The Accidental Highland Hero

  She scowled further at him.

  “I want to know the truth about you, lass. You seem to be recalling some memories. Know you your clan’s name now?”

  “Nay.”

  Her eyes challenged him to disagree with her. She appeared to be telling the truth. He led her out of the kitchen and into the garden and took a deep breath of the lavender scenting the air. “But you recognized Allison.”

  Eilis looked at the ground.

  “How do you know Allison?”

  “I do not.”

  “Eilis…,” he said, unable to curb the exasperation in his voice.

  “I do not,” Eilis said sharply, her green eyes spitting fire. “She seemed somewhat familiar, but I do not remember her. I think ‘twas the way she looked at me that startled me most. As if she knew me and yet, although I sensed the same about her, I could not capture the reason. How would you feel if you have some memories and some of them are missing? The situation is more than frustrating, my laird.”

  “Call me James. If we are to pretend you are smitten with me and are boldly pursuing me, we must dispense with proper protocol.”

  Her eyes rounded.

  Aye, he wouldn’t mind in Eilis’s case if she initiated a kiss or two. “Do you object?”

  “In calling you…James, nay. I must learn to get used to it is all.”

  “Aye, that is the right of it, lass. Do you have a favorite color?”

  She glanced down at the green dress she was wearing then looked at James’s tunic. Reaching out, she touched it. “Blue like the cloudless sky.” She ran her hand over her gown. “And green like the pine needles in the forest.”

  “Who did you stay with in Glen Affric? You know the area too well not to have been there on frequent occasions. But Eanruig believed you did not live permanently in the area, or he would have remembered you better.”

  She shook her head and observed the flowers, but if he could read her mind, he imagined her thoughts were elsewhere.

  “You know your da is dead. What about your mother?”

  “Aye,” she said softly. “I do not recall how or why I remember they are both dead, but only that they are.”

  “Who is your guardian?”

  “I do not know.”

  “An uncle?”

  She shook her head.

  “What about brothers or sisters? Have you any? Mayhap an older brother who is your guardian? A cousin?”

  “I do not remember.” Then she turned her chin up and asked, “What about yours? I should know more about you also.”

  “Aye. Malcolm is a year younger than me, then Dougald, and lastly Angus. My brothers are helping Lady Anice with the troubles she has had at Brecken Castle.”

  “Some of her staff disappeared.”

  Surprised, he stared at her. “You know of this?”

  “I do not remember who, but just that an urgent missive was sent to King Henry since she had become his ward when her uncle died.”

  “How do you remember some things and not others?”

  She shook her head.

  “Tavia said you were tossing and turning overmuch in your sleep.” The vision of Eilis’s near naked breasts came to mind, and James reluctantly forced the memory from his thoughts. “Do you recall any nightmares?”

  “I was drowning. ‘Tis easy to know why I would have a nightmare like that.”

  “Who were you with on the ship? Family? Servants?”

  “My laird…”

  “James.”

  “James. I do not know. All I remember was clinging to…” Her words hung in the air, and she quickly looked away.

  “What Eilis? You were clinging to…?”

  “Bits of the ship’s wreckage. Then Eanruig and Niall rescued me, although I do not remember how.”

  He was certain she’d remembered something else. She was clinging to what? Someone on the ship? Someone she loved?

  The ship was being tossed about in a turbulent sea. Wouldn’t she have been below deck or in the captain’s quarters if her family had paid enough for her voyage?

  Most likely the turmoil would have upset her stomach.

  “Were you ill? When the ship was being tossed about in the storm?”

  “Aye.”

  So she remembered more than clinging to the ship’s remnants after it went down. “Who was with you?”

  “I do not recall.”

  Didn’t she? This time he didn’t believe her.

  He took her arm and started back to the keep when she pulled him to a stop.

  Tears glistened in her eyes, and she swallowed hard. “I do not know who the woman was, but she…she said I would bring shame to our clan if I jumped from the ship.”

