Chapter 8
He caught her by the arm as she turned away, spinning her back towards him with enough force that she landed against the solid wall of his chest. He shuddered out a breath at the intimate contact.
“Allia, please…”
For a moment, she was lost. She felt as if she was melting into the warmth of him, falling into the intoxicating scent of man and spice and saddle leather.
Oh, it would be so easy. So very easy to forget herself.
Her breasts were pressed tightly against him, and her nipples hardened and ached.
She put her hands flat against his chest to push herself away, and she could feel the nervous, frantic pounding of his heart.
She looked up at him, lips parted in surprise.
He really felt something for her. This was more to him than just another conquest…
He met her gaze, and his eyes were impossibly dark, and desperate with need.
“Please…” he choked out.
It was all he could seem to say.
He bent his head, lowering his mouth slowly towards hers until she could feel his warm breath.
Her own heart beat like a wild bird in a cage.
Her trembling fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt.
She was falling, falling… Then the familiar panic rose and she shoved at him as she wrenched herself away, stumbling backwards.
The last thing she saw before she turned and ran was the look of absolute desolation on his face as he reached for her.
“Allia…”
But she had to get away. She couldn’t think when Eian was close to her.
He overwhelmed her, filled all her senses, made everything and everyone else fade away until he was all she could see.
Could his feelings for her be genuine, or was he just that good of an actor?
He wanted her, yes. But how could she trust him not to break her heart?
If she let him in, even a little, she was afraid she would fall so hard and so fast that should he ever leave her, she would never survive.
Allia knew that with Eian Mac Coinnach, it would be nothing at all… or her very soul.
Allia shook herself awake from the vivid dream, willing her heart to slow to a more normal rhythm.
Raw emotions still roiled within her, and she fought to tamp them down, because she couldn’t afford to let them get in her way.
She needed to think of her future now, of the rest of her life.
She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.
She glanced at the window. Dawn was not far off, by the faint glow in the eastern sky, and she had to get ready to slip away.
***
Eian had woken slowly this morning from deep within a dream, head throbbing, still slumped against the stables.
In the dream, he had been home at Creagmor, and Allia had been there with him.
He had woken up and looked over to find her beside him in his bed, propped up against the pillows, and holding a small bundle wrapped in a blanket.
He had sat up to get a better view, and found himself looking down into the tiny, perfect face of a newborn babe.
He had known in an instant that the bairn was his own.
A love so pure and so strong had flooded his heart that he could still feel it, even now.
And pride! So much pride. His wife and his child, to love and protect and cherish.
The feeling had been so profoundly pleasant that he longed to fall back to sleep and stay longer in the dream.
But he was wide awake now. He ran his hands through his hair and gingerly lowered his head back against the wall to consider what such a night vision might mean.
Eian had never until this very moment thought of himself as a potential father.
Oh, he adored children, he played with all of the children of the village, even taught some of the lads how to wield their wooden swords, and threw the squealing little lasses up into the air, catching and tickling them, and delighting in their carefree laughter.
When he walked down the road they swarmed him, and he loved it.
He even looked forward to the birth of Bren’s child, so that he would have a little niece or nephew to spoil.
But bairns of his own? Truthfully, he had never even considered it, and was always exceedingly careful not to get any of his lovers with child.
Children, and a wife for that matter, would have definitely gotten in the way of his commitment to a life of fun and adventure.
But when he thought of Allia, and remembered the dream, he unexpectedly wanted more than that.
He was shocked to find that it didn’t seem so bad after all…
settling down. A family. His own bairns.
One woman that was his and his alone. He could almost see Allia, in his mind’s eye, her golden hair shining in the sun while their children clung to her skirts adoringly.
He would come home from training with the men and she would turn and smile at him, then the wee ones would shriek and run to him, their father.
He would catch them up and fling them, giggling, over his shoulder, then lean in to kiss his wife…
“Mac Coinnach!”
Eian started and blinked as the beautiful vision faded and the world slowly came back into focus.
“Bloody hell, man, where were ye just now?” Angus, who ran the stables, was looking at him strangely.
