The Magnificent Rogue (32 page)

He was home.

She found herself walking slowly through the winding streets that led to the dock, jostled by the crowds running to meet the ship, drawn helplessly as if to a lodestone.

He had come back to her.

No, not to her but to Craighdhu. She wasn’t important to him in anything but a physical sense. Someone whose body brought pleasure and ease to his loins.
The thought should have quenched the jubilation soaring through her.

It did not. She didn’t care. She would see him.

He was here.

She was here.

He had not expected her to be at the dock. She had been so angry with him when he had left that his last memory of her had been of blazing eyes and hotter words. Yet there she was at the back of the crowd, the wind whipping her brown cape away from her slight body.

“Evidently, your gentle wife has gotten over her displeasure with you,” Jock remarked. “I could have hoped otherwise.”

Robert ignored him as he strode down the gangplank. Christ, he felt the same excitement he had experienced when he had come back to Craighdhu those many years ago. No, not quite the same. The sight of Craighdhu had never made him ready like a stallion before a mare in heat.

He pushed through the crowd to stop before her. “You look in good health.”

She nodded without speaking.

“How is Gavin?”

“Good. Very good.” She was silent again, her gaze clinging to his, before asking haltingly, “Was your journey pleasant?”

Not as pleasant as knowing she was glad he was back. “Profitable. We accomplished what we set out to do.” He wondered what she would do if he carried her into the warehouse across the street, slammed the door, and tore off her clothes. “I brought you a gift.”

“A gift?”

How he loved her mouth. He loved the way she smelled of lavender and woman. He loved the courage, boldness, and defiance she showed him that was more tempting than another woman’s compliance. By God,
he had missed her. “It’s in the cargo hold. I’ll have it brought to—”

“Haven’t you forgotten something, Robert?” Jock stood beside them. “Good day, my lady. I hate to interrupt this sweet greeting, but it’s necessary that I consult Robert on the disposition of an item of cargo.” He shifted his great bulk to one side to reveal a tall brown-haired young woman with sparkling blue eyes and plump breasts brimming over the low-cut bodice of her gown. “What do I do with this charming creature?”

The woman chuckled and laid a caressing hand on Jock’s arm. Her words had a pleasant lilt as she said, “Why, the same as you did on the journey over. I have no complaints. Don’t change a thing.”

Kate looked from the woman back to Robert in bewilderment. Robert silently and venomously heaped every curse in his memory on Jock. He had no doubt the bastard was deliberately trying to cause trouble.

“Aren’t you going to introduce our visitor from afar?” Jock asked.

“Mistress Norah Kerry,” Robert muttered. He took Kate’s elbow and began propelling her down the dock.

“I’ll fetch Norah to the castle at nightfall,” Jock called after him. “There’s no use bringing her here and not using her services.”

Damn that interfering son of a bitch. Robert could feel the tension charging Kate’s body, the bewilderment and uneasiness now veiling that tentative happiness he had sensed in her.

“What services?” Kate asked.

“Never mind. Has Gavin shown you the island?”

“Only the town. I’ve been busy.” She glanced back over her shoulder at Jock and Norah. “What services?”

There was no use trying to avoid the truth. Kate’s curiosity and obstinacy were very much in evidence. “She’s a strumpet.”

Under his hand he felt shock harden the muscles of her forearm. “I see. Then I’m sure your journey was
even more pleasant than you said.” She jerked her arm away and began to walk faster. “But you should not have left her so rudely just because you thought I might have been offended. It was very foolish of you. I know how similar we are in your eyes.”

“You don’t know anything of the sort,” he said roughly.

“Of course I do. We’re both in your life only until you cast us out, good for pleasing you in bed and nothing more. I actually feel a certain kinship with her.”

“She’s not my—”

“You needn’t deny it to save my feelings. Considering your carnal nature, it would be mad of me to expect you to abstain when so tempting a woman appears.” Her words were coming fast, tumbling like rocks loosened by a landslide. “She seems very good-tempered. I’m sure she proved most accommodating.”

“Yes, she did, but not to me. It was Jock who bedded her.”

“And now it’s your turn?”

