The Condemned Highlander by Donna Fletcher

5

Annis avoided glancing at Iver when she approached Brogan and kept her eyes off the man on the ground. She wasn’t taking any chances with blood, and she was taking no chance of being sent to the dungeon. That was why she headed for Brogan. She was confident he would not let that happen to her.

She came to a stop beside him, and he immediately reached for her hand and hooked his around it, keeping their joined hands tucked at his side.

“Tell my father that I refused to surrender the woman to you and that I have no intentions of returning home now,” Brogan said, his voice turning even more commanding as he finished. “And, Rudd, if you are contemplating using force against me, know that I will not fight to harm—I will fight to kill.”

“Your father will not be happy to hear this,” Rudd said.

Brogan shook his head and laughed. “My father is never happy with me.”

“I have no desire to fight you, my lord, and I believe the men with me feel the same,” Rudd said, and the men behind him nodded as did the man on the ground who had come to. “I will deliver your message. Though, I warn you that you will undoubtedly hear from your father.”

“Aye, you are right about that,” Brogan said. “A drink before you go?”

The men looked ready to dismount and their disappointment was evident when Rudd responded. “Your father will want to hear the bad news right away.”

“I am sure I will see you again, Rudd,” Brogan said, acknowledging that he knew Rudd would return.

Once the man on the ground mounted, the small troop took their leave.

“They will return with more men,” Iver said.

Brogan turned and before responding to the man, he looked to Annis. “No blood. You are safe.”

Annis smiled and squeezed his hand in thanks. She thought he would let go and when he didn’t, she let her hand linger in his, feeling a comfort she wasn’t ready to let go of herself.

“Aye, they will, but it will be my father who returns next with them,” Brogan said and hurried to ease the rash of concerns that spread over the faces of everyone there. “I need him here so I can make sure you get what you need for the winter.”

“He will refuse us. He always does,” the old man who had slept in the lean-to said, rubbing at his white beard.

“It is Lord Brogan requesting help this time, Seward,” Iver said, hopeful.

“Iver is right. It could be different this time,” a woman said, her long gray hair hanging loose from its braid and wearing a worn tunic that at one time must have fit her but now hung too big on her thin frame.

“I hope so, Maddie, I truly do,” Seward said, not sounding hopeful.

“Worry not about it,” Brogan said. “I gave you my word and I will keep it. Now there’s hunting to be done and a shed to build.” As the few people dispersed, he turned to Annis. “I would say we could try again to find the witch, but the hills seem clear of mist today and you have only four times left to travel the path.”

That remark had Annis slipping her hand out of his. “You should have listened better. I said I would try six times before I would consider stopping, not that I would stop completely. Though, I am not opposed to searching at night, Nolan mentioned a full moon.”

“Nolan took his leave from us early,” Iver said. “But he was still well into his cups, so there is no telling if he stopped to rest and woke at night. But there was no full moon that night.”

Annis would question Nolan’s tale from all she’d been hearing if she didn’t have proof. She had gotten a message from the witch. A message Nolan had kept hidden from everyone.

“I would not advise traveling the path in the evening. Between the dark and the mist, you would not be able to see a thing,” Iver cautioned.

“The mist is heavy at night?” Annis asked.

“At the foot of the hills it is. No one goes near it then,” Iver confirmed.

“Nay,” Brogan said when Annis turned to him. “We will not go at night when it will do no good. You won’t be able to see anything and that can prove dangerous.”

Annis did not argue. She would revisit it if necessary. “As you say, Lord Brogan.”

Whenever she addressed him formally, he knew she had something brewing in that mind of hers and he had to be careful—though cautious was more like it.

“I am going to hunt, and you are going to stay here and show how a sturdy food shed is built,” Brogan said.

“Aye, I am,” Annis said with joy, rubbing her hands together, eager to start. She needed a distraction and constructing something, anything, always helped empty her mind and allowed for new thought and new ideas, to enter.

