The Highlander's Touch (17 page)

Duncan’s amusement didn’t diminish one whit. “Considering that Adam isn’t allowed to visit you without invitation—that was part of your deal, if you recall—it sounds to me as if you’d better wed the lass. She could be long dead by the time Adam comes to bother you again. You said sometimes fifty years pass without him troubling you.”

Circenn stiffened.
She could be dead
. … He didn’t like the thought of her dead, either by his hand or by natural causes. Even if he never fulfilled his oath, she would die long before he would. As everything else, passing away before his eyes. As he would one day bury Duncan, whose hair would gray, bones would brittle, and eyes would fog by time. He would weep over the loss of such irreverence and enthusiasm for life, a heart so full of joy. And he would bury Galan, and Robert and his servants and maids. And his horses, and any pets he might be foolish enough to love.

For that reason, it had been centuries since he’d permitted himself to sleep with a favored wolfhound lying across the foot of his bed.

Unlike the mortal span most men lived, Circenn would encounter death not a dozen times, but a thousand, making him the greater fool if he cared about anything. Perhaps that was why Adam Black was so detached; after a thousand deaths he’d simply quit caring.

Circenn turned without another word, leaving his trusted advisers gaping after him.

*   *   *

Lisa stood in the middle of the courtyard, drinking in the sights. After a growled “Doona move,” Circenn had gone tearing off after Duncan and Galan the moment they’d come through the gate. She’d been perfectly content not to move, because it meant she could direct all her awed attention to the castle. Knights surged around her in waves, tending to their horses and unpacking gear, while she scanned the elegant lines of the medieval castle.

The rectangular estate was enclosed by a mighty stone wall. In the northeast corner, a chapel was situated amid a small grove of trees. In the northwest corner, near the main wall, in which the gate was located, was a series of low outbuildings she assumed garrisoned the soldiers. She couldn’t see past the castle, as it sprawled nearly the width of the walled estate. The perimeter wall tumbled up slopes and valleys, extending as far as she could see, intermittently set with guard towers every fifty yards or so.

When Circenn took her by the elbow, a few moments later, she started.

“Come,” he said quietly.

She looked at him sharply. Instead of looking angry as he had during the week-long ride, now he looked sad. And it
bothered
her that he looked sad. Anger she could deal with, but sadness brought out her nurturing instincts and tempted her to draw him aside, cradle his face gently, and ask what was wrong. Get to know him. Soothe him.

She shook her head at her own idiocy. This was one man who clearly did not need her tenderness and nurturing.

They entered the main door of the castle and he moved
away from her again, into the midst of servants, quietly giving orders. Lisa stood in the Greathall, pivoting slowly, her mouth open.
Wow
. Over the past week, she’d begun assimilating some of their archaic expressions, but under some circumstances, only a thoroughly modern “wow” would do. Dunnottar had been a ruin; Castle Brodie was a medieval castle at its finest. The Greathall was vast, with a high ceiling and five hearths—two each on the east and west walls of the room, and a central hearth that looked as if it had long been inactive. The walls were hung with enormous tapestries, and a long, ornately carved table with dozens of chairs was positioned near one of the hearths.

She looked down, eager to see a rush-covered floor firsthand, but was disappointed to discover that the floor was of scrubbed pale-gray stone. There was an abundance of light in the room, and she recognized the “rushlights”—candles of wax and tallow impaled on vertical spikes in an iron candlestick with a tripod base. In the Cincinnati Museum, they’d had two authentic rushlights. Here, many were supported on wall brackets, while others sat on the tables scattered through the hall. Still others were set in iron loops, carried over the arms of servants.

“Your mouth is ajar,” Circenn said beside her ear.

She blinked. “Yours would be too, if you suddenly found yourself in my home.” He would certainly gawk over television, the radio, the Internet.

“Is it to your liking?” he asked stiffly.

“It’s lovely,” she breathed.

He permitted himself a small smile. “Come, they’ve prepared a chamber for you.”

“During the past two minutes?” How efficient was his staff?

“I sent a scouting troop ahead, lass, and since they expect
you to be my wife”—he grimaced—“they may have made quite a fuss. Doona mistake that for my doing. I could hardly deny my servants their … enthusiasm. They are likely beside themselves with pleasure that I am handfasted,” he muttered dryly.

Without thinking, she laid a hand on his forearm, plagued by curiosity, her animosity temporarily forgotten. “Why haven’t you wed before now?”

He glanced down at her hand on his arm. His gaze lingered overlong on her fingers. “What? Have you suddenly become interested in me?” he asked, with a mocking lift of a dark brow.

“I suppose when I saw you at Dunnottar, I saw you merely as a warrior, but here I see you—”

“As a man?” he finished for her, in a dangerous tone. “How intriguing,” he murmured. “Foolish, but intriguing.”

“Why is that foolish? You
are
a man. This is your home,” she said. “Your men give you their trust and loyalty, your servants are pleased to see you return. This is a spacious castle, and you must be at least thirty or thirty-five. How old are you?” Her brow furrowed as she realized that she knew very little about this man.

Circenn regarded her impassively.

Impatiently she barreled on. “Have you never been married? Surely you intend to be someday, don’t you? Don’t you want children? Do you have brothers and sisters, or are you as solitary as you make yourself out to be?”

His eyes narrowed. “Lass, I am weary from the journey. Fabricate your own answers as they may please you. For the now, let me see you to your chamber, so I might get on with my other duties. If you would like to turn your mind to a puzzle, puzzle a way out of a formal wedding in less than three moons.”

“I guess that means you can’t kill me, doesn’t it?” she said, half jesting.

