Silent Vows (23 page)

“Useless,” she cursed. Most of the men were only numbers. A few could hold their own, and in time, she would have more.

She turned and added herbs to the tea simmering on the fire. These herbs kept her minions’

minds bound to her.

****

Winter lost its grip and the rain took the place of the snow. Torrents of rain and storms crossed the land. The weather was normal to the MacCoinnichs who had lived here all their lives, but the cold and damp took some getting used to for those who’d lived their lives in Southern California.

Liz glanced out her window toward the barn where she knew Fin was preparing to leave the Keep. She noticed when Simon snuck out and followed him. He’d been whining for days to get out and stretch his legs. Hell, they were all pent up and 198

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had been for months.

Simon’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
Simon
to Mom
,
Simon to Mom, come in Mom.
He paused, waiting for her mental reply to his call. She laughed at his monotone internal voice and couldn’t help but picture a futuristic ‘B’ movie where the characters closed their eyes, rubbed their temples and spoke telepathically to anyone they chose.

What do you need?
She attempted to ask back.

Liz felt certain that not all her words were heard.

I’m in the barn. Can you come in here? I have a
question.

Liz concentrated hard, attempting to ask what he needed, but Simon had mastered blocking her out when he didn’t want her in. Donning a cloak, she left her room and made her way out to her son’s side.

The aromatic scent of the stable and the fresh smell of rain mixed when she entered the barn and shook off the collection of rain water she’d acquired in the short walk.

Fin stood beside his horse, adjusting his saddle.

Simon’s teeth glistened behind his smile. He was up to something. “And you wanted a cell phone,” she told Simon as she walked over and ruffled his hair.

“Lot of good it does, if I can only talk to my mom. No offense.”

Fin cast Simon a surprised look, but kept quiet.

“Sorry, sport. I guess it’s just you and me for awhile.” Liz nodded to Fin. “What’s up?”

“Fin told me I needed to ask you first, but I’m sure you’re going to say no.”

“Say no to what?” She eyed Fin, but he didn’t elaborate.

“Fin’s going into the village, and since I’m only going to make you crazy hanging around here, I thought it would be good for me to go with him.”

Fin hunched his shoulders, lifted a brow. “Don’t look at me. I told him to ask you.”

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“So I can be the bad guy?”

“I don’t know about that.”

She shook her head. “Right.”

“Fin will watch out for me, won’t you?” Her son sent a hopeful look to him.

“I’m staying out of this.” Fin raised his hands.

Simon touched Liz’s arm. “We won’t be gone long.”

Liz measured them both with a stare. Fin expected her to say no, she knew it. He didn’t want to lose that look of awe from her son. Well, maybe it was time to turn the tables. “All right.”

“Really?” Simon nearly pounced on her.

“What?” Fin turned almost as quickly as her son did. “With one condition.”

“Anything,” Simon said, grinning ear to ear.

Fin peered through slanted lids.

Liz sent him a sly smile. “I’m going, too.”

Relieved, Simon yelled, “Great.”

Fin said, “No.”

“Excuse me?” Liz took a step closer to him.

“I said no. It isn’t safe.”

“But you were willing to take my son. Why not me?” Fin squirmed under her stare. “Simon will be a man before long. It would do him good to spread his wings.”

“So it’s a sexist thing. Okay for boys but not for girls?”

“Something like that.”

Liz matched him stare for stare. Without taking her eyes away from his, she said to Simon, “Can you give us a few minutes, sport. Fin and I need to talk.”

Once he left, she bit out, “You’re full of shit, you know that?”

“If that’s what you choose to believe.”

“It isn’t what I choose. It’s crap! All of it. I won’t 200

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have my son living life thinking women are the weaker sex just because we don’t have that thing dangling between our legs.”

“Is that so?” He made his advance slowly, one step at a time until the heat of his body met hers.

Liz held her ground, refusing to be intimidated.

“It isn’t our sex that makes us stronger, Elizabeth, it is us. The sooner you see that the better off for everyone.”

Her eyes twitched, a slightly nervous tick she had when she was unbalanced and damn if Fin didn’t take notice of it. He cast her a cocky grin, evidence he knew he was getting under her skin.

