MacLean's Passion: A Highland Pride Novel (11 page)

Maggie was soft and supple beneath him, looking up at him with those big doe eyes as he hovered over her, his arms shaking from the effort of holding his need in check. He was going to enter her and he just knew, with bone-deep surety, that it would be the most magnificent thing to ever happen to him.

He brushed a short curl away from her face and smiled down at her with all the love he felt for her. And just as he lifted his hips to enter her, the door to his bedchamber banged open. The vision of Maggie beneath him disintegrated and Colin came awake with a jerk, though his pulsing erection was much slower to take notice of the unwanted intrusion.

Evan Sinclair charged into the room. On instinct, Colin rolled off his bed and grabbed his broadsword off the floor beside him.

“Where the hell is she?” Evan growled, looking wildly around.

Luckily for him, Colin’s erection subsided. He, too, looked around the room, trying to come to his senses. He’d been taking the night watch and sleeping during the day, so his life was topsy-turvy at the moment, and he half expected Maggie to be in his bed, waiting for him to tup her. He was immensely grateful that she was not. “Where’s who?” he asked.

“Maggie.” Evan stepped up close.

Colin’s back went rigid and his anger rose. “How would I know where Maggie is?”

Evan’s nostrils flared in fury and his jaw muscles worked. “Ye seem to like kissing her, for starters.”

“Good God, Evan. Just because I’ve kissed yer sister a time or two does no’ mean that I would bed her.” His mind flashed back to his dream, making a liar of him. If Evan had not barged in, then Colin would have bedded Maggie, at least in his dreams. Damn. He ran a hand down his face, trying to wake up and shake the images from his mind.

“She’s no’ anywhere,” Evan said, causing a frisson of alarm to skitter up Colin’s spine.

“She’s got to be somewhere.”

“Innis is missing as well.” Evan turned bleak eyes to Colin.

“I’m sure Innis stepped out. Mayhap she’s in the garden.” Maggie, on the other hand, wouldn’t be in the garden if she could help it. Her disappearance troubled him far more than Innis’s.

“I’ve looked there.”

“Well, she has to be somewhere. Maybe they’re together.” It was curious that they’d gone missing at the same time, and it worried Colin. Was there an enemy in their midst?

“It’s no’ uncommon for Maggie to wander off, but Innis has never done such a thing. She stays close, and if she has to leave the holding, she asks me to accompany her. Something’s wrong.”

“Have any strangers entered the gates?”

Evan ran a hand through his hair, and Colin could tell the man was close to losing his good sense. That wasn’t going to help anyone. “The guards say no.”

That didn’t rule out enemies sneaking through. It just meant they’d been more stealthy about it.

“Ye said Innis would never leave the premises without telling ye, but what about Maggie?”

Sinclair’s lips twisted. “No one can control Maggie, least of all me. She goes where she pleases.”

“So it’s no’ uncommon to see her riding out alone.”

“She’s no’ supposed to. She’s supposed to take someone with her, but occasionally…mostly…she does no’.”

Colin felt mildly relieved to learn that, but only mildly. Chances were that Maggie had left of her own accord to do whatever she liked to do when she left the castle walls, but Innis was a different story. Colin was fairly certain they would find Innis somewhere in the castle, though convincing Evan of that seemed impossible at the moment.

“We will look for her,” he said. “Do ye have men who can help?”

“Most of them are scouting the territory for the English.” Evan gave Colin a pointed look, and Colin nodded his understanding. Sinclair’s men were out protecting the Scottish citizens from harassment by the English.

“I doubt the women are together,” Colin said. “More than likely, Innis is here somewhere.”

“She’s no’. I just know she’s no’.”

Evan was beginning to unravel, and Colin needed to reel him back in if they were going to accomplish anything at all. Colin threw his kilt on over his shirt and pulled on his boots. He followed Sinclair out of the house and to the gatehouse, where together, they questioned the guard on duty.

“I saw Lady Margaret leave a few hours ago,” the man finally admitted. “But I thought she was allowed to come and go at her leisure.”

“Was Lady Sinclair with her?” Evan asked.

The guard’s eyes widened. “No, my lord, of course no’. I would no’ let the Lady Sinclair leave without a proper escort.”

