Laird of the Game (13 page)

“Why are you so upset today?”

“It’s nothing,” he quickly changed the subject and talked about the battle that had been won that day. How could he tell her everything and risk losing her?

The details of their battles always made her a little nervous. She suddenly got very quiet.

“Wha’ is wrong, Melissa?”

She reached up to touch his check. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. I’ve seen you in battle, and it scared me. I can’t bear to think about it every day.” Tears glistened again in her eyes, and she put her head down on his chest.

His arms went around her and held her close. “How did I get so lucky?”

“You wouldn’t take me back,” she answered for him.

He squeezed her again. “If I told ye not tae worry would ye follow my instructions?”

She shook her head and caressed the strong muscles of his chest and arms. She hadn’t wanted to think about the future and tried to push the thoughts aside. How long would the fighting continue? Their moments together were precious.

 “We were afraid this harsh lifestyle would be too much for such a delicate lady.” Alex yawned and wrapped his arms around her.

Moments later he was snoring in her ear.

“I love you, Alex. So much it frightens me,” she whispered softly in the dark.

His arms never left her, and she felt content for the moment. They had this moment together, no matter what happened, and she didn’t want to shadow the love she felt for him with fears and regrets. There would be time enough for that in the future.

Melissa had Nieman Marcus tastes and wasn’t sure she could make the lifestyle change to homemade clothing and growing her food. The enormity of the difference finally registered in her lovesick mind. She had never considered a life where she had to cook.

The last thought she had before she dozed off was; the man didn’t have electricity or a microwave. How the hell was she going to survive?

Chapter Thirteen

The Game of Love Gets Hot! Laird MacKenna was seen swimming at Loch Voil with his lady, and it appears that swimming suits, even in the midst of five hundred warriors, are still optional. What a spectacular view. Personally, I can’t wait to ask the lady all about her holiday.

On the Streets, with Rosabel

Melissa got up early the next morning and set off to catch the morning light in her painting.

Alex privately expressed his concern about her pale cheeks and her lack of appetite to Gideon. Daniel brought him the latest tabloids when he returned to the game.

“I don’t know who looks more exhausted, you or Melissa,” Gideon noted. “She’s either pregnant or anemic by now.”

“I’d say anemic,” Gideon reasoned. “Any other changes – say, to her topside - would have been noted by at least a hundred men outside your cabin. I’ll get a blood sample and run some tests to find out what she needs for vitamins. We’ve got to find something she will eat.”

Daniel noticed Melissa was missing from the cottage. “She’s probably pretty homesick by now. Her sisters called the Embassy, and they are not willing to wait much longer to talk to her.  Where is she? Has our lovely lady taken flight?”

“Robert took her tae the glen tae work on her painting,” Alex gruffly said, still too shaken by the information he held in his hand to speak without a roar in his voice.

Gideon looked over his shoulder and saw the latest headline plastered across the tabloid. “The Game of Love Gets Hot!” and there was Alex with a topless Melissa swimming at the lake. Her face was tipped up, and her smile looked radiant.

“The photographer’s got tae be one of our warriors,” Daniel surmised. “No one else could have taken that picture even with a telephoto lens. There were guards on duty that day and no one could slip through our defenses.”

Alex remembered that moment all too well. Her shirt came off when he dunked her, and he had wrapped his arms around her. He touched the photograph of her beautiful face and remembered kissing her and their lovemaking had been a turning point for him.

“You both look verra happy,” Gideon said. “Perhaps we have been going about this all wrong. Instead of hiding her away, maybe we should make a formal statement tae the press.”

“Not yet,” Daniel said.

Gideon gave him an affectionate shove. “Try tae get some sleep, will ye?”

Alex smiled. Who needed to sleep when you had an Angel in your arms? He walked over to the bed and fell down, asleep before he hit the pillow.

Daniel put the tabloid back in his briefcase. Gideon and Daniel found Melissa later that afternoon painting while Robert and his crew repaired a cottage. When she saw the two of them approach, she called out a greeting and went up to put her arm around their waists.

“It’s good to see you again, Daniel. I feel very blessed to have such handsome men keeping an eye on me.” Daniel gave her an affectionate squeeze.

“I brought our lady a present.” Daniel smiled and instantly got her attention.

“You brought me a present?” Melissa was delighted. “It isn’t even my birthday. Come and sit down. I was just going to pour some lemonade for Robert and his crew.”

Gideon walked over to the painting, and his mouth dropped open. She had captured warmth and camaraderie between Robert and the carpenters as they repaired the old cottage.

Robert had his shirt off and was sawing a log to repair the thatched roof. His long dark straight hair was unbound and gave him a mystical look. There was a carpenter on the top of the wall and another standing on the ground and passed the log up to him. The men wore their kilts and laughed while they worked. Daniel had the same response.

“I took the painting she did of Alex and had it framed.” Daniel said quietly beside his brother. “It’s already hanging at the Manor House.”

