Ian (4 page)

He just stood there with his mouth open. This was more the Kyla he’d expected to begin with, only now he could
never look at her the same way. Instead of seeing a young girl who acted like a boy and could out-drink any of the men when it came to Callum’s hellfire mountain magic, he saw a woman. A bonnie, bright, woman with soft curves and sensuous lips, and a spirit inside her that was so alive he felt intoxicated just being near her.

“Well, did ye hear me or no’?” she asked angrily. Her hands were on her hip
s and her eyes squinted. And her mouth – that mouth that held that glorious tongue that had him squirming from one little flick was pursed as she waited for his answer.

“I hear ye,” he said, feeling like a bair
n being scolded for dipping his fingers into a hot pie.

“Guid,” she said, wiping the straw off her clothes. “Then put on yer clothes and get the he
ll outta here afore someone sees us.”

He didn’t have the chance to answer, as she turned on her heel and headed out the s
table door.

“Right,” he said to himself,
still wondering what just happened. And he was also wondering how the hell he would ever be able to face Aidan again, knowing that he’d just kissed and wanted to bed his best friend’s little sister.

Chapter 4

Kyla spent most the day just trying to avoid Ian. She’d gone to the market in Glasgow with the MacKeefe women and bairns, and when the men showed up to help carry things, she’d slipped away and taken a walk by herself. She’d spent the rest of the day gathering herbs in the pouch at her side, walking through the forest alone and then stopping in a field of heather. She’d been thinking about what Coira told her about the gypsies. That they used herbs and witchery to make things like love spells. She should have made one and used it on Ian to begin with and mayhap he never would have reacted the way he did. Now she didn’t know if she could ever face him again. She just lay there looking up at the sky, not able to stop thinking about the kiss they’d shared.

It
had felt so good that she thought she would die. And when he’d put her hand right on his aroused form, she found herself wanting to touch it without the cloth in between them. She’d never seen a fully aroused man before, and had no idea it would look . . . like that. Not really. And when he’d slipped his hands down her back and squeezed her doup, she’d almost cried out in elation. She was sure he felt the attraction between them as much as she had. He had to have felt it.

But he’d told her he was only doing it to scare her and keep her from pestering him. Well, it
did scare her, but in ways he could never imagine. And she didn’t appreciate him calling her a pest right in the middle of such an intimate moment.

She’d dreamed of kissing him like that for some time now. It had been wonderful
for her. But for him, it must have been nothing more than a game. That angered her to no end. He was a bastard for playing with her feelings that way, as he had to know how much she liked him. And now she felt like a fool for what just happened, when it should have been a magical moment that she’d remember for the rest of her life. Well, she’d remember it all right, but not in the way she’d expected.

He obviously stil
l thought of her as a child, when all she wanted was for him to see her as a woman. After all, she was far older than any of the other single women of the clan, and most girls her age already had several children by now. If she had been an English noblewoman like Onyx’s wife, Lady Lovelle, she would have been betrothed at an early age and even sent to another castle to be fostered.

And while she was happy the MacKeefes were a small clan and her brother had kept her close after the death of their parents, she also hated Aidan at this moment for not letting her experience what most women had by n
ow. He’d been so protective that he’d never left her alone with a man, scaring away any of them that even showed interest in her. And she knew if Aidan ever found out about her kiss with Ian, he’d probably throw a fit and never forgive either of them. She’d never hear the end of it. She only hoped that Ian wouldn’t say anything to her brother.

She didn’t know how long she
had lain there, but she must have fallen asleep. She woke with a start when she heard someone humming a haunting tune. She sat up in the field, looking around. Nightfall was already here, and she could see the smoke and the glow from the large bonfire in the distance that would be used by all to celebrate those who had passed on to the afterlife.

She heard the squawk of a bird and looked up to see a raven sitting in a tree in the distance.
The humming stopped. She got up quickly, meaning to head back to the pub when she thought she saw something or someone move in the forest.

“Who’s there?” she called out
, looking around. The night chill gave her gooseflesh, or mayhap it was because this was the time of year that supposedly the dead could come back to visit those still alive. She peered through the distance and swore she could see glowing eyes in the trees. And then she heard the humming again. Some sort of enticing tune she’d never heard before, but one that calmed her and made her feel safe. The raven gave a guttural cry, bringing her from her almost trance-like state, and back to her surroundings. Then with a flap of its wings, it disappeared up into the darkening sky.

“K
yla?” came the voice of a woman in the distance. She saw Coira headed toward her holding some kind of lantern, so ran to meet her.

“Oh, Coira, I’m glad you’re here
. I was spooked and thought I saw glowin’ eyes in the woods. And heard someone hummin’.”

“Really?” The girl looked around, obviously unsettled, and Kyla realized that she was only scaring her.

“I’m sure it was nothin’, after all.” She tried to make lite of the situation.

“Aidan is lookin’ fer ye,” Coira told her, her eyes still darting around.
“He said te tell ye thet the bonfire is startin’.”

“Let’s go,” she said, putting her arm around the girl and heading away. She looked back over her shoulder once more, feeling as if she were being watched.

* * *

Ian st
epped out of the Horn and Hoof Pub, and stopped when he saw the raven sitting atop the roof and staring at him with its beady eyes. That feeling was back again. The feeling of dread and doom, and he didn’t like it. Not one bit.

Someone grabbed his
arm, and he turned to see a woman peeking up at him from under the hood of her black cloak. She had light brown eyes and very pale skin, and her shift beneath the cloak was tattered, dirty and torn. A chill swept through his body, and a feeling encompassed him as if he should know her, but he didn’t.

