T is for Temptation (38 page)

Bells pealed in an insistent clamor.

“We must go. The feasting is about to start.” Stephen strode towards the doorway.

“Feasting?”

Stephen grinned at them over his shoulder. “For my handfasting.”

“You’re the one handfasting. Thank God. Tee will be so relieved.” Jake shot to his feet. “Tee. Damn. How could I forget, even for a minute?”

“We cannot tarry. Already the Ramsays are displeased because I refused to consummate the ceremony. Come, Mother and Da await us for a few private words.”

“They know we’re here?”

“She is an Elfish princess with a knowing touch. We cut our journey short when the trunk returned to her. She knew then.”

“Pinch me, Alex,” Jake ordered. “I’m so tired of being confused.”

“I know the feeling,” Alex muttered. “And I’m not at the center of everything. I am so grateful I’m not you.”

“Thanks a lot, buddy.”

“Anytime.”

As they trudged down the staircase, following Stephen’s impatient bouncing steps, he asked, “Alex, are we insane?”

“I don’t think so. Although the circumstances definitely warrant a plea of insanity.” Alex cuffed his shoulder. “Cheer up. It can’t get much worse.”

“Oh God. Yes, it can.” He straightened. “Where the hell is Tee? We can’t go to this feast. I have to find her.”

“I believe our mother can tell you where to find the woman you seek.”

“Are you sure?”

“Aye.”

Stephen halted before the doorway. “I should warn you. Mother is weepy.”

“Huh?”

“She sheds tears easily.” Stephen tapped his finger against the dimple on his chin. “She’s also very affectionate. Indulge her, or I’ll beat you to a pulp.”

Jake stumbled through a doorway and bumped into a petite feminine form. Slender arms encircled his waist.

“Let me look at you.” Tears streamed down the woman’s high cheekbones. Her tiny hand rose and stroked his cheek. She buried her head against Jake’s chest. “I’ve waited so long for this day.”

His hands fisted, and his spine stiffened even as the velocity of his erratic heartbeat jumped and stuttered, fear and something close to joy swathing a furious path like a riptide current in a bay. He suspended thought, afraid of being swept into unmanageable depths, unknown territory.

Stephen’s eyes met his over the top of his mother’s head. Jake swallowed. He looked down.

His mother.

Large sable eyes the exact shape of his threatened to consume her face. They glistened with moisture. Everything registered at a distance, snippets worming their way into his consciousness.

“Jamie, you’re home.”

Her fingers felt like butterfly’s wings on his skin.

“My name is Jake.”

“I named you James Michael Ferguson.”

“Elaine, give the boy some time to digest everything.” The clipped order came from a strapping man standing behind his mother. He reached around, detached the woman’s arms from Jake’s waist, and drew her to his side. “I’m Kieran Ferguson, your father.”

Alex cleared his throat and coughed. “I’m Alex Mayfield, a friend of Jake’s, Jamie’s.” He stepped into the room and stretched out his hand.

Kieran Ferguson shook it. “Welcome to
Brodick
Castle
, Alex Mayfield.”

Tiny appeared in the doorway. His mouth dropped open. He stared first at Jake and then at Stephen.
   

“Laird,” he said and looked from one to the other. “Who’s the laird?”

“He is.” Jake pointed to his brother.

“Aye.” Tiny scratched his ear. “Who does the witch belong to then?”

“Me.” Jake flinched. “Tee. Where is she?”

“A slight mishap. Some of the men decided to have her make gold for them. A fierce temper, that one. Did you know she can make gnats rain? And only on certain persons?” Tiny chuckled, a low belly laugh erupting. “None of the lads are likely to touch her again.”

“Blast it, where the hell is she?”

“She was in the dungeon.”

“And now?” he ground out.

“Vanished.”

“Sweetling, she’s returned to your time.”

His mother’s voice, low and musical, rang in Jake’s ears. They reached the hall, and he followed the group of them to a rough set of benches and tables and took a seat next to Alex.

Brodick
Castle
’s cavernous banquet room echoed with the murmur of men in conversation. Warriors bearing an assortment of weapons loitered around long benches and tables. The scent of meat roasting permeated the room. Jake supported his chin with his palms and stared into space, oblivious to his companions.

“Do you think Tee’s at her nanna’s cottage?” Alex nudged his elbow, jerking it out from under his chin.

He shook his head. “I couldn’t make a flying guess. I’m so blasted frustrated, and my mind can’t seem to get round all this.” Jake flicked a couple of fingers at the hall.

Tiny dropped a pitcher of ale on the grooved wood and clambered onto the bench. He grabbed three mugs from the center of the table and shoved one each to the other two men.

“Just what the doctor ordered.” Alex grinned at Tiny and gave him a high five. Tiny’s slap almost sent him off the bench. “Ouch. Not so hard.”

Tiny poured ale into the three cups, spilling copious amounts in the process. “We have to toughen you up, pretty boy, make you into a real man. Have you noticed how clean he always is, Laird?”

