Onyx (8 page)

“The horses nee
d te rest, and Aidan needs te piss,” said Onyx, slipping off the horse to the ground.

“Dagger, did ye have te tell her that?” complained Aidan, getting off his horse and heading quickly to a tree. He didn’t bother to conceal himself, but rather just lifted his tar
tan and did his business. Lovelle turned her head and looked the other way.

“We’ll camp here fe
r the night,” said Onyx, reaching up and putting his hands around her waist. He didn’t wait for her permission, but instead lifted her up and out of the saddle. Instinctively, she put her arms on his shoulders as he placed her on the ground. He’d moved so quickly that she lost her balance and ended up falling against his chest.

She could feel his warmth right through his clothing though it was a frigid
night and he was half-dressed. When she grabbed for him, his leine opened slightly, and she felt his chest hair tickle her cheek. She pushed back quickly, and her loose hair fell across one of her eyes. That’s when she realized he must have removed her headpiece while she slept, as he’d complained about it earlier. She was appalled by his bold move and was about to reprimand him, but his next action left her speechless.

He reached out gently and pushed the stray strands behind her ear, and when the ends stuck to her mouth, he took his thumb and brushed it quickly over her lips to push that strand away as well. To her surprise, she felt a tingle rush through her. Something she’d never felt the entire eight years sh
e’d been married to the baron. She gasped slightly, and looked up. Their eyes interlocked, and in the moonlight she could see the intensity of his gaze.

“How is it ye
can look me in the eyes and no’ be repelled like everyone else?” he asked softly.

“Repelled by what?” she asked, curiously.

“Me demon eyes, lassie. Dinna ye see the devil in them like e’eryone else does?”

She looked into his eyes again and realized that one was quite a bit lighter than the other
, and wondered how she had missed this fact earlier. She knew now that they must be two different colors, but since she only saw in black, white, and tones of grey at night, she had no idea how odd they probably really were.

“Your eyes don’t scare me,” she said, pushing away from him and playing with her gloves.

“Then what does?” he asked. “Dinna think I couldna feel yer body shakin’ like a leaf against me as we rode.”

“I . . . I was just cold,
since you took it upon yourself to remove my headpiece.” She rubbed her hands together to prove her point, though she had really been warm while pressed up close against his body and in his embrace.

“Ye are wearin’
gloves,” he said, and shook his head. “And ye are no’ a very good liar.”

“Not as good a
t lying as your mother, I suppose,” she spat.

She knew
she’d made a mistake in saying that as soon as she saw the scowl on his face. His eyes bore into her, and even without color, they were threatening. Now that she thought about it, he did look a little demonic. Or like a madman anyway. She would do good to remember not to anger him while they were on this little adventure. She was alone in the dark with three madmen, and she’d seen how lustful they were by the girls they were bedding in the stables earlier. She had no idea what she’d do if they decided they were still feeling randy.

“
What did you do with my headpiece?” she asked, pulling back her long hair and twisting it into a knot.

When he didn’t answer, she walked over to the travel bags attached to his horse. “Is it in here?”

“Dinna bother, lassie, as it’s no’ there. I tossed it te the earth rather than te keep dodgin’ it as we rode. If ye want te find it, ye’ll have te search at the bottom o’ the mountains.”

“Damn you,” she spat, opening the bag anyway to see what was inside. “I’m hungry,” she complained, wis
hing for a meat pie or game hen in almond milk right now. Or at least a bit of sweet seed cake to fill the emptiness of her stomach. “Is there anything in here to eat?” It was too dark to see, and she slipped her hand inside to feel around, then screamed as she heard a hiss, and something scratched against her gloved hand.

“Tawpie?” Onyx hurried over to the travel bag and stuck his h
and inside, and lifted out a kitten by the scruff of the neck. He held up the cat like a bitch holds her pups, and he looked at her and actually smiled. “Ye were scared by me little, helpless kitten?” he asked.

He looked devilishly handsome in the moonlight and she could see the
white of his teeth. A deep chuckle resonated in his throat. She was sure her cheeks were full of color, and it wasn’t from the cold.

She realized it was a soft, cuddly kitten, and suddenly felt foolish. So she reached forward to pet it, but it pulled back the corners of its mouth and hissed at her again. She could see its long whiskers and elongated sharp, pointy teeth. Its eyes suddenly looked sinister and it flicked its ringed tail in the air. Its claws were revealed, and it swiped toward her. She pulled back her hand quickly.

“I would hardly call that thing a kitten, as it seems a little . . . wild,” she said. “And it scratched me.” She rubbed her hand as she spoke. “It probably would have bitten my hand off if I hadn’t pulled away.”

“Ye h
ave gloves on,” he reminded her again. “And this little thing would ne’er hurt anyone, even though she is a wildcat I found in the hills. Probably she was born too late in the year and was abandoned by her mathair.”

To her surprise
, he held it up and ran his cheek against it, then plopped it on his shoulder. He looked sideways as he spoke to it, running his hand over its tail that flicked lazily between his fingers.

“Dagger, what is Tawpie doin’ here?” asked Aidan, coming to join them.

“I dinna ken,” he said. “I had no idea she was even in the travel bag. But she likes te hide and also sleep all day, so I canna say I am surprised.”

“She must o’ climbed inside when I saddled up the horses,” said Ian. “I saw her in t
he stables sleeping in a pile o’ hay when I went in there. The travel bag was next te her. I wondered where she went to.”

“Ye did
na happen te bring food?” asked Onyx.

“I dinna ken we were goin’ on a journey,” Ian replied. “
I only threw a coverlet in there since it was still there from our little roll in the hay with the triplets. Actually, if I’d kent we were goin’ on a trip, I would o’ brought along the triplets jest fer fun.”

