Page 35 of Highlander's Rebellious Affair
“Ian,” she whispered and he released her nipple and moved to her mouth to kiss her. Her hands moved to his cheeks, and she framed them so he stopped kissing her and listened.
He sighed and rested his head on her chest, and she gently stroked his temple, sending him into a relaxed state. Her embrace made him feel like a babe in its mother’s arms, and Ian never wanted to leave that spot.
“Orlaith said somethin’ to me today that was very strange.”
He did not raise his head as he asked, “What did she say?”
“She sang of the treasure as usual, but this time, she sang it differently. Is there a part of the song that mentions the Laird who found the treasure, the wisest Laird in the southern Highlands?”
Ian’s head snapped up, and he asked, “How did she sing it? what were her words exactly?”
The faraway lands of Galloway once had a Laird with a dream, to make his people the most powerful in all of the Highlands. He gathered his men and set forth one long winter in search of a better land for his people, and he set upon a mountain as high as the sky, the peak towering into the blue.
Upon this mountain he set his people and while they built their homes, he stumbled on the treasure.
It was the tallest mountain, and was the most beautiful he had ever laid eyes on. Laird Merrick was the wisest of them all.
Ian gasped and his eyes widened. The last verse of the song was the secret passed down from Lairds to Lairds of Galloway, and his father had sung that verse to Orlaith before he died.
“This is it,” he whispered and looked at Hope. “It was right in front of us all along. The tallest mountain in the south, the Laird who led his people to this mountain and built his home and raised a powerful clan.
“The song taught to the bairns here never mentions the name of the mountain or the Laird and there are so many tall mountains this part south. I grew up learnin’ the landscapes, studyin’ the terrains and summits in case of war, every heir is made to learn all of this if he is to protect his Clan and his land, but Orlaith told ye the secret.
“Laird Merrick was known as George Cowan, but when he found this land, he renamed himself after his new home. Merrick… named after Mount Merrick is the elevated land this Castle was built on.
“The treasure is right beneath our grounds,” Ian whispered and Hope’s gasp filled the chamber.
26
Hope spent more time with Orlaith every day that passed. She was used to riding her horse alone now, but Ian never let her leave the Castle without a guard by her side as she visited her aunt and Callum.
She was growing fond of Orlaith, and Callum’s daughter, Fiona. Hope was beginning to wonder what her children with Ian would look like when they came. Would they have his dark eyes? Or his straight black hair that sleeked perfectly on his head?
Either one was fine, Hope just imagined having children with him. They spent every night together making love, she couldn’t deny or hide her need for him, and he never hid his. Ian was a passionate man, even thinking about the way he touched her made her cheeks color in broad daylight.
It snowed heavily that day, but it begun after she had left the Castle to see Orlaith. Her aunt noticed the color on her cheeks, and smiled at her. “Ye are thinkin’ of Ian, are ye nae?”
Hope flushed hotter, and looked away from Orlaith. She blew out air through her lips and cleared her throat. “I am nay,” she denied, but Orlaith’s mischievous smile made the back of her neck heat up.
“Ye both will have bonnie bairn soon,” Orlaith said and looked up from the yarn she weaved. “There is a reason I am weavin’ all of this.”
Hope smiled at her, and her mind wandered to her mother. She hoped she was living well back home in Drummond alone with her father. Hope missed her, and wished she could come visit. She couldn’t tell if her mother would be excited to see Orlaith, but she knew she wanted to have her mother around.
She thought of bringing the topic up to Ian later that night, and hoped he would permit it. If she sent word to her mother back home, then her father might not allow it, but she could still try.
Hope’s stomach grumbled, reminding her that she had nothing to eat the entire day, so she rose from the wooden chair she sat on, and walked toward the small wooden kitchen by the corner of the cottage. Callum, his wife and daughter left the house earlier that morning to the market and they were yet to return, so Hope had assisted Orlaith to prepare some sour-oat porridge to eat with pickled herring seasoned with onion and green olives she had picked out in the garden back at the Castle.
When she returned to sit with Orlaith and eat, snow was all over the cloak she wore and she shook it off, wondering when the snow would stop so she could ride back home. Orlaith stood up to get water from the pails inside the house, and when they finished eating, Hope offered the guard who came with her some food too.
He sat at a corner of the front porch quietly, not once interrupting her discussion with Orlaith and she wondered how loyal he was to Ian. He couldn’t be one of the spies Ian knew his uncle had among his men.
When she finished her meal, Hope spent a few more hours with Orlaith and then decided to ride back to the Castle with the guard. They had passed the village and entered the plains leading up to the Castle when she spotted a deer racing across the fields.
Awed, she stopped her canter and turned to watch the animal. “Do ye need me to get ye the deer, My Lady?” the guard asked her.
Hope had never been hunting before, and it sounded like an adventure. She looked up to the sky and saw that the snow had eased a bit, so she nodded. The man immediately took out his bow and trotted away from her toward the deer.
He jumped down from his horse, and took a crouching position as he drew his arrow and poised to make a strike, aiming at the deer. He had his back to her, and Hope watched him, amused as he took slow but calculated steps forward, deeper into the field and away from her.
