Chapter 8
Eight
So much for her war to win Sin’s heart. The entire next morning was spent just trying to get him to speak.
Callie was at a loss as to what to do. By the time she awoke, their horses were already saddled and he and Simon were waiting for her and Jamie to resume their trip.
When she smiled and greeted Sin, the best he gave was a noncommittal grunt. In fact, the only response he gave to any question or comment she posed that entire morning was a noncommittal grunt.
By the time they stopped for a rest at midday, she was quite ready to throttle him. Or at the very least set a pack of wild dogs onto his hide.
Miffed beyond measure, she laid out their food, then went to her husband who was busy tending the horses. “I was thinking of setting myself on fire tonight. Would you mind?”
He grunted again, then looked up sharply. “What?”
She smiled. “Ha! I knew it. I knew I could get you to talk. Just think, a whole word, too. Who knows? If I keep this up, I might have you speaking an entire sentence by week’s end.”
Sin tried to glower at her audacity, but the woman’s charm was infectious.
Not to mention she looked just a bit too adorable standing before him with her hair braided down her back and her cheeks bright.
What was it about this woman that every time she came near him, he wanted to kiss those plump, full lips?
To bury his head in her neck and just inhale her sweet scent?
Her very presence set him on fire and left his entire body throbbing with need.
“I thought you wished to get home as quickly as possible,” he said, noting the deepness of his voice.
“Aye, but we can talk while we do that. Have you noticed Simon hasn’t had a bit of trouble asking me how I feel or if I am eager to see my family?”
He glanced to where Simon stood with Jamie while he added a feed sack to his horse. “I’m afraid I don’t speak quite as much as Simon.” Then again, he doubted if a herd of women spoke as much as Simon.
“I noticed. It’s not exactly something you try to hide.”
Sin picked his brush up and started rubbing down his horse. He couldn’t fathom why Callie chose to be here with him when she could be with her brother and Simon. Especially given the way he had treated her this morning. “Why are you being so kind to me?”
Callie paused at the words, and the emotions she saw swirling in his dark eyes. He was serious. “You say that as if someone being kind is highly unusual.”
“It is. In case you hadn’t noticed in London, most people won’t even meet my gaze.”
She thought about that for a minute. “I think it’s your glower that frightens them.”
“I have no glower.”
“I beg to differ that point. You are quite ferocious with it.”
“Then why aren’t you intimidated?”
“I have absolutely no idea. My father always said I had more courage than ten men.”
“I think your father was right.”
She smiled at him and it did the strangest thing to his breathing, made his groin tighten instantly.
She waved her hand back and forth between them. “I want you to notice that right now, this instant, we are having a conversation. It’s really not hard, is it? Think you, we can carry this on for the rest of the day?”
He actually smiled at that. “I didn’t mean to be curt with you this morning. I just don’t like to talk while I travel.”
“Very well then, I shall forgive you. But only so long as you make it a point not to ignore me in the future.”
“I shall try.”
Sin watched her walk off, his heart heavy. She was a great beauty and he didn’t mean her looks. Her beauty was soul deep and possessed a brilliance he’d never known existed.
In that moment, he ached for her. Ached to be a man like Simon.
If he were honorable and decent...
He clenched his teeth. There was nothing to be done about it. He was what he was and there was no way to change it.
Sighing in regret, he returned to tending his horse.
By the time they reached Ravenswood the next day, Callie was more than ready for a night of good, solid rest. The inn they’d stayed in the day before had been cramped and cold. The innkeeper sour and dour.
It had been a miserable night spent with Jamie’s elbows and feet digging into her while she wondered where her husband was sleeping.
But tonight there would be plenty of room for Jamie to have his own bed and her husband would not be able to escape her. Aye, she would keep him by her side even if she had to tie him to her.
Simon had become more and more anxious the closer to Ravenswood they rode, and as soon as the massive castle came into view, he spurred his horse forward, racing down the hill toward it.
“I think he’s excited,” she said to Sin.
“Aye, he and his brother have always been close. Much like you and Jamie.”
She glanced to where Jamie slept, nestled in Sin’s arms. Jamie had grown so weary an hour back that Sin had feared he would fall from his horse. Sin had stopped and pulled the lad to ride with him so that Jamie could nap in peace.
Jamie held the face of an angel while he slumbered and she didn’t miss the gentleness of Sin. For a man who wanted no children, he showed a kind concern that many men lacked.
