Desired by a Highlander (Macardle Sisters of Courage Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  Eleanor lowered her voice almost afraid to speak. “The devil’s cohort knows true evil when he sees it.”

  “But Lord Tarass has yet to get a response from the man,” James said.

  “I got a response,” Willow said.

  “You contacted the Slayer?” James asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “I did, to protect my husband, but we can’t wait for him with Lord Sterling so impatient and so adamant about seeing Slatter made to pay for crimes Sterling committed,” Willow said, her own words causing her stomach to roil with worry.

  “What other choice is there?” Slatter asked. “What proof is there that points to Sterling being responsible for all that has been said about me? And who would believe me over a nobleman?”

  “There is another matter that must be considered,” James said reluctantly.

  “Our marriage,” Slatter said and James nodded.

  Willow considered telling her husband what Beck had told Maddie that she believed was a message for Slatter, but since Maddie believed Beck meant it for Slatter alone, she decided to wait until they were alone to tell him.

  “I believe it would be wise to send for a cleric and have your vows repeated,” James said to the surprise of Willow and Slatter. “And we’ll do it as quickly as possible.”

  “I am grateful, James,” Willow said. “My mum was right when she told me and my sisters to trust you, that you were a good man just like our da.”

  “I gave our da my word that I would look after the three of you and I intend to keep it until the day I die,” James said.

  Eleanor turned a smile, full of pride, on him.

  The group talked for a while longer without coming up with any clear solution to the problem.

  Eleanor went off with James, Snow took Thaw for a walk, and Slatter and Willow went to talk with his grandmother.

  Slatter stopped on the stairs, his arm going around his wife’s waist to turn her and rest her against him. “You sacrifice too much for me, wife, defending me at every turn without pause or doubt. It isn’t you who will owe the Slayer, if he helps us, but me.”

  Willow brushed her lips over his, eager for more, but rested her brow to his instead. “I love you beyond measure, beyond anything I thought possible, and I will see you kept safe so that we may have a long, happy life together.”

  Slatter captured her lips in a hungry kiss, then nibbled along her neck, eager to hear the soft seductive moans that quickened his own passion. He stopped when his thoughts turned to rushing her to their bedchamber, when other matters needed their immediate attention.

  “Later,” he whispered and she shivered. He kissed her quick. “I never thought I’d find love and never would I expect a woman like you to fall in love with me.”

  “A woman like me?” she asked, running her hand gently along his cheek.

  He turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand. “Aye, a kind, good-hearted, respected, admired, unselfish, loving woman.”

  She smiled softly. “You forget stubborn and pragmatic.”

  “There are those as well,” he said with a chuckle, “and I love those parts of you just as much as all the others.”

  “You are a lucky man to have found me,” she teased, then her tone turned serious. “And I am a lucky woman to have found you, a man whose good heart far outweighs his faults.”

  “Keep that thought strong, mo ghaol, you may need it someday.”

  “All I need is you,” she whispered and kissed him as if she’d never get a chance to kiss him again.

  It left them both breathless and he whispered once again, “Later.”

  They entered the room to find Sara sitting up in bed, looking much improved, though there was a worry in her alert eyes.

  “What goes on, Slatter?” his grandmother asked anxiously and stretched her hand out to him. “I heard someone arrived here who resembles you. What is this all about?”

  “I wish I knew, Seanmhair,” he said, taking her hand and sitting on the bed beside her. “You told me that you know little about my father, but I need you to tell me all you do know.”

  His grandmother obliged. “It was at the gathering of several clans that your mum met your da. She came home excited and told me she was in love and going off with a man. She never told me his name and never said anything about marrying him, not even a handfasting. She left and I didn’t see her until she returned with you,” —she smiled— “a small bairn that walked far too fast for being barely one year. I could hardly keep up with you. When I asked what happened, she told me it was better I didn’t know.” She shook her head slowly. “I wondered if she had gotten herself with a powerful man and a married one at that, and that she feared him.”

  “Did she ever mention the Isle of Wakelin to you?”

  “It sounds familiar.” His grandmother scrunched her brow, searching her memory, her eyes suddenly turning wide. “I do recall it, the memory giving me pause through the years. Though it wasn’t your mum who mentioned the Isle of Wakelin, but a traveler who stopped for some water. He mentioned he was headed there. I remember your mum, hurrying over to where you were trying to climb a tree, snatching you up and keeping your face pressed against her chest as she hurried into the cottage. She didn’t come out until I told her the man had left. I asked her what was wrong and she told me never to speak of the isle, not ever. After that she made sure to keep you away from any strangers that stopped by. I knew my daughter well and I knew she was not only trying to protect you, but me as well.” She sighed. “I was so pleased and relieved when your mum met Lander. He was a good man and I knew he’d make a good da.”

  “He was a good da and he taught me much,” Slatter said, thinking how much he missed the man and his mum as well.

  “He taught you to be a good man,” his grandmother said.

  “Some would argue that, Seanmhair,” Slatter said with a grin.

  “Not in front of me they won’t or they’ll get a good tongue lashing.”

