CHAPTER FIVE #2
“I dinna believe ye can change the future. When the Ancients write a man’s Fate, t’is in stone.” His smile appeared. “So ye love him even if he is an ass?”
She flushed. “I do not love the jerko that just left the great room. But, one day, he will be the man I do love.” She hesitated and added, “Hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Aidan folded his arms. “And if ye dinna wish fer me to wash yer back, ye want what from me?”
“Don’t you want me to apologize first for attacking you?” she asked softly.
His smile faded. “Lass, ye watched yer man die. I dinna need an apology.”
“You are so reasonable!” she exclaimed. She wished Royce had an ounce of Aidan’s compassion. Then she smiled at Aidan again. “You do know that you’re my Knight of Swords?”
Aidan looked mildly at her, amused. “I dinna think Royce would care to hear ye say so.”
She took his hand. “I have a huge favor to ask of you.”
He looked at their clasped hands. Allie felt his male interest escalate and she released his palm.
“Could you please bring me some clothes from my time? I am not giving up on Royce and I need a few secret weapons.” She thought about Brian.
He had really liked her. All of her boyfriends had adored her—and wanted her.
Why should a medieval warrior be any different?
Maybe a few sexy things would tame the beast.
Aidan’s mouth curved. “He’s a Master, lass. He doesna care what garments ye wear.”
She smiled grimly. “Actually you’re wrong. All men respond to the right red flags—just like bulls.”
Aidan laughed. “I’ll do as ye wish. I dinna mind seeing Royce acting like a bull.”
Allie sobered. “Why is he so angry? Why is he so set against me? Why is he with another woman, when I know he still wants me?”
“I dinna comprehend Royce at all. If I were him, I’d be in that bath with ye, now. But, lass, he has made it clear he willna allow another man near ye. And he dinna have to speak so boldly. I’d lose more than my head if I did share yer bath.”
Allie didn’t hesitate; she touched his cheek. “Thank you,” she said softly. “Thank you for being so generous of nature, so kind and for helping me through this really hard time. I can’t thank you enough.”
Aidan’s eyes gleamed. But he stepped away from her. Softly he murmured, “If ye decide to give up on Royce…”
“I will never give up on Royce.”
Their gazes locked. “Ah, well, a man must try.” He saluted her. “I’ll find yer clothes.”
Allie watched him walk out.
ROYCE LAY IN BED, on his back, naked, hands beneath his head. He was more irate and frustrated than earlier, and the maid creeping out of his room did not help matters.
He sighed. “Peigi. I’m sorry…another time I’ll be more pleasing.”
She blushed, facing him, and curtsied. “Ye be pleasin’ all the time.” That was a lie and she fled.
He hadn’t been pleasing—he had been selfish and crude. He had spent ten minutes with her, no more, unable to stop thinking about Ailios. And he had the terrible suspicion that if he hadn’t been thinking of the Healer, he might not have become aroused enough to climax.
That was unbelievable. It was all unbelievable. Bedsport was meant to last for hours—or an entire night. And he was always aroused. What the hell was this failure?
He was immune to witchcraft, otherwise, he’d think Ailios had put a spell on him.
He wasn’t even sated; how could he be? He felt even hotter than before.
But now, he had to make amends to the wench, who was a good maid. She worked hard and never complained. She was lusty in bed. He’d find her a husband with a small farm. She had to be eighteen, maybe twenty. She was ready for bairns.
As he sat up, the door opened. Only one man would enter without knocking. He considered Aidan the son he’d never had, as he did Malcolm, so he merely frowned.
Aidan glanced at him and grinned. “I wanted to thank ye for yer hospitality,” he said, clearly about to depart Carrick.
Royce stood, stalking to a huge chair and shrugging his leine on.
His heavy leather belt followed. He never went unarmed, so his shortsword and a dagger were added to the ensemble.
“Since when do ye ever bother to say goodbye—or to thank me for anything, much less my hospitality?” He was annoyed and suspicious as he sat and yanked on his boots.
And he did not like the amused look on his friend’s face.
It was as if Aidan knew he’d just had the one and only single failure of his life in bed with a woman.
“Yer guest asked me for a few things, so I’ll be back in a few hours,” Aidan said innocently.
Royce stiffened and looked into Aidan’s eyes, then lurked.
Ailios lounged naked in a steaming bath tub, speaking to Aidan, smiling at him, as he stood admiring her face and figure.