“Was anyone with Mag—Lady Margaret?” Colin asked. How odd to call her Lady Margaret. To him she was just Maggie. Or Sinclair, when her brother wasn’t present.

The guard seemed to think about the question and his eyes widened, flicking to Sinclair before settling on Colin. “There was someone with her. It appeared to be one of the lads. He was wearing a cloak with a hood, and the two of them rode out quickly.”

Sinclair’s face lost all color. “And ye did no’ think it odd that a lad would wear a cloak when it was so warm out?” he demanded.

Colin braced himself to step between Sinclair and the trembling guard. “No, my lord. I thought it was a friend of Lady Margaret. She’ll occasionally go out with the lads if they’re on a mission.”

Sinclair’s hands balled into fists at his sides and the guard looked at them nervously.

“Which direction did they go?” Colin asked, feeling more and more uneasy. Where would Maggie take Innis; And why would she take Innis anywhere if she didn’t like her in the first place?

The guard pointed southwest, seemingly incapable of speech by this point.

Sinclair stormed to the stables and ordered two horses to be saddled and readied. He waited impatiently, pacing and muttering to himself, while those with business at the castle walked a wide circle around him and watched him warily. Colin leaned against the side of the stable and kept an eye on Sinclair.

“I have a bad feeling, MacLean. Bad. And nothing good can come of Maggie and Innis together. This makes no sense. The two do no’ get along. They would never leave together.”

The uneasy feeling in Colin’s gut grew. “Do ye think Maggie would run away again?”

“Nae,” Evan said almost immediately, then paused. “I do no’ know. She’s powerfully angry at me right now.”

“Do ye think so?” Colin couldn’t help the sarcasm. He was powerfully angry at Evan as well.

“What’s that supposed to mean, MacLean?”

“It means that Maggie asked me to take her away from here. She thinks ye do no’ want her, and ye’ve admitted to me that ye’re marrying her off to an English sympathizer. Do ye think she has any reason to stay?”

Evan’s jaw clenched. “I’ll no’ have this conversation with ye again.”

“I’m just saying that there is a possibility she could have run again. She has reason to.”

Evan took a step closer. “Ye stand there and judge me for protecting my clan. Tell me, MacLean, what have ye done for yer own?”

Their horses were brought around. Colin swung up onto his and waited silently for Evan to mount. His jaw was clenched so tightly that his head ached. What was he to say to Sinclair? He had no argument; the man was right. Colin was judging Sinclair because he didn’t agree with his choices, but he had no right when he’d not even been on his own land in weeks and had not led his people at all.

They rode in silence, looking for track marks that would indicate the women—or at least Maggie, because Colin was convinced Maggie had left on her own—had gone this way. He should leave when they found her. He could hide out at Sutherland’s until it was safe for him to return home and then take control of his clan and become the chief that he was meant to become. He should do that. But he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Maggie behind to face a marriage with Fraser, an English sympathizer.

And yet what would staying accomplish? Not a thing. Maggie would marry, and Colin would have to leave in the end anyway, having only grown more attached to the feisty lass.

Besides, he couldn’t stay to see Maggie wed, since he was wanted by the English, which meant that being in Fraser’s proximity could be deadly.

“There.” Sinclair pointed to the ground, where Colin saw two sets of horse tracks. “That’s Maggie’s horse,” Sinclair said. “This leads to Loch Rumsdale. There’s a spot where Maggie likes to bathe, especially in the summer.”

Colin felt a bit of relief that they had a destination in mind. Hopefully, he’d been wrong and Maggie hadn’t run away after all.

They dismounted and pushed through the brush until they were at the edge where the beach met the woods, and Sinclair stopped so abruptly that Colin nearly ran into his back. That was when he saw the two redcoats cornering the women.

Maggie was fighting off an English soldier while Innis, dressed in only a man’s shirt and nothing else, straddled the back of another soldier, pulling on his hair and biting his shoulder while the man yelled and attempted to buck her off.

Colin watched in part awe and part fear while Maggie blocked and parried the English soldier’s thrusts. She was magnificent. Smooth and elegant and so damn graceful, just like she was in the lists.

Meanwhile, Innis lost her grasp on the other soldier and was tossed on her rump with a sharp squeal that sounded more like outrage than pain. Her hair was loose around her shoulders and trailing down her back and across her face.

