IntoEternity (23 page)

Fearing they had been found out and at that moment, the
enemy was surrounding them on foot, Alexander, as stealthily as a large cat,
moved through the forest shadows. He stopped short, catching sight of movement
through the branches of a mulberry bush. He waited, drawing his sword and moving
into a fighting stance, his muscles tense, ready to strike.

Taking one long, steadying breath, he lunged from his hiding
place. Davin emerged from his side of the path and they both encountered the
foe, each moving the tips of their swords to slice across the bastard’s throat
at the same moment.

Holding his sword in a white-knuckled grip, Alexander halted
his thrust. He let loose a string of colorful curses as he parried Davin’s blow
up and away from their target.

“What in Hades-burning-fires are you doing here, Duncan? I
nearly severed your scrawny neck from your shoulders!” Alexander shouted.

The boy sat atop his pony, his eyes wide, his skin drained
of color.

“I-I thought you might n-need my help, Alexander.” Duncan
stammered.

Alexander felt much as Duncan looked. He couldn’t believe
how close he and Davin had come to ending the boy’s short life.

“You little…” He was shaking so badly he could not even
think of a good insult. “Damn it, Duncan, you should not be here! Now do you understand
just how dangerous it is for a young lad to be wandering the length and breadth
of the Highlands by himself? Look at what just happened! What if you had been
caught by someone else, one of our enemies? Or perhaps a wild animal?”

“Do not worry, Alexander, I have my dagger with me.” His
chest puffed out as he bragged. “I can take care of myself.” His renewed impudence
accompanied a return of color to his face.

“Aye, that is why you nearly lost your head, you little
dimwit.”

Davin growled as he sheathed his sword with a mighty thrust.
A fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead and his hand shook as he wiped the
moisture with the back of his forearm. The glare he gave Duncan would have had
a grown man cowering. But the lad just gave him an impish grin and wiggled his
fingers at Davin in a small wave. Before Davin could get his hands on Alexander’s
troublesome cousin, he stepped between them and shook his head.

“You are spoiling him, Alex. He needs a good beating to
encourage him to curb his ways. He has to learn.”

“I know. I know! But now is not the time. Come, we will be
late.” He turned on his heels and strode away, his anger too great at the
moment to deal with Duncan. Alexander would have to cool off before he decided
what to do with the boy. For now he had to concentrate on getting Gusty back
and getting off Ross land with all their skins intact. Then he would deal with
his young cousin. Maybe he would hand him over to Davin for training. The idea
bore serious consideration.

A short while later they reached Ross Castle, an
intimidating fortification that loomed over the black water of the long loch
like a mighty sentinel. As they approached the fortress with their small
contingent, the Ross clansmen they passed on the side of the road stared after
them, obviously baffled at seeing six Sutherlands traipsing toward their keep.

“Open the gate!” Alexander boldly commanded the guards at
the entrance.

“Not without permission from the Ross himself.” One man shouted
back. “I have no wish to get myself thrown in the dungeon for letting the enemy
through the gates.”

“I was invited by your chieftain,” Alexander bellowed. He
tried to keep his anger at a minimum but his temper was wearing thin,
especially after spending the last few weeks combing the countryside for both
his young cousin and then his wife. He really didn’t need to deal with an
insolent guard.

“Laird Ross invited you?”

“Aye, he commanded me to come and retrieve my wife, Lady
Augusta.”

“Aye, Shawn. I do believe I did invite the bastard.” Donovan
came up behind the guard, his face, hidden behind a bush of a beard, unreadable.
He looked down at Alexander and his party. “Now I understand why she would not
disclose her husband’s name to me. However since you have come under my
summons, you and yours shall be under my protection until you leave my lands…for
her sake.”

Alexander nodded respectfully. Though difficult, he would
put aside his anger…for Gusty.

“It is fortunate you came as quickly as you did, Sutherland.”
A wry smile touched the corners of Donovan’s mouth.

“Why?” Alexander asked cautiously.

“Your wife has been causing quite a stir among my household
and I do not think I can take much more of her interference.”

