Chapter 11 #3
Callie traced her hand through the softness of his hair. He looked almost boyish lying there with his cheeks pinkened by his fever. She glanced to the wound in his shoulder. There was no sign of infection. It appeared to be healing well, yet his fever concerned her.
“I sent a summons to all the men,” she said quietly.
“Thank you.”
She ran her hand from his hair, down his neck and arm to his hand.
She held it in hers, staring at the scars that marked his flesh.
His hand was so rough and masculine. Strong.
Capable. And as she held it, she remembered the way his hands had felt on her body last night.
The way his hands could both comfort and protect her.
She wrapped her other hand around his, holding it tight and hoping that she would have many afternoons like this where she could spend a quiet moment with him.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked.
Sin looked to where she toyed with his hand. The paleness of her soft, delicate skin was a sharp contrast to the dark roughness of his. Her hand was so tiny in comparison. So fine and dainty.
How could something so small shake him so profoundly? Those hands shouldn’t have the power to do anything to him and yet they made him hot and gave him a comfort that defied his best abilities to name.
He shook his head.
She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles, making his body roar to life with a vicious demand for hers. “I’ll make sure no one disturbs you.”
She got up, leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. He savored the feel of her lips on his skin. And it took all his strength not to pull her into the bed with him and make love to her.
Instead, he just let the kindness of her seep into him. The warmth of her lips touch the ragged edges of a heart that was just beginning to beat.
He heard her leave the room and close the door. Aching with regret, he balled his hand in the fur cover.
Why had she been given to him when the very saints above knew there was no chance for them to have a life together?
But then, he knew.
Henry wanted peace and he was willing to sacrifice anything for it.
Though Sin liked to pretend otherwise, he knew the truth of their relationship.
When all was said and done, he was nothing more than a pawn to Henry.
A servant and should he ever fail to be useful to Henry, his life would be worthless.
Hours later, Callie stood on the castle steps as the men of her clan gathered round. She’d had her servants prepare food and drink for the men in hopes of placating them.
To her complete and utter non-surprise, it didn’t work. The air around them was rife with hostility. They all knew something wasn’t right for them to be summoned here. They just didn’t know what that something was.
“Caledonia, my sweet.”
She turned at Fraser’s voice. He stood just an inch taller than she and had bright blue eyes and dark blond hair. His smile was always easy and he had a pleasant and open manner that she had often found soothing.
Before she had been captured by Henry, he had asked Aster for permission to court her. Though they had plenty in common and shared similar temperaments, she’d never felt particularly inclined romantically toward him. He was like an older brother to her.
She offered him a genuine, if somewhat cool, smile. “Fraser, how are you?”
“Much better now that I know you are well. You’ve no idea how many times I urged your uncle to let us head to London to reclaim you. But he wouldn’t hear of it.”
A chill went up her spine at the underlying tone of his voice and the peculiar gleam in his eye. He was hiding something in that glib statement.
Could he be the rebel leader?
Like her father, he was a passionate hater of the English and he did have the demeanor of a man comfortable with ordering others about. It was possible. Not to mention he and Dermot were friends.
The sound of the crowd drew instantly silent.
Frowning, Callie looked around to see what had happened. She followed the gaze of the men to find her husband standing in the doorway.
Sin’s long, black hair spilled over his shoulders, vanishing into the blackness of his English surcoat and mail.
He stood tall and proud with one gauntlet-covered hand on his sword hilt.
Those piercing black eyes that could make her feel so deeply took in the entire scene at once and he bore an aura of such power and lethal grace that it sent a shiver over her.
It was obvious to all, this was a man in authority. A man who saw more than just what was before him. And the men around her reacted to him like a group of restless predators who knew their leadership and territory was being threatened just by this man’s presence.
“Bloody hell, what’s that Sassenach doing here?”
She didn’t know the owner of that voice, but the sentiment was echoed all around her.
Her heart pounded in fear of what her clansmen would do. Most of them had yet to hear of her marriage and she wondered why Aster wasn’t there to help.
The insults grew as Sin stood there in silence, sizing them up, one by one. It was eerie to watch him, for she knew what he was doing. He was making a mental note of every man there, of his behavior and words. This was the Sin who held the king’s ear. The knight no one had ever defeated in battle.
And the longer he stood there watching them while they insulted him, the angrier the clansmen became at his stoic silence.
“Where’s the MacNeely?” one of the men shouted at Sin. “What have you done with him?”
Like a raging tide, the men were getting ready to attack Sin, who didn’t seem the least bit concerned by their anger or animosity.
Terrified, she gathered her skirts and rushed to stand by her husband’s side. “Please!” she said loudly, holding her hands up to silence them.
When their voices quieted to just a murmur, she spoke again. “Most of you are unaware that I am now married.” She offered a smile to her husband and took his arm in hers. “Sin—”
A fierce curse sounded from Fraser. His eyes flaming, he strode up the stairs to sneer at her. “Tell me it’s not true, Callie. Why would you be a whoring—”
Sin moved so fast she didn’t even see his arm in motion. One minute Fraser was insulting her and in the next Sin had him by the throat.
Fraser tried to pry Sin’s grip loose with both his hands, but it did no good.