Eian shook his head. “Sorry, just lost in my thoughts for a moment. Had strange dreams last night.” He glanced up at the north tower where he knew Allia’s window was, rather wishing he was waking up in her bed, instead of slouched down on a pile of mud and straw with hard stone at his back.
“Aye, well, that much whiskey would give any man strange dreams. Ye drank everyone else under the table, man.”
Aye, it must have been the whiskey. It had been a very long time since he’d drunk so much of the stuff. Still, he couldn’t help but glance up at the tower window once more before looking back at Angus, who had evidently been speaking to him again. “What were ye saying?”
Angus had followed his gaze to the window, and understanding crossed his face, followed by a grin and a little snort of laughter.
“Good luck to ye lad, if ye have a mind to try your hand with the laird’s niece. They say he has her already promised to someone. For a very fair deal, at that.”
Eian couldn’t pretend that he didn’t know what Angus was talking about. He had a feeling that the vicious jealousy rising like bile in his gut would show on his face anyway. “Who is it, do ye ken?”
The other man shook his head. “No. No one kens, just rumors. But people talk, even those privy to the Laird’s business, and the word is she’ll be wed within the month, if Leon has his way.
Probably some fat auld laird from a lesser clan.
” He let out a laugh. “Poor lass, if I were her, I’d be running about now, and such a pretty thing, too. ”
Eian looked up at the window again and narrowed his eyes. He would have to double his efforts, because there was no way he would stand by and see Allia married off to someone else, not when he wanted her more. But first, he really needed to wash. He smelled like horses and whiskey.
He got to his feet, brushing the worst of the straw from his kilt. “Angus, do ye have some soap?”
“Aye, in the tack room. Help yerself… and Mac Coinnach…”
“Aye?”
“Good luck to ye.”
Eian grabbed a lump of soap and headed to the loch.
He stripped bare and washed his clothing, hanging it on a low hanging branch to drip dry while he soaped his hair and body.
He swam out to the middle of the long, narrow loch and back again, then climbed out onto the shore and put his still-damp clothes back on. They would dry while he walked back.
As he neared the castle yard, it was obvious that something had happened while he was gone.
Saddled horses were being led out of the stable by grooms, and a group of Leon’s guardsmen were checking their weapons and preparing to ride out.
Eian broke into a jog as the first group of men rode out.
He yelled to one of the guards who was just mounting his horse.
“What has happened?”
“We ride after the laird’s niece. She’s missing from the castle. ‘Tis feared she’s run off.”
Eian felt a stab of panic. Allia couldn’t be out there on her own somewhere… she could get hurt… He had to find her. “I’m coming with ye.”
Before anyone could answer, he was sprinting into the stables for Dair.
***
Leon waited behind his huge oaken desk for the visiting sorcerer to be shown in.
He had been wondering when the old man would appear at Lochain.
In truth he had expected him sooner. At last, Dirc of Creagmor appeared in the doorway.
Actually appeared. An impressive trick Leon himself could never hope to master, but then there was a reason he was a laird and not a sorcerer.
The Druid magic flowed differently through each of their kind.
“Dirc… it’s been some time.” Leon hadn’t seen the Mac Coinnach sorcerer since the last time he’d visited Creagmor, which was years ago now. Dirc didn’t look like he’d aged a day in that time.
“Leon. Aye, it has indeed.”
“What brings ye this way, old man?” He knew, of course, but he would still play things out. It had always been their way.
“Ye have the lass?”
Leon straightened in his chair, his gaze sharpening. “Ye mean my niece, Allia Logan?”
“Aye, of course. She’s here? Ye’ve done as ye were told and brought her back?”
“How do ye ken I was to bring her back…”
Dirc rolled his eyes in impatience. “How would I no’ ken? She’s a part of the prophecy, is she no’?”
“Prophecy? I dinna ken what ye’re talking about.” Though he did, of course. “She’s been returned to make a good match for our clan…“
“Oh aye, and she will. That is all part of it, and ye ken it is. Stop wi’ the pretending ye hav’na a clue. I’m on yer side, if ye remember. No need to paly coy wi’ me.”
“My niece is part of what, old man?”