Chapter 13 #4
Sin spun about and ran for the woods as fast as he could.
“Sin!” Callie shouted as her husband and the bull disappeared. She scrambled from the rooftop down to where a group of people surrounded Fraser.
With the danger past, people flooded the streets.
“That was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen,” Old Angus said as he and several others helped Fraser to his feet and inspected his injured leg.
“We have to go help him,” Callie said.
Fraser’s brother, Gerald, grabbed a bow from his waiting wagon. “English or not, I owe him for my brother’s life.”
Six others came forward to help. When Callie started off with them, they refused to let her join them.
Angus stopped her. “He didn’t risk his life to see you harmed, lass. Now stay here and let the men handle it.”
Though it went against her nature to stand by and do nothing, she didn’t argue. It would only cause them to delay their rescue when they needed to be finding Sin as quickly as possible.
Consumed by terror, Callie watched as the men left the village and she prayed for her resourceful husband to have found some way to outmaneuver the bull.
Time seemed to move on the back of a snail as she waited with the women. Fraser’s leg had been sewn and bandaged and there was still no sign of the men.
Callie prayed and prayed, hoping he was all right.
At long last, she heard a cheering roar from the people of the village. Turning around, she saw the group of men coming toward them.
And in their midst...
Nay. It couldn’t be.
Callie frowned, then blinked, trying to see if her eyes were deceiving her.
Angus was the first to reach the village. “I’ll beat the first one of you who laughs,” he said in warning. “No mon who fights like that for our women and children will be mocked. You hear me?”
“We wouldn’t dream of it, Angus MacDougal,” Peg said.
Choking on her laugher and filled with tremendous relief that he was unhurt, Callie ran to her husband and wrapped her arms around him.
Her heart pounded at the feel of his strong arms holding her close.
Och, how she loved this wonderful man. She kissed his cheek, then pulled away to look him over one more time and make sure he really was unharmed.
Again, she had to purse her lips to keep from smiling.
In truth, she had no idea how the village refrained from laughing at the sight of her proud husband.
He only had one boot on and his breeches were shredded.
The kirtle he’d wrapped around the swatter was now wrapped around his body in a poor, ill-fitting state.
He was covered in mud and looked like some half-formed fey beastie.
Sin looked at her with humor dancing in his midnight eyes. “Go ahead and laugh, dove. I promise I won’t be offended.” He draped an arm over her shoulders, drawing her close to him again, and looked around the people gathered to welcome him back. “By the way, methinks I owe someone a new dress.”
Several snickers broke out and were silenced as Angus turned a feral glare to the crowd.
“Where’s the bull?” Callie asked.
“Tied to a tree, eating my boot. I’m just glad my leg is no longer in it.”
That succeeded in making everyone laugh.
Angus shook his head as he drew near. “Lad, how did you manage it?”
“I run fast when chased by large bulls.”
Several of the men clapped him on the back and Peg came forward with a tankard of ale.
“Where are your clothes?” Callie asked, noting he wore very little underneath his “borrowed” kirtle. Very little except for that warm, tawny flesh she found so delectable.
“The brambles caught him,” Angus answered. “That’s how we found him. There’s shreds of English clothing from hither to yon.”
Callie felt weak at the news of how close her husband had come to being seriously injured. “Are you truly unharmed?”
“A bit scratched and bruised but nothing other than my ego is seriously damaged.” Sin grinned playfully. “See now why I always travel with a sword? One never knows when a raging bull is likely to come storming down the street.”
They all laughed.
“God love you, lad.” Angus patted him on the back. “You’ve got a good sense of humor. Not many men could laugh in the face of such an event.” Angus pushed him gently toward her. “Callie, take your mon home and see to his wounds.”
“I will, Angus. Thank you.”
Callie took her husband’s arm. She turned him around to see one of the young lads leading their horses to them.
Sin helped her mount, then swung himself up onto his own horse.
As they left the village, she couldn’t suppress the happiness inside her. “I think you won them over.”
“That was never my intent.”
And that was what she loved most about him.
Even though her clansmen had mocked and shunned him, he had still put his life in jeopardy to save them all.
Most men wouldn’t have cared one way or another about her people.
But he hadn’t even thought twice about risking his life for them. “You’re a good man, Sin MacAllister.”
He reined to a stop and turned angry, tormented eyes to her. “Never call me that.”
Callie’s heart clenched at what she saw on his handsome face. The raw emotions that swirled in those dark eyes. “Forgive me. It was a slip of the tongue that will never happen again.”
The fire in his eyes died and she led him back to the castle.
It wasn’t until they had reached the castle and entered the great hall that Callie remembered what she had asked Simon to do...
Out of the gathered group, she didn’t know who was more stunned. Poor Sin still wearing his one boot and dressed in a kirtle, or his brothers and Simon who stood with Jamie, Dermot and Aster.
