Chapter 11 #2
“My stomach votes for food.” Simon stepped forward and something in his demeanor reminded her of a lad trying to make amends for his wrongdoing. “For the record, I wasn’t in on this. I was merely an innocent observer.”
She fought down her smile. “I am quite sure, Simon, thank you.”
He nodded and left.
Reluctantly the MacAllisters followed, but they kept glancing back over their shoulders as if to see if Sin would follow. No doubt, they intended to renew their bloodlust at first chance.
As Sin started to go, Callie caught his hand and pulled him back toward her. She reached up and brushed her hand through his tousled hair. “You know, I think I like this teasing side of you.”
Immediately, she saw a shadow descend over his eyes. He pulled away, but didn’t go far.
“Where were you last night?” she asked. “I know you didn’t return to bed.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Why?”
He shrugged.
Callie moved toward him, wanting him to open up to her again like he’d done last night. “Sin, why must you withdraw from me? I thought we had settled some of this last night.”
Sin swallowed as he saw the hurt in her eyes. He wanted desperately to reach out, pull her into his arms and kiss her until they were both blind from the pleasure of it. He wanted to feel himself inside her again. To hold her for the rest of eternity and yet he dare not.
This morning had taught him well the depth of her clan’s hatred for him. They would never accept him and he would never ask her to leave them. They were her family and though she might call him that, too, he didn’t believe it.
Callie barely knew him.
She’d spent her life caring for her clan, having them care for her. There was a bond between her and her people he refused to shatter.
What the two of them had...
It was unlike anything he’d ever experienced, but that didn’t really mean much to a man who had seldom had anything at all.
It was lust he felt for her. Petty and sordid. There was nothing more to it. He was incapable of anything better than that and he knew it.
“I’d best be getting back to my brothers.”
Callie sighed wistfully as her husband left. He hadn’t bothered to answer her.
“How can you stand to let that Sassenach touch you?”
She gasped in startled alarm as she heard Dermot’s voice from the loft above. She looked up trying to see him through the breaks in the wooden planks, but couldn’t find him. “What are you doing up there, Dermot MacNeely?”
She heard a soft, girlish giggle followed by him shushing the lass. Callie’s face flamed at the thought of what they had overheard and what the two of them had been doing up there.
Dermot jumped down from the loft. Belting his plaid, he approached her. “You need to send him back to England where he belongs.”
She glanced to the ceiling where the lass was still hidden, but obviously would have little trouble overhearing them. “This is not a discussion I plan to have with you. Most especially not here.”
Dermot grabbed her arm and hauled her outside. “There is talk in the clan. If you don’t send that Sassenach home, there are those who will do it for you. And he’ll be going back to Henry in pieces.”
She pulled her arm from his grasp. “Who is saying that?”
“You know who.”
“In that case, you’d best be telling your Raider to leave my husband alone. If he is harmed again, I won’t rest until I have every one of your rebel hides in the stocks. And I mean you, too, brother.”
He gaped in disbelief. “You would choose a Sassenach over your own brother?”
“I would not want to, but I won’t have my husband hurt. Now tell me who shot him yesterday.”
He jutted his jaw out defiantly and by the light in his eyes, she could tell he knew the answer, but would sooner die than tell it to her. “It was only a warning. Next time, they won’t miss.”
Callie removed the anger from her tone and tried to appeal to him more calmly.
She loved her brother more than anything and the last thing she wanted was to see him hurt for so foolish a cause.
“Dermot, please. Why must you be involved in this? If you will give me the names of the ones who raid, I swear to you I won’t turn them in, but I needs speak with them. We must have peace.”
“Peace? Our father would be spinning in the earth to hear you say that. He hated the English, and if you were truly a daughter of his, you would never stand for that man to bed with you. Let alone beg him for it.”
For the first time in her life, Callie wanted to slap her brother. Her palm itched from the want of it. “Give me the name of The Raider.”
“Or what?” he sneered. “Will you tell your precious Sassenach husband that I am one of those who raids?”
She was aghast at the very idea of it. “I have never betrayed you.”
“And you better not.” The cold fury in his blue eyes scared her. She’d never seen him like this before.
“Are you threatening me?”
