Chapter 6 #3
Who would want to give this up for even an instant?
She wished she could die right now. Right in this moment of pure heavenly bliss.
If she lived to be a thousand years old, she’d never forget the taste of his mouth, the feeling of his arms holding her tight as her senses whirled from the earthy scent of his body.
For this one tiny moment, he was hers. And she reveled in it.
Braden’s head swam at the sensation of her lips beneath his. Her breath mingled with his as her tongue gently explored his mouth. He could tell by her hesitancy that he was the first to ever lay claim to her lips and that knowledge only added to his pleasure.
Aye, she was a spirited and bold lass, one who beguiled him in ways he’d never known.
“Maggie,” Braden whispered against her lips, savoring the feel of those two syllables against his tongue while he longed to savor even more intimate parts of her body. Slowly. Leisurely.
Aye, he wanted to lay her down and make love to her for the rest of the night.
And right now, he could kill the MacDouglas for the absence of her hair. How he wished he had known in time to stop her. Never had a woman done such for him, and all because she didn’t want to betray him.
It was much more of a sacrifice than a scoundrel like him deserved.
Braden trailed his lips from her mouth to her jaw, then down to her neck. He inhaled the sweet fragrance of her skin and drank the moonlight and warmth from her flesh.
She ran her hands over his back, wrenching a groan from him as he lifted the hem of her kilt from behind and found out just what she wore beneath it.
Nothing.
The thought drove him close to madness.
Aye, he would have her.
Now. This instant.
He fisted his hand in the plaid as he licked the gentle hollow of her throat. He both felt and heard her moan as she tilted her head back and gasped for more.
“Am I intruding?” Sin’s voice sliced through Braden’s pleasure, almost instantaneously stifling it.
Damn the man’s timing!
Reluctantly, Braden lifted his head to see Sin standing in the shadows. He narrowed his gaze on his brother, wishing the man had learned a little better timing in his years of warfare.
Unperturbed, Sin met his gaze with just a hint of a smile. “If you want, I could take a quick walk about the church and come right back. That should be enough time to finish the deed, should it not?”
Releasing the plaid to fall back around her hips, Braden gave him a droll stare at the insult to his stamina. “For you perhaps. I, on the other hand, prefer to satisfy my women.”
He felt Maggie stiffen in his arms an instant before she pulled away. “It’s dark now. We’d best be going.”
Braden clenched his teeth, but as Sin stepped out of the shadows and into the bright circle of moonlight, he forgot his anger in another peal of laughter.
Maggie looked at him with a frown.
Braden couldn’t speak, all he could do was motion to Sin’s legs which were almost gleaming white beneath his plaid.
“Do you want to die?” Sin asked nonchalantly.
“Nay,” Braden choked. “But have you seen your legs, man?”
Sin growled low in his throat as he shifted the pack over his shoulder. “Aye, and I know they’re whiter than a dove’s tail. With any luck the sun should blister them up fairly well on the morrow and by the time we reach anyone who might care, they should be a half normal color.”
Sin inclined his head to Maggie. “Given how hers look, I doubt anyone will ever notice mine anyway.”
The thought sobered Braden instantly. “Aye, I thought of that myself. We’ll have to be finding her a larger pair of boots I’m thinking, and some padding for them.”
Sin tossed a brown pair of boots to him. “I always plan ahead.”
“Good lad.” Braden handed the boots over to Maggie. “You must come in handy on all those sieges the English love so well.”
“I hold my own.” Sin looked about the small courtyard. “So, where are our horses?”
“We’ll be walking.” Maggie sat down on the ground and exchanged the new boots for her old, worn pair. “We’ll draw less notice that way.”
The stunned, horrified look on Sin’s face was comical.
“Walking?” Sin choked. “Och, now lass, are ya tryin’ tae kill me?”
Braden chuckled at Sin’s brogue. “Do yourself a favor, brother, if we come across anyone we don’t know, don’t open your mouth. Your brogue is more likely to give you away than your legs.”
He glowered at Braden. “I don’t want to hear another word from you about my legs. I’m sure by the end of tomorrow they’ll be acceptable even to you.”
“Let us hope so. For as it stands now, it’ll be a race to see which of you gets us hanged first.”
Sin cast an interested stare to Maggie’s legs. “Aye, but between the two, I must say I prefer hers.”
Braden smiled lecherously as he ran his gaze over them as well and wondered how long he’d have to wait before he got a full taste of them. “As do I.”
Rising to her feet, Maggie flushed. “Would you two stop? Is there ever a minute in the day when a man doesn’t have wenching on his mind?”
