Lyon's Gift (11 page)

He was grinning still, but Meghan vowed not for
long. “More threats, wench?”

“
Mayhap,” Meghan
admitted.

He lifted one brow and cocked his head at her. “So,
then, let me understand... are you saying you’ll agree to wed me...
if I simply make Baldwin carry the beast within his arms?”

Meghan shrugged. “Perhaps, perhaps not... You’ll
simply have to wait and see, will you not?”

His smile widened, revealing gleaming white teeth,
and Meghan felt her heart quicken within her breast.

And yet she wasn’t about to relinquish her one
advantage: the question of her will.

She returned his smile, hoping she appeared as
merciless as he. And then she opened her mouth and began to
scream.

“
Christ!” he exclaimed, and
slapped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to muffle
her.

Meghan didn’t bother to struggle, merely continued
to scream at the top of her lungs, ceasing only when she needed a
breath. He released her when she stopped abruptly, and she gulped
in another breath and launched into an ear-piercing screech.

“
All right, damn it all!” he
relented. “Cease, wench! Cease, already! Baldwin, put her bloody
grandmother on your gaddamned horse!” he ordered.

Meghan stopped screaming and smiled with
satisfaction.

Baldwin’s eyes widened. “But I cannot mount
with—”

“
Do it!” Lyon demanded of
him.

“
Thank you,” Meghan said sweetly,
and tried not to laugh at the flustered expression upon Baldwin’s
face. “Fia will appreciate it, I assure you … because you see, she
has the—”

“
Gout, I know!” Lyon answered.
“Smart-arsed wench!”

Meghan fluttered her lashes at him, giving him her
most ingenuous look.

CHAPTER 9

Alison had fled the meadow in panic and sequestered
herself within her bower for at least an hour’s time before
realizing she didn’t like herself very much for what she’d
done.

Meghan Brodie had been her very best friend since
the day Meghan had discovered her spying upon her and her Minnie in
the woods. From her father, Alison had heard naught but horrid
things about the old woman, and Alison had been watching like a
coward from behind a big fat oak. Curiosity had kept her rooted to
the spot. Meghan hadn’t exposed her to her Minnie; instead she’d
crawled over to Alison’s tree upon her hands and knees and had
peered around it at Alison, and said in such a dulcet tone, “She’ll
not hurt you, I promise. She’s not really mad, she’s just my
Minnie.” And she’d said it with so much love and such hope that
Alison had at once felt contrite for every tale she’d ever listened
to about the old woman.

Now she sat in Meghan’s brothers’ hall, waiting
while they searched for her. It was dusk now. Outside, the lavender
sky darkened ominously. And with every passing moment the Brodie
brothers were away, Alison’s unease intensified.

What was taking them so long?

She was beginning to have the most terrible,
terrible feeling about it all. Something had gone terribly awry,
and once again it was all her fault! Her shoulders slumped
dejectedly, but she straightened at once when Meghan’s eldest
brother, Leith, entered the room.

“
Did you find her?” Alison asked
anxiously, and then she spied the expression upon his face and her
hopes fell.

“
Nay.” He frowned. “But Colin and
Gavin are still searching, lass.” He approached the table where
Alison sat, and perched himself upon it, his expression tense but
his demeanor composed and deliberate. He crossed his arms, and
seemed to be considering the situation. With his tall, lean frame,
he seemed no more than a boy, but in his face, Alison could see the
wisdom of his years... and more.

She had never spoken much with Leith, for she’d
always been cowed by his sober intensity. It had always been
difficult to tell whether he approved or disapproved of her
friendship with Meghan. Though Alison couldn’t think of a reason he
should disapprove, neither had he ever been entirely friendly to
her—cordial certainly, but never warm. Today, however, she
appreciated his staid demeanor, for while he didn’t seem
particularly pleased with the circumstances, neither did he seem to
blame her.

Of course, she hadn’t precisely revealed everything
as yet, and she feared now she was going to have to. She wished
with all her might that she didn’t have to confess under such
circumstances, and then reproached herself for being such a selfish
dolt that she would consider her own well-being over that of
Meghan’s.

