Highland Hellcat (2010) (17 page)

What the cannons faced stole her breath. Bathed in the ruby light of sunset was the ocean. Dark green water was riddled with white foamy caps. The sun was a brilliant half-sphere of golden light that stretched out its beams over the surface of the sea. There was the sound of water crashing down somewhere she could not see from her position on top of the wall, but she smiled and smelled the salt in the air while she drank in the wonder of the ocean, a sight that no drawing on paper might ever have prepared her for.

It was far more majestic than she had ever thought possible; the sound that had drawn her up onto the wall was those white-capped waves breaking down on the shoreline she could not see. She strained to catch even a glimpse of it, because who knew if she would ever have the chance again.

“Are ye truly trying to escape this direction?”

Brina jumped, a squeal crossing her lips as she turned to discover Connor lunging toward her with his hand outstretched. She recoiled from the fury etched into his expression.

But that was a grave mistake, for she was too close to the steeply slanted edge of the cannon bunkers. Ice clung to it, and her shoes slipped right out from beneath her when her weight landed on her feet.

“Connor—”

She reached for him even as she realized that it was too late for rescue. She felt herself sliding down the icy side of the stone surface, the angle of the wall her only salvation, because it kept her from dropping straight toward the ground, where her bones would surely be snapped under her own weight.

Connor lunged toward her, his body surging across the distance between them. His hand captured her wrist, but she was already too far down for him to stop her. He came over the edge of the wall, his cursing filling her ear.

Every second suddenly took forever to pass. She felt each beat of her heart and waited in between them, with enough time to wonder if the last one was the moment when her life ended. She felt her gowns rising up and her bare skin burning as she twisted and turned in an attempt to stop her descent.

But most of all, she felt Connor pulling her against his body and rolling her on top of him to shield her from the scraping ice that tore at the tender skin of her thighs. His sword made a horrible grinding noise against the stone wall, but it was comforting because it meant that the thick leather scabbard was taking the sharp bite of the icy stone surface instead of their flesh.

The ground that seemed to be taking so long to reach suddenly stopped their fall with a bone-jarring impact. Brina found her cry smothered in a spray of powdered snow that flew up all around them, clogging her nose and eyes as it flew into the air. Every joint erupted with pain while her body bounced and rolled with Connor holding her tightly.

She gasped and sputtered as she tried to draw breath through the ice that plugged her nose and mouth. A hard hand scraped it aside in one motion, allowing her to draw a deep breath. Connor only allowed her one before he was yanking her away from the edge of the cliff they had landed on.

“Holy Christ, woman! Ye’re lucky ye aren’t dead.”

Connor was furious, but Brina was still staring at the ledge she had almost rolled over. Beyond it was a fall that would no doubt have killed her, but the waves she had longed to see crashing onto the shore were in sight. She stared at the raw power of the water as it rose up, up, and then curled back down toward the earth to strike it with a roar as if it were being taunted in its attempt to fly.

“What’s wrong with ye, woman? How could ye think to escape in such a foolish manner?”

Connor pulled her to her feet, pressing her back against the base of the fortress wall and depriving her of seeing the shore any longer.

“Ye’re the one who startled me, yelling at me like a lunatic.”

His hand was curled into her cloak, holding on to her, while his face looked as though his temper were hot enough to melt the knee-deep snow they stood in.

“Ye were standing on the edge of the wall, woman.”

“Well, I wanted to see the shoreline… I’ve never seen the ocean before.”

He looked at her with surprise on his face, words failing him for a long moment. “Ye weren’t trying to escape?” He sounded incredulous at the very idea, and her temper rose up in defense.

“I do nae lie, Connor Lindsey, and that has been a frustrating thing, because I’d have escaped ye already if I could.”

She kicked at the snow, because her legs were beginning to hurt, but one of her shoes was missing, and her toes ached when they collided with the snow that was now hard instead of powdery.

