Authors: Sloan McBride
Thankfully, the two women left a few minutes later. Kara darted across the small ingress and into the tiny room. Smells of churned cream and milk on the verge of turning made her nauseous. She hurried to the tapestry where the door was hidden, got down on her hands and knees and searched the grainy floor. She couldn't see in the corners or behind containers so she reached in, hoping nothing crawled up and bit her.
Chills chased along her skin.
She swept every inch of the floor but found nothing. Thinking perhaps the stone fell out when she gained partial entrance into the tunnel, she opened the door. A torch hung on the wall so she grabbed it and inched into the passageway. She kicked the dirt around with her foot looking for anything shiny and smooth.
Nothing.
Disappointment was mild in comparison to the way she felt.
Replacing the torch, Kara left the buttery in a huff. In her mind, she recalled everything that had happened since the last time she'd held the stone. So occupied were those thoughts, she didn't notice the dark figure skulking in the stairway.
A large calloused hand clamped her throat. Huge biceps flexed when the attacker threw her against the wall.
"Hello, Jamie," she managed to say. It was obvious that she was too weak to fight him. His grip closed the airway. He very well could end her problems here and now. The fury in his slate black eyes only upped her fear. Seizing what little energy she had left, Kara kneed him in the groin. He grunted and released his hold long enough for her to shove him down the remaining stairs. She followed as he rolled and when he landed hard on his back, she pressed her knee on his trachea.
Jamie's eyes widened.
"I'm not a cowering wimp and I don't go down without a fight." Her throat hurt with every breath. "Now, let's have a talk."
He raised his hand trying to push her off. She lowered her weight on his throat. He stopped moving.
"I don't know what happened to make you not like me and I don't care. I want to make a deal with you." She glared down at him. "Are you listening? Blink once for yes and twice for no."
He blinked once.
"Good." She stopped to swallow, the inside lining of her throat burned with the effort. "I know you know I'm different. I know you know I'm not from here." Kara sighed and rubbed her temples. "I lost something the day of the battle. If I can find it, I will return home and you will be rid of me." She glanced at his face, which had turned sheet white and his lips were bluish. "Are you with me so far?"
He blinked once.
"My deal is this. You help me find what I'm looking for and I will be out of your life."
And Alaxandar's
. "I won't tell anyone about this encounter. Everybody wins."
Jamie's arms grew limp. Kara knew if she didn't let him get air soon he would pass out, but she took no chances with this one. "If I raise my knee so we can talk are you going to attack me again?"
Jamie blinked twice.
"All right then." Slowly, Kara lifted her knee from his throat and scooted back, holding her side.
He coughed and breathed erratically for a few seconds. Finally, he shifted to his back and glared at her.
In a hoarse voice, he said, "What 'tis the object we seek?"
She smiled. "A small stone. It is about this wide," she held her fingers out about four-inches, "and is bone with green cracks in it."
"A talisman?"
"Yes, you could say that. It is precious to my clan. I cannot go without it."
His eyes narrowed on her. "Ye will go?"
Laying her head against the wall, Kara closed her eyes.
I should go. I will go, won't I?
Was she making a deal with the devil? Perhaps, but she needed someone who could move about the castle without much notice. Alaxandar kept too close an eye on her.
"I didn't come here to cause trouble. I got here by accident and the rest is a mistake."
"What about Alaxandar?" He spit on the floor.
"I cannot stay here. It is not my place."
Jamie's glare softened. "He willna let ye go."
"He cannot keep me here if I don't want to stay."
He snickered at that. "Ye dunna know a MacLeod Highlander."
"Perhaps." She glanced at him. "Will you help?"
"Aye."
Kara stayed there for several moments catching her breath and thinking about the pact she'd just made.
Another wrinkle in my already screwed-up plans.
* * * *
Kara was not in bed when Alaxandar came back to the chamber. He growled with frustration, something he seemed to be doing a lot since Kara Malone showed up.
The hunt began.