  James stared at her then touched her pale cheek. “What did you fear, lass, that you would consider ending your life?”

  She broke eye contact and looked at her shoes. “I truly do not remember.”

  A betrothal, he was certain.

  He lifted her chin and met her gaze. “You are too much of a woman to let whatever ails you get the best of you. I promise, I will aid you in anyway I can in dealing with your family.”

  He leaned down and kissed her full lips. This time she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth against his. In gratitude? Inwardly, he groaned at the feelings she stirred in him. With the way she leaned her body against his, his shaft grew rigid, and his skin heated. He’d been so intent on kissing the lass in return, he’d forgotten they’d quit the garden and stood now in the middle of the inner bailey where many of his staff were carrying on their chores for the day.

  Until he separated from the lass and found nearly every servants’ eye upon him and the lady. He cleared his throat while she avoided looking at anyone as he walked her the rest of the way to the keep.

  Eilis’s cheeks were beautifully colored as she watched her feet all the way back.

  He cast her a small smile. “You are getting into the spirit of our ruse, Eilis. I warrant even my own people believe I might have changed my mind about Catriona.”

  “But you cannot.” She quickened her step into the keep.

  “And why not? I can make my own choice.”

  She turned and looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. “My laird, you do not know me, where I am truly from, or anything. Thinking that you would consider me as a bride choice would be foolishness.”

  “You are calling me foolish?” He quirked a brow and watched her cheeks blossom with color anew. “I thought not.”

  She touched his chest and traced the embroidery stitches on his tunic. “Aye, you are foolish if you think you have a chance with me.”

  Loving the challenge in her words, he smiled. But the way she touched him sent a signal straight to his groin. “Be sure to press your fingers against me like that in front of Catriona, and you will no doubt get her attention.” At least, she certainly had his, and he didn’t want her to stop.

  Horses entering the inner bailey distracted him, and turning, he saw his Aunt Beatrice and her daughter, Nighinn—the cousin he thought to inspect in a month if Catriona would not agree to marry him. Whoever told the lass he wished to see her now?

  He would wring whoever’s neck was responsible for the difficulties this could cause. With Eilis, the problem did not exist because she had no real plans to wed him. But Nighinn could cause a scene with Catriona. If this was Niall’s doing, he’d thrash him soundly.

  Releasing Eilis to his mother’s care, he turned and headed out to deal with Nighinn and his Aunt Beatrice, hopefully to send them back home at once where they belonged.

  ****

  The look on James’s face when he saw the matronly woman in blue, a younger woman, just as plump in tow, reminded Eilis of…

  For a fleeting instant, she nearly had it. Then the elusive memory was gone but not James’s glum expression. Although once he released her to his mother’s care, he had put on a false smile and joined the women in the inner bailey.

  Lady Akira motioned to
Tavia. “Accompany Eilis to her chamber. I will have Fergus sent right up.”

  She headed outside, and Eilis got the distinct impression the lady was not too entirely pleased to see the arrival of the other women either.

  “Who are they?” Eilis asked Tavia, not caring whether she breeched protocol. She still had no intention of staying, especially when James’s rakish charm made her whole person burn with desire. ‘Twas good he didn’t intend to bed her or she no doubt would offer herself as a wanton without a care.

  Mayhap she had already thoroughly disgraced her family and was being sent away to wed the man who compromised her. Yet, she couldn’t summon any recollection that she’d ever been kissed so…thoroughly.

  Tavia followed Eilis into the bedchamber then shut the door. “The older woman is Laird MacNeill’s aunt, Beatrice. A verra shrewd woman and determined that her daughter marry James now that he is earl. She waited until he had turned down the other lassies, but seeing as how James was unable to draw Lady Catriona here, the word must have reached his aunt. I cannot imagine he would have invited her here when Lady Catriona is on her way. I am sure His Lairdship is not pleased about it.”

  “But mayhap his cousin will force Catriona’s hand, and she will agree to marry His Lairdship. Then I will not truly be needed.”