“Oh?”

“She has been instructing the rest of the Sinclair females
in what she says are the rights of women, among other things.”

Alexander suppressed a groan. Just what he did not need…Gusty
causing problems while they were in enemy territory. It would be a delicate
enough situation to negotiate their way out of here with their hides intact.

“The Clan Sinclair are here?”

“Och, aye, every single female of that blasted clan has been
traipsing through my lands and camping out in my keep. Have you not heard of
Edgar’s edict that I must wed a Sinclair lass? Aye, that in itself has caused
my outlook toward the whole clan to change.”

“I remember hearing something on the matter. Have you
managed to find a woman to fulfill the injunction?”

“I thought I had.”

“Aye? What happened with that?”

“She ended up being handfasted to you.”

* * * * *

Gusty could not believe the subservient mentality of the
women of the twelfth century. She hadn’t spent much time with any other women
besides Maeve and Isabelle and her nuns at the abbey, and it was a bit of a
shock to find out how daughters and wives were expected to behave, with little
or no say about their lives. But after the fiasco of the other day, when woman
after woman had tried and failed to break the code of Donovan’s foolish riddle,
she had taken it upon herself to see that womankind was never made to look so
foolish again.

The women sitting around her were her family, her clan. They
were related to her in one way or another and although she hadn’t known them
until recently she felt a bond with them. Gusty had never really considered
herself either an ultra-feminist or extremely old-fashioned in her views. She
preferred more of a middle ground in her beliefs. But being hundreds of years
ahead of these women in her rationale, she found their behavior intolerable and
had decided to do her best to turn them around a bit in their way of thinking.

After the talk she’d had with a group of young women
yesterday, half of the candidates who had arrived thinking they wanted to become
Donovan’s wife had gone home. She had only mentioned that it was a good thing
to marry for love and not duty. Several of them confessed they had a sweetheart
at home—men who had already spoken for them. Only their parents’ urging had pushed
them to come to Ross Castle. The older women scoffed at her beliefs and held
firm in their quest for the mighty Laird Ross but Gusty could not fault them.
He could very well be their last chance to marry.

Gusty did not care much for the Ross’ arrogant, cold-blooded
methods for obtaining a wife. He seemed to be approaching the issue as if it
was a game and nothing more. He had admitted he considered a wife unimportant
to the scheme of things in his life. Oh, he was handsome enough to make any
maiden’s heart beat a little faster. And maybe she could have fallen for him in
another time and place, but under the circumstances she had no interest in the
man. Hard and cynical, he bored her with his pompous behavior. Gusty didn’t
consider the Ross a total loss but only a very special woman could turn him
around and set him straight. A woman who wasn’t as backward in her thinking as
most of these women seemed to be. No wonder he found her attractive—she had a
different outlook on life, she was educated and the large Scotsman found it
hard to intimidate her.

Gusty would give anything to have him meet another modern
woman. Perhaps one who didn’t feel she needed to attach herself to a man to
know her worth. Gusty promised herself the next time she spoke to Maeve and
Hagen she would have them look into this time-travel business. Matchmaking for
the Ross might prove to be entertaining.

She was in the middle of another speech, encouraging a group
of young women to look for love in their marriage rather than title or money,
when a commotion at the doorway caught her attention. She turned to watch
Alexander enter the great hall, followed by Davin and Violet and finally Duncan,
imitating his cousin’s swagger to perfection. Her heart jumped with fear as she
watched Ross warriors escort the small group. Why had Alexander not heeded her
warning? She glanced at Donovan Ross. He did not have a blade to Alexander’s
neck, nor were his men dragging Alexander through the doorway in chains and
cuffs. Perhaps Donovan had decided to make an effort to be civil. He turned his
head in her direction and nodded at her, a slight smile splitting the wild
bramble of hair on his face. She did not understand what was going on but she
was not about to trust the man.