He scowled. “Correct.” Then, close to her ear so no one could overhear, he said, “How could I kill a royal cousin? How could I dispose of you when the Bruce has given you to me in marriage? We’re handfasted now. We’re nearly as good as wed. Killing you now would cause more problems for me than failing to fulfill my vow ever would have.”

“So your oath—”

“Is well and truly broken,” he finished bitterly.

“Is that why you’ve been looking so angry?”

“Stop
asking questions!” he thundered.

“Sorry,” Lisa said defensively.

He propelled her up the staircase by her elbow and deposited her at the entrance to her chamber, in the east wing.

“I’ll have hot water sent up so you may refresh yourself. Stay in your room for the duration of the night, lass, or I may have to kill you anyway.”

Lisa shook her head and began to turn toward the door.

“Give me your hands, lass.”

She turned back toward him. “What?”

He extended his hands. “Place your hands in mine.” It was not a request.

Lisa held out her hands warily.

Circenn closed them in his and locked his gaze with hers. He used his body, as was his way—a subtle leaning, a slight shifting, an unspoken dominance—to press her back against the stone wall beside the door, holding her gaze. Fascinated, she couldn’t tear her eyes away him.

When he stretched her hands above her head, she sucked in a worried breath.

He moved so slowly that, lulled by a false sense of
security, she didn’t utter a word. Gently, he brushed his lips against hers. It was incredibly intimate, being kissed so slowly and tenderly. Had he kissed her heatedly, it wouldn’t have been nearly as devastating.

With excruciating leisure, he kissed her so slowly that she could hear a dozen of her own heartbeats between each slight alteration in the caress of his lips. She dropped her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, lost in the butterfly-light friction of his lips brushing hers as if he had all the time in the world. The castle suddenly seemed unnaturally silent, her breath uncommonly loud. If it was five minutes or fifteen that he kissed her in such a fashion, she had no way of knowing. She would have held still forever.

He captured her wrists with one hand and, with the other, he traced the contour of her cheekbone. Her heart sank as she realized how close she was to being utterly seduced by his tantalizingly slow and delicious touches.

His fingers pressed at the corner of her mouth and her lips parted on a sigh of pleasure. He continued kissing her, but did not offer his tongue, and it was driving her mad. Slowly. Gently. With intimacy so prolonged that it made her aware of every nuance of what he was doing. He drew back, his gaze dark, and ran his finger across her lower lip. Instinctively, she touched his finger with her tongue.

With a husky groan, he cradled her head in his hands, closed his mouth over hers, and slipped a long velvety stroke of his tongue against hers. The moment she melted against him, he drew back sharply, spun on his heel, and stalked away.

Her lips tingled, and she touched the tips of her fingers to her mouth as he walked down the corridor. At the end of the hallway, he glanced back over his shoulder, and when
he saw her standing there with her fingers pressed to her mouth, he flashed her a smile of masculine satisfaction. He
knew
the effect he had on her.

She stepped into her chamber and slammed the door shut.

*   *   *

Something had changed between them, she realized, during the ride from Dunnottar to Brodie. Or perhaps shortly after they’d arrived, when he’d left her side looking so angry and come back looking sad. He seemed more … human, less the ruthless savage. Or was she beginning to trust him, driven by the dawning realization that she had no one else to turn to?

Yawning and eager to stretch out on something besides the hard ground, she looked around the chamber. It was beautiful, the walls hung with palls of silk and tapestries that looked as if they’d been stolen from England. The thought amused her greatly, that Circenn decorated his castle with stolen English goods. Her bed, canopied with curtains of sheer ivory and covered with dozens of pillows, was so wide she could lie across it without her legs sticking off the edge. The headboard was a wonder of drawers and cubbyholes, and the maids had sprinkled the nooks and crannies with herbs and dried flowers.

Of course, they’d gone to such pains to make her chamber welcoming and bright because they thought she was going to be mistress of this castle, but she knew better. There was no way she would still be in the fourteenth century three months from now. It was simply not an option. Come tomorrow, she resolved sleepily, lulled by the wine she’d drunk and the gently burning fire, she would track down the flask and get back to her own time. She drifted off to sleep.

*   *   *

Lisa was running as fast as she could, chasing her mother through the halls of the hospital. She’d be able to catch up with her if the doctors would just quit pushing her bed so fast! Didn’t they understand that Catherine needed her?

But if they did, they didn’t care. They wound down one hallway and up the next, turned right and circled around, almost as if they were purposefully trying to elude her. The entire time she chased them, her mother was struggling to sit up, holding her hand out, reaching imploringly for her. Several times Lisa came within inches of grasping that fragile hand, only to lose it when the doctors picked up a sudden burst of speed
.

Finally she closed in on them near the reception desk. The desk was situated in a corner, with an aisle all around it, but there was only one hallway open to the left. There was no way they could escape her. She would cut them off, by circling around to the left, and gather Catherine up
—
she weighed so little now!
—
and take her home, where she wanted to be
.

But as she raced around and blocked the hallway, an elevator appeared in the previously solid wall, and the doctors rushed her mother in, glancing at Lisa reprovingly
.

“Lisa!” Catherine cried, as the doors began to close
.

Lisa pushed forward, straining against the suddenly thickened air that prevented her from moving. She watched in horror as the elevator door closed and her mother was lost to her forever
.

A
RMAND RODE SWIFTLY THROUGH THE FOREST AS DAWN
broke over the high country, glancing frequently over his shoulder to ascertain that he wasn’t being followed. Renaud had been far too curious about his urge to go for a solitary ride beyond the walls, but Armand had told him he needed to meditate, that his faith was often renewed by the breaking day and he found his prayers more easily recited in God’s natural splendor.