Taming the Wild Highlander 04 (5 page)

"
We are looking for someone," a man said, his heavenly voice, deep and intriguing, though commanding.

She tilted her head to the side. Where had she heard that voice before? Deeper than she remembered it. More manly.

"We are looking for a lass by the name of Edana," the same man said. "We wish to speak to you and learn if you know anything of her whereabouts."

The
y knew her. They'd come for her.

They did not wish to talk.
They meant to turn her over to her father. Who were they? No one from her own clan. At least she did not recognize the man as someone from her clan.

"
Nay!" she said. "Go away. The woman you seek isna here." She made her voice sound much older, gruffer, scarier. They would not think she was Edana. Then she realized her mistake at once. They had not believed she was here. They had only wished to learn if the occupant of the shieling had seen her.

***

Recognizing the woman's voice, no matter how much she tried to disguise it, Angus shook his head at Niall and Gunnolf as they waited for him to decide how to handle the wildcat locked in the shieling.

They didn
't know who the shieling belonged to, but no one would take a horse into it unless she was a madwoman, or a lass who was trying to protect her mount.

God
's knees, he didn't know how he was going to get her to open up so he could speak with her. He stared at the door, sure she stared right back at it from the other side.

He
couldn't believe she'd moved her horse into the shieling!

He
tried to reassure her first that they were friends, not foe. "'Tis Angus MacNeill, my cousin, Niall, and friend, Gunnolf. Do you remember us? We have been friends of your family's clan forever. We wish you no harm. Let us in so we may speak."

"
Nay, 'tis the middle of the night. I am sleeping. Go away."

This time she didn
't bother to use her old woman's voice, which didn't serve to deceive him in the least anyway. "You are no' talking in your sleep. Open up."

She didn
't respond.

"
I dinna want to ruin a good door, but I will if it means getting out of this cold, wet weather to speak with you."

She still didn
't say anything. He knew she hadn't returned to her pallet to sleep. Instead, she was waiting, tense, worried, wondering what he would do next.

He wasn
't sure. He wasn't going to tear down the door unless he had to.

Gunnolf and Niall
moved the horses into the byre and were wiping them down as Angus continued to stand in the thick chilly mist. "We are no' leaving. So you can let me in now or later, but we are no' going—"

"
You are planning a siege? Of a shieling?"

He heard Niall and Gunnolf chuckle in the
byre. He couldn't help but smile himself.

"
Is this how you train for grander glory?" she asked, as if getting her second wind.

His cousin and friend laughed.

Though Angus couldn't help being somewhat amused, the night was late and he was cold and wet and tired. He folded his arms and glowered at the door, wondering if the lass would have matched wits with him when they were young. Again, he regretted not having spoken to her back then. "No one need lay siege to a castle when the treasure lies within a shieling just waiting to be plucked."

That shut her up.
He certainly didn't mean that
he
saw her as a treasure. More that someone in her clan would. Her father at the very least. Not that Angus didn't find the lass intriguing and bonny. But at this very moment, he saw her as the wildcat of his youth.

Even Niall and Gunnolf remained
silent as they waited for her response.

"
Angus?" she said very sweetly.

Finally.
He hadn't thought she'd respond, but she still wasn't moving the furniture that had to be blocking the door, if that was the cause of the noise they'd heard emanating from the shieling upon their approach.

"
Aye?" he said.

"
You have come to the wrong shieling."

His friends laughed.

"Open up, Edana," he said, louder this time, demanding. He'd ridden far too long in bad weather, worried sick about her, to put up with any games she might wish to play.

She didn
't open the door. Of course. She was a wildcat and witch all in one.

Angus
called out, "Gunnolf, ride to her da's castle. Tell him we have found the lass if they want to come and get her."

This would be in her father
's hands then. Her father could break down the shieling door, toss the lass on a horse, and take her home where he could lock her in a tower room.

Angus
's job—locate the lass and protect her—would be done.

"
Ja
," Gunnolf said, and led his own horse out of the byre.

Angus was certain she
'd open the door to the shieling. But if she
didn't
, his plan would proceed.

Gunnolf mounted his horse, the leather creaking as he seated himself. He waited for Angus
's signal to ride off.

Niall watched
them, waiting to see what happened also.

When she didn
't open the door, Angus said, "Make haste, Gunnolf. At least you will have a warmer place to bed down the rest of the night while her father sends men to come for the lass."

"
Ja.
" Gunnolf nudged his horse forward, then began to trot away.

Angus waited for Edana to capitulate.

She didn't.

Niall raise
d his brows at him. Well, it had been a worthy idea, Angus thought.

T
he clip-clops of the horse's hooves grew more distant.

"
Tell him to stop!" Edana cried out.

Angus smiled, then tossed over his shoulder,
"Gunnolf, the lass is opening her door to us. You may return your horse to the byre."

And hers
, once she opened the door.

W
hile he listened to a table scraping across the stone floor away from the door, he envisioned the girl of his youth and wondered just who had won the battle.