Where could Meghan possibly have gone off to?

It wasn’t like her to simply wander away.

Well... perhaps it was, but not for long. Besides,
they were usually together, she and Alison. But this time, she was
out there alone…

Gavin entered the hall, looking graver still. Leith
peered up at him, but Gavin shook his head. “Naught!” he
announced.

“
Did you search the chapel?” Leith
asked. “Colin said she was there this morn, fretting over some
bird.”

Gavin continued to shake his head. He peered down
thoughtfully at the floor, looking troubled.

Alison listened to their conversation with growing
trepidation and no small measure of guilt.

“’
Twas the first and again the
last place I looked,” Gavin disclosed. “She’s not there,
Leith.”

“
Damn!” Leith said. “Where the
devil could she be?” There was a note of panic in his voice
now.

“
I’ve said before that if she
spent more time at prayer, and less at—”

Leith raised his hand, silencing him. “Cease, Gavin!
I cannot hear this now!”

Gavin seemed determined to make his point.
“
Now
is when you
must
hear it, Leith. If not now,
when?”

“
This has naught to do with your
perceived notions of Meggie’s irreverence, Gavin.”

Colin entered the room in that moment. “Meghan has a
right to believe whatever she will.” His expression was angry. He
didn’t acknowledge Alison, but he rarely did straightaway.

“
It has everything to do with it!”
Gavin persisted, igniting Colin’s anger.

“
Shut your mouth, Gavin, unless
you can open it to help instead of making things worse with your
godamned sermonizing. You’re gettin’ on my bluidy
nerves!”

Alison had never seen him so furious.

Gavin glared at Colin. “Why, you—” His body tensed
though he remained seated.

Alison held her breath at the sight of the brothers
sparring. She had never seen them so at odds before. They were
usually the most mild-tempered men, and she had always envied
Meghan’s easy relationship with them.

“
Why me, what?” Colin fired back,
standing with his fists clenched at his sides. “Say it like a mon,
Gavin, or dinna say anythin’ at all!”

“
Shut your bluidy mouths, both of
you!” Leith commanded.

Gavin and Colin obeyed at once, though both of them
were physically bigger than their eldest brother. Leith was tall,
certainly, but Gavin, though he was youngest, was taller yet. And
Colin, though he was of goodly height, was by far the most
muscular.

“
This is no time to be locking
horns. This is about Meghan, remember?” He cast a pointed glance at
Colin.

Colin’s jaw tautened, but he nodded.

“
Gavin?” Leith
prompted.

Gavin nodded as well.

“
We are
all
concerned
here,” Leith added. “It will serve no one to battle each
other.”

“
I should never have let her go,”
Colin lamented. “Damn, but I knew not to let her go! I had this
feeling, Leith!”

“
This is not the time for regrets
either, Colin,” Leith said. “I would have forbade her myself, but
you and I know perfectly well that Meghan would have done what she
pleased.”

“
That’s exactly the point I was
getting at,” Gavin interjected.

“
Make it another time, Gavin,”
Leith commanded. “Not now, I said.”

Colin’s eyes met Alison’s suddenly, and they were
full of emotion—not precisely what she’d hoped for. It was clear to
her that he blamed her mostly.

What would he think of her once she told them
everything?

“
I never have told her that Alison
awaited her upon the meadow,” Colin persisted.

Alison lowered her head. “’Tis my fault, I know,”
she offered.

“
Nay, lass,” Leith assured her.
“It is not. Colin is simply angry with himself.”

As much as it pained her to confess, she knew she
must.
Now.
“Aye,” Alison insisted. “It
is
my fault.”
She met Leith’s gaze, not daring to face Gavin or Colin. Somehow,
it was easier to do this if she pretended those two were not
listening.

“
Nay, lass,” Leith
said.

“
Aye, but it is!” Alison asserted,
straightening her spine. “Because
I
stole the
goat!”

