Chapter Ten

Eagan paced before the hearth, stopping to blow under the peat and logs now and then. Lia had told them that Tessa was helping bathe and dress Aunt Ida. Why? Lark had a lady's maid that could attend her, but Ida had sent the maid away when she'd come up with the bath. Instead, Tessa had remained with his aunt.

Daylight was fading, and it was almost time for the last meal. Eagan hadn't seen Tessa since they'd returned from Mull that morning. Was Ida interrogating her? Would she find out that their courtship was a farce? Was it? They'd lain together. I'm still leaving. Would she go with him if her father didn't return? How long would they have to wait until she consented to go?

He closed his eyes and faced the fire. The heat of it was nothing compared to the internal heat they'd created in Tessa's bed. She said she'd had some type of sexual tutor. Bloody hell, she knew how to bring pleasure to herself and her partner.

Callum came to stand next to him. "Can Tessa hold her ground with Ida?"

Eagan looked at him. It didn't look like Callum was teasing. "How am I supposed to know? We just met at Samhain."

"And yet," Callum said, "ye're courting and remained at her cottage all last eve."

Because of the danger to Aunt Ida, no one had yet questioned Eagan about his whereabouts last night. "'Tis none of yer affair, Cal."

"It is if ye get her with child," Callum said. "Even if ye pull out there's a chance. Was she a virgin?"

Eagan crossed his arms over his chest, feeling the muscles flexing over his fists. "She was not a virgin, and she did not seem concerned."

"No one is concerned in the heat of it," Callum murmured, running a hand down his beard.

"Are ye asking me because ye want to break the curse? Not because ye're worried over Tessa's honor?"

Callum placed his hand on Eagan's shoulder. "I want the curse broken as much as the rest of us. Don't fok it up."

Eagan used to literally look up to his older brothers. Now he was taller than all of them and equally broad. He also didn't take everything they said as gospel. They all worried about the curse that their ancestor, Wilyam Macquarie, had brought over their clan a century ago. Grissell was the last descendent of the witch who cast it in her fury and grief. Would the curse be broken upon Grissell's death? Or would it continue until the last Macquarie brother married and truly loved another?

Callum traipsed away toward his wife, Anna, scooping up their two-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, from off the back of the large wolfhound she rode like a horse. The girl giggled as her father tumbled her in his arms, cradling her against his chest. Callum was devoted to his wife and child, like each of Eagan's brothers. The weight of their worry over the curse and their younger brother's part in helping break it lay like sopping bags of oats upon Eagan's shoulders. That was a big part of why he must leave.

Beck strode in, heading to Adam, although he looked at Eagan, one eyebrow raised as if to add to Callum's prying questions. Beck stopped before their oldest brother, turning to him as he spoke. "There's a ship off the west coast, close to Gometra Isle."

"One of Cullen Duffie's ships?" Adam asked.

Beck shook his head. "It flies no flag. Perhaps 'tis a Mackinnon ship. Brode Mackinnon is still looking for a wife. Tor and Keir said he was returning to hunt."

Anna's gaze was on the archway behind them. "Aunt Ida?"

Eagan's breath caught as he looked toward the archway. What sorcery was this?

Aunt Ida wore a blue gown, simple but well preserved. Her gray hair was lifted and woven into an elegant crown of curls circling the top of her head. Her face was cleaned of the grime from her ordeal and shone with a suppleness that resembled youth. There was a faint tint to her cheeks and lips, which looked natural although he'd never seen it on his aunt's face before. The effect made her look young and almost sweet.

She stepped into the great hall, and Eagan spotted Tessa behind her. She smiled gently at Ida as his aunt walked across the room. Had Tessa wrought the changes? Gone was Ida's hesitant walk that bordered on stomping. Now she moved with limbered grace, not as smoothly as Tessa who seemed to float, but Eagan couldn't remember a time when Ida had looked so…unburdened, so pleasant.

Perhaps Tessa was a witch and had worked her magic. Whatever she'd done, magic or not, had been powerful.

"Aunt," Adam said, standing from the table as Ida approached. "Ye are welcome to our table."

The room was silent, everyone waiting to see what words would come from the woman who'd continually harangued them as children and young men. Eagan was probably the only brother who felt a tug of love and respect for her since she'd raised him from birth when their mother died.

She nodded, and her hair remained secure, so the curls didn't flop. "'Tis been too long since I've broken bread with my nephews." She sat in a chair at the table, and those brothers who had been sitting took their places again. "Too long," she continued, "since I came to Gylin Castle."

Lark glanced first at Tessa and then took a seat next to Ida. Adam's wife rested her hand over Ida's on the table. "We are glad to have you."

Eagan walked around so he could meet his aunt's eyes. He smiled. "I've never seen ye so bonny, Aunt Ida."

She frowned at him, and he saw the familiar glint in her eyes, which made him smile broader. "Running after you lads and then living alone gave me no time and no reason to do my hair." She nodded to Tessa as she patted at the curls on her head. "The lass has talent."