***

Edana should have known a Highlander who had fought in the Crusades would outmaneuver her, though she thought he might break down the door rather than attempt to outwit her. She had to admit she admired him for not doing so.

Most men she knew wouldn
't have bothered with any attempts to secure her concession, but barged right in and forced it on her. Not that she still didn't suspect Angus might do just that once he gained entrance to the shieling.

She waited, dirk
in hand, because they weren't going to take her back to her father. Unfortunately, she'd have to tell them her reasoning for being here, suspecting her father had not told Angus and his companions what it was—although how could her father have told anybody when he hadn't allowed her to have her say? If she had managed to tell him her errand and he had revealed this to Angus and his friends, they most likely wouldn't have come.

Angus didn
't shove the door aside like she expected him to as if he was waiting for an invitation.

In exasperation, she let out her breath.
She hated to have to invite him in as if it was
her
idea. "Come in!"

Angus pushed the door open, but he did
not step inside the shieling. Dripping with water and filling the doorframe—much taller than she remembered him to be—he appeared menacing and dark, despite his words of friendship. He glanced into the room. What did he think? She had a whole army of men waiting in here with her, ready to wage war with him?

He raised his brows to see her armed. T
hen he smiled at her horse. "The byre wasna warm enough for her?" His smile was amused, his dark brown eyes taking in her whole appearance, and she realized her damp chemise was clinging to her body.

Her whole body instantly warmed, but she couldn
't grab one of the blankets to wrap around herself and still hold her dirk readied for a fight.

She
wasn't going to respond to his comment about her mare either. He knew full well why she had moved Nana in here.

"
I told you we wished you no harm, lass," Angus said, moving around her to reach Nana's reins, and Edana quickly stepped back, his size and closeness making her fearful.

In that brief instant
, she felt his body heat radiating toward her, smelled him—rainwater, leather, man, and horse. And took another deep breath of him.

He
clucked at her mare to get her to back up because there wasn't any way to turn her around inside the small room. She was looking a little wild-eyed, and Edana thought she would have to take over and coax her horse out of the shieling. But Angus was gentle with the mare, speaking with her as if…as if he was coaxing a woman into bed!

Though why she should think such a thing all of a sudden made her whole body burn with chagrin.

"Gunnolf, will you take the mare to the byre?" Angus called out, as he finally backed the horse outside.

"
Ja
," the man said. He took the mare's reins and said to her, "You are a fine horse, but you are still meant for a byre."

Thankfully, Angus did not comment further about the horse.

Now that her mare was gone, the place would have seemed comfortably large, but with the broad-shouldered, tall man standing inside the room, it appeared piteously small.

The last time she
'd seen Angus, she had been a young lass and he had been but a lad. He was a full grown man now—his dark hair nearly black because it was sopping wet. His dark eyes took in the dirk she still held, and she felt foolish then as she saw his fine sword. Yet, she didn't set her dagger aside no matter how insignificant the weapon seemed compared to a warrior and his claymore.

He grabbed a chair
, and she took a step back. But what he did next, shocked her. He removed his plaid and laid it over the chair next to the fire. And then,
the brigand
, he began to slip off his boots.

"
What are you doing?" she asked, hating how breathless she sounded. His damp shirt clung to all his manly parts, his muscled chest, arms, and thighs, even his groin—revealing a part of his anatomy that was growing in size.

Fascinated, she had a devil of a time shifting her attention away from it
—as much as she knew she should. She swallowed hard and lifted her gaze from considering his rugged body to see a small smile curving his mouth.

"
Drying my clothes. You wouldna want me to catch my death, would you?"

"'
Tis no' my fault that you were daft enough to ride in a rainstorm."

"
May we come in?" Niall asked from the doorway, like Angus, having to dip his head to enter. His hair was dark brown, curly, and short. He was lankier than Angus, the two of them being the same age.

He didn
't wait for an invitation and did exactly what Angus had done. Began stripping.

Her face had to be crimson as s
he quickly looked away.

Gunnolf didn
't ask to be invited. The blond-haired, blue-eyed Viking entered, shut the door, then barred it.

Unease slid up her spine as she instantly felt trapped.

Finding no more chairs to leave his plaid on, Gunnolf moved the table. Her clothes were lying on the hearth, as close as she could get them to the fire. And they took the only furniture to hang their clothes?

She shrank back from all the
half-naked men. Before she tripped on her blankets, Angus stalked toward her, startling her, and seized the dirk from her hand. She sat down hard with a thump, attempting to put distance between them.

"
We can talk now, or get some sleep first," Angus said, as Gunnolf and Niall began laying out their blankets.

"
Sleep first," she quickly said.

As tired as they looked, she had every intention of slipping away while they slept. She
hoped she could unbar the door without making any noise. She even thought of setting their horses free, but the horses might suffer for it, so instead, she would leave the shieling far behind while the men slept away the rest of the night. She would continue on her way to find her brothers, and she might locate the guards and Una while she was at it.

Niall tossed Angus his blanket, and the brute laid it right next to hers!
Touching hers, overlapping hers.

"
Nay, move it farther away," she snapped.