Chapter 11

Ronan escorted Harley everywhere she wished to go in the keep, showed her everything she expressed an interest in, from the kitchens—both outdoor and indoor—to the laundry, the dovecote, the guardhouse, the armory, and everything in between. And the more servants, craftsmen, and various members of the clan she met, the more possessive of her he became. She failed to notice the impression she made upon those she spoke with, but he didn't. He tucked her closer to his side. All had better realize this beautiful woman was not to be approached with any intentions other than innocent and honorable ones.

"You don't have to hold me so close," she told him as they left the guardhouse and crossed the bailey. "I'm not light-headed like I was yesterday."

He didn't relax his hold of her in the least. "I enjoy holding ye close." The loveliness of her blush deepened once again. He prided himself on keeping that color high on her cheeks. The deeper the color, the stronger her emotion, and it was her emotions he wanted to stir the same way in which she stirred his.

With a proud tip of his head, he motioned at the next structure. "And here we have the fine stables of Clan MacKay. Do ye ride?" He remembered his mother once saying she had never been near a horse before traveling back to the past.

Harley inhaled a deep breath, as if the pungent scent of the stables was the sweetest fragrance she had ever encountered. "Hay, horses, and well-oiled leather," she said in a hollow tone. "Reminds me of home." She went to the first stall and a roan mare poked an inquisitive nose over the low slung gate. A sadness came over her as the mare quietly whickered a greeting and nudged her hand. "I rode horses almost before I learned to walk. My parents owned a stable for many years before they decided to retire and take to the open road on their bikes." Her eyes took on the troublesome sheen of tears barely held at bay, and she flinched a shrug. "I wonder if they know I'm gone yet. They'll go crazy with worry when they can't find me." She cleared her throat and turned her back to him. "This is quite a stable. Do all of these horses belong to your family?"

Ronan stifled an irritated growl at himself. He was a damned fool. Bringing her to the stables had been a mistake. It had stirred her worries about the life she could no longer have. He would answer her question, then they would leave. "Most of the horses belong to my father and brothers. Neither Mother nor Aveline ever cared much about riding." He gently took hold of her arm and turned her back to face him. "Come, lass. We will go. Forgive me for rubbing salt in yer wounds. I swear 'twas not my intent."

She gave him a forced smile, then her eyes flared wide and her hand flew to her throat. "It can't be," she said, then pointed a trembling finger at a man who had just emerged from one of the stalls. All the color drained from her. Her lips moved, but no more words came out.

"Harley!" Ronan caught her as she swayed to one side. "What is it?"

"It's him." Her eyes rolled up, and she crumpled without another word.

He cradled her limp form to his chest and turned to meet the gaze of the man standing at the mouth of the stall. "What the devil did she mean, it's him?"

With a scrub of his hand across the stubble of his chin, the man slowly set aside the hay fork against the stall. "Ask yer sister. I shall be down at the docks should ye need me."

Ronan stared after him as he left the stable. "MacCallen! What have ye done? Ye were told to stay away from Aveline."

"Aveline!"Ronan charged into the main hall, bellowing with the strength of everything in his being. Harley still lay limp in his arms. Only her warmth assured him she wasn't dead. Gently, he placed her on a bench in one of the side alcoves and tucked a small pillow under her head. Whatever mischief Aveline had stirred with MacCallen could not be good. And whatever the two had done, it had affected Harley, and the Mother Goddess herself strictly forbade such dabbling in the lives of innocent mortals.

The mysterious MacCallen had been besotted with Aveline for years. Ever since she blossomed into a beautiful young woman, he had followed her around the MacKay lands like a lost puppy begging for scraps. The man appeared grateful just to be near her, and since MacCallen was a drifter with no claim to any clan, he was lucky he got as close to her as he did. But Aveline was soft-hearted and had begged Father to take him in, to give him a place with Clan MacKay. And her being the youngest of the MacKay children, and the only girl, Laird Caelan MacKay always gave Aveline her way.