“If I’d wanted to bed her, I would have done so. Jock and I have shared women before.” Another mistake. He could see she didn’t like the picture that brought to mind either. “Jock is bringing her to the castle for—”

“I have no interest in your strumpets.” She kept her face turned away, but he could see the color burning in her cheeks. “It’s just as well you did bring her for your pleasure, for I’m not with child. You would not want to endanger Craighdhu by touching me.”

The words struck him with such force, he knew he had been avoiding thinking of the possibility. He had thought only of Kate, the things he would do with her, the ways he would take her, bind her to him. “You’re certain?”

“I’ve had my flux, and even if I had not, I would not let you come to my bed. So you can feel free to go to your Norah and—”

“Dammit!” Blind frustration and rage exploded within him, and he knew it was caused not by her words but the barrier that now existed between them. He overtook her in two steps, grabbed her arm, and jerked her into the alcove of the butcher’s shop they were passing. “I don’t need your permission to take a whore or to take my own wife. I will do either, if I see fit.”

“Let me go!”

“When you stop talking and listen to me.” He put his hands against the wall on either side of her, holding her captive. He could feel the warmth of her body and wanted to rub up and down like a cat against her. “I did not bring the woman for myself. I brought her for Gavin.”

“Gavin!” Her eyes widened in shock. “Why?”

“Jock says she’s a cheerful and diverting lass, and God knows Gavin needs diverting.” He scowled. “Before he gets himself drawn and quartered.”

“Oh!” Her teeth sank into her lower lip. “I don’t think it’s Gavin who is in danger at the moment. You’d best keep the woman away from the castle.”

“You don’t understand these matters.” He tried to be patient, though he wanted to reach out and shake her. No, take her, plunge into her, make her accept every bit of him. But he couldn’t do that. Craighdhu was now safe, and he had to quench the fever. Gavin. He would think of Gavin. He couldn’t do anything to rid himself of his own obsession, but he could try to save Gavin. “There will be no shame. I promise the woman will not intrude. You’ll scarce see her, but Gavin needs—”

“Gavin has all he needs at the moment,” she interrupted. “And if you wish this woman to live to give pleasure to any other man, you’ll not let Jean know she’s on the island.”

He stiffened. “Jean?”

“She’s here.” She added simply, “Gavin went reiving.”

He closed his eyes. Christ, this was all he needed. “How long have they been here?”

“Two days. They’re to wed at sundown this evening.”

“The hell they will.”

“You cannot stop them unless you wish to kill Gavin. He will not be swayed. They leave tomorrow for Ireland.” She smiled bitterly. “So you need not worry they will endanger your Craighdhu.”

“Malcolm will follow them.”

“Gavin says he knows people who will hide them.”

He shook his head. “It’s madness. Malcolm will slice Gavin’s throat and make Jean a widow before the month’s out.” He turned to her. “And then shall I tell you what he’ll do to that sweet, shy child? It will make Sebastian’s treatment of you seem gentle in comparison.”

“She’s willing to take the risk, and she’s stronger than you think. If you wish to prove it, just send that strumpet to Gavin and see what happens.”

His arms dropped, and he slowly stepped back. “I have to talk with him.”

“He thought that would be your wish. That’s why they waited, instead of leaving at once.” She left the alcove and started walking toward the castle. “I believe he wants your blessing.”

“He won’t get it.”

“Then you must give him your good wishes,” she said. “I won’t have him going into danger with bad feelings lingering. He doesn’t deserve such treatment.”

“He deserves a knock on the head to clear his brain.”

“Because he had the temerity to endanger your precious Craighdhu? Well, I’m glad he did. He should have something better than stone and earth to cling to in this world. I don’t fully understand Jean Malcolm,
but she’s a brave woman and I think you’re a fool not to realize Gavin has—” She broke off and stalked ahead of him down the street. “What are you going to do? You can’t send her back.”

“You won’t permit me?”

“Gavin won’t permit you.” She lifted her chin. “And no, I won’t either. They’re going to be no bother to you. There’s no reason for you to spoil their happiness.”

“No reason, but to save their lives.”

“It’s not your concern. Gavin is no child. He has chosen his way.”

“Just as you’ve chosen yours.”

“
I’ve
chosen?” She started across the drawbridge. “I had nothing to do with this. Elizabeth gave me to you, and you took me and brought me here.”

