back her white-blonde
hair, Tessa took Brian’s hand. “I ken it doesna seem so, but we will be saved.”

“Before that bastard takes your
sister?” Brian bellowed. “He toys with her, takes liberties with her body, and
mars her innocence with his evil.”

“What?” Jamie said. “Rannoch has
not married her yet.”

“It doesna matter. He is wise
beyond her years. He uses her innocence and her desire for him to lead her
astray. I ken it is true. I lay and watched as he rubbed her back and kissed
her. He claims to have done much more behind closed doors. She revels in his
touch.”

“Tell me what to do,” Jamie
petitioned. “How can I make her come to her senses?”

“You cannot, unless you find a
way to make him drop his mask in front of her. ‘Tis not likely. Rannoch is an
old hand at deception. Even I did not see him for what he was until it became
too late.”

“Short of that, what else can
Tess and I do?”

“Perchance we could convince her
to sequester herself in the days before her wedding,” Tessa offered.

“Will she listen?” Brian asked.

Tessa broke into a smile. “We
could pretend to be happy for her and encourage her to heed this request. At
least it would keep him from her for the few days before the wedding.”

Brian felt uplifted by his
youngest daughter’s suggestion. They might sway Brianna if she thought the
family supported her marriage. “If we do this and help doesna arrive in time,
he will have her. Thus far, the only thing that has saved Brianna is that his
lineage is in question. ‘Tis said his father thought Rannoch’s mother lay with
others before they wed. His father believed she came to him with another man’s
bastard in her belly. For this reason, Rannoch wilna take Brianna until the
vows are spoken.”

“Why has she not saved herself?”
Jamie asked. “How could she let him touch her before the wedding?”

“How could you let the Red Witch
teach you the ways of the bedchamber, Jamie? It is much the same,” Brian said
with a sigh.

Brian watched Jamie blanch. He
turned on Tessa. “You told him,” he accused.

“I did not,” Tessa said.

“She didna have to,” Brian
admonished. “’Twas clear someone had ushered you into manhood. I saw how you
were with Sorcha when you visited me and it became clear something transpired
between the two of you.”

“I didna intend for it to happen.
It was more than I could resist when offered.”

“And so it was with your sister,”
Brian said.

“But she is a woman.”

Brian laughed. “Doesna you
paramour enjoy your touch? So it is with Brianna and Rannoch. You ken she has
worshipped him from afar for years and now he tricks her with his attention. He
offers her marriage then entices her to let him touch her. The first kiss of
the flesh is all powerful. Brianna will go willingly to his bed on her wedding
day. Let us try our sequestration ploy and pray Ian gets back in time to save
her from herself.”

Tessa, ever the practical one,
spoke up. “How would you like us to approach her, Father?”

“Come closer and I will tell
you,” he urged.

A light rap at her door sent
Brianna flying to open it. To her surprise, she stared in the faces of her
brother and sister. “Jamie and Tessa, what do you want?”

“We have come with a message from
father,” Jamie said. “We ken your plans with Rannoch.”

Whirling around, Brianna turned
her back to them. “Leave me, I dinna want to hear about your disapproval.”

Tessa came up beside her and
touched her arm. “’Tis not what you think, Brianna. We saw father right after
Rannoch left. Father sees the merit of your marriage. He just feels bad that he
cannot protect you. He is glad that Rannoch is willing to join himself to our
family and defend our lands.”

Brianna turned to face her little
sister. “What?”