“Besides, I didna think tumbling down the surface of the wall was a way out of your castle, but I never had to think of way to escape from a castle until now… because I’ve never been a prisoner before…” She looked around, suddenly realizing they were standing outside the fortress, and in spite of scrapes and bruises, she was very much alive.

“Except that now the fact is proven to ye.”

“That does nae convict me of attempting it. Ye startled me. If ye had nae yelled at me, I would nae have jumped away from ye.” She reached out and slapped at the hand holding her.

He snarled something before bending his knees and lifting her up onto his shoulder once again. It was an intolerable position, and she kicked as she growled at him.

He didn’t smack her bottom this time. Instead he clamped a solid arm across her thighs and began carrying her around the point of the fortress wall. As soon as they left the point behind, the curtain wall rose straight up once again.

“I swear to Christ, woman, ye’re blessed by every angel there is, for I had that wall slanted for those cannons just this last spring. Before that, it was a straight drop down like the rest of the curtain wall surrounding Birch Stone.”

He set her on her feet and glared at her. Brina narrowed her eyes and propped her hands onto her hips.

“Ye do a lot of swearing at the Savior.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “I thought this morning ye found my profanity amusing.”

“‘Bugger ye’ is entertaining.”

“No unless ye are planning on doing it, since I’ve gone to so much trouble to bring ye to my bed.”

He was in a temper, and she suddenly understood why. The cliff face rose up, cold and unscalable. It was just like another curtain wall, impenetrable from their position at its base.

“Are we locked out of yer own castle?”

He blew out a snort and glared at her. In the fading light, she recognized the scowl on his face and couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “It seems I am nae near yer bed after all.”

“Ye’re daft, woman. It’s freezing out here, and in the dark no one will know we are down here.”

Brina couldn’t help but continue laughing. “I’ve no’ ever heard of a laird being tumbled down the side of his own fortification.”

“Well, I’ve got beardless lads who know enough no’ to go up onto the forward battlements when there’s ice on the stones.”

Brina turned away from him to hide the hurt that slashed through her. It had been foolish to go up onto the wall when it was icy. She faced a solid cliff that the curtain wall was built up against. There was no way around it, and with dusk almost completely fallen, she forgot about her quarrel with Connor, because their situation was grave indeed. With both of them missing, she doubted the men set to guarding her would raise any alarm, assuming, of course, that she was with their laird.

The snow had not melted, and she looked at it now with mounting dread, for it heralded a night ahead with freezing temperatures that could very likely kill them both.

She heard him sigh, and a warm hand clasped her shoulder to turn her back around.

“I didna think that ye had never seen the ocean, but I should have, for yer father’s hold is inland.”

It was a fragile attempt at an apology, one that struck her as tender, and she suddenly realized that she was lonely for such attention. Maybe she had been intended for the church, but she had still had friends at Chattan Castle. At Birch Stone, she had only guards who watched her with suspicious eyes and women who served her while trying to decide if she would ever have any power in the clan and worried about what she thought of them.

“I heard the waves and didna know what the sound was.”

He nodded. “At least ye were wise enough to take that cloak with ye. That will be our salvation in another hour.”

He turned around and faced the cliff face. He began to pull on bushes and other plants that were covered with snow at the base of the cliff. He threw what he grabbed aside and continued to yank more out of the earth.

“I swear that I never thought to be using these cells myself.”

“Cells?”

Connor turned to look back at her. “Aye, no’ all the lairds of this castle have been merciful ones.”

He knocked a tree branch aside to reveal a large iron ring that looked as though it was set into the cliff side. Connor kicked at the ground, moving more rocks and plants until the path was clear for him to open the door.

“I’m only grateful that I didna have the door removed. I thought about it and decided it wasna wise to destroy something that might someday have a use. Even if I hoped never to condemn any soul to imprisonment here.”

“Who would put anyone in a cell on a cliff side?”

Connor struggled with the door, until at last it opened with a grinding sound. She looked up, hopeful that one of the Lindsey retainers might hear the sound up on the walls.