“If I remember, I agreed to pay highly for your acquiescence.”

“A home? It’s proved to be an empty promise. You cannot give me—” She stopped and drew a deep breath. “We were talking of Gavin and Jean.”

“Is it not better to talk
to
them?” Gavin asked.

They looked up to see Gavin and Jean strolling toward them across the drawbridge from the castle. Gavin’s hand was clasped tightly around Jean’s, his face a trifle pale but his expression resolute. He stopped before Robert and braced himself. “I’m glad you’re home, Robert. You’re just in time for the wedding.”

Robert stared at him. “You realize the consequences?”

“I welcome the consequences.” Gavin drew Jean closer. “Some things are meant to be.”

“Then heaven help you.” Robert strode past them across the bridge and into the courtyard.

“At least he didn’t throw me into the moat this time. I consider that an excellent sign.” Gavin smiled down at Jean. “First battle over, love.”

“And you fought it well.” She smiled back at him
before her gaze wandered after Robert. “But perhaps I will also speak to him, later, when his temper cools.”

Kate did not see Robert for the rest of the day. After speaking to Tim MacDougal, he had returned to town to seek Jock. She deliberately kept herself too busy with preparations for the wedding feast to spare a thought for him.

However, she made sure she was in the courtyard when Jock Candaron rode through the gates a few hours before dusk. He reined in his horse and shook his head at the stable boy, who ran toward him to take the horse. “I won’t be staying.” He gestured to the packhorse behind him. “Take the trunk to my lady’s chamber. It’s a gift from her devoted husband.”

Kate barely glanced at the huge leather trunk. She was concerned only that the woman Norah Kerry was not with him.

He smiled coolly when he saw her relieved expression. “I left the lady at the inn in town. I saw Robert down at the docks, and he said her services were not required. Pity.”

“Gavin doesn’t agree with you.”

“But he was always one who thought with his heart, not his head.” He paused deliberately. “Not at all like Robert.”

“No?”

“Robert is much like me. He usually confines his passions to objects that cannot hurt him.”

“Such as Norah Kerry?”

He shook his head. “Robert chose her for Gavin. His own tastes run to more spirited females. For instance, you’ve quite captivated him.” Bluntly, he continued, “Are you with child?”

Shock ran through her at the rudeness of the question. “No.”

“That’s good. Then we all may be safe. Robert is
no fool to endanger Craighdhu twice, no matter how much he wishes to bed you.”

“He told you who my mother … who I am?”

“Did you think he would not share such knowledge of a danger to Craighdhu with the man who defends her? I told him what an idiot he was.” He paused, then added deliberately, “But he assured me it was only lust, and Robert and I both know how fleeting that emotion can be.”

He was trying to hurt her and succeeding admirably. She tried not to let him see how deep that thrust had gone home. “Then you’ve nothing to worry about, have you?”

“I didn’t think so, until Robert and I talked to Deirdre and some of the townspeople this afternoon. You’ve been busy while we’ve been gone. Actually, you’ve done very well. You have a brain in your head and a gift for leadership.”

“I’ve only tried to help,” she said.

He shook his head. “You’ve been making a nest for yourself.”

She met his gaze and knew she could not deny it to him as she had to herself. She had followed the instinct blindly, working, weaving a life in this place she most wanted to be. “Since there’s no child in the nest, there’s no threat to you.”

“Not yet.” He smiled. “But I thought I should point out that I would be most displeased if you decided to lure Robert into that particular danger.”

She felt a chill run through her. The threat was clear, and Jock Candaron a very dangerous man. “And what would you do if I chose to disobey your advice?”

“Whatever my duty bids,” he said softly. “I always do my duty, Kate. It is a passion with me.” He turned his horse. “Now you must excuse me. Robert is waiting for me at my lodgings to discuss matters of business.”

For the first time he had called her by her first name, foregoing the formal tide of respect. She knew it
was deliberate. He wished to show her he had no more deference for her than he had for Norah Kerry.

“You may
not
call me Kate,” she said through her teeth. “I prefer you to call me Kathryn, as my other enemies do.”

He smiled. “I look forward to seeing you at the wedding, Kathryn. Such a joyous occasion …”