“I’m not the laird, my brother is.” Jake took a swallow of his beer.

“Aye, he is, but so are you. Stephen is the heir, but you’re a laird too, of some smaller holding, on an island somewhere. Remember hearing of it once. I heard a wee tale of your witch in the kitchens. She witnessed the laird’s handfasting and fainted and vanished.”

“Damn,” Jake groaned. “She doesn’t know about Stephen. She’ll think it was me. That’s the last straw. I give up.”

“For Chrissake, stop moaning and groaning. The woman adores you. A simple explanation is all it’ll take, and you two will be cavorting in public again.” Alex threw a couple of logs onto the fire and prodded them with an iron poker.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.” His gut told him Tee’d keep him hanging. She’d never agree to move in. He’d made a mistake with the money and the house. The idea didn’t appeal to her. Why not?

Marriage.

She said she didn’t want it, but didn’t every woman?

Every relationship he witnessed fell apart after the blasted ceremony, even hers. People stopped trying, took each other for granted from the minute the ink dried on the certificate.

“I wonder if your brother has visions,” Alex mused and used the metal stick to rearrange the logs in the fireplace. Flames licked up the flue, and the wood snapped and sent orange sparks flying in a wide arc.

“Best ask him yourself. ’Tis a well-kept secret whether Stephen inherited your mother’s magic or nay.”

“The attic room would seem to confirm that, no?”

“Ah, pretty boy, when the Fae are involved, nothing is as it seems.” Tiny chugged the rest of his ale. “You have the second sight?”

“Maybe.” Admitting it didn’t come easy. He’d hidden the secret for so long, but if it saved Tee, he’d shout it to the world. “This is all well and good. It explains everything, but we have a life to get back to, issues to settle.”

“He means Tee.”

“Aye, I can see that. A powerful itch.”

“Don’t you think you can spend a few minutes with your mother, Jake? She keeps looking this way with such sad eyes.”

“Instant family doesn’t mean instant affection. It doesn’t even mean instant like, if that ass Stephen is anything to go by. It’s going to take a while to digest all this. I wouldn’t know what to say to her anyway.”

“Now who’s being the ass? Christ, she’s your mother, and she hasn’t seen you since you were a newborn. Think of her. Make the damned effort.”

“I can’t, okay? Not right now.”

“Jamie, will you join us at the head table tonight?” Elaine Ferguson strode to her son. She stroked his bare forearm and his flesh warmed under her fingers.

He went rigid, trying not to flinch. “Jake, my name is Jake.”

“Jake, then. We will celebrate your homecoming. This eve, you will meet your clan and your people.”

“I don’t plan on staying here, so it doesn’t make any sense for me to meet anyone,” he snapped.

“Jake, you could be nice. She’s your mother, for crying out loud.” Alex’s clipped voice silenced the room.

“I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.” He lurched to his feet, stepped back, and his mother’s hand fell away. “I am not going to live here.”

“And you don’t have to. However, you do owe your mother civility. What an insufferable boor you are, Brother.” Stephen growled. He picked Elaine off the floor, turned her in his arms, and hugged her. “Give him time, Mother. Is he always so angry and rude, Alex?” Stephen set Elaine on her feet.

“Pretty much.” Alex shrugged. “We grew up in a boys’ home without the softness of women. We’re not used to lots of affection.”

“Well.” Elaine fisted her hands on slender hips. “You both will have to get used to affection. Mountains of it. I kiss and embrace the people I love all the time. Pick me up, Jamie, kiss me on the cheek, and then embrace me.”

“I, um,” Jake stammered.

Elaine stamped her foot. “Now, Son.”

“Better do it, Brother.”

Jake did as ordered. When he brushed Elaine’s cheeks with his lips, he smelled roses, and immediately his thoughts turned to Tee.

Elaine’s arms snuck around his waist. She laid her head on his chest. Jake felt wetness through his cotton shirt. “Don’t cry, please. I can’t stand to see a woman cry.” He stroked her back. “Please stop crying.”

She sobbed into his chest.

He gulped. “Please stop.”

Her sobs grew louder, more frantic.

“What should I do?” he asked Stephen.

His brother grinned. “I warned you. She’s weepy, is our mother. Just hold her, and she’ll stop eventually.”

Elaine’s crying subsided into muffled gasps. She reached across and smacked Stephen on the arm, turned her face sideways, and said, “Don’t mock your mother.”

“Yes, Mother dearling. Father, can you relieve poor Jamie? He looks as if he’ll turn purple soon.”

“Jake,” he muttered, “My name is Jake.”

Servants carrying platters of food trudged into the banquet hall. Glasses clinked. Metal clattered.

“Elaine dearling.” Kieran tapped his wife’s shoulder. “Come, Wife. Give our son some breathing room.”

She pushed off Jake’s chest and smiled up at him, tears still streaming down her pink cheeks. Elaine patted his jaw. “As usual, Husband, you’re right.” She wiped her eyes and dried her hands on her skirt. “Why don’t you want to stay here, Jamie?”