Chapter Two #3
"I'm not accost-ing anyone," he slurred. "This lady is my wife."
"Wrong!" Jessie said, blue fire blazing in her eyes with the lightning flash. "Go with MacLeod or I will have the guards toss you out into the storm."
"Och. You would treat me in such a way, m'lady?" MacBain whined.
"Indeed," she said firmly.
Torrin rolled his eyes. He'd never seen such a pathetic drunk.
MacBain sent her a glare, then Torrin, before wobbling along the corridor the way he'd come.
Torrin followed him, then glanced back at Jessie.
She was staring at him, or rather at his plaid-covered arse.
Her gaze lifted, connecting with his. Her fiery blush was evident, even in the low candlelight of the corridor.
She quickly turned and disappeared into the nearest chamber.
A thrill coursing through him, he grinned. Mayhap there was more hope than he'd realized. He was fair certain she had been eying his physique.
∞∞∞
Later that night, an urgent voice broke into Torrin's restless sleep. "M'laird."
He opened his eyes to find Luag, the guard he'd posted in the corridor, with his head stuck inside the door and a lantern in his hand. Torrin sat up. "Aye?"
"MacBain left his room."
"Damnation." Torrin leapt up from the bed, still fully clothed for just this reason. "Where did he go?"
"That direction." Luag pointed toward the stairwell.
Torrin rushed after him. If the knave had it in his head to find Jessie's bedchamber, he would break his leg. Hopefully, he was only going in search of a garderobe after his excessive drinking.
A MacKay guard stood at the bottom of the steps.
"Which way did MacBain go?"
He pointed across the great hall to another stairwell that led up.
Torrin hurried up the steps and found another corridor and MacBain, carrying a lantern. He knocked at a door. Rage lit Torrin's veins on fire. Was that Jessie's bedchamber? If so, how had MacBain learned where it was? No one guarded this corridor at all.
"Hell," Torrin said under his breath. Why would she not have someone guarding her door with all these visitors about?
MacBain tried the door latch, and Torrin was ready to break the whoreson's neck. The door didn't budge, thank the saints. Jessie had barred it.
MacBain knocked lightly.
With no storm to cover the sounds of his footsteps this time, Torrin slipped from his hiding place and crept up behind the man.
"Who is it?" Jessie asked from the other side of the thick oak door.
"What are you doing, MacBain?" Torrin said over his shoulder.
The man jumped and turned at the same time, bumping hard against the door. "What the devil are you doing following me?" he growled. At least he seemed almost sober now.
"Protecting the lady," Torrin said, keeping his voice low. "What are you doing?"
"None of your concern. Leave," he commanded through clenched teeth.
Torrin shook his head, giving MacBain his most menacing look.
"Don't open the door, Lady Jessie," Torrin warned her. "MacBain was trying to pay you a midnight visit."
She yanked the door open and her glare in the dim light pierced each of them. "Go, MacBain. I don't wish to see you, day or night."
The man's narrowed gaze remained on Torrin, then abruptly he tried to barrel his way past Jessie, into her room.
Torrin caught him by his shoulder-length hair and yanked him back.
The man struck out but missed. Releasing him, Torrin punched him in the nose and sent him sprawling to the wooden floor with a loud crash.
MacBain growled and muttered curses as he held his bleeding nose.
"Bar the door, Lady Jessie," Torrin warned with a quick glance at her.
She wore a plaid blanket wrapped around her with only a sliver of her white smock visible at the top of her chest. He quickly switched his gaze away from the appealing sight, lest he become distracted. "I'll take care of this blackguard."
"I thank you." The door slammed and the bar clunked into place.
Torrin shook his head, glaring down at the imbecilic man. "Are you daft?"
MacBain drew his blood-covered hand away from his crushed nose. "You bastard, I thought you a friend and ally or I would never have allowed you to come here with me."
Annoyance twisted through Torrin. "You didn't allow me to do anything. I was on my way here before I ever met you."
"So you say."
"I consider the MacKays friends and allies. I'll not let you harm one of them, certainly not a lady."
"I'm not planning to harm her. Do you ken naught about seduction, man?"
Torrin snorted. "If you consider that seduction, your skills are greatly lacking."
MacBain merely glared and shoved himself to his feet. Muttering insults and curses, he stumbled away, holding his broken nose.
Torrin glanced back at Jessie's door, glad she was safe this time. But knowing how sneaky MacBain was, he'd have to be ever vigilant.
∞∞∞