Chapter 18
Hunter was in the midst of a pleasant dream of Nancy standing naked in the doorway of a woodland cabin, a loch glittering beneath the moonlight beyond her silhouette.
He was just admiring her perfect figure and calling her to come back to bed, when instead of a sultry response, an ear-splitting shriek rattled through his skull.
He woke with a jolt, his hand fumbling for a blade that was all the way across the edge of the pool, sticking out of his boot. As he moved to reach for it, he felt the weight against his arm and glanced down, his unease abating slightly as he looked upon Nancy’s sleeping face.
She looked so peaceful… until that awful shriek came again.
Hunter turned his head, trying not to wake her while, at the same time, needing to know where that unholy sound was coming from. His peace was shattered when he saw Elsie standing at the bottom of the garden steps.
She hopped up and down like a bairn who’d just been given a prize, clapping her hands together as she cried out, “I kent it! I kent ye didnae just bring her here as a nursemaid! Och, it was plainer than the sun what yer intentions were! Finally, there’s to be some good news! Finally, there’s to be a wedding!”
At that unfortunate moment, Nancy stirred awake and turned around in Hunter’s arms, her bleary gaze slowly tracing a line between Elsie and him and back again.
Stifling a yawn, she asked, “A wedding? Who’s getting married?”
“Ye, of course!” Elsie gushed, her eyes so wide with joy that Hunter feared they might pop out of her head.
“Och, this is a fine day. A fine day, indeed. The clan needs this, Hunter. They need somethin’ to be glad about, especially after…
But never mind that. Come on, get yerselves up and inside, so we can tell everyone the happy tidings! ”
At his side, Nancy was suddenly very awake and very alert, her gaze sharp as she turned to him. “What is she talking about? What wedding?”
It wasn’t ideal, nor was it planned. It was his fault for allowing himself to fall asleep by the stone pool when he should have insisted on taking her back into the castle.
But she’d been so content in his arms, and talking about her past had seemed to soothe her. Plus, her stories had been so wild and fanciful that he hadn’t wanted her to stop talking.
He’d lowered his guard, and this was exactly why he rarely did.
“I ken what ye’re up to,” Elsie said merrily, oblivious to Nancy’s horror. “Ye cannae continue yer secret affair, now that ye’ve been caught. It wouldnae be right. Och, I’ll have to start plannin’ right away!”
“You’d better start explaining,” Nancy hissed, a flicker of alarm in her eyes.
Hunter sat back. “It looks like we’re gettin’ married, lass. Apparently, Elsie here can see what we’re up to.” He paused, then lowered his voice to add, “And she has a loud mouth. What’s secret willnae stay that way.”
In an instant, Nancy was on her feet, smoothing the wrinkles in Hunter’s shirt. It suited her. It was just a pity she was wearing it with that look of utter dismay on her face, instead of with the hungry, anticipating look she’d given him the night before.
“This is… well, it’s ridiculous, is what it is!
” she scoffed, breathing hard. “We just fell asleep after he saved me from drowning and after… talking awhile. It wasn’t intentional, and it wasn’t anything…
I don’t know, tawdry! There’s no need to make a big deal out of this.
This is not a reason to run into marriage! ”
Hunter wondered if he should feel insulted by her protest, but he was too busy admiring the way the sunlight filtered through the flimsy fabric of his shirt, just teasing him with the hourglass of her waist and hips, the swell of her backside, and those shapely thighs that he’d come to know so well.
At least they didn’t hate each other, which was a vast improvement from his last marriage. At least they knew they were compatible in terms of appetite. But more than that, it was a means to keep her safe in a way that having her here as a nursemaid wouldn’t allow.
Or put her in greater danger, a different voice of reason piped up in his head.
MacLeach wouldn’t be pleased if news of a new bride reached him just three months after the death of his daughter. It wouldn’t be grounds to start the war afresh, in Hunter’s opinion, but that had never stopped anyone before.
But if ye daenae marry her and Elsie flaps her tongue, ye’ll be spurned for it.
He didn’t care what anyone thought of him, not really, but he needed his clan to support him.
Already, there was some residual dissension after the death of his cousin, and his people believed for some time that he had killed his wife, too.
Some still believed he had killed his wife, and that Freya was just some ruse to placate the masses.
It was a tricky situation, and no mistake. He’d be damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.
But he’d be damned if he was going to let anyone else have her.
“I daenae ken what lads do in yer strange world, but we never run from duty, lass,” he said, with a nod to Elsie. “It cannae be undone now.”
Nancy paled in the foggy morning light, trembling again, though it wasn’t so cold. When she stared at him, it wasn’t the fear or the anger that gave him pause, but the flicker of sadness that creased her brow and parted her lips.
A faint bristle of unease prickled down the back of his neck.
“Excuse me,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and hurried for the recess where she’d left her clothes the night before.
She didn’t bother to dress. She just gathered them in front of her, hiding as much of herself as she could, and took off up the steps as if something terrible were chasing her.
In her absence, Hunter shot his cousin a cold look. “Why did ye do that, eh?”
Elsie frowned. “What do ye mean?”
“I daenae want two brides who cannae think of anythin’ worse than marryin’ me,” he growled. “Yet, thanks to ye, I’d say it’s likely. Could ye nae have just woken us quietly and said nothin’?”
A haughty look tilted Elsie’s chin up. “Nay, actually, I couldnae. That wouldnae be the proper thing to do. That lass is the best thing that has happened to this castle in a long time, and I’m nae goin’ to let ye ruin her reputation or, indeed, lose interest and make her want to leave because ye couldnae resist her. ”
“She doesnae belong here, Elsie,” he insisted, remembering Nancy’s tales from last night.
He couldn’t believe he was giving it any serious thought, but it was becoming clearer to him that this mysterious woman wasn’t just from another country across an ocean.
He’d heard of peculiar things happening in this part of the world for as long as he’d been alive. His mother and his aunt always told stories of the strange magic of the Highlands, particularly here between the mountains and the sea, where unnatural spirits, creatures, and myths had sought refuge.
Clearly, she was some manner of… realm-walker, able to pass between her world and his. A faerie, perhaps? Or a witch who lived among such creatures, who had been cast out of her world for some reason or another?
He wasn’t sure which, but the things she had told him last night were so otherworldly, so impossible to imagine, that he had no choice but to believe she was more than human.
I’ll probably be cursin’ me entire bloodline by marryin’ her.
“She wants to go home,” he added.
Elsie shrugged. “Well, she should have thought about that before she got herself… entangled with ye. This will be her home, and I, for one, will be glad to have her here.” She eyed his bare chest with disapproval. “Now, make yerself decent and come to breakfast.”
“Daenae breathe a word of it until I’ve spoken to her,” Hunter said coldly, for his cousin wasn’t one of the people he tolerated giving him commands.
She blinked at his tone and the hard expression on his face, and dropped her chin to her chest. “I willnae, but… I’m nae the only one who saw. There were others. I cannae promise they’ll be quiet.”
“Then make them,” he retorted, striding past her to the steps. “Or I will, and my way willnae be as pleasant.”