“Ye offend my honor,” Alex said. “I only do my duty for the clan with the pretty ones.”
After the laughter died down again, Connor said. “We’d best keep our heads down, lads. We have enemies to spare without adding more.”
The smell of the rabbits roasting finally woke Niall, who sat up and stretched. “Are they cooked yet? I’m famished.”
“I’d best serve Sileas first,” Connor said, as he lifted the spit from the fire. “Her stomach is so loud it’s disturbing the horses.”
Her mouth watered as Connor held the spit out and Ian cut off a big slice for her with his knife. Though she enjoyed the men’s easy banter, as soon as her hunger was sated, she grew too tired to follow it.
“Your wife is going to choke to death if she keeps falling asleep with her mouth full,” Connor said.
She opened her eyes with a start to find the men all smiling at her.
“That would be a shame, after we went to the trouble of fetching her,” Duncan said.
“Goodness, Duncan, is that two jokes I heard ye make tonight?” she said, and they all laughed.
Ian handed her a flask of ale and rubbed her back as she took a drink to wash down the rabbit.
“Let’s get ye off to bed.” He set the flask aside and scooped her up in his arms.
“Night, Sileas,” and “Sleep well,” the others called to her as Ian carried her off into the darkness beyond the firelight.
When Ian had found a secluded spot some distance from the others, he set her down and spread their blankets. She thought she would fall asleep as soon as her head hit the ground. Instead, she lay in Ian’s arms listening to the wind in the trees and the faint sound of Duncan playing a tune on his whistle.
When Ian lifted her chin and gave her a soft kiss, she opened her mouth to him and pressed against him. How she loved him.
He pulled back. “Are ye sure you’re not too tired?”
“Aye. I want ye, Ian MacDonald.” She ran her hand up his erect shaft to show him how certain she was.
It was the same each night of their return to Skye. After riding so many hours that she could barely stand, they would eat and talk with the others. Then Ian would lead her off to make their bed away from the others.
As soon as she lay down with him, her tiredness evaporated like the morning mist and they would make love half the night. What Ian did to her was a constant wonder to her, a magic she feared the faeries would envy.
By the time they reached the coast, she was in an exhausted fog of happiness. They found a distant cousin of Alex, one of the MacDonnells, who was willing to take them across the Sound of Sleat in his boat. Despite the cold, wet wind on the sea, Sileas fell sound asleep to the rocking of the boat with Ian’s arms about her.
She awoke to an awareness of tension in Ian’s body. When she opened her eyes, she saw Knock Castle shrouded in low clouds up the coastline to the north.
“I hope ye believe I would want ye as my wife whether or not ye were heir to Knock Castle,” he said.
She ignored the grain of doubt that remained in her heart and nodded.
“But we must take it back,” he said.
She tightened her grip on Ian’s arm. Even if she had Ian with her, would she be able to live in a place that held such sorrow for her? Could it ever be cleansed of her mother’s suffering or her stepfather’s malevolence?
Could she and Ian be happy in a castle that made a ghost weep?
She understood the importance of the castle and her claim on it to the clan, but just the sight of it made her stomach tighten into knots. Knowing Murdoc and Angus were there now made her feel worse.
“They can’t see us from the castle, can they?” she asked, though it made her feel foolish.
“They’ll see the boat, but there are many boats in these waters,” Ian said. “This isn’t one they’ll know.”
Ian kept his gaze fixed on Knock Castle until it disappeared from view. “I’ll not let the man who hurt you keep your home.”
But Knock Castle had never been a true home to her.
CHAPTER 29
Shouts of greeting filled the house as soon as Ian opened the front door.
“Praise God, all of ye are safe and that ye brought her home to us,” his mother said. She hugged him and each of the other men in turn, while his father embraced Sileas.
“Is my thick-headed son treating ye better now?” his father asked, with his arm about her shoulders. “Sometimes a man needs a good scare to clear his head.”
“Then my head must be verra clear, for she had me scared witless, da,” Ian said, laughing.
Ah, it was good to be home.
They caught up on news over dinner. Though no one was told of their departure, as happens on Skye, everyone knew of it within a day or two.
“Hugh’s supporters spread the rumor that Connor’s left for good,” his father said. “We hear from Duncan’s sister that Hugh is making promises he’s not likely to keep in order to gain support. Unfortunately, it seems to be working.”
That didn’t bode well at all. From the start, it was always going to be a challenge for Connor to take the chieftainship from his uncle, but they had counted on taking Knock Castle to swing support in Connor’s favor. Men love a victory. But it was too late now to gather men and mount an attack.