Lord, did she have talent, more than he would ever tell anyone, especially not his elderly aunt. But Aunt Ida's look was more than a clean gown and smoothed curls. The stiffness that had seemed to haunt her brittle spine had been gentled.

Tessa sat on the other side of Ida. "I think it would be best if Ida stayed here on Wolf Isle until Walter Gleeb leaves Mull."

"Of course," Lark said, and all the brothers murmured their "ayes."

But it would be up to his aunt to decide. Unmarried and vastly independent, they'd never gotten her to bend from her course. Adam had told Eagan that their mother, Ida's sister, had tried continually to get her to move with her and their father onto Wolf Isle, but she'd refused. Then when Hilda had died, leaving their father, John, a widow, Ida had implored them all to return to Mull, saying that the curse had killed Hilda and Eagan's twin sister. Without a mother for his five sons, John had finally relented, bringing them back to Mull to share the cottage with Ida.

"I think it would be prudent to stay for a while," Ida said, and Eagan watched the shoulders of his brothers lower in unison as if her words had released their clutched breaths.

"The Macquaries are all together again," Eliza, Beck's wife, said as she held her toddling son's hands as he practiced leaping in the air with all the energy of a two-year-old who'd been cooped up inside all day.

"You have a natural dancer," Tessa said, looking across at Richard.

Eliza nodded. "He never sits still."

Tessa stood, going to the little boy. "Would you like me to teach you a dance from the French court?"

The boy nodded vigorously and lunged for her without looking at his mother. Richard had Eliza's brave but rash personality, which Eagan knew made his brother both beam with pride and frown with worry.

Tessa laughed softly, the tinkling of her voice like a song. Richard tilted his head as if caught in its notes. "After we eat our meal," she said and handed the boy back off to Eliza and took her seat.

Questions filled Eagan's mind as he watched Tessa take small bites at the last meal of the day. She seemed relaxed, but he wondered how she could be in a new home where people might be judging her, and yet she smiled and spoke with man, woman, and children alike.

"I used to teach the children at King Louis's court how to dance the branle," she said. "It was perfect for those wanting to get their fidgets out." She nodded toward Richard.

"Ye were a dance instructor at the French court?" Callum asked.

She nodded and took a silent spoonful of venison stew that their cook had seasoned perfectly. She set her spoon down, touched the napkin to her lips, and set it back with such grace it was like a dance in itself.

"I'm a fair dancer," Callum said, glancing at Anna with a grin. "Especially when I have a couple swords to jump over." Anna leaned against his arm and got a kiss when she agreed.

Eagan watched Tessa as she chewed and smiled and spoke in melodic tones. The lass was always performing. The thought soured his stomach. Eagan had felt like he must perform at times, being who his family wanted him to be, but did Tessa ever get to be lazy or disordered?

"I spent time at the court with my mother," she said. "I sang, and danced, and taught lessons to the aristocrats and their children."

"That must have been exciting," Lark's younger sister, Kat, said, her eyes wide with a desire for adventure.

Tessa smiled at her. "At times. At first."

Anna's brows furrowed. "I've been around courtly people in England. 'Tis a dangerous line one walks with them. They can take advantage of those under their control."

Tessa looked down to her platter and worked at spreading butter on a fresh bun. "One must always stay a step ahead of the dangers at court."

"Is that why you left?" Lia asked.

Eagan looked up and down the long table. Everyone stared at Tessa, nearly salivating with questions. "Why don't we let her eat in peace," he said.

"Of course," Lark said and waved her hands, reminding them of their manners. It was the role she'd taken on years ago when marrying Adam, back when he and his brothers had been near-savages when it came to eating.

Tessa finished chewing her roll. "I withdrew from court when…my mother died, and then I left France when my father returned from his post at sea. He brought me here because my mother had lived for a while with Grissell, and he knew about her sanctuary."

Everyone around the table froze, their spoons and napkins stopping in the air. Ida and Tessa kept eating, along with the toddlers taking cut apples from their parents' plates.

"Yer mother lived with Grissell?" Drostan asked, from next to Lia.

"Oui, yes," Tessa said. "Otherwise, I doubt my father would have known about her or your isle."

"Captain Lemaire?" Adam asked as if trying to place the name.

"I'm sure you haven't met him," Tessa said. "'Twas my mother who knew of Wolf Isle."

"What an interesting story," Lark said.

"Does Grissell know?" Lia asked.

Tessa smiled, her lips quirked slightly. "I think she knew before I finished wading to shore from my father's rowboat."

"If anyone is a witch," Ida said, "'tis she."

Eagan felt a line of loyalty twang through him like a bowstring being plucked. "She belongs to Wolf Isle, and even if she won't admit it, she's descended from the Macquarie Clan."

"Aye," Adam said. "Gleeb will not get near her."

Ida sniffed softly. "Then she is exceedingly fortunate."