Fifteen

“How did this happen?” Darach asked Lachlan later that night as all the foster brothers and Gregor sat around the campfire roasting freshly caught rabbits and frying oatcakes on the griddle. An owl hooted in the distance, and stars shone brightly in the black sky. “You were the last one of us I thought would marry.”

Lachlan pulled his spit toward him and tore a leg off his rabbit, cursing as the hot flesh burned his fingertips. “How can you even ask me that after you married Caitlin?”

“Caitlin is an exception. I had to marry her.” Darach looked at him like he was addled.

“Spoken like a man in love. Well, my Amber is exceptional too.”

“Verily? Is she sweet and kind like Caitlin?”

Callum laughed and bit into his apple. “I wouldnae call her sweet, exactly.”

“She’s better than sweet, she’s conniving,” Lachlan said.

“Conniving?” Gavin MacKinnon, laird of Clan MacKinnon, sat up from where he’d been lounging against a fallen tree. He was as tall and fair as his Norse ancestors, with white-blond hair he’d recently cut even shorter than Callum’s. It looked worse than Amber’s hatchet job on her hair, even scraping his scalp in places, a far cry from the long locks he’d worn most of his life. Gavin had always been the bonniest of them all, with a fun, joyous spirit, but life, death, and the disappearance of his son had drained that spark away.

It hurt Lachlan to see the grim-faced man seated across from him.

“Cristel was conniving too, Brother,” Gavin continued. “Are you sure you want that trait in a wife? If I’d known who Cristel was behind her bonnie hair and eyes, I would ne’er have married her.”

“Aye, you would have,” Gregor said, flipping some oatcakes on the griddle, “or you wouldnae have had Ewan. Even if it was only for a short time.”

Gavin leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. “You’re right. The last five years will all be worth it when I find him.”

“Any new leads?” Callum asked. They all thought Ewan must have died when his mother did at last year’s summer festival, but for Gavin’s sake, they supported him in his search.

“Nay. But something will turn up. If Ewan had died, we would have found his body. None had been burned by the time I arrived. Someone took him—maybe before the illness hit. Cristel wouldnae have noticed nor cared that he was missing.” Rage burned in his eyes, and his jaw had clenched tight.

Laird Kerr MacAlister, the oldest and possibly deadliest of the brothers, his hair and eyes as dark as Gavin’s were fair, and even bigger than Gregor, squeezed Gavin’s shoulder. “If Ewan is out there, Brother, we’ll find him.”

He leaned forward and grabbed an oatcake off the griddle with his fingers. After tossing it on a plate, he handed it to Gavin, then got one for himself. “Isobel is conniving too, Lachlan. She’s constantly coming up with ways to thwart and annoy me. The last thing she said before we left was that she planned to cut her hair as short as Gavin’s in solidarity with her brother. I told her I’d marry her anyway and make her wear a straw wig.”

The men all laughed, even Gavin, who said, “Good luck. I wouldnae be surprised if she marries someone else by the time we get home, just to spite you.”

Kerr’s eyes darkened. “Then I shall be committing murder.” He said it quietly, and Lachlan knew he meant it. No one would come between him and Isobel, not even Isobel’s mother, who had made a death-bed request of Gavin that Isobel be allowed to choose her own husband.

“’Tis her choice, Brother,” Gavin said with a shrug. Kerr just grunted.

“Amber’s hair is short too,” Lachlan said. “As short as mine. I like it. ’Tis easier to kiss her neck. And often it’s sticking out in places because she’s been pushing bloody hands through it—and she curses like a warrior too. Especially when she’s working and it’s a difficult procedure. You should have heard her curse my cock. She said it would fall off if I didn’t let her up from her sickbed.”

“God’s blood! Doona introduce her to Isobel,” Kerr said, looking horrified.

“She sounds…lovely,” Darach added.

Lachlan grinned. “She is. Although when I first met her, I thought she was a lad. She’d just hacked off her hair, and her face was covered in mud. And she wore a plaid, of course.”

“Good lord, what happened?” Gregor asked.

Lachlan told them the story, relishing their responses, and he was so proud of Amber—her determination, compassion, and bravery—he thought he might burst.

Silence reigned for a moment when he finished, then Callum said, “And he’s been obsessed with her e’er since, just like Murray and all the other men in her clan.”