Brogan left with two men to hunt, and she had four men, including Iver, to help with the building. While the men weren’t old, they also weren’t young, and the years of living poorly had taken its toll on them. They did not have the strength they once had, which meant the building would go much slower than she hoped it would. It also meant that if Brogan did not get help with constructing sturdy dwellings before the winter hit, the small group would suffer and some would die.

Clearing the area of land went smoothly enough. Annis was surprised there were no complaints from the men when she instructed them or offered advice when placing the stone. They even watched with interest when she demonstrated how to shape some of the stones to fit more tightly together.

Una joined in to help. Her young age and good weight made carrying the stones easier for her than the older men, and she did so with a smile. Annis understood that for the first time in years, Una saw promise for a future and she was eager to participate in it.

Annis gave thought to something similar. She imagined rebuilding the small village, designing it the way she believed it would work best. And with no one but her there with the knowledge to do such a thing, she could take charge of it all. It was as if she was watching her dream come true. Elysia could come live here with Saber, and hopefully there would be a way for Bliss to join them. Here they could have a future.

“You dream awake.”

Annis jumped, not having heard Brogan come up beside her.

“Aye, dreams,” she said, thinking how she could possibly make her dreams come to pass. “You are done hunting already?”

“It has been hours, Annis, and I think your crew grows tired and hungry,” Brogan said with a nod toward the men still working, though having slowed down.

The fatigue on their faces had Annis hurrying toward them. “Enough for the day. Rest while we wait for the meat to cook.”

The men nodded eagerly and walked off, smiling and talking.

She had not realized Una had left, seeing her at the cooking spits helping the other women roast the meat.

“Sit with me,” Brogan said, stretching his hand out to her, and she took hold of it. It pleased him that she hadn’t hesitated, she simply grasped hold of his offered hand as if it was the most natural thing to do. That she was accustomed to it. That she felt comfortable doing so.

He walked with her to sit by one of the fires that sat alone and neglected, the women busy tending the fires that cooked the meats and most of the men gathered around them to talk after a day of work.

He stoked the fire after they sat, its warmth reaching out to wrap around them.

“What was in your thoughts?” he asked.

“A dream I have long had,” she admitted, the idea still nagging at her.

“Tell me about it,” he urged.

He seemed genuinely interested, but once he heard—she spoke her thought. “You will think me foolish.”

“I cannot say that I do not think you foolish at times, but dreams are different—dreams are meant to be enjoyed foolish or not. Tell me.”

She had never thought of dreams that way, but it made sense and she had longed to talk about her dream. And for some unknown reason she trusted Brogan.

“I always wanted to build a cottage where my sisters and I could live comfortably,” she said. “I feel this is a good place for it. I see the promise of a good life here with some work and dedication. And the people here deserve a better place to live. It is also tucked away, private and peaceful.”

“I thought the same myself,” Brogan said, casting an eye around the place.

“You did?’ she asked, her brow rising in surprise.

“People avoid this place because of the witch and so it remains secluded. No one would bother me here. I could live peacefully for a change.”

His remark perplexed her. “But your clan’s keep is your home.”

Brogan shook his head. “It never felt like home to me. The Great Hall is constantly filled with noise and chatter, people coming and going. This peacefulness feels like home to me. A place where no one questions me, but simply lets me be, a place—like you—I could call home.”

“Then why chase after so many women? Or travel as you do?”

“Home is not home to me and as for the women…” He smiled and winked. “They chase after me, leannan.”

“There you go, thinking highly of yourself again,” she teased.

“The truth cannot be denied,” he said and held back a laugh.

Annis thought about that for a moment. “It is sad to say, but the truth has us both trapped. Even when I free Bliss, she still will be wed to the cursed lord and unable to leave him. Elysia hopefully took mine and Bliss’s advice and wed Saber, providing her with a home. And you will return home, heir to the Clan MacRae. When all is done, I will be the one left with no home to return to.”

“I will not let that happen. You have my word,” Brogan snapped fiercely.

“Be careful what you promise, I may hold you to it,” she warned with a gentle smile. Silence lingered between them for a few moments before Annis spoke again. “Will you take me to see Bliss when the time comes?”