“And they were fun, indeed, Dagger,” said Aidan, cocking a smile. “Ye missed the best present we e’er gave ye fer yer birthday.”

“You’re calling bedding a whore a present?” asked Lovelle, pulling her cloak around her as she felt her teeth starting to chatter from the cold.

“’Tis me
birthday,” was all Onyx said. Then he looked over to his friends. “Ian, start a fire, and Aidan, hunt us somethin’ te eat.”

“A fire?” asked Ian. “What
fer? ’Tis no’ thet cold.”

Onyx looked over to Lovelle and realized her cheeks were bright red as well as her nose. And though she tried not to show it, her teeth were chattering. While she was his enemy and he hated her for what she’d done to his mother, she was also a prisoner now. If she died, his mother would be killed in return.

“I agree,” he said, knowing that the three of them had even slept right in the snow at times without making a fire. They were Highlanders. They were used to the cold. But she was a frail Englishwoman who had probably never slept on the cold ground a day in her life. “But our . . . guest here looks like she could use it.”

“Guest?” she said, bravely forcing a laugh. “You mean prisoner, don’t you?”

“The
t’s right, Onyx, ye did kidnap her, so thet makes her a prisoner,” Aidan agreed.

“Jest go find a damn
coinean
or somethin’,” he ordered, telling him to go hunt rabbit.

“I’m no’ h
ungry, are ye, Ian?” asked Aidan.

“Nay,” answered Ian
. “We all had plenty o’ haggis and blackbun at the pub.” He rubbed his belly. “I dinna think I’ll be able te eat another bite fer days.”

“Ferget it, I’ll do it meself,” said Onyx,
putting the cat on the ground. He pulled his dagger from his side and headed away to hunt. “You two watch o’er our prisoner, as ye call her.”

Onyx headed away quickly, irritated by the fact his friends were giving him a hard time, and even more frustrated that they’
d basked in the pleasures of the randy triplets, but he was still hot and bothered. And being pushed up against the damned good-looking Englishwoman all night, feeling her body jolting against his with every step of the horse, only made him hard beneath his plaid.

“Damn,”
he spat, thinking this was not the way he’d planned on spending his birthday and celebrating the new year. And to top things off, his mother had not been honest with him. Hell, he wasn’t sure now what she’d done. She could have killed off dozens of men through the years and he wouldn’t have even known it. He knew about her little pilfering problem, but of this, he’d had no idea.

“Damn Lady Love
,” he spat, seeing a rabbit and diving upon it with his dagger in his hand. The blasted woman had not only ruined his birthday, but now, probably ruined his life as well. And though she was his enemy and he hated her at this moment, he still couldn’t stop thinking how her hands felt on his shoulders or how her cheek felt against his bare chest.

He had to get that book and return the girl as soon as possible. Be
cause if he spent much longer near her, he was going to want to do something that he knew he would someday regret.

* * *

Lovell
e sat close to the fire, just watching Onyx’s two friends sitting on the opposite side and staring at her. She felt very uncomfortable, especially since they weren’t saying a word.

“So – how do you two know Onyx?” she asked.

“We’re all MacKeefes,” said Ian.

“Oh,” she said. “So, are the three of you brothers
or cousins?”

They looked at each other and made faces that made her realize they thought she was daft.

“We’re no’ related,” said Aidan. “We’re jest friends. We grew up together.”

“So, you don’t have the same parents or anything?”

“Nay,” laughed Ian. “Why would ye say thet?”

“Because you said you were all MacKeefes.”

“We’re o’ the same ilk, so we all take the chieftain’s name as well as wear his tartan,” said Ian.

“The chieftain
– you mean that big blond man in the pub with the braid on the side of his head?”

“Aye. The
t’s our chieftain, Storm MacKeefe,” said Aidan. “Ye really dinna know anythin’ about the Scots do ye?”

“I’m sorry, but I was . . . I never traveled much . . . before now.”

They didn’t say anything, and she wasn’t going to give them any more information. She found herself wishing Onyx would return, and that thought disturbed her as well. Onyx was actually scarier than the two of these put together, yet for some reason she felt safer around him.

His cat crawled up on
to her lap and curled up in a ball and closed its eyes.

“Oh!” she said, surprised, pulling back a bit. She didn’t like animals, and cats were on the top of her list.
Especially the kind that were wild, and predators of nature and not meant to be pets, like the one that just claimed her lap.

“The cat likes ye,” Ian pointed out.

“Aye, and Dagger’s cat hates e’eryone but him,” added Aidan.

“Really?” she asked, wanting the thing off her lap but not wanting to touch it. Then, Onyx appeared, coming out of the darkness with two rabbits in his hand. He held them by their hind legs, and his bloody dagger dangled from his fingers.

“Make yerself useful and skin and gut these,” he said, throwing them down in front of her in the dirt. The cat jumped off her lap and bit one around the neck and started carrying it away, though the rabbit was twice its size.

“
Put it down, Tawpie, I dinna mean ye,” said Onyx, “I meant her.” He pointed at her, and to her horror, she realized he wanted her to do it. The cat dropped the rabbit and slinked away with its shoulders hunched and its head down as if it was looking for prey.

Lovell
e had often helped in the castle’s kitchen, but she’d always let the servants do the gutting and skinning, or plucking the feathers off a goose.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, obviously testing her. “Ye want te eat, but yet ye won’t hunt, gut, or cook the meal?”

“I’ll do it,” said Aidan, reaching over for the rabbits.

“Nay!” he said,
walking forward and pushing the dead animals closer to her with his foot. “She’ll do it if she wants te eat.”

Lovell
e closed her eyes and released a deep breath. She was starving, but she couldn’t do what this man was asking.

“What’s the matter?
” asked Onyx. “Too good for a chore like this?”