"Aveline!" Ronan roared again as his mother came running from the kitchens.

"What are you bellowing about?" She wiped her hands on the cloth tied around her waist. Shock filled her face when she spotted Harley. "What happened? What did you do?" She rushed to Harley's side and knelt, pressing her fingers to her throat and moving her lips as she silently counted the beats of Harley's heart.

"What did I do?"Ronan thumped his chest with both fists. "Not a thing, but it would seem MacCallen has, because as soon as her eyes fell on him, she fainted dead away, muttering something about it's him. When I tried to get an answer out of MacCallen, he said I best be asking Avie!"

Rachel slowly rose to her feet and wrung her hands even tighter in her apron. "Perhaps you better go up to my solar and speak with Aveline. What she has to say will answer your questions."

His blood boiling with rage, he scrubbed his face with both hands. He dreaded discovering what his little sister had done this time. Aveline had always held a special place in his heart, but if she had meddled in Harley's life, destroyed it, even, he didn't know what he would do.

"How bad is what she did?"He fixed his mother with a leery glare.

Rachel bowed her head and released a heavy sigh. "Extraordinarily bad. She intended to speak to you about it today as soon as you finished visiting with Harley."

Without further comment, he turned, stormed across the gathering room, and took the steps of the stairwell two at a time. Not bothering to knock, he kicked open the door to his mother's solar, knowing his sister expected him.

"Now, sit down and let me explain.'Tis really not so bad as it seems." Aveline approached him with a carefulness that served her well. She cringed the closer he drew to her. "Dinna be so angry. I promise everything will be fine. 'Tis not good for ye to fly into such a rage, brother. Take deep breaths and find yer calm."

He clenched his fists and widened his stance, bracing himself for whatever foolishness she had set loose upon the world this time. "Let me be the judge of just how bad yer actions are, little sister. Speak. Now."

"Well, ye ken how lonely ye've been?" Aveline gave him a smile that only made him angrier. "The last time ye were home, ye even told me so yourself. Even said the sea didna bring ye the comfort it once did."

Clenching his teeth so hard his jaws ached, he narrowed his eyes at her, silently bidding her to confess the rest.

Aveline shrugged and gave him another weak smile that quickly faded when he ignored it. "Well, ye ken Mama taught me how to work with the Mirrors, and call up the scrying mists." She shuffled in place, a sure sign she knew just how badly she had erred this time. "Well, brother, ye weren't the only one feeling lost and alone. I came upon Harley in the future and discovered she needed comfort and relief as much as yerself."She clasped her hands behind her back and wet her lips, rounding her eyes wider with a feigned innocence that no longer suited her. She twitched a shrug. "I thought the two of ye needed each other and brought her to ye. But I had to use MacCallen's help for the spell."

"Ye were the one who brought her here?"Of all the things his little sister had ever done, this had to be the worst. Her arrogance and disregard for the ancient laws astounded him. "Harley was trapped inside Clíodhna"s locket. Do ye mean to tell me ye bargained with the sea goddess herself, as well?"

Aveline shuffled in place again. "Sort of. But I handled everything just right, and MacCallen helped me word the pact carefully.Ye dinna do the goddess justice, ye ken? She is quite reasonable if ye listen to what she has to say."

Ronan bowed his head and sucked in several deep breaths to keep from shaking Aveline until her teeth rattled in her empty little head. "The gods and goddesses are sly, ye wee bratling. They only seem reasonable until they twist yer words, and ye discover yourself caught in a pact ye would never wish to keep."

Aveline balled up her fists and stomped her foot."I am not some fool who doesna ken a toadstool from a tadpole. The only pact I must keep is to ensure that the sea goddess is never forgotten. All I have to do is tell my children—who will tell their children, in turn, and so on.See? I told ye, I had it all figured out."

He turned his back on her and stared up at the ceiling, wishing the answer to this mess was etched somewhere in the heavy wood beams that spanned the length of the room. "The goddess will allow ye to think ye have made an easy pact, and when ye least expect it, she will show ye where ye were a wee fool. And what of MacCallen? What did ye promise him? Ye already made him a home here in Clan MacKay."