The look on Sin’s face was one of hell wrath and when he spoke, his tone was low, lethal. “Insult my wife again, or even look in her general direction, and I will rip your throat out. Do you understand?”
Fraser nodded.
Sin released him.
Fraser coughed and rubbed his throat. His fierce gaze bored into Sin, but he wisely held his tongue.
Sin looked out at her clansmen. “As for the rest of you, I have been sent here by King Henry to make sure no one else raids the English who live in the neighboring towns and areas.” He centered his gaze on Fraser.
“I know not who the rebels are, but I will find out, and those responsible will be punished.”
Snorts and insults rang out.
“Why should we fear you?”
Again, Callie was unsure of who spoke.
Sin smiled slyly as he stepped slowly from the stairs and walked among her men. She held her breath in fear of what they might do next.
“Let me tell you a little story…” Sin eyed them each in turn. “There was once a boy who wasn’t even old enough to shave.”
He paused at Dermot. “Beaten.”
Then he looked to her cousin, Sean, “Naked.” He continued to walk amongst them as he spoke. “He was sent out into the great desert with only a small dagger for protection.”
Sin jumped back up on the stairs beside her and stood face to face with Fraser. His next words chilled her completely. “I have killed cobras with my bare hands, and I have lived through conditions so horrendous, not even hell itself scares me.”
His gaze panned through the crowd. “If any of you think for one minute that I have any soul left to prevent me from killing you, you’re sadly mistaken.
If you think for one minute,” he repeated, “any of you are capable of killing me, then I say try it. But make sure you’ve had a good confession beforehand because I assure you, it will be the very last mistake you make in this lifetime. ”
He focused his gaze on Dermot. “The raiding stops now.”
Sin turned to walk back inside the castle. He’d barely taken a step before one of the men threw a cabbage at him.
Unsheathing his sword as he whirled around, he cleaved it in twain. The two halves fell harmlessly to the ground.
Utter silence descended. This time, he saw shock and fear on the faces of the crowd as they finally realized the extent of his fighting skills.
Sin sheathed his sword. “Never attack me from behind.”
He swept one last menacing glare at them, then walked inside.
Callie saw the reserve in the men who gathered around to discuss what had just happened and how to deal with Sin.
Fraser curled his lip at her and said nothing as he went to join the men in the yard.
Callie ran after her husband.
She found him alone in the great hall, leaning on both arms against the lord’s table. His back was rigid and he reminded her a bit of an angry wolf. She approached him cautiously, but not in fear. She knew him to be snappish in this mood. Still, she didn’t think he would turn his anger on her.
“That was amazing. How did you know about the cabbage?”
“People act predictably.” He pushed himself away from the table and turned to face her with a frown. “Except for you. You, I don’t understand.”
She smiled. “I think I might be flattered by that.”
He rubbed his injured shoulder and looked away. “They’ll be outside right now trying to decide if they should kill me or obey my mandate. Fraser and some of the others will be arguing that I should be killed in my sleep. He was to marry you, wasn’t he?”
His quick turn of topic and acute perceptions surprised her. “He thought so. How did you know?”
“The way he looked at you.”
“What else did you gather?”
“I know at least a score of the rebels by sight, by tomorrow I shall know their names.”
Callie was dumbfounded. Her uncle who had known these men for years had yet to discern any of the rebels, including the fact that his own nephew was one of them. And yet Sin had managed to do it in a matter of minutes? It was inconceivable. “Are you serious?”
“Aye. Fraser is in with them, no doubt.”
“Think you, he leads them?”
He shook his head. “It’s not in him.”
“But he stood up to you. And I know the others respect him quite a bit.”
“He stood up to me only because of you.” Sin reached out to touch the stray piece of hair on her cheek. The softness of her skin was so soothing and yet his heart ached at what he suspected.
He’d seen the way Fraser had looked to her brother when she had spoken. The look in her brother’s eyes and the way Dermot had glanced at several others.
Dermot was in the thick of all this. Worse, Sin had a suspicion her brother might even be the rebel leader himself.
Aye, now that he thought about it, he held little doubt. It could only be fate that he would be sent here to kill the brother of the only woman he had ever cared for. It was just the type of twisted irony fate would hand him.
It would destroy her to lose her brother because of him.
Callie would hate him forever.
Perhaps that would be for the best. If she hated him, then she would gladly seek out her annulment. She would refuse to stay married to the man who destroyed her brother.
You don’t have to kill him...
It was true. He could just as easily hand him over to Henry’s custody.
Sin’s gut knotted at the thought of it. If he sent Dermot to England...
Images of his childhood tore through him.
“Worthless Scot’s cur. Not even fit to lick my boots.” He could still feel the blows he’d taken, not just from Harold, but from all of the English who had hated his Scot’s blood.
Could he condemn another boy to such a life?
Nay. ‘Twould be much kinder to kill Dermot outright than to leave him to such a fate.
He looked at Callie, trying to memorize her face. If he could have any wish, it would be to love her. To keep her safe from all harm.
But in this, he was powerless. If he didn’t hand Dermot over or kill him, Henry would destroy her entire clan and her in the process of it.
Like so many other times in his life, his hands were tied. This he must do. There was no way around it.