  “See, you have two strong women who believe in you and defend you,” Willow said, leaning forward in the chair by the bed to poke her husband in the arm.

  “I like this woman you wed,” his grandmother said with a grin that matched Slatter’s.

  Slatter turned a teasing smile on his wife. “She’s a bit stubborn, but she’ll learn.” That got him a hard jab in the arm from his wife, and he laughed.

  “She must be, since I haven’t heard you give an honest laugh in some time,” his grandmother said and looked to Willow. “Would you mind if I had a few moments alone with my grandson?”

  “Not at all,” Willow said and stood and wasn’t surprised to see her husband tense with concern. She didn’t want to worry him and hurried to say, “I’ll wait outside the door for you.” And when the concern in his eyes faded to be replaced by a wicked gleam, she knew his tongue was about to either tease or charm.

  “Fear not, mo ghaol, I won’t be long from your side, since I know how much you miss me when parted.”

  Willow clasped her hands together beneath her chin and sighed dramatically before saying, “Dear husband, I beg you not to leave me long without you, since my heart is in peril every time we are apart and I fear I shall die without your attention.”

  His grandmother erupted in laughter.

  Slatter applauded. “That was quite good, wife.”

  “You have taught me well, husband,” Willow said and turned and sashayed out of the room, raising her hand above her head to wiggle her fingers at him in a farewell wave.

  “I really really like her,” his grandmother said.

  Slatter turned to his grandmother. “I really really love her.”

  His grandmother squeezed his hand. “Then be honest with her before it’s too late.”

  “It could cause her harm as it did you,” he argued.

  “We’ve discussed this. I would have told you by now if the two men were interested in more than your whereabouts. The oath has kept the secret hidden for years. No one betrays i
t.”

  “I believe that’s why this problem with this man who resembles me worries me so much. It could destroy what had taken so long to build.”

  “You won’t let that happen, nor would the others, and I believe your wife would feel the same.”

  His grandmother understood the troubled look in his eyes. “Think of what your mum and Lander had together. You can have that too. I know you always thought that you had to sacrifice everything. You don’t. Talk with Willow. She may surprise you.”

  “She always does.” He shook his head. “First, I have to settle this Sterling problem, then I’ll talk with my wife.”

  “You shouldn’t wait too long,” his grandmother cautioned.

  His grandmother’s warning kept whispering in his head as he and Willow left the keep to go see how Walcott was doing. It meant a lot to him that his grandmother trusted Willow enough for her to suggest he talk with his wife. She had always been a good judge of people, perhaps that had been why his mum hadn’t wanted her own mum to know about Slatter’s father. Seanmhair would have told her if she thought the man no good. And love can blind. Though, he was learning that love could also see past the nonsense and to the truth. Or was it his wife’s pragmatic nature that could do that?

  Slatter stood aside while his wife looked over Walcott and watching her expressions made him think Walcott was not doing well. That didn’t stop his wife from fighting for him. Another healer would probably think him past helping and let him die, not Willow. She was tenacious, even in the way she had treated his simple wound when a prisoner.

  It was as if she fought a foe, an enemy out to defeat her. And she fought as hard if not harder than most warriors.

  Once she finished seeing to Walcott and making sure he was settled comfortably, she turned and walked over to Slatter.

  “We wait. There is nothing more I can do.” She turned her head and looked at Walcott as she spoke. “My mum reminded me time and again that it’s often the wound or damage done that you can’t see that’s the culprit. The wounds look to heal well, but I don’t know what goes on inside him and that’s what worries me as does his constant sleep.”

  “We can only hope that death wants nothing to do with his cantankerous nature.”

  Willow couldn’t help but smile.

  The door opened and Carna stopped abruptly seeing Willow and Slatter. “Sara sent me to sit with Walcott. She told me that Walcott needed my tending more than she did.”

  “How does my grandmother know about Walcott?” Slatter asked.

  “Word spreads fast through the village and keep. Besides, talking with Sara can be,” —she narrowed her eyes searching for a word to explain— “comforting, and you simply discuss everything with her.”

  Slatter understood perfectly.

  “You did well with Sara and I would appreciate your help with Walcott,” Willow said. “Let me explain what needs to be done and what you need to watch for.”

  Slatter stepped outside the cottage while the two women talked. It was another cold day, the sky gray, but there was no hint of snow in the air. He was glad for the cold that nipped at his face, it helped clear his head some. Once it did, it forced him to think on what he feared most about the present situation.

  Was he or was he not wed to Willow?

  He had known fear in his life, but nothing compared to the sheer fright of Willow not being his wife. The cleric could not get here fast enough for him.

  Slatter reached for his wife’s hand as soon as she stepped near him and his hand swallowed hers in a possessive grip.

  “You know you can’t get rid of me, don’t you?” she asked, understanding his need to cling to her, since she felt the same. They were one and to part them would cause an agony she didn’t believe she could survive.

  “I told you once, wife, I can escape anything,” he teased with a wink.

  She smiled and shook her head. “There’s one thing you can’t escape.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Love.”