Jamie stepped forward hesitantly. He threw his shoulders back and spoke like a grown up. “Caledonia, I know you said we were to make him feel at home so I’ll pull one shoe off, but no one’s going to make me wear a dress.”
Laughter resounded through the hall. But no one laughed harder than Sin who scooped Jamie up in his arms and tickled him. “I don’t know, lad. As pretty as you are, you might look at home in a kirtle.”
“I’m not pretty. I’m fierce.”
Callie grabbed her brother from Sin and gave him a hug of her own. “As fierce as a gentle cub. And as precious as a rose in the dead of winter.” She kissed his cheek and set him on his feet.
Grimacing, he wiped his face and dashed off to stand behind Dermot.
Lochlan shook his head. “Should we ask?”
“I had a run-in with a bull.”
Simon laughed. “From where I’m standing, it looks like the bull won.”
Sin smiled. “Nay, you should see the bull. He’s dressed in swaddling.” Sin looked about the hall that had been decorated with bright color serge drapes and wrapped gifts that were spread out on the main table. “What’s all this?”
“We’re celebrating your birthday,” Simon said.
Sin frowned.
Lochlan jerked his chin toward Callie. “Your wife’s idea.”
He looked to his wife who was sidestepping away from him. Catching her hand, he pulled her back. “Care to explain?”
“Aster, would you please have the pastries and cakes brought in while I attend my husband’s change of clothes?”
“Aye, love.”
“If you’ll excuse us,” she said to the men before leading Sin up the stairs.
He followed her up the narrow stairs. “Are you not going to answer my question?”
“I didn’t wish to do it in front of the others.”
“Why?”
She opened the door to their room and let him enter first. Then she closed the door and crossed the room to stand beside him. She wanted to pull him into her arms, but something in his demeanor told her he wouldn’t welcome that. “Lochlan told me no one knew when you were born. Is it true?”
His eyes blank, he moved away from her to pull his armor out of the trunk by the window. “Aye.”
Callie didn’t let him get away. She crossed the room to join him at the window and as soon as he straightened, she took his chin in her hand and smiled up at him. “Then today shall mark the day of your rebirth.”
He looked baffled by her words. “My rebirth?”
She nodded as she fingered his whiskered cheek, then traced the line of his jaw to his silken hair.
“You’re no longer alone, Sin. You now have a home and a wife who wants you.
Spurn me if you must, but you will always be welcome here.
And if you’ve no wish to be a MacAllister or earl or anything else, that is fine.
But from this day forward you are a MacNeely. ”
His dark eyes narrowed. “I’ve no wish to be owned by you or anything else.”
Callie’s stomach drew tight in frustration. How she wished she could make him understand what it was she was offering him.
“And I am not trying to own you or even claim you. That is not the nature of what I offer and it breaks my heart that you can’t even understand it.
Maybe one day you will. If you have to go, go.
I won’t hold you here. I will stay behind and every day you are gone, I will miss you.
Every hour, I will think of you and wonder where you are and be worried that something might happen to you. ”
Sin stood in silence as her words cut through him. He’d never been more than just the most passing of thoughts to anyone. Not even his brothers.
What she offered...
If it wasn’t love, it was a damned good substitute.
“I hope and pray that I already have your child in me. And I hope he grows to be just as fine a man as his father.”
Sin ground his teeth at her words. The pain, the ache, the need inside him roared up and screamed through his soul. He couldn’t stand the agony of it. It was overwhelming and shattering.
“Do not say such things to me,” he growled.
“Why?”
“Because I can’t stand to hear it.” He felt tears prick his eyes, but he quickly banished them. Against his will, he reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand. “I don’t know how to love, Callie. I don’t know how to be the man you need.”
“You are the man I need.”
He turned away from her with a curse. Inside, his emotions were tangled. He was afraid to trust in her. It was easy for her to say she would stand by him now, but once he had proof of her brother’s crimes she would feel that way no longer.
Neither one of his parents had ever stood by him. His brothers might, yet they had never been put to the test, in part because he had no need to know whether or not they would stand by him or flee.
He had been hurt so many times. Betrayed over and over by everyone in his life. His brothers each carried the same guilt Draven did over the fact that when he had been sacrificed for them, they each had felt a twinge of relief.
Sin didn’t blame them for it, it was more than understandable, but having been the sacrificial lamb so many times, he refused to believe she wouldn’t turn on him as well.
Her clan meant everything to her and her brothers even more.
Nay, this was a lie. Not in her heart, for he knew she meant the words right now. But to believe in them...
He’d been many things in his life. A thief, an assassin, a starving beggar, a knight and an earl. He had never been a fool. And it was one role he wouldn’t play now.
Still, when he looked at her, it was hard to remember that. Hard to think of things other than just losing himself in the comfort she offered.
It’s not meant to be.
Nay. He closed his heart. He would do as he must and when he was through here, he would return to England. Alone.
It was the way of it. He wouldn’t fight destiny.