Page 81 of A Constant Blaze

“I don’t know,” Donald replied. “But she said you would.”

Malcolm stared up at him, his brow slowly clearing. “She said that?”

“I think it’s a game,” Donald said, grinning, clearly entertained by the idea of his parents playing at anything at all. “But we’re not allowed to join in.”

“Whom did she take?” His gaze fell on Astrid, lurking guiltily by the old bedchamber door. “Please tell me she didn’t go alone.”

“She took her two younger women and two of the men.”

Malcolm nodded and stood up. “Then I’d better go and fetch her.”

“It will be dark in an hour or so,” Gormflaith said in clear alarm. “Wait until first light.”

“I am quite used,” Malcolm said, “to traveling around Ross in the dark. It can’t have changed that much.”

“No, but your memory can,” Gormflaith said bluntly.

Malcolm blinked. “I don’t know whether you’re wise or insulting. Bring me some wine and food to carry, and I’ll bring you back your mother, if not tomorrow, then the day after.”

*

For once, theweather was kind. Although it was a cold night to camp out, it was dry and clear. Halla’s people clearly thought her mind had been overset by the return of her husband. Aideen, her youngest attendant, tried to talk her into returning, and then, more urgently, to stay with them in the tent by the foot of the waterfall.

But Halla, feeling like the defiant young girl she’d been all those years ago, insisted on climbing up the hill by herself and building her makeshift shelter and a fire just beside the rocky ledge where she’d first seen him.

She wasn’t afraid. She’d only brought the men and her women to stop everyone else from worrying. But she needed to be entirely alone, just for a little. She suspected one of the men had sneaked up the hill to see that she was safe and warm, but if so, he didn’t stay.

She lay down in her tent, huddled happily inside her blankets. Tomorrow she would walk down the hill, eat with her people, and then come back up here to wait for him. She knew he would come. And they would talk, say all the things that needed to be said to marry past and present and make their future together. And then she would seduce him.

She smiled, for it was a good plan, and she wasn’t blind to her luck. How many women fell in love twice with the same husband?

Through the canvas, she could make out the glow from the fire, warm and comforting in the darkness. She fell asleep to the relentless rush of the waterfall.

*

Presence. She woketo the knowledge of another’s presence, even before she remembered where she was and heard the sounds of someone brushing against the canvas. Or an animal, more likely, a wild cat or a fox, or even a wolf.

The problem with sleeping so far from her people was, of course, that she couldn’t call for the men to deal with predators. She’d known that, which was why she’d brought a dagger. It had been Malcolm’s, a gift from Somerled when she’d married him.

There was definite movement by the door. She could make out no staring yellow eyes in the darkness as she felt very slowly for the dagger in her pack. The bundle moved as she touched it, her fingers scrabbling desperately now for the weapon as the thing at the door rushed upon her.

She almost sobbed as her fingers closed at last around the dagger hilt, but before she could draw it free of its scabbard, something thudded beside her body—a human knee?—and a hand closed over hers on the weapon, prying her fingers free in spite of her frantic resistance.

“What is it about this place,” a voice breathed in her ear, chilling her very blood, “that turns you so murderous?”

The scream died in her throat. She lay very still, staring into the darkness. She could make out no more than a blur.

“Malcolm?”

His answer was a kiss that took her totally by surprise, pressing her into the blankets as his body covered hers.

“Who else would it be?” he muttered into her mouth.

She struggled to free her trapped arm and threw both around his neck, all the details of her plan forgotten in the sheer, overwhelming joy of his presence. “I knew you would come.”

“I’d cross the winter seas just to be alone with you for an hour, a minute.”

She kissed him, tears she hadn’t known were there trickling down her cheeks and into her hair. “You came too quickly. You must have ridden all night.”

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