Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series) (7 page)

Met with a saucy grin, her eyes widened when Declan pinched her bum before setting her gently on her feet. Emerald eyes sparkled like gems as they moved over the robes she'd been wearing since yesterday, full of mirth as always. “Och
mo gealbhan
, I can certainly see why ye paid Brenna a covert visit at such a late hour. You've yet to show off those new curves I felt beneath all that flowing blue cloth.” Pursing his lips in thought, his gaze went to the closed door, mischief alight there in the green depths. “Unless... hmm... ye weren't naked ere I knocked, were ye?”

“
Declan! How could ye say such a thing?” she demanded, laughing in spite of herself. 

“
Poor Tiernan,” he answered in the same vein, taking her hand to move farther from the door. “And the lad had such high hopes for yer reunion, too.”

Pulling her along, Declan tried not to look directly at Ailill, knowing that she was too intelligent not to see the truth in his eyes despite his teasing tone. He looked down when her steps faltered, her eyes wide as she stared up at him. There was an innocence in the shimmering depths that caused him to flush with chagrin, to mentally berate his own loose lips. A child, yet not. If not for the multitude of
geise
set upon her wee shoulders, and the fact that she'd yet to find the lost princes, his cousin should have been mated a couple years ago. She obviously had no idea that when a lad felt as strongly for her as Tiernan did, life came nearly to a standstill in her absence. The wee princess had no idea that her best friend was in love with her and had been for years.

Suddenly wary, Ailill refused to be budged when the young man attempted to keep them both moving. “Where are we going, Declan?”

“
To yer quarters, lass. Brenna is waitin' to see that the clothes fit alright.”

It took a moment for her inherent stubbornness to be swayed, but her feet soon slipped alongside his own without further delay. “Brenna was sworn to secrecy. No one was to know we were here until later.”

“
Aye, I ken it,” said Declan, “but wee Brenna and I are... close, ye might say, and it was hard for her to hide the wardrobe she spent all night making for her liege.” At Ailill's curious look, he nodded. “Aye, Abby darlin'. I found that my attraction to our lovely sempstress was too tempting to ignore. If I didn't have her, I likely would have died o' starvation.” His grin was contagious; she flashed one of her own in return. Declan had always been honest with her, answering whatever question she could think up with no less than the full truth, and as much explanation as he believed she needed, no matter the subject.

“
Is she pregnant, then?” The thought brought a wistful smile to his lips, but his dark head shook slowly in answer. “But ye wouldn't mind it if she were?” At his nod, she sighed deeply, a disgruntled look marring her pretty features. “Why would ye say such things about Tiernan and me, Declan? I don't understand it; first he acted oddly, and now you show up before dawn and act just as strangely. Is there something I've missed in my time away?”

“
Naught I am capable o' telling you about, Abby,” he answered truthfully, his gaze settling on her fiery curls rather than her knowing eyes. “But ye mun understand, lassie, that Tiernan has grown this past year-”

“
Aye,” she cut in, rueful. “I can see that, cousin. Soon he'll be a man, and I'll still be a child. Is that what ye mean?”

“
No, lass!” In disbelief, the man gave a soft snort, a chuckle, his gaze moving over the loose-fitting robe as if he could see through the heavy folds. “Ye may have fooled our virginal Prince into believing that blether, but I see just what it is that symbol you've taken to wearing hides from the naked eye. And part o' the reason I ken this is for the simple fact that I sleep with the woman who makes yer clothes. Now, come inside so that my lover might finally get some rest after all her hard work. Alright?” Not waiting for a reply, he opened the door and stepped into Ailill's own rooms, where a small dark haired  woman stood waiting amidst the Princess' newly made wardrobe.

“
Where is she?”

Declan's dark head came up at the whispered question, his expression innocent though his eyes danced with humor. Tiernan stood tall in the doorway, already six feet and still growing at a rapid pace; sleep rumpled and yawning, he was hastily tucking the end of yesterday's shirt into a well-worn pair of leather leggings. A frown marred his regal brow when his friend tried an innocent “Who?” on for size.

“
Ye ken verra well whom, man.” A covert glance at the empty hallway behind himself brought Tiernan just a step closer as he whispered the name he had awoken with already on his lips.

“
Och, ye ken the lass, up before the sun, ready to start the day. She is likely headed to Drummossie as we speak.” A raised brow and a muttered curse sufficed for goodbye as Declan's gaze settled on Tiernan's rapidly retreating back, his grin well hidden by the time his brothers joined him for breakfast though his eyes twinkled with mirth as he dug into the tasty fare with gusto, half wishing he'd accompanied his fellow warrior, if only to see the look he knew would be on the poor lad's face when at last he met up with the little Princess once again.

Cloaked so that no mortal would notice his presence, if any happened to be about the cairns and markers of Culloden at such an ungodly hour, Tiernan stepped softly through the gorse, the heather just beginning to bud, eyes roving about the well tended bit of vast moorland before coming, at last, to rest on what he'd sought this last twenty minutes. There, down in a small gully off to the side of the last marker, flaming curls bouncing in the breeze as she moved, the unsuspecting object of his hearts' desire.

Ailill.

It makes much sense to say that not only did his steps falter at the sight, his feet came to a complete and utter standstill. Blinking in confusion, his jaw suddenly fell slack, eyes widening almost painfully.