Lachlan felt heat steal up his neck. “Except she’s marrying me.” He tossed the bone from the rabbit into the fire and looked at Kerr. “And I didn’t do it by wooing her, Brother. You need a plan.”

Callum snorted. “A lot of good your plan did. You caught her because of Niall.”

“Well, either way, she’s mine now. Or she will be as soon as Father Lundie gets here.” He looked at Darach, “When will that be?”

“He’s coming with the wagons. A few days at least.” Darach leaned closer. “You’re flushed,” he said, amazement in his voice. “Are you in love with her, then?”

The wee hairs on Lachlan’s body stood up as his breathing stuttered. All the men had stopped what they were doing and stared at him. He rubbed his palm across the back of his neck. “Nay, I’m not in love with her…whate’er that means. I’m happy because I’m marrying a woman who willna simper or scold, and whom I’ll still like and respect in forty years.”

Callum lifted his brow. “Are we talking about the same woman? Amber lives to give orders. She’ll scold you to hell and back.”

Lachlan smiled. Aye, she did like to give orders. He was looking forward to her giving some in their bedchamber. “We’ll sort that out. She can give orders to do with the healing, and I can give orders on everything else.”

Callum put his head down and laughed.

Gregor joined him. Then he sighed. “My Kellie liked to give orders too. Right up to the verra end. She said, ‘You doona waste your life grieving me, Gregor MacLeod. I’ll be waiting for you in heaven with our wee lasses when you die, and I expect to hear you’ve done everything you can to make the Highlands a safer place.’” His voice had thickened, and he had to clear it before he carried on. “I hope I’ve succeeded and they’ll be proud of me when I see them again.”

Gregor’s words and the emotion in his voice hit Lachlan hard. It hit them all hard. Gavin too, even though he didn’t intend to e’er marry again. The rest knew their wives, or wives-to-be, could be so easily taken from them—as Kellie had been taken from Gregor.

And Amber could be taken from him.

He found himself rubbing his palm over his body again, but this time over his heart. “She is proud of you, Gregor. We all are. And grateful too. I can only hope to make Amber half as proud.”

* * *

“If I close my arms over you from behind, like this, what’s your next move?” Amber stood with Adaira in the middle of the girl’s bedchamber and tightened her in her embrace. They’d progressed with their training as soon as Amber was up and Adaira was well enough for physical fighting. “And doona hurt me this time; just show me slowly and tell me.”

Amber resisted the urge to block her face or pull back her feet from Adaira’s striking heels. The girl had a remarkable talent for hand-to-hand combat, and she was fast.

“I can smash your nose again with my head.”

“Good, what else?”

“I can drill my heel into the top of your foot.”

“Aye, what else?”

Adaira braced in Amber’s arms, thinking. Amber could feel that she wanted to struggle, but she resisted the impulse. Amber tightened her arms for good measure. “Your attacker is stronger than you, but he or she has weak spots. What’s another vulnerable spot they’ve placed in front of your body?”

“Fingers!” Adaira yelled excitedly as she reached for Amber’s hands.

“Gently,” Amber warned, trying not to pull away. “What can you do to them?”

“I can pull them apart.”

Adaira wrenched Amber’s fingers in opposite directions. Most likely she thought she was being gentle, but it still hurt, and Amber let her go.

“And then once they’ve released you, what do you do?”

“I grab my knife and stab you.” The lass snatched up a spoon from the bedside table and jabbed it at Amber, who easily knocked the utensil away, spun the girl around, and grabbed her from behind again.

“Nay! You do not fight. You run.”

“But I’m a good fighter!”

“Not against big, strong men who’ve been practicing for years longer than you have. Not even against me. Now you’re trapped again. Tell me one more thing you can do.”

Adaira stomped her foot. Not to get away this time, but in frustration. “I doona know.”

“Aye, you do. Use your last weapon against me, Adaira.”

“But I doona have any more weapons.”

“You do. One more. How can you make me work harder?”

Adaira stilled, then suddenly she dropped to the ground. “My weight, You said my weight was a weapon!”

“Aye, good for you, lass!”