“I will,” Brogan said, not thinking twice on it and understanding what she asked. Annis might plan on being victorious in her quest, but if by chance she failed, she wanted to make certain she got to see her sister before… he shook the dreadful thought from his head. He feared for his friend. Rannick would never survive losing a fourth wife.

* * *

Annis woke from a sound sleep,almost as if someone had shaken her awake. The evening had gone well. Talk and laughter was shared along with the meal and when she and Una retired for the night, they had spent some time talking. She had enjoyed it as much as Una had. It reminded her of the nights she and her sisters would lie awake talking about everything and anything.

She missed her two sisters terribly. She prayed Elysia had listened to her urging and wed Saber. If not… worry knotted her stomach. She needed to find out about Elysia. If she was not safe, she would bring her here where she could keep watch over her and make sure no harm came to her.

As for Bliss, she worried every day that she would be too late to save her, that the curse would strike her dead. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Bliss and the constant thought of the possibility didn’t allow her to sleep. She slipped quietly out of bed, so as not to disturb Una, and into her boots, then grabbed her cloak before heading out the door.

It was dark with clouds holding what partial moon there was hostage. The air bordered on cold, warning of a possible early winter. They would need to work fast to make sure all was made ready for the cold months ahead.

A single fire burned, the flames waning, which meant she had slept for a while. Brogan and Iver slept on either side of the fire, and guilt poked at her for continuing to occupy Iver’s bed. It did his aging bones no good to sleep on the cold, hard ground. Brogan was wrapped in a blanket and curled tight by the fire, neither the hard ground nor the cold disturbing him.

Annis turned toward the hills and could barely see them, the darkness affording them privacy and concealing the secret of the witch. She shut her eyes praying she would find the witch and learn from her what she so desperately needed to save Bliss.

“Annis.”

The soft whisper startled her, but the strong arms that circled her along with the cloak that wrapped around her comforted.

“You cannot sleep?” Brogan asked, drawing her back to close his cloak snug around them both and was glad she sunk willingly against him.

“I slept for a bit, then woke. My mind was far too busy to return to sleep,” she said, amazed by how much she enjoyed being cocooned by his arms and cloak.

She had given brief thought to marrying someday, though more thought to not marrying. She feared a husband would expect wifely things from her and she was not good at wifely things. But she had to admit she did enjoy the light taste of intimacy she had experienced with Brogan.

“You worry for Bliss,” he said, his arms staying snug around her.

“I do,” she admitted. “The curse has claimed Lord Rannick’s three wives. What will stop it from claiming a fourth?”

“You,” he whispered.

“If I am not too late.”

“Do not think that way. Think only on your quest,” Brogan urged.

She turned in his arms, craning her neck back to look at him, his face a mere shadow in the night, though she did catch a spark of his soft blue eyes. “Why encourage me now when you have done nothing but discourage me from the start?”

“You have a will about you, a tenaciousness I have not seen in any other woman. You refuse to surrender to naysayers. You forge ahead determined and with more courage than I see in many men. You are a force to be reckoned with and if by chance the witch does exist, I believe she will meet her match in you.”

That he believed so strongly in her startled her and also squeezed at her heart. Her response came quick without thought or delay, more instinct—or was it desire?

She kissed him, a strong and eager kiss.

Shock did not stop him from responding. His hand went to the back of her head and his lips returned her eagerness while his tongue slipped through her slightly parted lips. It wasn’t only an eager kiss, it was a hungry one, both of them in need of it.

Breathless when it ended, she rested her head on his chest, passion poking at her most intimate places. She was not ignorant of what went on between husbands and wives, Bliss having explained what she had learned from the married and unmarried women she treated. Never, though, did Annis think that a kiss could be so enjoyable and make her body ache with such powerful sensations.

“It is different than I imagined,” she said. “No wonder you kiss so many women.”

Brogan lifted her chin for her to look at him. “I never truly enjoyed a kiss until I kissed you. And nay, I have never spoken those words to any woman.”

