Brenda Joyce - A Rose in the Storm

His hand slid from her shoulder to her breast and over it entirely, causing her erect nipples to tighten painfully. “So ye will stay, anyway?”

She almost wanted to say yes! But how could she stay with him? What was she thinking? She was Lady Margaret Comyn, the great Earl of Buchan’s niece and ward—she was Mary MacDougall’s daughter! They were the worst of enemies! And he would hang her men tomorrow anyway.

“I want to stay—I want to save my men,” she somehow breathed.

“Ye canna save them.” He turned her around abruptly, so she was no longer in his embrace, and their gazes collided. His blue eyes smoldered with lust. She wondered what her own eyes looked like. “I wish ye were a bawd.”

She hugged herself and stepped back breathlessly. What had just happened? She began to shake, still feeling feverishly hot. “I’m not a bawd,” she admitted hoarsely. “I thought I could seduce you.”

“Ye could seduce me—if ye truly wished to.”

He sounded odd, as if rueful. Margaret trembled as he paced away, and glanced again at his belt and dagger on the bed. The blade winked up at her, but she did not have the courage to seize it. She was no more a murderess than she was a seductress.

She realized he was watching her. But he knew she would never grab that knife and use it, just as he had known she was incapable of a casual lover’s tryst, no matter how much desire had just arisen between them.

“Ye should leave matters of war alone, Lady Margaret. And the prisoners are a matter of war. Buchan will forgive ye the loss of the keep, he will expect his men to be hanged, but he would never forgive ye for lying with the enemy—on the eve of yer marriage to Sir Guy.”

She suddenly wondered if he was trying to protect her. But they were enemies. Why would he do that? “I care more for my men than I do for my uncle’s approval. But it doesn’t matter now. I can’t go forward with a seduction, my men will hang even if I do, and I doubt there will be a marriage now,” she finally said, thickly.

“Why would ye think that? Buchan needs Sir Guy now more than ever. Sir Guy will wish to have Castle Fyne now more than ever.”

“You have stolen Castle Fyne,” she cried, “leaving me with nothing.”

“Sir Guy is a man of great ambition, like his brother, Aymer. I am certain he will come to take this castle back, and with it, his bride.”

Margaret wanted to believe him. The only problem was, if Sir Guy attacked Castle Fyne, how would he ever best such an opponent? And that would not help her men—they would already be dead. The implications of her failure to seduce him—and dissuade him from the executions—were settling in. She was ill.

“Ye need to leave matters of war to the men,” Alexander said again. “And ye should leave my chamber. Good night.”

She had achieved nothing. And she would never understand MacDonald. Why hadn’t he taken what she offered? Most men would have leapt at such an opportunity, especially as it would drive a wedge between her and Sir Guy, which was to his advantage. She did not want to think of him as an honorable man, so she refused to do so. But while she knew she should leave—she should flee—she did not. “Most men would not have refused my advances.”

“I’m not like most men.”

“Why? Why did you dissuade me from my folly? What have you gained tonight?”

His stare was unwavering. “Ye’d hate me more tomorrow.”

He was right, she thought, but why would that matter to him? Margaret realized that Alexander MacDonald was no simple, single-minded, bloodthirsty warrior. He was a canny man—a worthy opponent. She remained uncertain of his ambitions, outside of his desire to command Castle Fyne.

Only one fact was clear. She now had the knowledge that he lusted for her. Worse, Peg had been right—a part of her had enjoyed being in his arms. How could she use the attraction they seemed to share to her advantage? Without truly compromising herself?

Margaret walked to the bed and retrieved her clothes. She shivered, facing him. “I did not expect to enjoy being in your arms.” She was grim.

His eyes widened, filling with wariness.

“We are enemies, and you have stolen my castle and tomorrow you will hang my men. Yet we shared an embrace, one we both enjoyed.”

He stared for another moment. “Yer young, Lady Margaret, and untried. Life is filled with surprises. Especially during times of war.” He paused and then added, “But I am pleased ye want to be with me. Ye can be sure there will be more surprises for us both.”

How certain he was, she thought, her heart lurching. “No. We will never be together again, if that is what you are suggesting.”

His stare changed, becoming sharp, even speculative. “Never? That is an arbitrary word, one I rarely use.”

She did not want to debate him now, not when they remained alone together in his chamber, in the dead of the night, when her blood still raced. “You are a MacDonald. You are already my worst enemy. But if you hang the men I am responsible for, you will become my blood enemy.”

“Yer a woman,” he said swiftly, his face hardening. “Ye dinna need make blood enemies, ye dinna need to seek vengeance fer anything.”

“How wrong you are.”

“Ye amaze me, Lady Margaret, with yer boldness.” He wasn’t smiling. He didn’t appear pleased, either. Had she moved him, just a bit?

“I am not trying to amaze you, Alexander, but I am my mother’s daughter.”

“Yes, ye are,” he said grimly.

Margaret wondered then if he had known her mother. “It doesn’t have to be this way. We do not have to be the worst of enemies.” It was, perhaps, her last plea.

“Ye have decided this day that we are already the worst of enemies,” he said grimly. “They hang on the morrow.”

She turned abruptly, about to walk to the door. Then she halted. “I was on the ramparts with them. I fought you, too.”

He crossed his muscular arms and stared coldly at her.

“You should hang me tomorrow, too.”

“I am not hanging ye.”

He was furious, now. She trembled, incapable of looking away from him. “Because I am such a valuable hostage? Dowry and all?”

“Because yer such a valuable hostage—and yer a woman.”

“How can you be so ruthless?”

“I am fond of living.”

She hugged her clothes more tightly to her chest. Oddly, comprehension flashed just then, and for one instant, she did not hate him. In that instant, she understood—he was fighting just as she was for his life and the lives of his men. He was a feared and respected warrior, and rightly so. And then the moment was gone.

“Ye need to leave, Lady Margaret,” he warned.

She shook her head in refusal. “My brother is hurt. He is my only living family. I must attend him—please.”

“You can tend his wounds tomorrow.” He walked to the door and opened it and then stepped aside.

She was stunned by his acquiescence. “You will let me see him?”

“I will allow you to see him—this one time.”

Margaret nodded, tears falling, and she ran past him, escaping.

* * *

MARGARET HUDDLED UNDER the fur covers, staring out of her chamber’s window as dawn stained the sky with fingers of mauve. She had slept fitfully and uneasily all night when she was exhausted—when she had needed the kind of deep sleep that would refresh her, so she could battle another day. But every time she had dozed she had dreamed of the hangings to take place that day and had instantly awoken.

Because it was so cold and they were prisoners, Peg had shared her bed. But Margaret’s restlessness had caused her to finally make a pallet on the floor. Peg now sat up, yawning.

Margaret began to greet her when she heard a movement in the chamber next to hers. Alexander had arisen. She was careful not to allow her thoughts to revisit their encounter of the previous night. She did not want to recall the sparks of desire she had felt while in his arms.