Amber didn’t tell her that she barely weighed a thing, and dropping to the ground probably wouldn’t slow down a strong man. But if she trained her muscles and was ever attacked in the future when she was a grown woman, her dead weight would be much harder for an attacker to handle.

After slowly letting go so Adaira didn’t bang herself on the floor, Amber moved to the bed and sat down, holding her sore arm close to her body. “Maybe next time we can get Lachlan to help us. Then you can see just how strong a man can be and why it’s important to run when you have the chance. If he catches you, he may hurt you and…”

Adaira flopped beside her on the bed, also looking worn out. “And what?”

Amber closed her mouth. She’d been about to say “rape you,” but the thought of Adaira being hurt in that way was too awful to consider. And the lass didn’t need to know yet that such atrocities existed.

“’Tis naught, lass. ‘Hurt you’ covers everything, wouldnae you say?”

“I suppose. Although you could say stab you, or gut you, or drag you behind your horse.”

Amber flopped back beside her on the bed and crossed her forearm over her eyes, trying not to laugh. The girl was downright grisly. It would serve Lachlan right if she taught Adaira some of her bloodiest curses.

A sharp knock at the door was all the warning they received before Niall pushed into the room. He looked harassed, and his eyes darted toward her a wee bit wildly.

“Our laird has asked for you. He’s here with the others and Gregor MacLeod.” Niall said “Gregor MacLeod” like he had just mentioned one of the saints, and Amber had the urge to cross herself.

“What does he want?” she asked.

Angry color flushed up Niall’s neck, and he stomped toward her. “It doesn’t matter what he wants. He is our laird and about to be your husband.”

Amber yawned and pulled the quilt from the bed over her body.

Adaira giggled and jumped up. “I’ll go see. Gregor always brings me a treat, and Kerr lets me stand on his shoulders. I’m as tall as a giant!” she yelled as she ran from the room.

Amber closed her eyes. She really was tired and sore, and she didn’t feel like pretending to be someone she wasn’t in order to impress Lachlan’s family.

She wanted to be herself. Whoever that was right now.

She sensed Niall standing over her and sighed. “Tell him I’m not feeling well, and I’ll come down when I’m ready.”

Niall pulled the quilt away. “Nay, you’ll come now. Amber, this is important to him. He wants you to meet his family. He’s proud of you.”

“Proud of me?”

“Aye.”

“But…”

“But what?”

“Well, I’m not exactly a prize, now am I?”

Niall’s eyebrows rose. “How can you say that? Nineteen men, including Laird MacKay, stood in your cottage last week wanting to marry you.”

She waved her hand. “Silly lads who only love me for my bonnie eyes and hair—which was not my doing, but God’s.”

Niall sat down with a sigh, and Amber rolled toward him.

“Och, lass. Doona you know anything? Our laird wants you for more than just your eyes and hair. He’s enamored with your bosom too.”

She laughed, and Niall joined in. When their amusement faded, he took her hand in his. “Just be yourself, lass. They seem like fine men, and they love Lachlan like a brother and son. They’ll be happy as long as he’s happy.”

“Is he happy, Niall?”

“Aye, he is. Are you?”

She rolled onto her back again and pulled the quilt over her head. She wasn’t unhappy. She was more befuddled than anything else. None of it seemed real, and she still might end up running away at the last minute. “I doona know.”

He patted her through the quilt. “You’re the bravest lass I know, Amber, but you’re also a wee bit daft and a lot stubborn. Trust me when I say Lachlan MacKay is the right choice for you. Go out there and meet his family and be yourself. Our laird wouldnae want you any other way.”

Be herself.

Amber pushed the cover back and sat up. Her hair was sticking out in different directions, and she ran her hands through it. When she couldn’t find her ribbon, the third one she’d lost from the packet Lachlan had given her, she tucked the strands behind her ears and stood up.

After shaking out her skirts she smoothed and straightened her dress. “All right. I’ll go be myself. Really, how hard can it be?”

* * *

Amber stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down into the great hall. A nervous flutter like a swarm of butterflies had taken up residence in her belly. The men—all big, strong, braw-looking warriors, including Gregor, whose hair and beard were streaked with grey—sat in front of the hearth drinking ale.

All except a huge, dark-haired man who must be Kerr. He walked back and forth in the hall, his hands wrapped around Adaira’s legs. She stood on his shoulders, swinging her arms wildly and pretending to be a giant.

