Colin watched the boys fidget as he waited for an answer. After a minute of silence, a skinny boy sitting in front of the crowd announced, “If it were a man, I would thrust a sword right through his heart.” He followed the statement by slicing the air and then stabbing his friend next to him with a pretend claymore.
Colin pointed at him and said, “You, lad, just might, but Olave…well, he chose to do nothing. Instead, he hoped his actions would change their hearts. For during this entire time, the English were attacking in an attempt to reestablish the strongholds Wallace had freed. And each time, Olave would grab his sword and defend them.”
“Did it work?” asked one of the older boys standing a few feet away. Colin recognized him. He was Ian, the one who had publicly ridiculed Colin’s offer of training.
Colin took a deep breath and sighed. “A heart is the hardest thing to change, and unfortunately theirs was so hard against Highlanders, they could not see what Olave was doing for them until it was too late.”
“Too late? Did he go mad and kill them all? Did he kill Lisbet?” asked a woman engrossed by the story.
“Ah, Lisbet. She never acted against Olave, but in many ways she did something just as vile.”
“What?” shouted several voices simultaneously.
“She did nothing,” Colin answered, his eyes level and unflinching as he scanned the people crammed close around him.
“Nothing? How is that worse than what her family was doing? What could she have done?” Ian demanded, his tone defiant.
Colin looked at him and said, “That question you must learn to answer for yourself.” He returned his gaze to the crowd. “Then came the day after a year of hand-fasting, and do you know what he did?”
“I expect he left and never returned,” one frizzy-haired woman retorted. Colin recognized her as one of the women who had once worked in the keep but no longer offered her services.
He looked her straight in the eye and replied, “Aye, that is exactly what Olave chose to do. Scottish pride, regardless of whether Highland or Lowland, can only be beaten and assaulted for so long.
“On the morning of the second day after their hand-fast, Olave dressed and waited for Lisbet and her family to rise for their morning meal. Once they had eaten, he walked over to the door and reached up for his sword that hung above the frame. Then he went and retrieved his axe and his ballock knife. And while Lisbet and her family were still watching, he went out, retrieved his horse, and mounted. And just before Olave left, he said, ‘I leave you, Lisbet, to find someone that will make you happy, but I take my sword with me.’
“Now Lisbet began to panic as she realized Olave was leaving them defenseless. When the English attacked again, they would be unprotected and very vulnerable. She ran after him and begged him to stay.”
“What did he say?”
“He told her that all Scotsmen should know where they belong and accept the price that comes with it.”
“What does that mean?” Ian spoke up, confused by Olave’s departing comment.
“I, myself, didn’t understand what he meant when Olave related his story.”
“But you do now?” Ian asked.
“Aye, I do.”
The woman with frizzy hair stepped forward. “But what happened to Lisbet? Her family? The village?”
“They are all gone, including the Sorn keep. Murdered by English soon after Olave left.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I told you the tale ended poorly.”
Colin clapped his hands, indicating the tale was done. He slyly studied the room. Many were openly nervous; others tried to hide their unease. It was just as he had hoped. He looked at Conor, who lifted his quaich silently to him and nodded. Soon the tale would be repeated over and over again throughout the clan.
It was the Dunstans’ last chance.
Colin closed the door to the solar and watched as Makenna carefully removed the gold threads intertwined in her hair. It had been a long night ending in quiet retrospection. As clan members headed toward their homes, Makenna had taken Colin’s hand and led him back to their room. There she had let go and begun to prepare for bed.
He had expected her to question his story, his motives, what he hoped to accomplish, yet she said not a word. Makenna glided about the room as she prepared for bed. Nothing she did was out of the ordinary. Still, every graceful movement was far more sensual, far more feminine than he could ever remember.
Makenna pulled at the long lace to free her gown and slithered out of it. Lifting a hand to push an errant tendril of auburn hair back behind her ear, she could feel Colin’s blue eyes riveted to every move she made. Pleasure derived from feminine power washed over her.
Colin watched her smile light the deep emerald windows to her soul. He knew that look very well. Makenna wanted him, and she had invented a new version of foreplay. Never did he realize how incredibly arousing it could be just to watch her prepare for bed. He forced himself to enjoy the gift until he could no longer contain his restraint.
Only a single piece of her clothing remained to be shed—her chemise. One side of the semidiaphanous garment slipped off her shoulder as she moved to sit on the edge of the hearth chair. As she brushed her hair back over her shoulder, Makenna’s chest thrust outward, emphasizing the tempting outline of her full breasts and the pink, erect nipples barely hidden beneath the thin cloth.
Slowly she edged her leg out to balance herself as she moved to brush the other side. In doing so, the chemise rose above her knee and with each stroke edged farther up her thigh. She was exquisite.
Colin remembered the first time he kissed her by the loch and how alive she had made him feel. He had been unprepared for Makenna. The first time they had made love, he discovered how lonely he had been, how much he needed what she gave him. Then she had told him she loved him.
He hoped she loved him enough.
Makenna heard his belt rattle on the chest, and then the sound of a thick cloth falling on the floor. She hesitated for a moment and then continued her brushstrokes again.
Colin sank into the chair beside her and stretched out his limbs, hoping that the rest would calm his arousal enough for him to hear the words that would set his heart free or doom him to loneliness. “What did you think about tonight?”
Makenna stopped brushing and turned to look at him. The masculine hunger in him was palpable. She knew that she had stirred his desire and yet he wanted to talk…no, he needed to talk. Maybe he knew…
Makenna swallowed and replied nervously, “You mean the story about Olave?”
“Aye, I mean Olave.”
Relief surged through her. “I thought I would like to meet your Olave and his Hazel someday. Although it has taken him a while, I am glad he has her.”
“Do you not feel for Lisbet?”
Understanding crept into Makenna’s eyes. This strong man, so secure and sure of himself, needed reassurance he wasn’t going to lose her. “Aye, but she was a fool. I understand the desire to listen to one’s family, but to ignore your heart is unwise.” Their eyes locked. “I would never be so foolish, Colin,” she promised in a quiet, but firm voice. “If I had been Lisbet, I would have followed Olave to the ends of the earth.”
“And if those ends were in the Highlands?”
“I love Lochlen and these lands, Colin, but I love you even more. Wherever you decide to live, I and our children shall reside there as well,” Makenna vowed, hinting of their impending family.
Choked with emotion, Colin sat still, absorbing what she said and what it meant. He would never be lonely again. “God, Makenna, I need you so very much.”
“I know. I need you, too,” she whispered back.
He shook his head. He knew he needed to say the words, have her understand. Never before had they been hard to say, but then never before had they meant so very much. “That’s not what I meant. I love you, Makenna.”
The three words she had longed to hear, but never thought she would. Makenna pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and bit down on her knuckle. She watched the flames bounce against the blackened stone walls. Colin was waiting for her to speak, wanting her to acknowledge him in some way, but this was not something she could just accept. Those words had the power to destroy her.