Page 75 of Kilted Abduction
“All right, lass,” Kai teased. “Ready when ye are.”
Ciara grinned as she and Kai began to circle one another. Kai moved swiftly leading with a slash that Ciara flowed around easily, knocking his blade out of the way. She spun around, slapping him on the backside with the flat of the blade the way Calum had done to her, drawing raucous laughter from the siblings. He turned and looked at her, shocked that she’d scored a hit. But he laughed along with his siblings.
“All right,” he said. “I suppose I need tae get serious now, eh?”
“Aye. Seems like ye should.”
They circled each other once more before wading in again. The echo of their wooden blades clacking rang in her ears as they struck and parried each other’s blows. Ciara took a step back and snuck a glance at Magnus. His gaze was locked onto her, watching her every movement closely, desire glittering darkly in his eyes. Ciara swallowed hard, the desire she saw in his face matching what was flowing through her body.
A wild cry burst from Kai’s mouth as he charged in. Moving slowly, almost sensuously, Ciara slipped to the side then, using a tactic her old tutor had shown her, kicked the man in the back ofthe knee. Kai grunted and toppled forward, landing on his belly with a hard thud. Ciara moved quickly, straddling the fallen man as he rolled over. She put the tip of her wooden blade against his throat and smiled.
“Ye’re dead,” she said.
The siblings all jumped to their feet applauding wildly as they laughed. Kai gave her a sheepish grin as she helped him to his feet.
“Well played, lass,” he said. “Well played.”
“Thank ye,” she replied with a grin.
Ciara turned to Magnus who sat at the far end of the table silently drinking from his cup of wine. His eyes met hers over the rim of his cup and she shuddered as a sense of pleasure rippled through her. She gave him a small smile, which he returned. There was something in that smile though, that made Ciara’s heart skip a beat as some silent bit of communication passed between them. She wasn’t sure what they were saying, but it made the fire in her belly burn even warmer.
Swallowing down the knot of emotion in her throat, Ciara turned away quickly. She couldn’t let herself get more attached to him than she already was. It would make leaving even harder than it was already going to be.
CHAPTER 38
Ciara leaned back in the pool of water, letting the warmth soak into her weary body. It had been a few days since Fairfax’s incursion into the castle and things were slowly beginning to get back to normal. As normal as they could be at any rate. All told, eight of the MacLeod’s fighting men had perished in the battle, but they had taken more than twice that number of Fairfax’s soldiers. They were fierce warriors indeed.
In the days since, she had helped put the castle back in order, cleaning the blood from the stones and removing everything that had been broken. The men who’d died in the fighting had been buried and Ciara could see the immense pride every single one of the MacLeod fighting men took from standing tall and repelling the attack. The funerals were more a celebration of the men who’d fallen and their accomplishments than a show of grief.
The guard around the grounds had been doubled and Domhnall had ordered more scouts into the field. They’d had no warning of the impending attack, and he was enraged that they’d been caught off guard the way they had. He was determined to not letthem be caught unaware like that again and the tension around Dunvegan was palpable as he moved to fortify it against another incursion, rightly believing that Fairfax wasn’t just going to go away now that he’d tasted blood.
Ciara sat in the bathing pool in a chamber beneath the castle. Fed by natural hot springs, tendrils of steam curled off the surface of the water, filling the entire chamber with a pleasant warmth. A small smile flickering across her lips, she splashed some water on her face and on the back of her neck, taking a little time to luxuriate. She’d been working hard these last few days and thought she’d earned a little time to enjoy herself.
Despite the viciousness of the assault and the still looming threat of Fairfax hanging over their heads, Domhnall and the MacLeods were determined to not let it interfere with their preparations for Yule. They had guests who would be arriving soon to celebrate with them. So, once the corridors had been cleaned and put back in order, they had set about re-decorating Dunvegan, replacing everything that had been blood-soaked or broken in the melee.
Ciara lay back, stretching her hands out and letting herself float in the steaming water. Despite the chaos and horrible things that had happened within the castle walls over the last few days, she couldn’t get the kiss she shared with Magnus out of her head. Even thinking about it now sent fingers of lightning dancing across her skin. It had been powerful and had stirred something inside of her she’d never felt before. It had lit her up inside like the sun upon her skin on a warm summer day and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop thinking aboutit. It was inappropriate and ridiculous given everything that had happened, but Ciara couldn’t banish the memory from her mind.
As if merely thinking about Magnus summoned him, Ciara’s eyes widened when he stepped through the doorway and into the bath chamber. He took a step back, almost startled by her presence. As her cheeks flushed bright scarlet, Ciara sunk down deeper into the water, trying to preserve her modesty.
“I didnae ken ye were in here…” he said awkwardly.
“Sorry,” she replied. “I just wanted a bath.”
“Ye dinnae need tae excuse yerself.”
With nothing but a towel around his waist, much of Magnus’ body was on display. Ciara’s eyes traveled the hard angles and planes, her lips curling softly as the desire she saw on his face washed warmly through her. He licked his full lips and looked at her with a raw hunger that made her insides quiver.
“I should leave ye in peace,” he finally said.
He turned to go, and Ciara felt a powerful bolt of courage, or perhaps madness, shoot straight through her heart. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Wait,” she said, her voice soft but echoing off the stone walls around her.
Magnus turned and looked at her but said nothing. Ciara’s quivering body sent ripples across the steaming surface of the water.
“We could have died the other night,” she said.
“But we didnae,” he replied.
