Chapter Four

Rachel dangled from a protruding rock, panting as the toes of her torn slippers dug into any foothold she could find. “Help!” She’d merely been trying to find a private spot to see to her needs when she’d walked over the edge of this crater in the absolute darkness.

“Rachel!” Alec’s pounding footfalls washed relief through her trembling body.

“Stop!” she huffed. “You’ll fall.”

The drumming stopped not too far from her. “Where are ye?” His feet shuffled, loose pebbles rolling along the jagged floor.

“Over a ledge.”

“Bloody hell,” he cursed. “I canna see.”

“Wait.” Her word was breathless and she tried to keep the panic from weakening her hold. She funneled magic toward the faint sting on her leg. A blue glow flooded out of her hands, illuminating below the edge the horn-shaped rock sticking out of the cliff wall less than a foot down.

“Bloody, damn hell. Hold on!”

“That was the plan,” she panted.

His head appeared over the side. “Just look at me.”

Rachel stared at his perfect face. High cheekbones, a slender nose with just a small bump, like it had been broken once. He probably knew the date, place, and who had given it to him. His jaw was square and strong. His perfectly formed lips pinched tight with thought. Wet hair framed his face as he leaned over. A clean soap scent mixed with the smell of the dank earth before her face.

Alec’s chin nearly touched the rock to which she clung. His hands encircled her wrists and he began to pull. But before she could even let go of the rock, the ties holding her long sleeves ripped. A small scream flew out of her on a gasp as she felt herself begin to slip out of the long cloth tubes. Her toes dug in and she stilled, her nose smashed into the dirt.

A string of curses, most in Gaelic, echoed off the walls. “I need to pull these sleeves off so I can grab yer arms. Who bloody wears long sleeves in the summer?”

She didn’t answer.

“Are yer feet on a rock?”

“My toes.”

“One hand at a time.” He tugged gently on her right sleeve. Rachel released her fingers. The sleeve was gone, replaced by Alec’s hand around her bare wrist. “Now the other.” Rachel felt the tug but couldn’t seem to let go. It was as if fear had captured her muscles and they no longer obeyed her will. She shook.

“Rachel.”

Rachel blinked, her gaze moving back up to Alec’s face.

“I have yer wrist now.” He squeezed her right wrist gently. “Ye’re not going to fall, but to get ye up easier, I need both of yer arms.”

Rachel blinked. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

A lopsided grin broke along Alec’s face. “Ye jumped into battle, yanked an arrow from my bloody chest, rode with a horde of hostile Macbains, and escaped Druim on yer own, lass. And now ye’re afraid to give me yer sleeve.”

Rachel’s pinched lips relaxed as she breathed. “I’m ready.”

He nodded. As soon as she released her grasp, the sleeve whooshed from her arm and Alec’s other hand caught her wrist. He dragged her up.

Rachel’s toes dug at the side of the cliff. “Ah!”

“What?” He froze.

“My dress, it’s caught.” Rachel felt the snag. She tried to kick at it and began to slip. She gasped and Alec pulled hard. Her kirtle ripped. Rachel’s feet churned up the vertical granite and dirt wall until her knees found the edge. She let her light go out as she scrambled up, climbing into Alec’s lap.

Rachel wrapped trembling arms around his warm, hard torso. She burrowed her face into his skin and inhaled his fresh scent. Alec gently moved her arms up over his shoulders. Some part of her realized that she straddled his lap. Her own thin chemise seemed to be the only material between them and it rode up high around her thighs. But at the moment she didn’t care, didn’t care about anything except that she wasn’t falling into an unmarked grave in a remote Highland mountain.

Alec’s arms remained strong and unmoving around her waist. He neither pulled her closer, nor let her go. Rachel sat in the dark listening to their shallow breaths. She rested her cheek on his chest and filtered her senses through his body. She glowed softly, piercing the shadows with her magic.

“Your blood is flowing so fast,” she whispered, her lips brushing the skin over his scar as she spoke. “Your heart is racing like you’re in battle. Your muscles hold so much excess energy you could probably lift a horse right now.” She pulled back enough to look into his eyes—and forgot to breathe.

Alec’s eyes were black in the deep shadows of the cave; only the light from her body illuminated them. His eyes were piercing, smoldering as he stared at her. Rachel swallowed hard, her heart fluttering like a bird. She couldn’t be sure which one of them moved, but Alec’s face was now before her own.

And then he kissed her.

Rachel let her light fade, giving in to the rush of sensation flooding her body. Heat, a giddy churning, a burning pool of yearning poured through her blood, her muscles. Alec tilted her face to slant against his lips. When she felt the tip of his tongue touch her lip, she groaned and opened her mouth to taste him fully. Alec shifted her in his lap and her legs hiked up around his waist.

He pushed intimately against the scrap of material separating them. Rachel’s flush burned across her skin. She should be shocked, repelled at the carnal position, but instead her thrumming body gripped him tighter, her blood begging for more. He shifted her against him and a deep growl came up through his chest. He pulled back.

The cool air pressed against Rachel’s scorching cheeks. She took deep breaths to clear her head. Alec’s body was thrumming as fast and hot as her own.

He cleared his voice. “Ye’re welcome.”

“What?” Rachel gasped as Alec cupped her backside and rose, her legs still around his waist. He walked to the front of the cave.

“If that indeed was ye thanking me.”

Rachel’s blush intensified to the point of near pain. Did he think this was how she thanked a man? As they stepped into the firelight, she struggled to get down. He lowered her slowly, letting her slide down his nude body. She kept her eyes centered on the small scar near his ear.

“Do you usually kiss your prisoners? Because there is a word for accosting young maids,” she snapped.