Aveline shrugged and glared at him, clearly befuddled. "He helped me because he's my friend. He's grateful to us for giving him a home."

"Aveline! How can ye be such a fool?" Ronan slammed his fist on the table so hard that the candlesticks bounced off onto the floor, making the candles hiss away their flames. "MacCallen wants ye, Avie. As a man wants a woman. And ye being the laird's daughter makes ye even more appealing."

Dismay filled her eyes as she backed away from him. She flipped a hand as if to wave away his words. "Mama wasna even as enraged as ye are. Ye should thank me for finding the way to end yer loneliness, for working out a way to bring the two of ye together. I've seen the happiness yer joining will bring."

"At what cost?" Ronan spat. "Ye ken as well as I that it is forbidden to meddle in another's life without their consent. Of all the rules ye ever ignored, ye turned yer back on the cornerstone of every rite ever taught to us." He gave her a hard shake. "Ye are to harm none, Aveline. Harm none!"

"But I didna hurt her!" Tears streamed down her face, but anger had replaced the dismay in her eyes. She was angry because he wasn't grateful to her, and sorry she'd gotten caught—not sorry that she'd violated the ancient edicts. "I harmed none!"

"Harmed none?" he roared. "Ye tore her away from her life. Took her from all she knew and cared about and dropped her into a century where she knows nothing about survival. Ye may not have done her physical harm, but what ye did to her emotionally—'tis unforgivable." He pushed her away, shaking his head at her selfishness.

"Ye will both thank me someday!" Her tears ran faster, and her face reddened even more. Aveline had never been one to see more than one perspective at a time—and her perspective always took priority. "She was miserable in her time. MacCallen confirmed it when he traveled there to trap her in the locket and bring her here. She had nothing. I brought her back here to be with you, so the two of ye could be together!"

"Why, Aveline?" he asked through clenched teeth. "Ye never do anything for another. How did ye benefit from this madness?"

She scooped a candle up off the floor and threw it at him. "Because I wanted ye to stay home! I'm tired of ye always being gone to sea. Ye were the only one who ever listened to me and didna tell me to go somewhere else and play!"She crumpled into a heap on the floor and covered her face with her hands. "I thought if I found ye a wife, ye would stay here and make babies. Then I wouldna be so alone.

He wearily dropped into a nearby chair and leaned his head into his hands. How could she do such a thing? Snatched an innocent woman out of her life and dropped her right into the middle of theirs. His mother had always said Aveline's powers would be the greatest, and that she would be the most difficult to guide and control. There was only one thing to be done. He hated the thought of it. But it could not be helped. He lifted his head and glared at her. "Ye must send her back. I dinna ken how or what ye worked out to bring her here, but now ye must make things right and send her back."

Aveline hugged her knees and shifted in place with an anxious back and forth rocking. "I canna do that. I already sealed the pact with Clíodhna. Once done, nothing can be undone. 'Twas one of her terms on which she wouldna negotiate—even MacCallen couldna sway her on that point." She wiped her nose on her sleeve and shrugged. "And he swears he'll not tell Harley what we did. We can just tell her she's mistaken about having seen him before. His glamour in the future was of a much older man. I'm sure we can convince her she's never met him."

Ronan jumped up from the chair and glowered at her. "No. Ye will tell Harley the truth. I will not give MacCallen anything he can use against our clan. Ye have done enough damage by being deceitful. Telling more lies will only make it worse."

He yanked her up from the floor and stared deeply into her eyes. "As soon as she awakens from her swoon, ye will tell her everything, ye ken?"

"She'll hate me." Aveline clutched at his sleeves, nervously plucking at the material. "She doesna ken a thing about magic. She'll never understand."

"Ye will be lucky if that is the only punishment the Fates and Goddess Brid place upon ye." Ronan shoved her away and stormed out the door.