Highland Grace (28 page)

“I want to help you fight the prince’s army!”
Alleck said belligerently.

Bao broke eye contact with Jesslyn, allowing
her to win the glaring contest, and looked back at her son. “Ah!
But who, then, will protect the ladies? It is the highest honor and
the gravest duty I bestow on you, Alleck, the protection of our
most cherished family members.”

Alleck’s shoulders straightened and his chest
swelled with self-importance and pride. “Aye, I’ll keep them safe!”
he vowed.

“Good, I shall be trusting that you will,”
Bao said.

* * *

Bao met Daniel on the training field later
that morn to discuss building a second mangonel to be placed on the
newly constructed south tower of the curtain wall. The north tower
had been equipped with its own war engine just after the completion
of the towers’ construction a few moons past.

“Nay, let us begin by having archers man it;
they will halt the onslaught of Llywelyn’s men, should they get
past our defenses and make it to the wall. We can place a mangonel
there later, if the need arises,” Daniel said.

“The gardener, even now, is searching the
periphery of the curtain wall for any vines or other such that
might be used by our foes to climb to the top.”

“Make sure he pours boiling water on the
roots so that they do not return. And he must look for new growth
each sennight and kill that as well.”

“Aye, I shall speak to him directly,” Bao
replied. “Have we enough murder holes above the gate—should we make
more?”

“We have enough.”

“And we’ll fill the moat with water,” Bao
stated.

“Aye,” Daniel agreed solemnly.

“Additional barns and stables will need to be
built as we’ll need more livestock. About seventy-five cows and,
mayhap, twice that in sheep should be brought into the bailey,” Bao
said. “Do we have plenty of grain, or will we need more?”

“Laird Donald said he would send more from
his own stores, so we should be well stocked.”

“I’ve spoken with the marshal. He’ll oversee
his staff and make sure that we have more hauberks, cables, cords,
and other such supplies completed in no more than a fortnight.”

“That pleases me,” Daniel said. “We’ll need
thousands of arrows. Have you spoken to the bowyer?”

“Nay, not as yet. I shall meet with him later
this morn,” Bao replied. “Have we time to finish the barbican?”

Daniel nodded and sighed. “Aye, but ‘twill be
difficult. I’ll need to entice the master mason and his workmen
with additional coin to do the work during such bitter weather.”
Daniel rubbed the tense muscles in the back of his neck. “This
siege will be costly.”

“Aye, but Branwenn is worth the sacrifice,”
Bao reminded his brother. “And I’ve gold and silver enough to
furnish this keep with twelve such barbicans, if need be,” Bao
added.

Daniel gave Bao a curious look. “Aye?”

Bao nodded once and said shortly, “Aye.”

Daniel shrugged when Bao said naught further.
“I’ve received missives from my clan, the MacLaurins, as well as
the MacGregors. They are both ready to send backup forces as soon
as we give them the word. Between the improvements we continue to
make to the defenses of this fortress and our ally clans, we should
rout the aggressors before our provisions run dry.”

“Good,” Bao replied.

* * *

The day after the
Uphalieday
feast,
Lady MacGregor and Laird Donald departed for their own holdings,
leaving the Maclean keep much quieter than it had been in over a
fortnight, when the first of the festivities, the Yule, had
occurred.

Tho’ Jesslyn was not as hostile toward Bao as
she had been in the beginning, he was still no closer to a full
reconciliation with his wife than he had been the day she first
moved back to the cottage.

Bao walked slowly across the snow covered
glen toward the forest. His head down, he swung the stick he held
in his hand in violent arcs, in unconscious imitation of the broad
strokes he used with his battle ax in war. What tack should he take
with her now? He’d done as he’d set out to do, when possible. He’d
tried to entice her, remind her of her desire for him, by means he
was a bit abashed to remember. At every opportunity, he had found
an excuse to disrobe in front of her, at least from the waist up.
Just this morn, he’d pretended to become overheated while he
chopped wood for her. He’d taken off first his tunic and then his
shirt in an effort to gain her attention. And nearly frozen himself
in the process. But it was for naught. He had ended up chopping
enough wood for the entire keep’s cookfires for the next twelve
annals and she’d never turned her eye to him. Not once. She’d
blithely continued speaking with Niall’s mother by the well while
he’d performed for her like some smitten youth.