His grin hardened as his eyes turned to ice. “It seemed a mutual response.”

She glanced down, careful to keep her gaze away from Alec’s body. He didn’t seem to mind being totally naked in front of her. Was he used to parading around women naked? The thought twisted her stomach. Alec snatched up the wool blanket and tossed it to her as he strode to the mouth of the cave. He came back, tucking the kilt into place around his narrow hips.

Rachel draped the blanket around her shoulders, pulling it together in front of her barely concealed breasts. She collapsed to sit before the fire. Her body still trembled from the near fatal fall.

And the kiss.

She kept her eyes on the fire. Alec removed the hare from the spit, cut off some of the warm, delicious-smelling meat, and handed it to her. She barely stifled the natural “thank you” as she took it. Anger and embarrassment made the meal tasteless, but it stopped her stomach from growling.

“I have no sweets to finish the meal,” he said with a half grin. Was he trying to dispel the thick unease permeating the cave?

“Sugared raspberries,” Rachel said. She’d eaten them at the festival, and had loved them ever since.

“Raspberries?”

“’Tis my favorite,” she mumbled but her mortification wouldn’t allow her to look him in the eye. He walked around her to lay another blanket out on the ground, farthest from the rain misting into the cave. She stiffened as he neared.

Alec squatted, his eyes level with hers. “I doona rape, Rachel. So ye can sleep soundly knowing that I willna kiss ye again.” A small grin played at the corners of his mouth. “At least not until ye ask me to.”

…

Munro Keep seemed to spring out of the cliffs as Alec’s horse loped through the tall pines. Relief relaxed his face. He inhaled, craving the fresh heather-scented air off the moor that stretched before the village encircling his home.

But the sweet scent that flowed into him, tangling his thoughts, was not of the field before him, but from the silky, dark tresses feathering against his face.

Alec frowned and purposely opened his mouth to breathe without sucking in the lass’s sweet scent. He’d been riding since dawn with her lovely, barely concealed backside pressed into his groin. Her warmth melted into him each time his mount surged forward. And her damnable curls teased him ceaselessly. He’d stopped counting the times he almost buried his face in her hair. What the hell had he been thinking, telling her he wouldn’t kiss her again? Every inch of his body rebelled against his oath.

His captain of the guard, Phillip, saw him coming and signaled the raising of the thick iron-toothed gate. Alec clopped into the bailey, dismounting before the horse completely stopped. He lifted Rachel from her seat, and she followed him inside with a frown, like a dutiful prisoner.

“Phillip.”

His long time friend and second-in-command leapt from the table in the great hall. “Bloody hell, am I glad to see ye,” he said, and grabbed Alec in a hug. “We found Macbain bodies and ye were gone.”

“Someone was praying for me,” Alec quipped, his glance catching Rachel’s wide eyes.

Phillip’s gaze turned to her, his smile becoming predatory.

Alec frowned. “I take it William Brindle and his other daughter made it here?”

Phillip nodded without taking his eyes off Rachel.

Alec walked over to stand in front of Rachel, blocking her.

Phillip’s eyebrow rose. “Aye. They are in the dungeon.”

Rachel gasped.

“Ye placed a woman in the dungeon?” Alec asked.

Phillip shrugged. “I meant to put her in Dugger’s room, but she wouldn’t leave her father and he deserves the dungeon.”

Alec rolled his eyes.

“What?” Phillip asked, gaze innocent. “I made sure the lass had plenty of blankets, food, and water.”

Alec caught Rachel’s wrist and towed her behind him. He grabbed a torch from the wall as they descended to the cells. The smell of rotting food and animal waste permeated the air. He shook his head. This wasn’t endearing Rachel to him.

“Isabelle! Father!” Rachel called when she spotted them in the dim cell.

Alec released her and unlocked the bars. Rachel flew inside and ran her hands along them, her blue light glowing faintly. If he hadn’t been looking for it, he’d barely notice.

“Good God,” William Brindle rebuked. “Where are your clothes? Your mark! Cover yourself.” He yanked the blanket over the birthmark Alec had noticed on Rachel’s wrist.

Alec’s fist clenched against his leg.

“And stop that…” William swatted at her hand and Rachel let her light go out. She hugged her sister.

Alec stared at the bloody idiot. How could a man so cold have spawned a lass so warm?

“We’re fine, really,” Isabelle said. “What happened to you?”

“I got lost.”

“And ended up nearly naked, out in the night with…” He indicated Alec.

Alec crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Alec Munro, the chief of Clan Munro and yer captor.” He glanced at Rachel. Her eyes seemed large in the darkness. Was she surprised at his title?

William’s lips pressed tight. “You cannot hold an English subject,” he said, the force deflating from his voice.

“Ye are charged with thievery and trickery for deceiving my father over the last decade.” Alec watched guilt flash in the man’s watery, weak eyes before they sank to the filthy straw floor. “We will discuss this matter after ye’ve had a chance to think.” He motioned to Rachel where she clung to her sister. “Come, we’ll give ye a room above stairs.”

Rachel shook her head. “We stay with our father.”

Alec waited for Brindle to insist they go above, but the coward kept his mouth clamped. The man gave no comfort to his daughter, who could have died or been attacked during the night, yet he let her protect him. He stalked past Phillip.

“Place William Brindle in Dugger’s old room. See that his daughters are given my sister’s quarters. Have Maddie bring them some of Catherine’s dresses.”

Phillip nodded.

“Warm baths for the ladies, and Phillip…” Alec paused without turning.

“Aye?”

“Doona touch her,” he said in Gaelic. He switched to English. “She is mine.”

“Which one?” Phillip asked, but Alec just stalked away.