“Amber!” Adaira cried out when she saw her.

The men all looked up in her direction, smiles on their faces. Gregor actually rubbed his hands together while Lachlan rose and pulled up another chair beside him. “Come join us,” he said.

“Is it safe?” she asked as she walked down the stairs that rose against the wall. She kept away from the edge out of habit, as there wasn’t a railing. “I doona want to be eaten.”

“Go get her,” Adaira told Kerr, then said, “I’m hungry!” in her best giant voice. Kerr stomped as directed toward Amber. “Human woman tastes good!”

Amber couldn’t help it and lifted her gaze to Lachlan, who’d also wanted a taste of her a few days ago… His cocky grin told her he’d thought the same thing.

“Shall I come save you?” he asked.

“Nay, Amber can save herself,” Adaira said. “She’s been teaching me how to fight. But not with a sword, with my hands and feet.”

“And head,” Amber added.

“Aye, my head is really hard. She said I almost broke her nose.”

Amber stopped about halfway down and pressed her fingers gently to the cartilage. It was still tender.

“Are you all right, lass?” Lachlan asked.

“I’m fine. What’s a wee bit of blood when you’re teaching self-defense?”

“Too much,” Kerr said, then grasped Adaira’s waist and lifted her to the ground. He tweaked the girl’s nose. “You doona need to know how to fight, lass. Either of you. That’s what we’re here for. Lachlan and the rest of us will keep you and Amber safe.”

Adaira scrunched up her face at him, looking mulish. Amber suspected her own expression was much the same. She clenched her jaw in annoyance, and drummed her fingers against her leg.

Idiot man.

She caught Lachlan’s eye again and saw that his smile had widened. Callum’s too. Aye, maybe her betrothed did want her to be herself.

“Come here, giant,” she said to Kerr, pointing to where she wanted him to stand. He came forward as she continued her descent until he stood beside the staircase, the top of his head reaching her shoulder. She stopped and flicked him hard with her finger in the middle of his forehead.

He slapped a palm to his forehead and stepped back. “Och, that hurt!”

The men watching burst out laughing.

“It was supposed to. Ne’er tell a woman she shouldnae know how to protect herself. An attack could come from anywhere at any time, and you might not be there to protect her.”

He stared at her belligerently, and she stared back. “We would punish the transgressors.”

“Good for you. You can do that after I escape.”

“What do you think you could do to a man my size?” he asked. Not in a menacing way, just disbelief. “My father was a cruel bastard, and I saw him hurt many people, including women. It took a man as big as me to put him down for good. That’s how I became laird, lass. And then I put down a few cruel cousins and uncles too.”

“I didn’t say I would put him down for good. Just long enough so I could escape.”

“And how will you do that? Smash a knee in my groin? That’s the first move I’d expect from you.”

“That’s what she did to Earc,” Adaira said eagerly. “He didn’t get up for at least five minutes after she got away.”

“Then Earc wasn’t paying close enough attention.”

“Aye, he was. He listened with his eyes closed as she whispered something in his ear.”

The men laughed again, and Amber narrowed her eyes, hands on her hips as she looked at them. They enjoyed the show but none of them, including Lachlan, believed she could take Kerr down. Aye, it would be hard, especially as he was waiting for her to try something. But if she could get close enough, she might be able to do it. She hadn’t been able to escape Lachlan when they’d first met, but he’d surprised her.

Could she surprise Kerr?

“I see I’ve made you mad, lass,” he said. “Your cheeks are flushed, your eyes sparkling, and God’s truth you are a vision—almost as lovely as my Isobel—but attacking someone you canna beat will only anger them, and they may kill you for it.”

“So a woman should do naught? Let a man do whate’er he wants to her?”

“Amber, you will be protected. Trust me. Lachlan will ne’er let anything happen to you or Adaira. We protect our loved ones.”

“Aye, sweetling. I’ll keep you safe,” Lachlan said, coming toward them.

She reached out her hand to him as she stepped down, but then her foot caught in her skirt. With a wee yelp, she tumbled sideways off the stairs. Lachlan ran to catch her, but Kerr got there first, and she fell safely into his arms.