“Ye watched her bathe?” he cried, aghast.
“Nay, I spent a moment with her before her bath, but Royce, for the gods, o’course I am thinkin’ about her in her bath.” He grinned and vanished.
Royce just stood there, hot and hard, steaming. Did Aidan want him to go to the tower and seduce the Healer? Did he desire such a union? If so, why?
Or had the sultry little Healer somehow seduced him to her will? Was she in her bath now? Did she think he’d fall for such a ploy? Did she think to seduce him against his will? Did she not trust that he had a damned good reason for staying far from her bed?
He grunted and hit his fist against the wall. His stiff body cried out for release, but he was not going to Ailios now.
He knew a conspiracy when one was formed.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Allie hesitated on the threshold of the Great Hall.
After a huge meal with a ton of meat—which she rarely ate at home—two glasses of wine and that steaming bath, she’d crawled into bed and passed out, the sun still in the sky.
Not only had she slept deeply, but her sleep had been dreamless, which had to be a good thing.
Royce sat with Aidan at the table, having breakfast. He was already staring at the threshold when she paused there, clearly having sensed her coming downstairs.
Her resolve had strengthened from the afternoon before.
She could survive the beast, and maybe even tame him.
She would change the future, no matter what.
She was well rested and she felt good, although she’d finger-combed her hair and wished she’d had clean clothes, a good brush and a mirror.
She had known he was still in the castle.
She’d felt his power below. What she hadn’t expected was his eyes to turn bright silver when he saw her.
Her heart sped wildly with excitement and anticipation, as if he was her lover, not some nameless, faceless woman’s.
And damn it, medieval version or not, he looked so good—and his heat and power pulled at her.
But he was not her Royce, and she damn well knew it.
So she stared and her heart eventually got it and began to slow.
As if he knew of her initial excitement, a satisfied look settled on his face.
She smiled grimly, to herself. He had been impossibly rude last night, but she wasn’t holding a grudge. They were going to have to get along, somehow, for the moment.
His gaze turned wary.
“Good morning,” she said, a bit too brightly. She crossed to the table, Aidan standing, as did Royce. That he would get to his feet in this persona surprised her.
Aidan smiled. “Ye look rested.”
“I slept like a log,” she told him, but she kept one eye on Royce, who merely nodded at her.
However, he was acutely tuned to their every gesture and word.
“Did you know my mother was from Kintyre, my father’s parents from Aberdeen and Glasgow?
This feels like home. The air is amazing.
The views are amazing.” She turned her megawatt smile on Royce.
She refused to let it falter, but now, she saw that he looked tired.
Of course he was tired—he’d been up all night with a housemaid. She increased the wattage. “How are you? Did you sleep well?” she asked in a sugary tone.
He gave her an odd look. “I spent the night thinking about the deamhan,” he said, and abruptly sat down.
She sobered. What did that mean? She glanced at Aidan, who gave her a heavy-lidded, enigmatic look.
Was he telling her that Royce hadn’t been amusing himself with a lover?
Was he encouraging her? She walked around the table and sat down on the bench next to Aidan.
Royce stiffened, seated alone across from them.
She ignored him and smiled at Aidan. “Did you sleep well?”
He grinned. “I had dreams,” he said. “Very pleasant ones.”
Allie got it and laughed.
Royce shoved his plate at them both. “Ye seduce her at the breakfast in my home?”
“If I wished to seduce her, I’d have done so last night.”
“Are you always so suspicious?” Allie was actually amused.
If she didn’t know better, she’d think Royce was jealous.
“We’re just having a friendly conversation.
” She kept glancing at his strong, bare forearms. He wore a huge gold cuff on his right bicep.
It was damned sexy. She knew what that arm felt like, too.
He might be a helluva lot younger than her Royce, but she was pretty certain his body hadn’t changed at all. “I am a friendly person.”
His eyes narrowed. “Ye weren’t so cheery yesterday.”
“Yesterday I was dealing with a boor. I’m cheery now.”
Royce shook his head, his eyes filled with annoyance. “Ye called me an ass yesterday, an’ now, ye call me a boor?”
If the shoe fits, she thought. A perplexed expression crossed his face. “You are my gracious host. You do know what that means?”
Aidan laughed.
Royce flushed. “Do I appear the village idiot? I ken yer English words, even with yer strange accent.”