She looked to be mayhap twenty years his senior, but there were weathered creases on her face and also bruises on her hands and arms
that made her seem much older. The woman was tall, but stood bent over as if she were hiding something or perhaps writhing in pain. She looked so gaunt and boney, and sickly, and Ian swore she should be dead. Then she raised her chin and looked at him with both eyes, and he gasped as he saw the scar in the form of an x on her cheek. He knew this mark well – it was the MacTavish mark of the dead. 

“Hev ye got a
soul cake fer me?” asked the woman, and Ian just shook her hold from his leine.

“Nay, I dinna have any,” he said,
not knowing if the woman was a ghost or naught more than a beggar and looking for soul cakes that were handed out on this day. Soul cakes were small cakes made with sweet spices and ginger and filled with raisins and currants. Sometimes they were marked with a cross on top to show they were given as alms, and other times they had two large currants on top that looked like the eyes of a ghost. They were handed out to the children and beggars going door to door on this eve, and every one of them that was eaten was a symbol of a soul being released from purgatory.

“Ye hev no soul or ye have no soul cake?” the
woman asked him, and Ian thought it an odd question. And even odder, he seemed drawn to her though he feared her at the same time. He didn’t need any more demons in his head right now. Nor did he want someone with the x of the dead clinging to his leine.

“Go away,” he told her, almost feeling sorry for her
. Still, he didn’t want to have anything to do with beggars or soul cakes on a night like this. “Go beggin’ somewhere else. I have nothin’ fer ye.”

“Ye’d better look inte yer heart soon, Ian. If no’ ye
may be beggin’ fer soul cakes afore much longer yerself.”

Ian had no idea what
that meant and was considering asking her, but was distracted as the door to the pub opened behind him and he heard lots of noise. He turned to see some of the women and children coming out in a group. Effie and Lovelle were among them, as well as Onyx’s children.

“Tell Aidan and Onyx thet we’re takin’ the bairns door to door to sing fer soul cakes afore we come te the bonfire,” said Effie.

“Aye,” added Lovelle. “And I only wish Wren and her children were here as well to join us, as they love this time of year.”

“
Anyone who loves All Hallow’s Eve is got te be mad,” growled Ian. “But dinna fash yerself, as our chieftain Storm and his family will be back from England soon. They are spending some time with Wren’s family,” he informed her.

“Well, I do wish
at least Clarista and her husband could have joined us,” said Effie, speaking of Storm’s parents. “But I ken thet someone has te stay back and watch the camp in the Highlands.”

“Au
ld Ian MacKeefe disna like celebratin’ deid souls,” said Ian, talking about their other chieftain who shared the same name as him. Storm was the man’s son, and they both shared the duty of being chieftain, which worked out nicely since the clan was so split up most the time.

The women and children left, and Ian had n
o idea what happened to the odd beggar woman. Then he heard a noise from above him and looked up to see many crows settling in the branches of the trees. Amongst them was one large raven, staring down at him almost as if it could see into his very soul.

“
Och, there ye are,” said Aidan coming out of the pub next, with his squirrel on his shoulder and wearing the arisaid, or long shawl of a woman and also a colorful ribbon tied in his hair. Onyx followed him, dressed the same. A wildcat darted out of the shadows and Onyx picked up his pet in his arms.

“What
the hell are ye wearin’?” growled Ian.

“We did it fer the kids,” explained Onyx. “They enjoy seeing us dress like fools on this day.
The women dress like men and the men like women – although we always wear a skirt, so no’ much different I guess.”

“Dinna ye want te act
like a fool as well?” asked Aidan.

“Who said I haven’t already acted like a fool?” asked Ian under his breath, not able to stop thinking of what happened bet
ween him and Kyla.

“So have ye been with Kyla today
?” asked Aidan, causing Ian to stiffen his spine.

“Nay. Why would ye think thet?” He didn’t like lying to his friend, but he needed to wait for the right moment to tell Aidan he kissed his sister. Or mayhap he never would. He just hoped Kyla hadn’t already ran and told him everything. “Have ye been with her?” he asked in return.

“No one’s seen her since the market this mornin’,” said Onyx.

“Aye,” said Aidan, “and I am startin’ te get a bit worried.”

“Well, I saw her around here . . . this morning,” said Ian. “I’m sure she’s here somewhere.”

“Did I hear someone mention me name?”

He turned around to see Kyla standing there with Coira. They had bags of hazelnuts in their hands, and Coira held a hollowed-out gourd with a carved face on it. Inside, a candle burned brightly, the light spilling from the carved face to guide their way through the dark. It was custom on this night to have a scary face carved into a gourd or squash and lit from within. Usually they were placed on doorsteps or carried with one as they traveled, to ward away any evil spirits that may come from the other side on this All Hallow’s Eve.

“Do ye care te tell me where ye were
, wee sister?” asked Aidan, walking over and taking a nut from her and handing it to his squirrel on his shoulder.

“What do ye mean?” Her eyes darted over to Ian, and that told him that their secret was still safe.

“He jest means thet no one has really seen ye all day,” Ian explained.

“No one?
” She raised her chin and perused him, and he felt like a big liar.

“She was in the field of heather sle
epin’,” said Coira. “We’re goin’ now te the bonfire te roast the hazelnuts and find out aboot our potential lovers.”

“What do ye mean?” asked Aidan.
“Kyla, ye’d better no’ have any lovers.”

“Calm down brathai
r,” she said, and then looked over to Ian when she spoke. “I can assure ye thet if I’d had a man worthy o’ callin’ a lover anywhere near me, I’d have kent it by now.”

Coira spoke next.
“I’m talkin’ about the tradition o’ putting hazelnuts in the fire and sayin’ the spell te find out if the man ye fancy will be yer lover.”