This was no right conduct for a warrior, a
man of means, one who’d battled his fiercest challengers—and won.
He must do as Maryn and Lady Maclean had advised he should do. He
must woo her, win not only her heart, but her mind as well. He’d
won many less evenly matched competitions, after all. Why then
could he not win this fight to regain her good opinion?

Before he realized his destination, he’d
trudged through the snow and stumbled along the well-known path
that led him to the waterfall. He hadn’t been back here since his
return to the holding and now he gazed in amazement at the
difference the snow and ice made in the aspect of the place. Where
there once was rushing water tumbling loudly over the cliff, there
was now a silent, thick sheet of ice and snow. And the pool was
completely frozen over. In fact, a light blanket of snow had
covered it so completely that he couldn’t at first discern where
the land ended and the pool began.

* * *

Jesslyn made her way through the dense
blanket of snow that covered the floor of the wood, determinedly
heading in the direction of the waterfall. She’d decided to take
the longer route this morn, the one that led her to the opposite
side of the pool from the path that she’d been taking these past
few morns. The sun was brightly shining and the air was crisp,
smelling of fresh-fallen snow, and she felt the need for a bit more
exercise. She had made the trip to the fall several times in the
past days, her mind plagued by thoughts and memories of both her
husbands. She’d hoped that, by coming back to this enchanted place,
she’d gain some clarity in her muddled mind and heart and she’d
finally decide what she should do about her marriage to Bao.

She found the place just as beautiful, just
as soothing, as she had during the summer when the lush green
foliage and the white frothy fall had settled her restlessness. Now
the trees were like well-ornamented ladies of winter, bare of their
summer clothing, they stood draped in their diamond-like
crystalline baubles, their arms and shoulders cradling their
white-powder mantles. And serenity was there for her, in the hush,
as well. Which she desperately needed after the display of muscle
she’d been a witness to this morn. She was dangerously near to
losing the battle between her body and her mind and that scared the
hell out of her. Between Bao’s seduction and the rest of the
family’s constant harrying to trust her husband, she was closer
than she wanted to admit to giving in to her body’s and her heart’s
desire and reconciling with Bao. But her mind was just not ready to
give him her trust. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem
to get past the images of Bao, half-naked, in the wood with the
village lass, nor of him completely bared by, and being pleasured
by, Lara. They fed on her deepest fear. The one she’d had from the
beginning. One that had aided the delay in consummating her
marriage to him. He would grow bored with her, bored with their
marriage bed, as Graeme evidently had done. How could he not, when
his prowess and experience far outstripped that of Graeme’s and
even Graeme had complained of her lack of adventure? Nay, ‘twas
much better that they end it now before more damage was done. Or
was
it? Ahhh! She just didn’t
know!
She’d been
bombarded by each member of Bao’s family at every turn to give him
another chance, to believe him when he swore his loyalty, swore
he’d never betray her trust again. She worried her lip with her
teeth. She’d already made peace with the incident in the wood
sennights ago and seeing how deeply loyal he was to his sister,
even to the point of breaking his marriage vows, she couldn’t help
but begin to believe his heart’s ability to remain true.

She shook her head and sighed as she walked
between two large trees towards the edge of the pool, then stopped
short. There, on the other side of the pool, stood Bao. As if it
were being drawn by some unknown force, his gaze met hers.

He would know now that she had been thinking
of him. What should she do? Her mind raced. Should she turn and
run? (Well, at least walk quickly—after all she was a bit too round
now to
run
.) Or, mayhap, she should behave as if she cared
not that he’d found her here, at their lovers’ bower. Nay, that
would require being near him, speaking to him in this place filled
with so many erotic memories. Alone. Too dangerous.