By the time they entered the well-kept, stylish bailey, Simon was standing with a very handsome, tall, dark-haired man and a blond lady who looked to be expecting a child any day. The man held a toddler in his arms and looked upon them with brotherly affection.
He must be Draven of Ravenswood.
“Sin,” Draven greeted with a hint of reserve in his demeanor. “It’s been a long time.”
Sin reined his horse just before the three of them. Something insidious and painful crossed Sin’s brow as he glanced around the lovely yard that bustled with servants attending their duties.
A haunted look came into his dark eyes and was shared by the man before her.
“Aye, Draven, it has. You look well and happy. Congratulations.”
Draven smiled. “The same to you.”
Simon came forward to take Jamie so that Sin could dismount. Sin, in turn, helped her from the saddle and led her to the happy couple while their horses were led away by stable hands.
“My wife, Caledonia,” he said to Draven.
Draven’s eyes widened a bit in surprise, but he quickly concealed it. He turned to the pregnant lady and his face instantly softened. “My wife, Emily.”
Simon laughed. “Could we be anymore stilted, gentlemen? These ladies would never know the trouble the two of you once brewed.”
Draven laughed at that. “Us? I recall it was you doing most of it while we pulled you from harm’s way.”
“Lies!” Simon cried. “I was an innocent led astray by you demons of Lucifer.”
“Innocent?” Sin asked Draven. “Remember that time he shot the bear with an arrow?”
Draven snorted. “Remember it? I am still scarred from it. And what of the wolf?”
Sin snorted, then lowered his voice to a child’s falsetto. “Look, Draven and Sin, I found a puppy.”
“A puppy with an angry mother.”
“Oh wonderful,” Simon said sarcastically. “Now why on earth did I want to put the two of you together again? I recant my words. Go back to your sullenness. Both of you.”
Emily hugged Simon and squeezed his arm. “Poor Simon, ever the brunt of it.”
Shifting Jamie’s weight in his arms, Simon glanced at Callie and by the look on his face, she knew he was remembering her trick of tying him to the bed. “You’ve no idea, Em.”
Callie blushed furiously.
Emily reached out and took Callie’s hand. “Come inside and let us see to a bed for your brother and a hot meal and rest for you and your husband.”
There was an open and kind air about Emily of Ravenswood. One that made Callie feel instantly at home. Though she didn’t know the woman at all, she felt a kinship with her.
As soon as they were inside, the toddler kicked his father and demanded to be put down. “Hen, stay close.”
The boy ran to the hearth and gathered an armful of toys, then ran to Callie to show her each one of them. He garbled and cooed at her in rapid succession but she only caught a word or two of his speech.
“He’s telling you that his grandfather bought the horse at Ransock’s faire where he got to play with a monkey.”
Callie laughed. “Ah, that makes much more sense. How old is he?”
“A year and a half.”
“When is the next due?”
“Within a month, I think.”
Callie stared at Emily’s plump belly with a touch of envy, and she wondered if she might have already conceived from her wedding night. It would be wonderful to have a child growing inside her. To feel the small fluttering of the baby and know it was hers to love...
She couldn’t wait for the day.
Hen pulled at Callie’s sleeve, wanting into her lap. Without hesitation, she set him there and let him continue to show her his toys.
Sin watched the natural way Callie coddled the babe and his heart ached. He couldn’t count the times as a child he had done just as Hen did, only instead of a welcoming hug, he had been knocked aside for daring to reach out.
Breathing deeply, he looked around the great hall. It was so strange to be back after all these years.
He couldn’t remember the times he had been pinned before that same hearth while Harold maliciously beat him for any number of imagined reasons. In those days, the hall had been bleak and dark.
Now it was painted and welcoming. He barely recognized it. Even the dais with the lord’s table had been moved to a different wall.
Still, he knew this place. Felt the haunted memories of the past stirring. Painful, bitter memories he had spent his entire life trying to bury.
Draven placed a hand on his shoulder.
Instinctively, Sin started to knock it away, but forced himself to endure it.
There was much about Draven that reminded him of Harold.
The same dark hair, the same features and height.
The only difference was in the eyes. Harold’s had been cruel and brown while Draven possessed the light blue, kind eyes of his mother.
“The ghosts of the past are hard to exorcize, aren’t they?”
Sin nodded at Draven’s question. “I’m amazed you can live here.”