  Which relieved her to think if she could leave, James could still encourage Catriona’s concession. On the other hand, the thought of not being needed weighed heavily on her, like the ship’s anchor tossed into the Irish Sea. The notion she didn’t belong anywhere was beginning to bother her as much as not knowing why she was afraid her family would discover her.

  “Not Nighinn. I dare say Lady Catriona will find it a mockery,” Tavia said.

  “Why?” Eilis sat on a cushioned bench and pulled her embroidery work from a table. ‘Twas generous of Lady Akira to have had a maid fetch Eilis strands of blue, green, and yellow silk and wool threads to use in designing a lion to embroider a cloth to hang on the wall. Although, she had not had much time to work on it.

  Tavia said, “I…”

  A knocking at the door made Eilis jump.

  Tavia answered it, and after listening to a servant, she said to Eilis, “I must see to a lady in childbirth. Fergus is here so if you need anything, let him know.”

  Eilis nodded, although she assumed if she needed anything, Fergus would not oblige her if it meant leaving her alone for even an instant. When Tavia shut the door, Eilis jumped from the bench and rushed to the window. Although clouds covered the sky, making for a gray day, she didn’t think she could slip out of the keep unnoticed.

  Then again, if everyone was busy with James’s kin and they thought someone was with Eilis in her bedchamber…

  She glanced at James’s chamber. And smiled. Aye, she could slip out that way and make her way through the keep, mayhap.

  Without wasting another moment, she hurried to his chamber, yanked the door open, and froze.

  Standing in the center of the chamber, James was utterly naked from his broad shoulders and dark-haired chest trailing all the way to his shaft. She blinked, never having had seen a naked man before or at least not that she could recall.

  Then like a flash of a dream, like one of her strange memories that was there then was not, James’s glorious body vanished along with the chamber and everything else as if the flame of the lighted candle of her mind suddenly was snuffed out.

  Chapter Eight

  “God’s wounds, Eilis,” James’s growled close to her face as she lay on her mattress, his voice sounding far away, only his warm breath fanned across her hair as she attempted to recall what had just happened.

  Her lashes fluttered, and in a dense fog, she saw James’s furrowed brow, the angry set of his mouth.

  “Were you looking for me again?” he asked, his voice gruff.

  Her mind clearing, she shifted her attention from his brooding face to his bronzed chest, every muscle in his torso straining with tension. She looked further down, but his plaid brat now hung low on his hips. She imagined he must have carried her into her chamber after she fainted dead away then returned to his own room to throw on his brat before he came back to scold her. She licked her dry lips and swallowed hard, unable to lift her gaze and face his condemning expression.

  Why did he have to be in his chamber? Naked?

  “Eilis?”

  “Aye,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. He would know she was again attempting escape.

  “If you wish to take the charade further…”

  He let his words hang ominously in the tension strung out between them.

  Her gaze shot up, her cheeks burning. “Nay.”

  He cast her the most deliciously sexy, but decidedly wicked smile. “’Tis up to you, lass. Only give the word.” Taking her hand, he lifted the palm to his lips. He pressed his mouth against her hand, his gaze never leaving hers. “If you continue to venture into my chamber while I am in various states of undress, I will assume you wish to join me in my bed.”

  The message was clear. Quit trying to escape through his chamber or else…

  He traced her jaw with his fingers in a tender way, forcing a thrill through her. “Did you like what you saw?”

  Before she could find her tongue, the door opened, and a female servant gasped. “Pray pardon, my laird. Tavia sent me to…” She lowered her eyes. “…to watch over the lady.”

  “She was momentarily indisposed. But I believe the color is returning to her pale cheeks. You may help her get ready for the meal, however, Nesta.”

  “Aye, my laird.” Nesta bobbed a curtsey then James disappeared into his chamber and shut the door.

  Eilis still couldn’t catch her breath, her heart racing like the sea’s swift tide.

