Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cairstina
I feel like a completely different woman than I was when I first came here, and I don’t think it’s just because of these ridiculous “fuck me” heels and tight skirt. It’s something different.
Islan took me up to her room and pulled clothes out of the closet she shares with Paisley. It’s a large, walk-in closet teeming with clothes. The clothes she gave me were hidden, and she winked at me.
“These are the clothes we use for clubbin’,” she said in a whisper. “It’s better if my brothers don’t see them, if you catch my drift.”
I do. I imagine it’s a bit stifling to have brothers like Leith and the rest watching your every move. Hell, even her parents don’t seem as strict as her brothers, but what do I know.
I stood in front of the mirror, shocked at how different I looked. Between the clothing and wig, it’s like an alien life form’s taken over my body.
She even slid bright red lipstick on my lips. I’d never choose something like this to wear myself, but honest to goodness… I feel sexy.
But that’s not the only reason I feel so different. As I pile into the car with Leith, Mac, and Tate, I feel for the first time in a very long time that I belong somewhere.
It’s an odd feeling, and logic tells me I’m being silly and foolish. I’m not their friend, but their captive. And though they may be friendly to me, it doesn’t take much imagination for me to realize what they could do to me.
It was only a few days ago I saw Leith murder someone with his bare hands, and the others unblinkingly haul the dead body to a hiding place. These aren’t the type I should want to befriend. And yet…
“Jaysus, brother, I know you’ve got a pretty lass sittin’ next to ya, but there’s no fuckin’ need to be racing down the bloody mountain like a bat out of hell.”
I look over my shoulder at Tate, who looks a bit green around the edges, and smile.
Leith snorts and rolls his eyes. “I’m driving safe as a fuckin’ nanny, son, relax.”
I cover my mouth with my hand, not wanting Tate to see my grin. I love watching this relaxed version of Leith.
“Time for a pint when we get into town?” Mac asks, drumming his fingers on the window behind me. “I’d like to kick Dougal Reilly’s arse good and proper, then celebrate the occasion with a cold one.”
“Would fuckin’ love to do that,” Tate mutters. “What say you, Leith?”
I’d like that myself.
But it seems Leith’s back to his somber, brooding mood.
“Och, aye,” he says, and I wonder if I’m the only one that notes the tightness in his jaw, or the way his lips thin when he’s angry about something.
“Might as well order dinner while we’re there.
Grab a hotel room for the night? And while you’re at it, we can ring up some old friends, have a right good reunion? ”
Mac blows out a breath behind me, and the car grows quiet.
“Can’t bloody well be happy for the rest of our lives, holed up in a fuckin’ cabin in the mountains, Leith. Not all of us are content chopping wood and reading books for fucking sport.”
He doesn’t answer at first, as he works his jaw and looks ahead of him. I decide this conversation isn’t for me.
Sometimes I’d rather be deaf than mute.
I pull my book out of my bag, and pick up where I left off. The girls weren’t kidding when they said this book sounds familiar. I mean, even the location itself sounds as if it were lifted straight out of the mountains we just left.
The hero’s large and muscular… just like these guys.
They’re inked… just like these men.
Only there are four of them, not three.
There once was four of them, though…
Coincidence, I suppose?
The heroine is witty and bright, a former “Miss Edinburgh” in a modeling competition.
She’s got her doctorate in marine biology and was supposed to be booking a holiday by the Sea, but fortune or fate had a hand in things, and now she finds herself booked in a mountain lodge that’s supposed to be unoccupied. Only… it isn’t.
She’s mistaken for a woman who’s supposed to be betrothed to the Captain’s son, and if she doesn’t go with him, her younger sister’s life is forfeit. Phew, talk about high stakes.
He walks along the rugged edge like he’s come straight here for me, heavy boots clomping along the walkway with the finality of a judge’s gavel.
“I couldn’t find you anywhere,” he says, shaking his head from side to side. “Don’t you know it isn’t safe here?”
I shake my head and continue my walk, ignoring his insistence that I come with him.
“You’re to be wed today. You know this. What are you doing, woman?”
He reaches for me and pulls me to him. My foot slips on a rock, and as I slip, the emptiness below me looms like a black hole, ready to suck me in.
I slink down lower in my seat as he pulls her away from the edge, shoves her into a cave. Next thing I know he’s tearing her clothes off, as he tells her he’ll make her wed him by law or by custom, and tradition says if he takes her virginity…
Oh… oh my. I flip the pages like a teen sneaking a porno magazine, completely entranced and sucked into the story, when I realize Leith is talking to me.