“What makes me different?” she asked, hiding her surprise that he answered the question in her mind without her saying a word.

“I care for you, feel for you like I have never felt for another.”

“It surprises you,” she said, hearing it in his voice.

“Very much so. It caught me off guard. I didn’t see it coming until you were right there in front of me. It was like a punch to the gut.”

To her, it was slow, pulling her in little by little until… she shook her head. “I have not the time for this. I need my thoughts on saving my sister.”

“This need between us is not going away,” Brogan cautioned.

“You may be right about that, but at the moment, my sister comes first. She stepped out of his arms, the emptiness that met her so overwhelming she almost rushed back into them. Fear of losing her sister stopped her. “You will kiss me no more,” she ordered.

“You kissed me,” he reminded and chuckled when Annis cringed. “And when you say no more, do you mean forever?”

“I never said forever,” she snapped.

“Then how long is no more since you obviously want to kiss me and enjoy kissing me,” he said and raised his hands when she looked ready to argue. “And I enjoy kissing you and would miss kissing you, terribly.”

Annis sighed. “I suppose I should have wed you and been done with it and saved my sister from sacrificing herself.”

“Neither of us wanted to wed,” he reminded and reached out, hooking her around her waist with one arm. “Of course, if we wed now, we could kiss as much as we want, and engage in other delightful husband and wife duties.”

“And that is a good reason for us to wed, because you want to poke me?” she asked bluntly.

“It’s a good start,” he said with a wink.

“You truly are impossible,” she said, shaking her head.

“Let’s discuss it,” he said, and giving her no chance to object escorted her to the fire.

Iver was sitting up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I thought I heard voices. Is everything alright?”

“It is,” Brogan confirmed. “Annis and I need to talk. Go and seek your bed for the rest of the night.”

Iver looked to Annis with a raised brow.

“I mean Annis no harm, Iver.” Brogan patted his lip that was healing nicely. “And I know from experience she can well take care of herself.”

Annis grinned and raised a fisted hand in proof.

Iver laughed. “Then I will leave you both to talk.”

Brogan shared his cloak with Annis once he sat beside her and she welcomed the extra warmth.

Annis resumed their conversation. “I do enjoy kissing you, but how do I know I’d enjoy you poking me?”

Brogan cringed. “First of all, we would not poke, we would make love.”

“Don’t you have to be in love to make love?” she asked.

Brogan scratched his head. “That’s a good question and one I realize I truly cannot answer since I have never been in love. I have cared for the women I have coupled with, but I had no love for any.”

“Couple, poke, make love, it’s all the same then. That’s rather disappointing,” Annis said. “And what if you get stuck with a husband or wife, whatever the case may be, who you don’t enjoy coupling with?” She scrunched her nose. “How awful that would be.”

“I can guarantee you will enjoy coupling with me,” Brogan boasted.

“So you say, but I may think differently,” she said. “And what if I disappoint you? After all, I have no experience and you might be impatient with my fumbling attempts.”

He laughed. “You can fumble all you want with me, mo ghràdh.”

Annis jabbed him in the side. “You think it’s funny now but may not think it funny later. What then? Would you go seek your pleasure with another?” She jabbed him again. “Because if you did, I would give you more than a bloody lip.”

Brogan laughed again. “Want me all to yourself, do you?”

“Would you want me all to yourself?” she asked.

His smile disappeared in an instant. “No other will ever touch you but me. You are mine and mine alone. I would kill any man who puts his hand on you.”

Why did that spark a bit of joy in her?

“Then you understand why I feel the same,” she said.

“We agree then. Another good start to a marriage.”

Annis yawned and Brogan settled her close against him, giving her a chance to rest her head on his shoulder if she wanted, and he smiled when she did.

“I am not ready to wed,” she said and yawned again. “Though I will admit that you might—might—not make as bad a husband as I first thought.”

“Another good start,” he said and hoped she’d agree to wed him of her own accord before she found out what he had kept from telling her… she was already his wife.