“We have called a truce for the time being, my lady. The
Sutherland stays as my guest. After that”—he shrugged—“it remains to be seen.”
His sigh of resignation was loud. “It is a shame you will not be the reason to
end the feud with the Clan Ross and Clan Sinclair. Marriage to you would have
made Edgar’s edict tolerable. But it seems I will be looking elsewhere.” He
glanced back at Alexander. ”You are indeed a fortunate man.”

“Thank you, my laird.”

“Yes. Thank you, Laird Ross,” Gusty said breathlessly almost
to overcome with emotion to speak.

Relieved Donovan Ross had relented enough to allow Alexander
peaceful entreaty to his holding Gusty could not keep her eyes off Alexander as
he moved in her direction. She could barely keep herself from jumping to her
feet and meeting him halfway. She wanted to fling her arms around his neck and
kiss him until neither one of them could breathe. Her heart pounded so hard she
thought she might faint from the excitement of finally being with him again
after so many weeks. Tears of happiness filled her eyes as she rose to her feet
and took an unsteady step toward him, her arms out and welcoming him.

“Why did you come? I told him to tell you not to come.” She
whispered harshly in his ear as she wrapped her arms around his neck and
squeezed. Despite her words she was pleased he had ignored her warning, and she
kissed his neck and then his cheek, breathing in his familiar scent. “I am so
glad you came.”

Her two statements contradicted each other but being
reunited with Alexander had her feeling giddy with joy. She could not quit
smiling even as her tears blinded her. She held him tight, not wanting to let
go of him for fear he might disappear. She had spent the last days preaching
feminism to all her female kinswomen and now all she wanted was for Alexander
to cast her over his shoulder and take her upstairs to the privacy of her room
and make love to her.

Alexander smiled rakishly at her and winked. A tittering
sound of female voices filled the background.

“You are right, Lady Gusty. I will marry for love or not at
all. I am going home today.” A young woman, who had thus far been one of the
hardest to convince, spoke up.

Many of the others nodded in agreement. It looked as if Donovan
would have more and more women deserting him before the day was done. If this
kept up, his keep would be emptied by week’s end.

Alexander spoke not a word but he held her close as if he
would never let her go. Only after several long minutes did he set her away
from him. The heated look he gave her was a clear promise that she would be
stripped naked and having hot, passionate sex with him as soon as he could find
an empty bed. He took possession of her hand and led her past Donovan, who had
not moved since the men had entered.

“Do me a favor, Ross.”

“Whatever I can, Sutherland.”

Gusty smiled at Donovan’s dry quip. Apparently having his
enemy in his home went against the grain.

“I am leaving your nephew, Duncan, in your charge for the
evening. Get to know your sister’s son while we are here. Keep him occupied for
a while. A long while.”

Gusty watched Donovan as he looked down at the small boy.
His face paled and a soft sheen filled his eyes. He bent down and placed a hand
on Duncan’s shoulder.

“Come, lad, there are some new hound pups in the stable. You
can choose one to have as your own.”

With only a quick look back at his cousin, Duncan eagerly
followed his uncle.

Alexander hurried Gusty up the stairs to her room above.
They reached the landing of the second floor before he stopped to glance
expectantly up and down the length of the long hall.

“Which way?” he finally asked.

“Which way?”

“To our chamber. I want to be alone with my lady wife and I
do not want to wait any longer.”

He turned and gave her a look that heated her blood.

She pointed down the hall. “The last door on the right.”

Wasting no time, Alexander hurried her down the corridor,
shoved the bedroom door open and stepped inside. He engaged the bolt and then,
obviously not satisfied they would be left undisturbed, he heaved a large chest
over and placed it against the door. Standing back, he nodded, apparently
satisfied with his handiwork.

“What are you doing? Do you fear for our safety here? I know
about the feud between the Sutherlands and the Rosses.”

“Nay. We are safe from Donovan. He has sworn we will be secure
while we are here. We are his guests and it would be a great dishonor to his
name if we were to come to any harm while we are under his protection. He would
lose the trust of all the Highland clans. Besides, he is no coward. If he
wanted me dead, he would challenge me on the field of battle not have his cook
poison the stew.”