She whirled around and quickly began
following her tracks back in the direction from which she’d just
come.

“Wait!” Bao shouted, bolting forward without
thinking, across the frozen snow-covered pool. He’d almost made it
to the other side when the ice and snow gave way and his right leg
fell through the break into painfully frigid water. “Aaargh!” He
grabbed hold of the icy ground, but still slid further in before
finally finding purchase on a tree root that protruded from the
ground just under a shallow layer of snow.

Jesslyn turned when she heard Bao yell out in
distress and immediately rushed back to the pool. “Ohmygod!” she
cried. She looked around and grabbed a dead branch from the ground
and thrust one end toward him. “Hold on to this, I’ll help to pull
you out!”

Bao grabbed hold of the branch with his right
hand and, using his left elbow for traction as well, was able to
get out of the water with Jesslyn’s aid. He rolled onto his back at
the side of the pool, breathing hard, his eyes closed and his hands
resting on his abdomen. His clothing was now almost completely
drenched from the icy cold water of the pool. His limbs and torso,
at first so numb they had no feeling, were now tingling so
painfully, it felt as if large needles were puncturing his skin,
with barely a space between. After a moment, he began to shiver
uncontrollably.

“Bao, you must rise. We need to get you home
at once where we can get you out of these wet clothes,” Jesslyn
said, grasping his shoulders and giving him a little shake.

“Just give me another moment,” Bao replied.
He didn’t think his limbs would hold him yet.

“Nay! You must come with me now or you’ll
surely perish from the cold.” Jesslyn grabbed his hands and labored
to pull him upright. “Bao! Help me! Rise to your feet!” she
demanded.

Feeling lethargic and a bit dazed Bao
strained to comply. Tho’ it was difficult, he managed to lumber to
his feet.

* * *

Jesslyn put her arm around his waist and
pressed him to move forward. Why, oh why had she taken this route?
It would take them at least a half of an hour to get to the
cottage. What would she do if he became ill...or worse? Her mind
balked at that, refusing to go further down that path. Nay, she
assured herself, he would be all right. She would see it so.

They had gone about a hundred paces when she
saw the entrance to the cave she’d discovered this morn as she made
her way to the waterfall. With so many trees and vines stripped of
their leaves, the entrance and its clearing in front were now in
plain sight. She said a quick prayer of thanks and struggled toward
the cave. Once she had gotten Bao out of his wet garments and
wrapped him in her fur-lined mantle, she would leave him here,
sheltered from the wind and frost, while she hurried back to the
village to get help.

“This be where Callum’s coins were,” Bao said
groggily, looking around.

Jesslyn gave him a curious look. Why would
Callum leave his coin in a cave? Bao’s eyes were half-closed.
Mayhap he was confused. Oh God. What if he was already catching a
fever?

She was pleased to find that there were
remnants of a fire a few paces inside the opening. Mayhap she’d
find the means to build one as well. Thank heaven the sun was
brightly shining this day, for it allowed enough light inside the
first several feet of the cave for her to help Bao sit down. By the
time she had him settled on the ground, she was winded and her back
was aching from the strain of taking so much of his weight as they
traveled.

“There are peat turves and kindling stacked
further back along this wall,” Bao said, limply pointing in the
direction she would find them. “And the tools to start it are in a
crevice above it,” he said weakly.

“Thanks be to God,” she breathed aloud, her
suspicion confirmed. Ignoring her own discomfort, Jesslyn
immediately gathered up a few of the cut turves and placed them in
the center of the fire ring. She then searched the crevice for the
striker, flint and tinder box with which to start the blaze. Her
heart sang when she also found a pan. She would be able to heat
some snow and make him drink the warm water. That should warm him,
shouldn’t it? She prayed so.

* * *

Bao began to shiver once again. It had been
happening in spurts up until now, but the coldness of the ground,
added to the fact that he was still wearing frigidly cold, wet
clothing, sent his body into fits of tortured jerking and quaking.
He lay down and rolled to his side, curling up in a fetal position,
his teeth chattering loudly.

* * *