  “You look flushed,” Nesta said, tucking a wayward red curl back into her braid. “But then seeing His Lairdship…” The girl quit fussing with her kirtle, and her green eyes widened. “Oh, pray pardon. I meant no disrespect, my lady. Only I, well, seeing his Lairdship in only his plaid and naught else…”

  Now Nesta’s face blossomed with color. “Let me dress you in a fresh gown, afore I say more than I ought to. Not than I have not already.”

  Eilis gave a small smile, glad the woman could fill the silence, because she couldn’t summon her tongue to speak a word.

  While the woman rebraided Eilis’s hair, Eilis sat quietly on the bench, her gaze fixed on James’s door, only she envisioned him, not the door, as she remembered the look of his unclothed body. If she were betrothed, she hoped the man would look like James. Powerful shoulders and muscular arms strong enough to wield a sword against his enemies and carry a damsel in peril to safety, a bronzed chest furred lightly in dark hair trailing to the apex of his thighs. She thought he had large feet that suited the rest of his form, but she couldn’t be sure because of the staff he carried between his legs. ‘Twas as beautiful as the rest of him.

  “…but Lady Beatrice is Laird MacNeill’s da’s sister, and she and his da never got along. His father was a rake, left his mother all on her own to raise the four boys and her nephew, Niall, when his parents died,” Nesta continued, and Eilis realized the lady had been talking the whole while, but she’d missed quite a bit of the conversation. The lady didn’t seem to notice.

  “I have to say, Lady Akira is anxious to get His Lairdship married off so he will provide an heir, but I do not believe Lady Beatrice’s arrival was planned and not even Lady Akira, who is always very gracious, seems at all pleased. I can see…”

  Footsteps sounded down the hall, drawing closer and closer then stopped before the door. A muffled voice spoke to someone, most likely James speaking with Fergus. Would he tell him Eilis was not to be trusted as she continued to attempt to escape through his chamber?

  “We all know His Lairdship is interested in Lady Catriona, but she will surely be upset when she sees you have her room,” Nesta said.

  “She has stayed here before?” Eilis asked, unable to hide her surprise.
The rake! He had already been with Catriona? What need had he of Eilis then? If he was as good a lover as she assumed he was the way he charmed her without even trying, the woman would join him in his bed or he in hers, and Eilis had no need to be here.

  The realization that Catriona had been here before in the chamber adjoining the laird’s could mean only one thing. James had access to Eilis just as easily as he had to Catriona. Not that there was any cause for concern since Eilis was being chaperoned nearly all of the time, and the only times she had intruded on His Lairdship’s chamber was with the mission of escaping. But Catriona would not know it and would be incensed.

  Someone knocked on the door.

  Eilis jumped.

  “Aye, Lady Catriona has been here several times,” Nesta said then hurried to get the door. “My laird.” She bobbed a curtsy.

  “Is Eilis ready?” James asked, his tone abrupt.

  “Aye, my laird,” Nesta said.

  She opened the door wider, and Eilis rose from the bench. She raised her chin and challenged his smug smile, saw his eyes bright with humor. He must not have been angered with her then. Although the look in his eyes indicated his thoughts were still on their bedchamber encounter. Discomfited anew, she felt her skin heat.

  Joining him, she rested her hand on his arm with a feather-light touch then walked with him to the great hall, but she feared the meal would not digest properly. Not only because of the realization James had a more than distant relationship with Catriona, although why it should have mattered she couldn’t fathom. But once his cousin saw the way James treated Eilis with fondness, she feared the lady would not take it well.

  When they entered the hall, everyone grew quiet and greeted Laird MacNeill and cast speculating glances at Eilis. But ‘twas the icy stares Eilis received from James’s aunt and cousin that caused her the most discomfort.

  Now that she could see a little more of the women, she noted Nighinn’s expression from the downturn of her lips to the narrowed blue eyes as frozen as the loch on a winter’s day. Dark hair was pulled back tight against her head, emphasizing full ruddy cheeks and the woman’s nose three sizes too small for her face. Her saving grace was her startling blue eyes, if they weren’t so condemning.