The look softened ever so subtly. “I would never hurt you, Callie. But I will not betray them. If your husband ever learns I am one of the rebels, he will have me tortured for the rest of the names. Are you willing to see me executed?”
“Of course not.”
“Then get rid of him.”
Oh the lad could be insufferably stubborn. And selfish. How dare he stand there and make such demands. But it was time she let him know her stance on this issue. “I am his wife. If he leaves, I must leave, too.”
“Then let us kill him.”
She shook her head at him. Now he was being completely unreasonable. “Could you honestly do that?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Have you any idea the number of men he has killed? Jamie said he heard the English knights curse his name and relate the horrors that man has wreaked on others. He said your husband was known to cut the throats of sleeping men. It would only be justice to see him dead.”
“I don’t believe that to be justice,” she breathed. “Desperate men do desperate things. You know father’s saying as well as I do. What my husband did, he did for survival. I won’t hold that against him. He was a scared boy.”
“A scared boy who cost many men their lives.” He was so harsh and judgmental and she wondered when he had changed. The Dermot she remembered was a dear lad who was quick to laugh and even quicker to let bygones be bygones. But this half-grown man before her was a stranger to her.
“Sin made mistakes,” she insisted.
“He committed crimes and he should pay for them.”
“You are not his judge.”
Dermot glared at her. “Did you live in England so long that they clouded your mind and won your heart?”
“You know better than that.”
“Do I?”
Och, the lad was making her angrier and angrier. If she didn’t leave soon, they were both going to say things they would regret even more.
“You are selfish, Dermot. You need to be growing up, lad, and learn that sometimes we have to compromise for the peace of others.”
“Compromise? You’re talking about embracing an enemy my father gave his life trying to defeat.”
“Dermot, please. Be reasonable. This is a different world we live in now. We need to—”
“You make your peace.” He raked her with a disgusted glare. “But in my heart, I know I am right and when I die and see father again, I know I shall be able to look him in the eye with a clear conscience. Tell me, will you?”
Callie flinched at his words. “Of course, I will.”
He snorted in derision. “Then I wish you happiness with the lies you tell yourself.” He stalked off.
Callie shouted after him. “Tell your rebel friends to be here tonight. My husband wishes a word with all the men of the clan.”
He paused and turned to face her with a wry grin. “Oh, I’ll tell them all right. This is one meeting I wouldn’t miss for anything.”
A shiver ran down her spine. Whatever was she to do with Dermot? The lad had no sense to be following the others. But then he’d always been that way. Always let others lead him into mischief. She only hoped this time, they didn’t lead him to his grave.
Sin retired late in the afternoon to his chambers. He didn’t tell his brothers of the ache in his shoulder or the fact he hadn’t slept the night before. Much like Ewan, he’d spent the night in the hall.
He breathed a sigh in relief as he discovered the room empty of his wife’s vivacious presence. He wished to be alone for a bit with nothing to cloud his mind.
After doffing his clothes, he slid himself into the bed. He should be able to take a brief nap before meeting with the men of her clan.
And for some strange, morbid reason, he was actually looking forward to it. But he would need his head clear. His mind fully alert.
Closing his eyes, he let out a long, exhausted breath.
To his dismay, the door opened.
He froze, steeled for action should the intruder be an enemy.
It wasn’t. He heard the light footsteps of Callie as she crossed the room oblivious to him. He slit his eyes open a hair to watch her set her laundry down on a small desk by the window. As she turned, she spied his clothes folded on the floor where he’d left them.
Her gaze traveled along the floor, then up the bed to where he lay. Sin didn’t move. For some reason, he didn’t want her to know he watched her.
A gentle smile curled her lips as her gaze fell to him. Very quietly, she pulled the shutters closed to darken the room for him, then she moved silently toward the bed.
She stopped by his side and placed one graceful, cool hand against his brow.
“You’ve a fever,” she whispered. “Do you wish me to send for a physician?”
“How did you know I was awake?”
“You didn’t flinch when I neared you. If you were asleep, you’d have me on the floor by now.”
Her words cut him. “I would never harm you in such a way, Callie.”
She smiled at that and brushed his hair back from his damp forehead. “I know, Sin. Do you wish a healer?”
He shook his head. “I just need to rest for a bit.”