he told her. He remembered how she used to look up to him, with that glow in her eyes, as if he was the strongest and bravest person she could ever hope to meet.
When he told her, she would look at him that way again—but with a woman’s eyes. And a woman’s desire. Then he’d pull her into his arms and kiss her as he’d been wanting to. Ah, it had been years since he’d given a lass her first kiss.
And then there would be all the other firsts…
God’s blood, he’d never bedded a virgin before. He had done his best to avoid innocents up until now. It surprised him that he found the prospect of bedding a virgin… exciting. At least, this particular virgin. Sileas would be his alone, now and forever.
“Ian,” Alex said, jarring him back to the present.
As he got out of bed, Ian grabbed his plaid to cover his throbbing erection. God’s beard, he was in pain. Tonight. Tonight, he would get to take Sileas to bed.
But first, there was the gathering. Work before pleasure.
“I see you’re going to church prepared,” Ian said to Alex, as he strapped on his own claymore.
“I don’t wish to count on Hugh respecting the house of God without encouragement.”
Word of Ian and Alex’s arrival would have reached Hugh’s ears, and their presence was bound to make Hugh nervous. Hugh was no one’s fool. He’d know that if they were here, Connor and Duncan could not be far behind.
“How many blades are ye taking?” Ian asked, as he slipped a dirk into the side of his boot.
“I only have two dirks,” Alex said, pulling a face.
“Here,” Ian said, tossing him another. “I got extra from the house last night.”
“You’re a good man,” Alex said, catching it.
Sileas wasn’t downstairs when they had their breakfast, but she was waiting at the gate with Ian’s mother when Ian, Alex, and Niall brought the horses to the front of the house.
“You’re sure you’ll be fine without me?” Sileas asked his mother.
“Ye worry too much,” his mother said, patting her hand. “I’m feeling my old self again. Payton and I will manage just fine.”
Sileas kissed his mother on the cheek and turned to where the three of them were waiting on their horses. “It’s such a fine day,” she said. “We could walk.”
“We’re riding,” Ian said.
It was true that the rain was no more than a light mist, which made it a fine day for mid-October in the Highlands. But he wanted the horses in case they needed to make a quick departure.
When Sileas started toward Niall’s horse, Ian nudged his forward to block her way. He held out his hand. “Ride with me.”
For a moment, she looked as if she would refuse, which annoyed him. He reminded himself that she didn’t know yet of his decision. When she finally gave him her hand, he swung her up in front of him. He pulled her tight against him as he kicked his horse into a trot. When he turned to wave good-bye to his mother, she gave him an approving nod.
He’d make two women happy by his decision to make a true marriage with Sileas.
It was hard to think with the smell of her hair in his nose and her bottom snug between his thighs. But the ride was short, so he forced his thoughts to what he would say to the men when they got there.
As they neared the church, they had to pass Dunscaith Castle, the seat of their clan chieftain. The castle was made famous by two women, both of whom—if Tearlag was to be believed—were Duncan’s ancestors. According to the old stories, Dunscaith was built in a single night by a sea witch. It was here, too, that the great Celtic warrior queen, Scathach, ran her legendary School for Heroes.
Ian had seen Dunscaith a thousand times before, but today he looked at it for the first time as an attacker. The castle stood on a rock island just offshore, with a gap of twenty feet between it and the main island. If the sheer rock was not enough to deter an attack by sea, the five-foot-thick curtain wall on top of it surely would.
To get into the castle, an attacker either had to come in by the sea gate on the far side, which was easily blocked, or cross the walled bridge that spanned the gap. If you made it across the bridge, the castle’s defenders could raise the drawbridge at their end of it to stop you. And if you made it past the drawbridge, you still had to fight your way up a walled flight of stairs that was too narrow for two men to go abreast swinging their swords.
“An easy castle to defend and a hard one to take,” Alex said, echoing Ian’s thoughts.
“Aye.” As they rode past, Ian narrowed his eyes at the castle’s tower. Was Hugh there now, watching them from his perch?
It was hard to bear that a greedy, honorless man held the castle where Scathach had trained her celebrated warriors of old.
Ian could see that there was already a large gathering of people outside the church, which was no more than a stone’s throw past the bridge to the castle. The church was a humble, whitewashed building, a poor relation to the cathedrals he had seen in France.
With his thoughts on Hugh and the tasks ahead, Ian realized that he hadn’t spoken a word to Sileas—but he didn’t have time now.
“Watch after her,” Ian said to his brother, as he helped her dismount. “I need to talk to the men.”
As planned, he and Alex moved separately through the gathered men to discover what they thought of Hugh proclaiming himself chieftain. After welcoming him home, a few spoke quietly to Ian about Hugh’s mistreatment of