“Aye,” Braden said with a smile. “But it usually involves the minute and a half that we’re eating.”
She shook her head. “And Lochlan wondered why I chose the method of reaching his warriors that I did.”
Before Braden could retort, a door opened from the dormitory across the yard.
Maggie gasped as she dodged into the shadows. The men quickly followed suit.
Pegeen paid them no heed as she crossed the yard to the chapel, then vanished inside.
“That was close,” Maggie whispered. “We’d best be leaving before someone sees us.”
Braden nodded solemnly before leading the way out the small postern gate that Fergus had used earlier that day.
They moved quickly through the meadow and clearing behind the kirk and into the thick woods toward the MacDouglas lands. None of them spoke as they put as much distance as they could between themselves and anyone who might want to stop them.
It was nearly two hours later before Maggie dared to speak. “Do you think we stand a chance of changing Robby MacDouglas’s mind about the feud?”
“Not a bit,” they said almost in unison.
A deep frown drew her brows together. “Then why are the two of you willing to do this?”
Braden gave her a grim look. He’d been dreading this question, and though he knew he should probably lie, he couldn’t bring himself to be dishonest with her.
Maggie was probably the only woman he had never lied to and for some reason he wanted to keep it that way.
“Because, if you fail, then I know a certain way to end this feud for once and for all.”
“And that is?”
“I plan to kill Robby MacDouglas.”
Maggie stumbled at his words, then stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth open. “Nay, you canna be serious.”
“Of course, I am. You want this feud to end and that is the only guarantee I know of.”
She felt the tears prick her eyes. How could he?
And all this time she had assumed he was going with her strictly to protect her.
Foolish woman. You should have known he didn’t do this for you. Do you honestly think he’d care whether or not you live or die?
But she couldn’t say that out loud. Instead, she whispered. “I thought you were being chivalrous. You said you couldn’t let me go alone.”
“Listen to me, Maggie. The only reason I’m allowing you to come along at all is that I know you well enough to know you’d trail after us on your own. At least this way, I can keep my eye on you. Believe me, I did learn a thing or two about you while we were growing up.”
“And I learned a lot of things about you as well, Braden MacAllister, most of which left me in tears. But of all the heartbreaking lessons I’ve learned, I never thought I’d see the day when you’d just go off to murder someone.”
Her words stung his conscience. Braden had no intention of murdering the MacDouglas. It would be a fair fight. But when he left MacDouglas lands, the feud would be over.
One way or another.
“If you’re too squeamish to do what must be done, woman, then I suggest you hie yourself home where ‘tis safe.”
Frustrated, she turned to Sin. “Could you please talk sense into him?”
“Why?” he asked. “For once, I completely agree with him. I would think the life of the MacDouglas would be paltry when compared to the lives of your brothers.”
Maggie was aghast. “You would honestly walk up to him and just cut his throat?”
Sin’s dark gaze became empty, dull. “I’ve done worse things in my life.”
Braden flinched at the tone, for he knew only too well just what sort of things his brother had done to survive. He patted Sin on the back.
“Maggie,” Braden said quietly. “I am willing to do what I know is foolish. I’ll give you time to talk to Robby MacDouglas. If you succeed, then there will be no more bloodshed. But if you fail...”
Anger darkened her eyes. “Thank you for adding that.” Her sarcasm made a mockery of Sin’s usual temperament.
“Let’s see if I have all this correctly.
Right now I have hanging on my shoulders the lives of our laird, your brother Ewan, my four surviving brothers, as well as the hopes of all the women of both our clan and the MacDouglas’s, and now the very life of Robby MacDouglas rests with me, too. Have I forgotten anything?”
“There are a few things more,” Sin said drily.
“If you fail, you’ll probably get yourself killed, along with Braden and myself.
If the MacDouglas kills Braden, I’m rather sure Lochlan will spend the rest of his life trying to eradicate all the MacDouglases from this earth.
Should I die, King Henry would be rather put out himself.
And since he’s not overly fond of the Scottish and completely fond of me, there’s no telling what he might do to retaliate.
Knowing the king as I do, I’m sure it won’t be pleasant for anyone north of Hadrian’s Wall. ”
Braden cleared his throat. “This would probably be the place where I might mention that Sin is one of the king’s chief advisors, and a close personal friend.”
Maggie rolled her eyes toward heaven. “Sweet Mother Mary. Now you’ve got me responsible for two nations going to war?”
“Aye, but that’s only if you fail.”
Unamused by Braden, Maggie squared her shoulders as she started trudging through the forest. “Very well, then. I shall not fail.”
And then under her breath she added, “I hope.”