Chapter 4 #2
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She turned away, not wanting him to see how deeply he rattled her. When he didn’t leave as she hoped, she asked, “Why were you out riding? I thought you were taking part in the games.”
“I hadn’t decided, but now that I’ve heard the prize to be won, I think I shall enter the archery contest.”
It took her a moment to realize what he meant. Her eyes flew to his face, thinking he was jesting, but his expression was implacable. “You can’t be serious.” He couldn’t intend to court her.
His eyes met hers, and the intensity shook her to her toes. “And what if I am?”
She ignored the sudden race of her heart.
Despite her confounding attraction to him, the idea of marrying a Campbell, let alone this Campbell, was so far-fetched that she didn’t know how to respond.
The misery of her mother cast out from her clan was never far from her mind.
She’d avoid that fate at all costs. “You’re wasting your time.
” She tried to breeze by him, but he blocked her path.
Her shoulder collided with the steely shield of his chest, and she sucked in her breath at the shock of physical awareness.
The strange sensations he’d wrought in her yesterday came flooding back: the warmth, the fluttering in her stomach, the race of her heart, the prickle of awareness that chilled her skin.
“Am I?” he said in a low voice, and the warmth of his breath tickled her ear, making her shudder. “You didn’t seem to think so yesterday.”
Caitrina flushed. How dare he bring up that kiss!
The kiss she couldn’t forget when he was standing so close to her, his powerful body radiating heat that seemed to entrap her.
“You had no right to kiss me.” She dared not look up.
He was standing too close. She felt this strange pull …
as though someone were sliding the floor mat out from beneath her feet.
As though she wanted him to kiss her again.
She could turn her head and feel his mouth on her cheek, sliding along her jaw, on her lips …
Her heart thumped wildly, and she felt as if she were drowning in something more powerful than she could control.
But she couldn’t forget who he was.
She forced her eyes to his and said with all sincerity, “I’d sooner marry a toad than a Campbell.”
Jamie might just make her eat those words. He could lean down, cover her lips with his, and kiss her until he proved her wrong. And God, he was tempted.
He’d had no intention of actually finding a wife when he came here, but taming this brazen girl with her strange mix of haughtiness and innocence might damn well be worth it.
It was rare that he met a woman he didn’t have to tiptoe around for fear of overwhelming or intimidating her.
He smiled. Nay, Caitrina Lamont was decidedly not intimidated by him.
He was returning from meeting with his men, who’d scoured the caves in the hills beyond but had found nothing, when he’d overheard the conversation between Caitrina and Torquil MacNeil.
She was clever, he’d give her that. As she’d proved many times over last night, she had an uncanny way of ridding herself of suitors—but there was a dangerous na?veté to her boldness.
And one day it was going to land her in a heap of trouble.
The lass seemed to have every available man within a hundred miles under her spell.
Even now, with her hair tumbling freely around her shoulders, straw on her ridiculously fine skirts for sitting in a barn, and looking adorably mussed, her allure was undeniable.
For all her pristine beauty, there was an unmistakable air of sexual promise that surrounded her, hinting at far more earthy delights. A rose waiting to be plucked.
He wanted her with an intensity that defied reason. He wanted her in a primal way that he’d never felt before with any woman. And when Jamie wanted something, he got it.
Yet she seemed entirely unaware of what a temptation she presented or how close he was to tossing her down in the hay and kissing her senseless. His blood heated at the thought of her under him, his hands stroking her soft skin, his mouth …
Disgusted, he fought back the haze of lust. He was a man of prodigious control when it came to keeping his desire in check, but never had he met a lass who so aroused such primitive impulses in him.
Or, for that matter, one who could provoke him so easily by casting her careless aspersions on his clan.
He stood back and crossed his arms. “So it’s my name that bothers you?”
“Isn’t it enough? Our clans are enemies, and have been for decades.”
“What better way to end a feud? Besides, your mother was a Campbell.”
She flushed with anger. “And she was disowned by her Campbell father, the Laird of Cawdor. I have no familial love for the Campbells, and your cousin is the worst of the bad lot.”
“For someone so obviously disinterested in politics, you certainly seem to have strong opinions.”
“Everyone knows that Argyll is a despot who steals land and then, when the clansmen are broken with nowhere left to go, hunts them like dogs.”
“I assume you are referring to the MacGregors?” Jamie said idly, feeling anything but.
What did she know of the MacGregors? Of the massacre of the Colquhouns at the battle of Glenfruin?
Of the countless Campbells who’d been victims of their reiving and pillaging?
He cupped her chin, running his thumb over the frantic pulse in her neck.
“The MacGregors are brigands and outlaws who would slit your pretty neck without a second thought. Remember that when you condemn my cousin.”
Her eyes widened with alarm. “You’re just trying to frighten me. You forget the MacGregors are allies of the Lamonts.”
He hadn’t forgotten that at all. In fact, it’s what had brought him here. “I suggest you choose your friends more wisely.”