I drop the book into my lap like it’s scorching hot and turn to look at him. Mac chuckles behind me.
“She’s reading about you again, Leith,” he says with a hoot of laughter. Leith ignores him and gives me a teasing look.
“Good book, lass?”
I nod, grateful I’m not expected to speak.
“So you didn’t hear a word I said.” His tone is reproachful but amused.
I shake my head.
“I said we’re coming to the border of town. My sources tell me your brother works at the petrol station where he bullied Mac the other day?”
I nod.
“Very good,” Leith says. “We’ll go there first. His shift’s up soon.”
I wonder if his errand is really what he says it is. He’s here so that he can spy on my brother? Or is it something else?
When we near the city, I roll down the window. It’s suddenly hot in here, though I feel like I’m wearing hardly any clothes at all. Why am I so lightheaded all of a sudden? There’s ringing in my ears, and my throat’s all weird and tight, the closer we get to the city.
“I’ll park on the other side,” Leith says with a frown, flicking on his directional. “To be sure no one takes us by surprise, eh?”
I nod, wiping my sweaty palms on my skirt.
What if my brother recognizes me? What if he tries to hurt one of them? What if he tries to get me back home?
“I hope we’re not making a fucking mistake,” Mac mutters. “Honestly, boys, if the fucking Aitkens are around…”
“Her brother is not one of their friends or associates. Promise. I’ve checked thoroughly into everything.”
I look quickly at Leith. He’s checked… into everything?
Including me?
What did he find?
I send him a text, but he doesn’t get it at first, because he’s driving. He parks, and lifts his mobile. He registers no surprise when he reads what I’ve sent him.
Reaching over, he squeezes my knee. “Aye, lass. We can discuss that later when I get you home.”
There it is again, that hint at protection and belonging that makes my heart melt into a puddle. When I get you home.
“There you are!” My brother’s loud, booming voice sounds so close, I open my mouth in a silent scream, then immediately freeze. My head feels fuzzy and I’m way too hot, like I’m going to faint.
How has he found me? How has he recognized me? Will he drag me out of here? Will they leave me to him?
“Easy, lass,” Leith says, reaching for my knee and giving it a little squeeze.
“My God, you’re shaking. I take it that’s him, then,” he says grimly, pointing a finger out the car window to my brother, standing half a yard away from us with his back to our car.
Another man comes up to him and claps him on the shoulder in greeting.
I close my eyes, both relieved and mortified that I reacted the way I did.
Leith’s eyes narrow. “Fucking look at her,” he says to Mac and Tate. “She’s shaking and terrified.” His voice drops. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
Tears prick my eyes from the intensity of my feelings, the fear from seeing my brother and the hope that I won’t ever have to go back.
“This is the plan,” Leith says, still looking out the window with so much hatred in his eyes, I actually find it a bit encouraging. He won’t let my brother hurt me. I know he won’t.
Will he?
“Got the plan down solid, Cap’n,” Mac says, saluting Leith. “I’ll go in and ask questions, see if he gives anything up.”
The snow’s nearly completely let up, and Leith drives carefully, but a few turns have him slowing down quite a bit.
Will people recognize them? I don’t ask questions, though. Do the people of Inverness know who they are? I’d never heard of them myself.
“You let me worry about the road,” Leith says. “You worry about the plan. After we ask Dougal some questions, you’ll nick his keys,” Leith says, drawing on a pair of gloves. “And you leave him to me.”
I’ve spent enough time with Father MacGowen to know that his plan is wrong. It isn’t right to want retribution and vengeance. It isn’t right to want to rough someone up or hurt them. But God, if a part of me doesn’t want him to do that.
Sometimes, we don’t do what’s right. And maybe sometimes, certain principles outweigh others.
What would happen if Leith were to go in there and demand payment for me, like they did in the times of old?
If he told my brother I was a long-lost princess, and he’s come to give me my inheritance, leaving my brother and mother penniless and destitute, if only they apologize for the wrong they did and give allegiance to the king?
I imagine for a moment I’m Ariel, mute princess from the ocean’s depths, escaping King Titan to wed my handsome prince. I’ve traded my voice for my freedom.
The car door slams with a bang, tearing me out of my reverie. My God, I have to stop that.
Do I escape to my mind when I’m afraid, then? I haven’t done it since I’ve been with Leith. Not until now.
“Come, lass.” He stands on the other side of my door, reaching for my hand.
I smile to myself.
Yes, Prince Eric.
I’m such a silly girl.