He had not seen her in the corridor he came up, so he went the other way. Trotting down the stairs at the south end of the castle, he heard voices—a female, Kara and another. As he got closer, Kara's voice became more distinct. It sounded as though she was threatening someone. Slowly, Alaxandar moved down the steps until two bodies were in sight. It shocked him to see his cousin on the ground and Kara kneeling on Jamie's throat.
He loved her.
Everything about this woman called to him. She was strong, capable, a warrior in her own right. She would make a good wife and mother to his bairns.
The thread of conversation caught his attention. Kara had lost an item the day the MacLeods took Strathnaver and she wanted Jamie to help find it. The words he heard next broke him.
She would leave if she found what she'd lost.
Kara bargained with a man who'd attacked her. She promised to go away, never to return.
Pain pierced his heart.
They were a mistake?
She would leave him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
When Kara returned to the room, Alaxandar had his back to the door and was staring out the small window.
She stopped.
His broad shoulders were bare and the expanse rippled with muscles from hard work and wielding a sword. He had all the power of a jungle cat and tensed as if ready to pounce.
Something was wrong.
Alaxandar spun around. His usually dreamy eyes were now dark, and not with passion. Anger brewed there.
Needing some time to prepare for whatever lay ahead, Kara moved to the hearth and stoked the dying fire.
Alaxandar grabbed her upper arms and shook until her head bobbed backwards and forwards on her neck. "Stay away from Jamie, Kara. I have spoken with the chief, and Jamie will be banished for what he did to ye."
Banished.
"Alaxandar, you can't send him away. This is his home, his people. I'm the intruder here."
He released the grip.
She staggered back.
"Dunna defend the bastard. He threatened ye and that I canna stand."
Kara sighed. "Please don't. Don't send him away."
Rage flooded his features. "Ye have feelings for him?"
Shocked, she said, "No, of course not."
"Dunna go near him again," he said before he stormed out.
Damn him.
Her heart sank because this would be an obstacle she surely could not overcome. "Oh, Alaxandar."
Alaxandar couldn't contain the fury. His fists clenched.
She made no sense.
He swore if he found them together again, he'd break Jamie's neck and tan Kara's backside.
Iain and Carrick were in the great hall drinking ale before the fire and laughing. Their discussion stopped abruptly when Iain saw Alaxandar approach. Carrick turned toward him.
"Women." Iain smiled.
"Shut your hole, Iain. I be not in the mood."
His younger brother raised his cup in silent salute. Alaxandar grabbed a tankard and filled it to the brim. He noted Carrick's cup was full to the top as well. Carrick frowned staring into the dark liquid.
"What be the matter, MacKay?" Alaxandar asked, before guzzling down half the contents in his cup.
"Your sister be the matter."
This made Alaxandar feel better. If he had to be miserable because of a woman, it was nice to know there were others just as miserable as he.
"Beware what ye say about me sister, MacKay. She be a MacLeod through and through and that be a powerful thing."
"Bah," was all Carrick said. He downed his drink.
Iain, the slug, sat there with a goofy grin plastered on his face and his eyes watching him and Carrick wallow in their spirits. Figuring he could use a dose of his own, Alaxandar said, "So tell me, Iain, what relationship do ye have with that Sutherland gel?"
Iain's smile faded and his eyes narrowed. "That be none o' your business."
"Ah, so there 'tis something going on with the lass. Have ye taken her to bed?"
Iain jumped up and his chair flew backwards. He threw the ale down and stalked toward Alaxandar. "Dunna speak o' her that way."
Alaxandar grinned and nodded toward Carrick. "Me thinks Iain has some female problems o' his own."
Carrick laughed. "Looks that way to me."
Iain snarled at them both then turned to pick up his chair and pour more ale.
Alaxandar's brow hiked. "How many lasses will be heartbroken?"
Iain smiled. "I be making no vows anytime soon. Me pole willna be satisfied till it has plowed many."
Alaxandar and Carrick agreed heartily with that statement. Plowing seemed like a good idea. Alaxandar bid farewell and went back to the chambers he and Kara shared.