“With the wind blowing the sound of the surf over the walls, no one will hear us until morning when it reverses, lass. The cell was built by my uncle because he intended to keep the lairdship by any means.”

“Why did he even inherit it, when ye were alive?”

Connor offered her a hard look. “Because my parents didna wed until after my birth, and he used that fact to question my legitimacy. He took control of the Lindsey while the matter was sitting before the nobles, something he helped to ensure by making sure those powerful men knew he was nae interested in them attending to the matter quickly. That would give him time to see if fate would snuff out my life before I became a man capable of pressing the issue.”

She gasped. “Yer uncle was dishonest…”

Connor turned to look toward the cell. “Still, sleeping in the stable was warmer than this promises to be.”

Stable…

Brina covered her mouth with her hand because the hard muscles along his back suddenly impacted her as something beyond the fact that he was a Highlander. His body was hard because his life had been horribly difficult. Being labeled a bastard was a harsh thing, and it would have set him apart from others just as clearly as her undyed robe had.

“At least we shall have shelter in here.”

The last of the light washed into the cell, showing a dismal place that must have been a horrible fate for anyone condemned to it. There was a stone bed made from flat rocks piled carefully against each other, and the remains of a pallet lay curled and rotted on top of it.

“We’re in luck, it seems.” Connor stepped inside and picked up a wooden chair roughly made of large sections of wood. A center cut of a tree had been hollowed out to leave a short back on it. He swung it against the wall, and it shattered into sections. The large section of wood would burn for hours.

The ceiling of the cell wasn’t high enough for Connor to stand up straight. He arranged the broken chair pieces against the wall and reached for the rotted remains of the pallet to use as tinder.

“At least it’s small enough in here that the fire should keep us from freezing.” He opened the pouch hanging from his belt and pulled a tiny flint stone from it.

“I’ll strike the flint. Ye need to pull the door shut to keep the wind from blowing the flames out.” Brina spoke up and gained a grin from him.

“Aye, and a few of those tree limbs for green wood are better than nothing on a night such as this one promises to be.”

The wind was whipping into the cell, making it bitterly cold. Connor handed her the stone, but she had to step up onto the stone bed to allow him enough space to get back to the door. The cell was no more than four feet across and six feet deep. Brina shivered as she considered anyone who might have been locked inside it. She knelt next to the pile of wood and fabric to strike the flint against another stone she picked up from the floor. Sparks flew out, blinding bright. She hit the stone again and several more times while she heard Connor pulling a large limb inside before the door ground closed. Once the wind was blocked, the sparks caught on the dry pallet remains, yellow flames eagerly licking over the wood. Connor left the door open a few inches to allow the smoke to escape.

“At least it is dry in here.” She tried to hand back the flint, but Connor grasped her hand in his larger one.

“I’m more grateful for the fact that I went searching for ye, lass. Ye would nae have known this cell was here.”

There was too much concern in his voice for her to bear. It made it too difficult to think of him as someone she must leave. With the cell door closed, it was so tempting to huddle close to him and share the warmth of life, because the cell was a blunt reminder of just how easily the world around them might snuff out that flame.

She didn’t want to live in cold, unnoticed servitude…

“Come here, lass…”

His voice had dropped to a deep timbre that beckoned to her. He was suddenly the only spark of light in a dark wasteland. She couldn’t suffer the cold any longer, not now that she knew what his embrace felt like, and the darkness seemed to offer her a place to indulge her needs, because she couldn’t see anyone watching her.

His arms wrapped around her, but this time they didn’t bind her to him. Brina reached for his shoulders, sliding her hands over his chest until she could wrap her fingers gently around his neck beneath the collar of his doublet where it was open. She quivered as her hand met his warm skin, and she heard him draw in a stiff breath because her fingers were chilled.

“I’m sorry…”

“Do nae be.” He pressed her upper body forward to trap her arms in place when she began to withdraw her hands.