  Chapter 25

  Slatter snagged his wife around the waist and kissed her as he kicked the door shut behind them. There had been no time to sneak off to their bedchamber. He couldn’t get through supper fast enough and now that they were finally in their bedchamber, he didn’t want to waste one moment.

  He wanted them both naked and in bed.

  She was as eager as he was, her hands rushing to free him of his plaid.

  He helped her in between stripping her of her garments all while not relinquishing her lips.

  They fumbled and stumbled through shedding their garments, getting rid of their boots, and he hurrying them both to the bed to fall down on it.

  She felt so good, warm and soft, and a sweet scent drifted off her, not to mention her womanly scent that drove him mad with the wont of her. He caressed her breasts, loving the feel of them plump in his hand, the hard nipples begging to be suckled.

  His mouth was just about to close on one when she popped up on her elbows.

  “I forgot to tell you what Maddie told me.”

  “You told me it all earlier.” The thought of Maddie, Kevin, and the others being held in a pen like animals sent a spurt of anger through him and dampened his passion a bit. Not wanting his time with his wife disturbed, he pushed it from his mind to revisit later.

  “No, not that. Maddie felt Beck was giving her a message to deliver to you and only you—which was why I waited to tell you until we were alone—before Sterling finally ended his misery.”

  Slatter raised his head, his mouth once again having been about to settle on her nipple. “What message?”

  “Maddie said Beck looked directly at her and told her to make sure she told you that he won, that he got you. He got you good. He kept repeating, ‘Slatter. You tell Slatter, I got him good.’”

  Slatter rolled away from his wife to lie flat on his back, glancing up at the ceiling. “Damn.”

  Willow turned on her side, leaning on her elbow to rest her head on her hand, and placed her other hand on his chest. “What is it?”

  “Beck wasn’t in cahoots with Sterling, he only made him believe he was. We had an ongoing skirmish. Who could best the other and I always won, not once did he win. That’s why he put me in that pit in the ground. He didn’t think I’d be able to escape, but just in case he dropped you down there with me.”

  “Oh my Lord,” Willow said, her eyes turning wide with a revelation. “He knew you wouldn’t leave me there. You would have escaped if he hadn’t put me in that pit with you.”

  Slatter lifted his wife’s hand off his chest and kissed her palm. “I had planned to escape the next morning.”

  “You stayed for me?”

  “I couldn’t leave you with him. Beck would have sold you to God knows who and I couldn’t let that happen to you. Though, he got greedy in thinking he beat me and won. So he upped the stakes, so to speak, and told me I could keep you if I could poke you while down in the confined pit. He lost and that didn’t set well with him.”

  “So he faked a marriage between us to win?”

  Slatter shook his head. “A fake marriage would have given me a way out. That wouldn’t give him a big victory. He not only bested me and won, forcing me to wed when he knew I never had any intentions of doing so while making Sterling believe otherwise. He told me one day that he’d get me good and he was letting me know that in the end that’s exactly what he did… except.”

  “Except what?” she asked anxiously.

  Slatter turned, easing his wife onto her back. “Beck never counted on me falling in love with you and wanting to spend the rest of my life willingly with you.”

  Willow smiled. “So you do plan on sticking around?”

  “Forever… if you’ll have me.”

  A tinkle of laughter fell from her lips. “I had you as soon as I was lowered into that pit with you.”

  Slatter shook his head and brought his face close to hers. “Not true, mo ghaol. I lost my heart to you the
moment you entered my cell to tend my wound and completely ignored my attempts at charming you.”

  Willow ran her finger slowly over his lips. “It’s not charming words I want from your tongue.”

  “It isn’t?” Slatter asked, feigning shock, though his teasing smile said otherwise. “You better show me what it is you want.”

  “First,” she said, tapping his lips with her finger, “promise me you will not sneak off anymore without letting me know where you’re going and why.” When he held his tongue too long, she understood why. “You won’t give me your word because you plan on going and rescuing Maddie, Kevin, and the others.”

  When again he didn’t answer, she pushed him off her, though he moved only a little and she wiggled her way out from under him. She went and snatched her garments up off the floor.

  Slatter scurried out of bed. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going with you to rescue them,” she said and dropped the shift over her head.

  “You damn well are not going with me.” He grabbed the sides of her shift and yanked it up, but Willow grabbed his hands stopping him.

  “I go with you or you don’t go at all,” she challenged.

  He laughed. “You think you can stop me?”

  “I can and I will,” she said, her chin jutting up.

  He brought his face close to hers. “I think not, wife.” And with one hard yank her shift was off her and tossed to the floor.

  Willow looked to her shift, ready to snatch it up again.

  “Try putting it on again and I’ll rip it off you this time,” her husband cautioned.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” she challenged.

  “I’d dare do anything to keep you safe.”

  “I would do the same for you, which is why I’ll not let you go alone.”

  Slatter shook his head, turning away for a moment and when he turned back again, he had his wife up in his arms before she could protest and carried her to the bed,

  Willow was so shocked finding herself up in his strong arms that she didn’t even have time to gasp. And she was even more surprised when he sat on the edge of the bed and placed her in his lap.