Sinclair strode forward, grabbed the soldier by the collar of his red coat, and yanked him back to place a dagger at the man’s throat. The man instantly stilled. Innis pushed her hair out of her eyes and glared. Colin didn’t know if she was glaring at Sinclair or the soldier.

Colin stepped up beside Maggie and raised his sword. The soldier fighting her hesitated. He was breathing deep, sweat trailing down his face and temples. Maggie had held her own with him.

“Impressive,” Colin said.

“Thank ye,” Maggie muttered, her sword at the ready as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Colin couldn’t help but notice that she was not wearing breeches and her firm legs were displayed for everyone to see. Propelled by jealousy and anger, he lunged and knocked the man’s sword to the ground. The soldier stood there helplessly, defeat in the tight press of his lips.

“Thought ye would have an easy time of these lasses?” Colin asked.

The soldier raised his chin but remained silent.

“Made a fool of ye, she did.”

Maggie chuckled.

“Get yer breeches on,” Sinclair growled as he came up to them with his soldier clutched tightly by the collar. “What do we do with them?” he asked Colin.

Colin looked them over carefully. The one who’d been fighting Maggie was trembling. The other was looking at them through narrowed eyes, but there was defeat in his shoulders.

Sinclair and Colin shared a look. Taking them back to their camp was out of the question. The soldiers would concoct a story that put Colin and Evan in a bad light, and they would end up arrested. It had happened time and time again. Dealing with the English was always tricky like that. Reporting that the men had attacked the women would do no good. Attacks happened on a daily basis, and nothing was done.

“Best to let them go,” Colin said in a low voice.

“Nae,” Sinclair said. He marched his soldier over to his horse and pulled out a length of rope. For a moment Colin thought Sinclair meant to hang the soldiers, but he bound their hands together, each on an end of the rope, and tied them to a tree.

“Ye tell yer superiors what happened to ye,” Sinclair said, viciously tightening the rope. “Ye tell them ye were bested by two Scottish women and see what they say.”

Colin chuckled. The soldiers’ expressions were mutinous, but they put up no fight. Mayhap they were just relieved to get out of this alive. Colin wouldn’t have minded killing them, but two dead soldiers would raise questions and bring unwanted attention. This was by far a better alternative, and humiliating to boot.

Colin and Sinclair made their way back to the women, who were dressed and standing side by side as if waiting to be chastised. Colin had to bite back his smile; they both looked miserable. Innis’s head was bowed, her long hair hiding her face. Maggie stood so close to Innis that their shoulders were touching. She was looking stonily at a spot just over Evan’s shoulder.

Sinclair’s expression was thunderous as he stomped right up to Maggie. It took everything inside of Colin to not step between them. Maggie could hold her own with her brother, as Colin had witnessed before, but still, he wanted to protect her.

“So help me God, Margaret Sinclair. I ought to put ye across my knee and beat ye senseless. Ye could have gotten Innis killed,” Evan nearly roared.

Her gaze, flat and emotionless, flickered to Evan, then away as if she didn’t care.

“Evan,” Innis said quietly.

“No’ a word out of ye, Innis. No’ one word.”

“This wasn’ entirely Maggie’s fault,” Innis said, ignoring her husband’s warning.

“It’s
always
Maggie’s fault,” he said.

If Colin hadn’t been watching Maggie so closely, he would have missed the very slight wince.

“That’s not fair,” Innis said in her quiet way.

“What’s no’ fair is waking MacLean up from his much-needed sleep to come searching for ye two. What’s no’ fair is duping the guards into thinking Maggie was out riding with an escort when the two of ye were alone and put yerselves in danger.” He turned back to his sister. “Ye’ll never learn, will ye?”

The words echoed inside Colin, for they were what his father and then his brothers had said to him, and he knew how deeply they could cut.

“We were simply bathing,” Maggie said.

“I provide ye with tubs to bathe in and servants to bring ye water. Ye do no’ need to ride all this way unprotected to bathe in a freezing-cold loch.”

“I thought ye would like that Innis and I were becoming friends,” Maggie said.

For a long moment Evan didn’t speak, but his expression didn’t bode well for Maggie, and Colin held his breath. “What I would like is for Innis to teach ye how to act like a lady. Not for ye to teach Innis yer bad ways.”