She didn’t want to draw blood or do permanent damage, so she went for his nerves first, digging her thumbs in just above his elbow as hard as she could. His arms fell away from her, and she crashed with him to the ground, then caught him hard through his plaid, her nails digging in.

“Amber!” Lachlan yelled, running to her. The others followed. She gave Lachlan a hard glare, and he stopped a few paces back. “Kerr, doona hurt her,” he ordered.

“Me, hurt her?” Kerr groaned, flat on his back, his face scrunched up in pain as she kneeled over him. “Christ Almighty, she’s got my stones.”

“Doona move, Laird MacAlister,” she warned him. “If you e’er want your lovely Isobel to birth your bairns, you’ll hold absolutely still.”

He huffed out a pained breath, almost a laugh. “Doona call me laird, Amber. You are to marry my brother. Welcome to the family, Sister.”

There was silence for a beat, then the men fell into hysterics. Callum bent over at the waist, hands on his knees, sucking back great gulps of air. Gregor and Darach leaned on each other, unable to stand on their own, and Gavin stood wide-eyed, his grim face cracking a smile.

All except Lachlan, who waited tensely by her side. “Amber, take your hands off his cock before I have to kill him.”

The men burst out laughing again. Callum fell to his knees while Gregor and Darach hit the clean rushes on the floor with their arses. Gavin actually laughed.

“By the love of God, she’s perfect, Lachlan!” Gregor said.

“And she can lance that boil on your arse too!” Darach said.

“She’ll not be looking anywhere near your arse,” Lachlan growled.

“Well, maybe someday,” Amber said. “But for now, I have an assistant. She’s fourteen. She lances all the boils.”

She held back a laugh as Gregor’s glee faded. Releasing Kerr, she stepped back. He rolled onto his side and groaned.

Lachlan pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arm around her waist from behind.

“Whate’er you do,” Kerr said to Lachlan, “doona introduce her to Isobel. At least not until we’re married.”

Amber wanted to stamp her foot like Adaira had done earlier. “Your loved ones deserve to know how to defend themselves, Kerr—male or female. You do them a disservice by not teaching them. If my father hadn’t taught me, I canna say what would have happened. Once he died, I had no one to protect me but myself.”

Callum stood up. “My Maggie can throw knives, and she’s better than anyone with an arrow, but I doona think she knows how to fight in close quarters.”

“Then you should teach her.”

Callum shrugged, his resistance obvious in the set of his shoulders and the downward tilt of his mouth. Amber rolled her eyes.

“She’s right,” Gregor said. “I taught Kellie some moves. Lucky thing I did, as she was attacked in our own keep by one of our guests.”

“My father?” Kerr grunted as he rolled to his knees.

“Nay, your uncle. I killed him that night. Which was the start of the feud with your father.”

“I’m sorry.”

Gregor gave Kerr a hand and helped him up. “Doona be. You’re not responsible for the acts of evil men.”

He turned to Amber and pulled her into a tight hug, actually lifting her off the ground. “Welcome to the family, Amber. I couldnae be happier.”

“Didn’t I tell you he would love you?” Lachlan said, wrapping his other arm around her waist and kissing the side of her neck.

She shivered and closed her eyes. When she opened them, all the men were smiling at her like sappy old women. “God’s Blood, you look like a bunch of fourteen-year-old lasses, listening to some romantic ballad.”

“I love romance,” Gregor sighed.

Amber laughed, feeling a joyous bubbling in her veins. “Seems I’m joining the family just in time, then. I can spice things up with a wee wickedness.”

Adaira bounded up to her. “Teach me how to do that move!”

“Not yet, lass. You’re a long way from learning anything so difficult. Keep practicing your head butts and heel stomps.”

The girl darted at Kerr, head lowered, and he quickly flipped her up over his shoulder. She shrieked in delight. But Amber had seen Kerr’s wince and knew he was hurting. Regret washed through her. What if she had squeezed too hard and damaged his stones permanently?

She pulled out of Lachlan’s embrace and hurried to the big, dark-haired warrior. “I have a salve we can apply to the skin that should help. It’ll take down the swelling. Come to my room and I’ll take a look.”

“Nay!” both Kerr and Lachlan yelled at once.

The others burst out laughing again as they crowded around Amber and Lachlan with good wishes for a happy future.