She moved with uncommon grace, sculpted arms and legs flowing in seamless rhythm as she stepped and turned to some inner music, words of an ancient dialect forming on her lips, a soft Celtic greeting to the sun, the earth, the new day. Her skin was smooth, flawless, a light bronze and, perhaps most surprising of all, mostly visible. An itty bitty kilt, the colors of the Black Watch, fell barely midway between hip and knee, her top a form-fitting little number in green with the thinnest straps he'd seen before, hardly a thread. Tiernan gaped, momentarily at a loss both mentally and physically.

His wee Abby had blossomed...

Not only that, but she had surely bloomed into the most beautiful flower he had ever had the pleasure to set his gaze upon. At once he was overcome, his heart speeding up while at the same time his stomach dropped. A sudden rollercoaster of desire and guilt. Up and down, his mind wrapping around the discomfort of new feelings for the young lass. He'd always loved her, but now he felt a wanting, too, that had never been there before. What would she say, gi'n she knew? Did she even realize what she looked like now? She'd grown into a woman, yet not.

And how
had
she grown into such a beauty, all womanly curves with those over-large breasts and rounded hips made for pleasure, yet kept the same truly innocent face?

Coming back to himself, Tiernan blinked, stepped back a couple paces, turned on his heel and hightailed it the hell out of there; the muffled crack of a twig the only sign that Ailill had not been alone. Or so he thought. Her gaze snapped up at the sound, zeroing in on the dark head moving so quickly away. Unsure of what had drawn her best friend away without a word, Ailill finished up her ritual, swept away the circle Tiernan had not noticed around her, and set off at a much slower pace, her mind working with the plans she had been making since the week before. She was going fishing today, perhaps without the lad for the very first time, though why he would suddenly wish to forgo their annual holiday trek, the celebration of her own birthday, she had no idea. Huffing out a sigh and feeling at odds with herself, the free time she was so not used to anymore, her pace quickened until she was in an all out sprint toward Heartfire Keep, her need for escape pulling her along until it felt like an all consuming burn in her gut, her heart. It was good to be home... at last, but being completely honest with herself, she could hardly wait to leave again

“
I have had it!”

Declan looked up as the door slammed open, a small chunk of plaster skittering across the room from where the knob had hit the wall. Little lass flashed him a furious look as he took in the angry red of her cheeks, the heaving of her chest as her nostrils flared, unable to take in oxygen fast enough to cool her temper. “Did you run all the way here then, Abby?”

Knowing full well that he knew she had, Ailill gave a grunt of dismissal, took one deep breath and let fire her fury. “It has been six months, six! He will not talk to me... deigns to give me the time of day! I am at my wits end with that... that... jackass! No matter what I say nor do, he refuses to explain just what the problem is, what I may or may not have done wrong! I am sick of trying to please him, so sick that I could just scream, and now I've seen that that would not help either! I've tried to use all the niceties at my disposal and all I get in return is a grunt, if that, and then some stupid excuse that he's needed at the stables, the garden, the training grounds, or wherever he can come up with off the top o' his head as if I canna see he is making excuses every day not to see me, to hear me, to be one damn foot away from me!”

Despite her obvious anger, warranted though it was, Declan could see and feel the strong undercurrent of hurt she was barely managing to keep hidden; her eyes certainly told the story, loudly. Shadowed by grief, the fire usually in their depths was hardly at a smolder. Laying aside the book he'd been quite enjoying, the man used a toe to push the ottoman it had been resting on just a few inches closer. Sighing, Ailill sat, her spine straight as a board, distinctly uncomfortable. As always, the openness in her cousin's eyes put her at ease. Or at least calmed her enough to take a much needed breath, slowly calming herself even as her mouth opened then shut when he flashed her a raised brow.

“
Tiernan isna trying to hurt ye, lass, but I will say that he is aware that your hurt and anger have become a byproduct of his abrupt dismissal of you. He doesna mean for things to go this badly, but he has a problem with ye of late that he canna overcome just so easily.” Eyes of the brightest emerald flashed with feeling as the man glanced down at his wee protege. To say he felt bad for her was putting this whole stramash a bit too mildly. She was feeling broken, in heart and hence in spirit.

“
Aye? And just what the hell does that mean?”

Surprised, Declan shook his head, stood and went to the sideboard for the decanter of whiskey he'd been sipping on the past few days. After pouring out two fingers for himself, and casting a glance at the anger brewing once more in the impatient girl's face, he splashed a bit more in a second glass and handed it to her. She took it grudgingly, swallowed dutifully and handed back the empty cup, all the while giving him a look that would brook none of his usual happy-go-lucky crap.

“
It means, lass, that Tiernan is also at his wits end... with you. He loves ye, always has, always will, but yer too young for what he wants, and yer
geise
will forever hold you back from all that he believes you should share, alone, together. In the eyes of the Elders, you are passing the age when ye should have been finding the lost ones, carrying on with the life yer meant to lead. To Tiernan, ye are a child yet, missing out on the childhood he feels that you deserve. He doesna wish to keep ye from any of the happy memories you will accrue.”

“
Does he not realize that
all
o' my happy memories have always been shared with him since I was four years old? That, without him there to encourage me, to keep me
sane
, my life, my
geise
would not be worth all this effort?”

“
Perhaps not. I truly canna answer that, Ailill.”

Standing, she slipped over to the window, gazing out over the craggy peaks off in the distance. Declan seemed to prefer the solitude of this old hunting lodge at the oddest times, had been here a few days already, completely alone by her estimation. It was certainly odd. He actually got sick of being around other people all the time, no matter that all adored him, held him in the highest esteem and treated him accordingly. Then again, he had never been what everyone else believed. Nay, only she was privy to his secrets, and not too many of those were shared with Herself, either.