Page 53 of Seductive Scot
Apparently protectiveness of children did not abate when they grew to men. “I’m nae trying to tell ye that.”
“Good, because I’d call ye a liar,” Shona said. “Reikart is perfect and very handsome.”
“Well, ye must certainly be pleased to have the first perfect human in existence,” Deirdre said, unable to help herself. Maggie, who stood to the left and slightly behind Shona, shook her head at Deirdre. She got the gist of her sister’s warning, saw Shona’s eyes narrowing, and quickly added, “He is handsome. Wickedly so.” Shona nodded her approval. “What I mean to convey is that just because we are attracted to each other”—she felt fairly secure that he was attracted to her as she was him—“does nae mean we will suit.”
“Too late for that concern now,” Maggie said.
“Aye,” Grace said, quirking her mouth. “Ye should nae have agreed to a swim in naught but yer léine and him bare-arsed!”
“I did nae agree to any such thing,” Deirdre ground out. “I went for a swim to be alone and order my thoughts. Next thing I knew, he dove in on top of me.”
“Likely story,” Shona said, pursing her lips.
Deirdre could feel her temper rising. “Ye do nae believe me?”
Shona cocked her head and stared at Deirdre for a long moment. “Actually, I do, but no one else will, and that is what you have to face—what ye both must face. Ye will need to be wed or else ye will be ruined.”
The fact that the corners of the woman’s mouth pulled up slightly instantly made Deirdre suspicious. “Did ye plan this?”
“No,” Shona replied immediately and definitely. “But I can’t deny that I’m glad it’s worked out this way. Ye will make him a good wife, and ye have nothing and no one holding ye here once we are all gone, so there is no need for ye to stay.”
Deirdre’s temples were throbbing. She leaned closer, fearful of talking about such things in public. “I’ll nae be going anywhere with a man that does nae want me.”
“He wants ye,” Shona said. “Mark my words. And when he accepts just how much, and finally lets ye in, no one, not even the king himself, will be able to stop him from taking ye with him.”
The idea of being loved with so much passion that someone would risk his life for her was foolish to even entertain, but foolish or not, she had to admit it would be nice to be loved so completely. Still, she crossed her arms over her chest, determined to keep control of her life. “I’ll decide if I’m going to wed him or nae, and I’ll decide if I’m staying in this century,” she said in a furious whisper, “or going.”
Shona nodded. “Keep that attitude up,” she said, winking. “Reikart loves a good challenge!”
Deirdre threw up her hands, and hearing a roar from the crowd surrounding Reikart and Fearghas, she turned and gasped, seeing Reikart’s fist flying repeatedly into Fearghas’s face. “When did the battle start?” she demanded, sweeping her gaze over her sister, Shona, and Grace.
“It’s been going on a little while,” Shona said.
They’d been distracting her, she realized, turning away from them and running toward the circle. Her heart pounded as she pushed through the crowd to get to the front, and Maggie and Shona came to either side of her.
Reikart wore nothing but braies, which hung low on his hips. His body was powerful, the muscles rippling with each swing of his fist, which he did so rapidly and repeatedly that it looked almost like a blur of motion. Fearghas staggered and fell to his knees, and Reikart danced in front of him, fists up, sweat glistening from his body in the glow of the torches. “Get up,” he demanded.
Fearghas rolled to his back with a loud groan, and threw his arms over his face. Reikart crouched suddenly, one knee on Fearghas’s chest and one on the ground. Silence fell so completely that the collective breathing of the crowd could be heard.
“If you ever utter another word about Deirdre again, this beating won’t compare to the next one I give you. Do you understand?”
The anger in Reikart’s voice didn’t scare her; it comforted her because he was incensed for her. He was honorable. He was kind. He was very easy to look at, and wedding him ensured she remained close to her sister. Wedding him might mean a loveless marriage, but that was not any different from what she’d faced before. Whatwasdifferent was that there had never been any part of her that wanted the heart of any other man before. Inside her was a growing desire to know Reikart and for him to want to know her in the way only two people in love could know each other. But if she wed him and that desire grew within her but he would not relent, could she live with that?
Fearghas grunted his acquiescence, and Reikart sprang up, the fight not seeming to have winded him a bit. He glanced her way as if he’d known exactly where she was all along, and her heart skipped several beats. What if she didn’t wed him? What was her future?
Behind her, someone bumped into her. “Whore,” a voice said close to her ear.
She turned without hesitation and met the eyes of one of her clanswomen, Bettia, who was wed to one of the warriors on the council. They had been friends. Rage roiled within Deirdre. “What did ye say?”
The silence around them was deafening.
“I called ye a whore. Because ye are. Ye have given yer body out of wedlock, and he will nae even have ye now!” She pointed to Reikart.
Deirdre didn’t think, she reacted, and her palm connected hard with Bettia’s cheek. Her husband’s face twisted in anger, and he took a step toward Deirdre as if to strike her. Before she even had time to react, Reikart was in front of her, shoving the man back, his own face a mask of barely controlled fury.
“If you lay one hand on her, it will be the last time you use that hand.”
The man’s eyes widened, and after a moment, he nodded and stepped back. Reikart then looked to Bettia. “As for you, retract your claws. Deirdre didn’t give her body to me. Neither of us knew the other was in that river!”