Drawing her shoulders back, she took a deep breath. “I could have you on the floor in seconds, MacCoinnich, so don’t tempt me.”

“In your dreams, lass,” he challenged, his frame nearly touching hers.

Without thought, Liz brought her knee up. But she didn’t have the edge of surprise, and Fin dodged her blow with ease.

Her anger went to her hands, reaching for him in another aggressive move. He pinned her flailing hands in his grip leaving her useless and incapable of moving. His body pressed up against hers preventing her from doing anything.

Anger for anger. Stare for stare. Their breath mixed as they glared at each other.

His triumphant stance wavered. Her breath hitched when his grin slowly faded. They stood too close. Little fluttering waves of pent up desire blossomed and took root. She needed to back off before either of them did something they would regret.

But she was too late.

“God’s teeth,” he murmured right as his mouth reached for hers.

Bittersweet was his taste. Spice and honey 201

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mixed with vinegar. He probed her mouth, she gasped in surprise. He took advantage and slipped his tongue inside.

Where the hell had this seduction come from?

Why couldn’t she tear herself away? Even now her body betrayed her mind when she melted into him.

Fin let loose her hands. Once unbound, she thrust them through the panel of his shirt, needing to feel the smooth texture of his skin under her fingertips. Her fingers fanned up and clutched his shirt.

A bomb wouldn’t have broken them apart, seconds passed, minutes, both of them engulfed in a passion which had simmered just below the surface for months.

When a small voice, sounding shocked and concerned, penetrated the silence, they separated.

“So are we going or what?” Simon’s pre-teen attitude came across loud and clear.

Liz swiveled away to stare at Simon. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fin watching her every move. She needed to catch her breath.

Simon stood with his hands on his hips. “Well?”

“Get your coat.” Fin told him.

Simon didn’t waste any time before he ran off to the house.

“But...”

“No
buts
. You win,” Fin said, then went over to the tack room and grabbed a saddle for another horse. “You’re riding with me,” he told her.

****

“He what?” Tara pulled the brush through her hair a little too quickly after hearing what Lizzy had said. “I said, he kissed me.”

“Oh, my God. When?”

“Yesterday, before we went to the village.” Liz flopped on the bed her sister shared with her 202

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husband and covered her eyes with her arm. “What the hell was I thinking?”

“Did you try and stop him?”

“If by stopping him, you mean jumping him and damn near ripping his clothes off, then yeah. I don’t know what got into me. I kissed him back. We don’t even like each other.”

Tara laughed, turned back to the mirror, and finished brushing out her long hair.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Puleeeese...You and Fin, Fin and you, everyone saw it coming. I can’t believe you didn’t.”

“What do you mean ‘everyone’?”

“Everyone. Myra asked if you had said anything to me. So has Duncan.”

“That’s not everyone.”

“Duncan told me Ian mentioned you and Fin would be well suited, if you could stop fighting long enough to figure it out.”

Liz stared at the ceiling. “Simon saw us.” A line formed between her brows. “A few minutes longer and he would have to seek therapy when he’s older.”

“You’re not the first mom a kid’s caught kissing a man, Lizzy. Give yourself a break. Simon likes Fin.” “I’ve always kept my private life away from him, not that it’s been too difficult. The men were few and far between over the years. Simon hasn’t so much as met any man I’ve dated, let alone caught me kissing one.” Tara wobbled to her feet, slowly, carrying the weight of her pregnancy, now in its seventh month.

“Did you do that to protect him? Or you?”

“What do you mean me?”

“You’ve never let anyone get close, Lizzy.”

“Some of them got pretty close.”

Tara hit her sister with a pillow, “I’m not talking about sex. I mean here.” She tapped her 203

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chest. “In order to get close to you, they would have to know Simon. My guess is you probably didn’t let many of them meet him. I think that’s why you fight so much with Fin. He’s getting close, and he already knows your son. And you.”

“You’re wrong. It’s not like that.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s it like then?”

“It’s only physical,” she said defensively. “I can’t let it happen again.”

Tara put the brush down and glared at her.

“Why?”