She lay on the edge of the bed as if she meant to stay as far away from him as possible. He wouldn't be having it that way. Kara would share his bed and his life whether she wanted it or not. She was his and she should get used to it.
He bolted the door and dropped his clothes where he stood. Quietly, he climbed into the bed and scooted toward her. Admiring the line of her back and how it met at the crest of her buttock he ran his finger down her spine.
She stiffened.
He nipped her shoulder and ran a hand along her hip but she didn't face him. With ease, he rolled her over, and lay atop her supine, curvaceous body.
The kiss started slow and he made sure to do a thorough job of it.
****
There was nothing gentle about the kiss. The intensity of it stripped her bare.
He cupped her face in his hands and his tongue did sinful things to her mouth, all the while fueling the internal burn in her body.
Alaxandar's erection pushed against her stomach.
On fire now, Kara grasped the hard length, wrapping tight fingers around the thickness. She stroked, brushing the crown and eliciting a growl from the fierce warrior.
He grabbed under one knee and raised it, then the other, positioning himself between her thighs. With one hand, he guided the head of his penis to her opening and pushed inside, pulled out, and plunged deep.
Her entire body clenched around him as convulsive waves of pleasure surged. She closed her eyes and rode the sensations wrenching her muscles. His thrusts increased as he sought release.
Coming down from the orgasm as he roared and his hips jerked caused her to come again.
Alaxandar lay at her side, caressing her stomach.
She curled into him. This was the best sex she'd ever had. Okay, so she hadn't had many lovers but still, the sexual bouts with Alaxandar were erotic . He touched her on a deeper level, one she hadn't ever experienced. Love was strange. It eludes a person, makes them think it will never happen, and then suddenly there it is.
Kara wanted to slap Alaxandar so hard sometimes, and hug and kiss him the rest of the time. He had a way of rubbing her raw then making her hot, which was infuriating. She hated not being in control and it was a constant battle with Alaxandar. She hated her circumstances even more, but these same circumstances had brought her to the love of her life.
Tears filled Kara's eyes and hard emotion worked its way up her throat. She refused to let the tears fall.
This warrior, this devil cuddled. His heat radiated like a furnace warming her damp skin. "Sleep," he said.
Alaxandar woke her in the night. Strong hands gripped her ass, tilting her to accept long, deep strokes. Several times, Kara hung on the precipice of climax only to have him recede. When her body was ready to combust and fall headlong into ecstasy, Alaxandar increased the pace and depth of the thrusts.
* * * *
Sunlight breached the small opening in the stone. The aches in Kara's body made her smile. Sitting up with knees curled to chest, she thought of all the places she'd been in Strathnaver since she'd arrived. Had she touched the MacKay talisman any time after she'd been kidnapped? If not, it could have fallen out of her skirt on the rough ride. If that were the case, she'd never find it. Too much distance would have to be covered.
It seemed hopeless.
Refusing to give up because she couldn't, Kara rose and dressed. Before going down to the hall for breakfast, she sneaked into the tower room where she and Eleyne had been held. The room was completely dark except for one stream of light through the window. She ran back down the stairs and grabbed a torch from the wall. In the room, she got on her hands and knees and felt around, looking for anything shiny. Her fingers brushed a number of creepy crawly things which she'd decided not to think too hard on.
She didn't know how much time passed. It wasn't a big room and she pretty much covered its entirety.
She found nothing.
Sighing, Kara wondered if Alastair or Duncan may have found it. She struck that thought. Those two weren't the type to get excited about a pretty rock.
Brushing the dirt off her legs and skirt, she headed to the hall. At the top of the stairwell, she saw Jamie and one of the other men speaking in quiet tones. When she approached, the other man nodded in her direction and left.
"Have ye found what ye be looking for?" Jamie asked.
"No, but I will."
"I have seen naught."
"There weren't many places I've been in this castle and I've searched them all. Maybe it fell out on the way here the night we were taken."
He frowned. "Ye willna find it."
"I know." She sighed. "I'm not giving up yet." She heard voices growing louder. "I better get down there, and, Jamie?"
"Aye?"
"Alaxandar has warned me away from you."