She pursed her mouth defiantly. “If they’re outlaws, it’s because they have no other choice, since Campbells have taken their land. And you make them sound worse than they are. It’s what Argyll wants people to believe to justify his actions.”
Jamie fought to keep his temper in check, knowing that she spoke out of ignorance and didn’t understand the complexity of the issues facing the Highlands or the centuries-long dispute between the MacGregors and the Campbells over lands—lands to which the MacGregors had no legal claim.
But he felt a strange urge to explain. “My cousin seeks to put an end to the lawlessness that has plagued the Highlands and protect the innocent, and believe me, the MacGregors are not innocent. Do not romanticize their plight; they are not the Robin Hood and Merry Men of legend. Nor have they been blameless in what has happened to them.”
She wrenched free, breathing hard, eyes flashing. “So they deserve to be hunted and butchered?”
His gaze hardened. “They deserve to be brought to justice for their considerable crimes.”
Her voice dripped with mockery. “What about your crimes? Have the Campbells not been accused of similar injustices? Has your cousin not burned people off their land?”
“Unlike the MacGregors, we do not break the law.”
“How convenient, since you are the law.”
His mouth tightened. “I am the man who wants to make it so that you can ride the countryside without fear of attack.”
“By fear, force, and intimidation.”
He took a step closer, resisting the urge to pull her into his arms and quiet her ridiculous accusations.
His patience stretched taut by this brazen lass with her flashing eyes and red lips that begged to be kissed, a lass who said things to him that no one had dared before—no one.
“By whatever means the law provides,” he said tightly.
“Does that include cutting off heads for a bounty?”
He knew she referred to the recent enactment by the Privy Council giving not just a reward, but the dead man’s possessions to the bearer of a MacGregor head.
“I’ve seen grisly things on both sides that would give you nightmares for years.
You are a woman. Men are not so squeamish about such things—’tis the Highland way. ”
“And that makes it right?”
“The government has found it effective.”
“Don’t you mean your cousin has found it effective, since he is the government? Or would like to make himself so.”
“My cousin seeks to unify the Highlands—with the support of most of the chiefs through bonds of manrent. Without authority, the alternative is a return to the fractious feuding of clans. Is that what you want?” If it wasn’t the Campbells, it would be the Mackenzies or Gordons, but there was no doubt it would be someone.
She thrust up that adorable chin and boldly met his gaze. “It’s not what is good for the Highlands, but greed that motivates King Campbell.”
Jamie clenched his jaw, furious to be taken to task by a sheltered, pampered girl with little understanding of the harsh realities of the world.
“You spout rumor and hyperbole as if it were fact. But what do you really know, Caitrina? You are a cosseted girl who lives in a glass castle, protected by your father and brothers. Somehow I doubt your father takes you into his confidence.” Her flush proved the truth of his observation.
“But beyond the gates of your keep is the real world, a world that is not black and white as you would make it, but much more complicated. Before you are so quick to judge, make sure you know the facts.”
She turned away from him, a stubborn set to her slim shoulders. “I know everything I need to know.”
Her unqualified rejection shouldn’t bother him, but it did.
Condemnation such as hers was common enough, but somehow coming from this lass it felt different.
He took her arm and spun her back toward him, catching her against his legs and chest. His body surged with heat and anger.
She struggled against him, but he held fast. One way or another, she would listen.
“And what of you, Caitrina? What do you want? More men to fawn over your beauty? More jewels and costly gowns?”
She gasped with outrage. “You know nothing of what you speak.”
“I know that your father can deny you nothing, that you traipse around here dressed like a queen—even in the stables—but that the feuding has taken its toll on your clan.” His gaze passed from her fine silks to the rusty tools lined up against the faded, lime-washed walls of the barn, and he could see her sudden realization.
“I know that you reject every man who comes before you so you don’t have to leave the comfort and safety of your little kingdom.
I know that your father was widowed many years ago and yet has never remarried.
Why do you think that is, Caitrina? Is it because he worries that it would upset you and the position you have claimed in the household? ”
She flinched as if he’d slapped her. It was clear no one had ever talked this way to her. “You’re wrong!” she seethed, her cheeks crimson and lovely breasts heaving. But he saw the flicker of uncertainty.
He released her, knowing he’d said enough.
Stepping back, he dragged a hand through his hair, giving his body a chance to calm.
He hadn’t meant to speak so harshly, but her curt dismissal of his suit—a suit he’d never intended to actually pursue—had pricked his anger.
Her prejudice against the Campbells was all too common throughout the Highlands, but this lass with her bold tongue and na?ve accusations had penetrated his armor like no other.
He strode toward the door and turned to look at her one more time.
She stood stone still, her face pale and hands clenched at her side.
Strong and proud, but surprisingly fragile.
His words had left their mark. He felt a twinge of guilt, an urge to comfort, but quickly forced it aside.
He’d spoken the truth; it was time Caitrina Lamont heard it.
Her father was doing her no favors in keeping her ignorant of the problems and unrest in the Highlands.
If Jamie’s suspicions about Alasdair MacGregor proved true, the real world would rain down on her soon enough.