“Fin’s a player. So was Simon’s dad, you remember.” Tara nodded before Lizzy continued. “I won’t get mixed up with his type again. Besides, I’m going home the first chance I get.”

Tara flinched, making her feel like shit for being so blunt.

“You know you can stay here. Why work so hard to leave?”

“This isn’t my time, my place. I know you want us to stay, but it isn’t right freeloading off the MacCoinnichs like we are. In all my hard times, I never so much as asked for food stamps. How am I supposed to live off someone else without paying my way?” Liz flipped over on the bed and eyed her sister. “You know I’d do anything for you, but staying in the sixteenth century is asking a little too much.”

“I know, but I have to try.”

“And I have to say ‘no’
.”

****

“Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?

Or are you just going to kick my ass all day long?”

Todd raised his sword to block Fin’s move.

Sweat poured off Fin’s brow and had been for over an hour. He was working off some serious aggression, and Todd received the worse end of it.

Fin stepped back, circled around, and lunged 204

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again. “Women.”

Todd countered when Fin left himself open. “By women, you mean Lizzy?”

“Aye.”

A few more passes and clashes of steel later, Todd said, “Suck’s doesn’t it?” He wiped the sweat from his brow. “Seeing them all day long. Hearing them. Smelling them. And not being able to do a damn thing about it?”

“You refer to my sister?”

Todd picked his words carefully. Knowing a brother might not like to think of his sister the way he thought of Myra. “Lizzy is someone’s sister.”

Fin and Todd both lowered their swords when the objects of their affections walked by on an upper terrace. “Damn,” they both said in unison.

****

A mountain is only a mountain, until pressure starts to build from below. Fire churns, heat and smoke rise causing that mountain to become a volcano. Todd saw his current situation in a similar way. On its journey from mountain to volcano, earthquakes rattle the nerves of people around it.

Sometimes, right before it erupts with the force of a nuclear blast, small amounts of ash come out and litter the land with its warning.

Although the table was relatively quiet, the sounds of utensils hitting plates filled the lack of conversation. Todd glanced over to Myra who sent him a timid smile. God she was beautiful. The dip in the fabric of her dress gave him a glimpse of her creamy white skin. The thought brought a wave of longing over him. He cursed his erection, tore his gaze away from Myra and stabbed at the dead bird on his plate.

“Todd and I will be going to the village tomorrow.” Fin’s announcement brought all eyes to 205

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him. Todd held his breath. Although he’d agreed to go with Fin, he wasn’t sure he could keep the reasons for going from Myra. He didn’t want to hurt her, but Fin insisted that they find a couple of women to ease their pain.

Todd knew he wasn’t going to go through with Fin’s plan, but he couldn’t exactly blow off his request. Telling Fin, ‘Gee, I think I’ll just wait until I can find a way to be with Myra,’ didn’t seem like a healthy choice of words. The thought of the broadsword swooping down on his neck popped in his mind.

“What is it you need there?” Ian asked.

Fin exchanged a glance with Todd. “Repairs from the winter’s storms need to be addressed.” His excuse wasn’t entirely without merit.

“Maybe you would like some company,” Lora suggested.

“Nay.”

“No,” Todd put in.

Myra tilted her head to Lizzy, who stared at Fin.

“I think you should take Simon and Cian,” Liz told Fin. “Wouldn’t you like that?” she asked the young boys.

“We go alone, Elizabeth.”

“Why is that, Finlay?”

Damn, Liz wasn’t fooled. Todd knew without any doubt that she’d already pegged their ulterior motives. He glanced at Myra, but she appeared lost.

Innocent.

Guilt and remorse hit him hard.

“Because I said.” Fin’s voice started to rise.

“Really, Fin. I don’t see what the problem is.”

Myra glanced at Todd. “I’m sure Simon and Cian can help with repairs.”

Todd shot his eyes to the plate in front of him.

“We don’t know if it’s safe to be leaving in big 206

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groups.” Todd followed his comment by placing a forkful of food in his mouth.

“Fin took Simon and Liz out the other day. It will be no less safe tomorrow,” Myra argued with Todd.

Ian slammed his massive fist to the table.