Leith’s brows collided. His expression clearly
revealed his confusion. He uncrossed his arms. “What the devil are
you talking about, lass? What goat? What has a bluidy goat to do
with Meggie’s disappearance?”

Alison’s lower lip began to tremble, but she faced
him bravely. “Montgomerie’s goat.”

“
Montgomerie’s goat?” Leith was
clearly stunned by her proclamation.

“
You mean
the
goat?” Colin
asked, his tone one of disbelief.

Alison nodded and kept her gaze fixed on Leith.
“Aye,” she replied.

“
The
goat?” Colin repeated,
his temper obviously rising. Alison cringed, though she didn’t dare
look at him, for fear of what she would see in his eyes.

“
You did say Montgomerie’s goat?”
Gavin asked again, as though to be certain they were all hearing
correctly. Alison turned to face him and nodded, still avoiding
Colin’s gaze.

“
What would make you go and do a
thing like that?” Leith sounded dumbfounded.

“
Christ!” Gavin exploded, and both
Leith and Colin looked at him in surprise.

Alison couldn’t help it; tears pricked at her eyes,
as she’d never heard Gavin once—not ever—take the lord’s name in
vain.

“
Explain,” Leith said, turning
once more to face her.

Alison’s eyes welled with tears. “I didna intend for
Montgomerie to blame you. I meant only to keep from wedding him,
you see.”

“
By stealing his goat?” Colin
asked, aghast.

Alison faced him then, and wished at once that she
had not. His expression was undeniably full of disgust.

And fury.

“
I just did not want—”

“
You should be pleased to wed any
mon at all!” he told her cruelly, shouting now.

Alison flinched at the tone of his voice. “I didna
mean to... I only thought that if he and my da could be at odds...
I didna mean for him to believe—”

“
I do not want you, Alison
MacLean! I do not know how to make it plainer than that!” Colin
announced.

Tears spilled over Alison’s lashes and streamed down
her cheeks. “But… I only did not wish to wed with
him
!” she
explained once more, pleading with Colin to understand. He had to
understand how she felt about him. “I cannot love him, don’t you
see!”

His eyes glittered with anger. “If anything happens
to my sister because of your foolish little-girl notions, I will
never forgive you,” he swore, and the contempt in his tone, more
than his words, cut like a blade to her heart. “I will not forgive
you, Alison MacLean!”

Alison gasped for breath; she couldn’t seem to catch
one.

“
Enough!” Leith
demanded.

“
Leave her be, Colin,” Gavin
entreated. “She didna mean to.”

“
I’ll leave her be all right!”
Colin announced. “I’m going out again to look for my sister. The
two of you can stay and play nursemaid if it please you!” And with
that, he pivoted on his heels and stalked angrily from the hall.
Alison kept her eyes on his back until he was gone from the door.
All the while, tears streamed from her eyes.

She loved him madly and he hated her truly.

Leith came about the table to where she sat. Alison
watched his approach with hazy vision. She peered at Gavin and saw
the pity in his gaze. She couldn’t bear it, and, leaning forward,
she rested her head upon the table and cried even harder.

She felt Leith’s hand upon her back, soothing her.
“Colin does not mean it,” he swore.

“
I’m going to look for Meghan as
well,” Gavin said. “Mayhap she merely lost track of the
hours.”

“
Go on,” Leith agreed as he knelt
beside Alison. “Be certain to check the shortcut from the meadow. I
know she favors it though I’ve asked her not to take
it.”

Alison was acutely aware of Gavin’s footsteps as he
left them, but she continued to sob, unable to face even Leith in
her shame.

Leith continued to soothe her. “Now, now,” he said
tenderly. “I know you didna mean to, Alison.”

He leaned awkwardly toward her, and Alison,
desperate as she was, turned into his arms, grateful that he was
here to reassure her. Colin hated her! Gavin pitied her! And her
very best friend was in trouble—and it was all her fault, she just
knew it!

“
We will find her,” Leith
reassured, and Alison wanted so desperately to believe him. She
clutched at his tunic, sobbing against his shoulder.