“She has a gift,” Gideon said. “Now, if we can get a blood sample without her ever seeing the hypodermic needle, then we are magicians!”

Daniel nodded, certain it would take a magic trick to get this feat accomplished.

Melissa walked back and handed them a tin cup of lemonade that was kept cool in a wine skin and lowered into the cold water in the well. It was weak, at best, she noted since lemons were almost impossible to find, and most of the fruit they ate were dried berries that had been picked during the early spring and then dried on large woven frames in the hot sun.

“I thought ye liked tae paint flowers,” Gideon said, stunned. “This is verra good.”

“Everything about this place inspires me.”

Gideon was reminded of his reason for tracking her down. “I’m a little concerned about how pale you look, Melissa. I wouldn’t want ye tae get sick.”

He held the slim blade in his hand and grinned.

Melissa backed away. “Oh, no. You’re not stabbing me with any dirks.” She remembered the section in the museum where they used to bleed people who were ill.

Gideon smiled, nodded to Daniel, and they put their cups down. He loved a challenge.

“Oh, yes, I am.”

Melissa screamed and turned to run. Daniel signaled to Robert, and he caught her around the waist before she had made it ten feet away. They found out she could scream like a Banshee.

Robert had her over his shoulder but soon found out how hard it is to hold on to a squirming, screaming woman. She got away twice before Robert got her airborne on top of his shoulders. She screamed as they managed to immobilize her, and Daniel held her arm.

Gideon had a sash on her arm while Daniel distracted her. She tried to punch Daniel.

“Aye, ye got it lass. That is a good fist for a fight.”

Daniel and Robert worked hard at keeping her still while they laughed. It took the help of the other two carpenters to hold on to her feet.

“I’m going to hit you, Robert.” She laughed again and then groaned when she felt the stab of the dirk. “Listen, Dracula.” She yelled at Gideon. “If you want some fresh blood hang around William. Men bleed around him all the time.”

Gideon leaned down and released the sash with his teeth. “Dracula?” he said garbled in mock outrage. “Ye must be talking about Alex.”

“I’m going to get you for this, Daniel,” she cried out, laughing hysterically.

“Yeah,” Daniel laughed heartily. “What army would challenge me?”

“That one,” she pointed over his shoulder and Daniel looked back. William, Evan, and Iain had heard her screams and followed the shouting with fifty warriors ready for battle.

The three brothers, William, Evan, and Iain shook their heads. All that noise for one little cut on her arm? They thought she was being beaten and raped.

“You’re going tae need some help, Daniel,” Alex stated and joined the melee. He too had heard her screams and nearly lost his mind thinking she was hurt. “You get the twenty on the left; I get the twenty on the right.” He grinned at Melissa and pulled on her ponytail.

Gideon got the second vile of blood and removed the needle from her arm. He applied pressure with a cloth bandage and then made a tiny cut with the tip of his dirk just to make it look good, and carefully put the precious samples away in his bag.

“Traitor!” she yelled at Alex. Robert had held her firmly on his shoulder until Daniel finally released her arm. She stood on wobbly legs, and Alex put his arm around her to steady her.

“It won’t be a fair fight.” Daniel shook his head.

“
Aye
,” Alex said with certainty. “When they beg for mercy, we’ll let them go, ye
ken
?”

Melissa was told later what a unique opportunity the warriors had in fighting with Alex and Daniel. She witnessed the warrior’s enthusiasm and stood back, watching Alex and Daniel best each warrior in turn. She screamed once, and Alex got punched because he looked over at her. Their cousins would later boast of that accomplishment.

Daniel and Alex were matched for skill and cunning when it came to hand-to-hand combat and it wasn’t until the warriors tried an all out assault that Alex and Daniel finally went down.

There was a lot of back slapping when they finally got free from the tangle of men, and she learned first hand the actions behind their comments of “It was a good fight.” There were a dozen bloody noses and numerous cuts and black eyes.

The men all seemed delighted.

“Now, aren’t you all a sight. Alex, you beat up the wrong man!” She pointed at Gideon, and he grinned.

Alex walked over to look at the painting. “Did ye paint this today?” He was clearly impressed and hugged her to his side.

“It looks like my ugly brother.” Daniel spit out blood and frowned.

Melissa looked at Daniel, concerned. She thought Robert was rather handsome.

Robert was strutting around now that he was ‘immortalized’ in a painting. He shook his head and walked away before anyone could notice that he got a little misty eyed at her thoughtful gift.

 Alex took her hand in his. “Since you started this fight….”

“What?” Melissa scoffed.

“I will expect you tae be very appreciative of your champion, and you may console me for my injuries.”

“What injuries?” Daniel asked while Gideon bandaged his arm. “There isn’t a scratch on ye, ye bastard. However, I have a severe cut on my arm.”

“It’s a scratch,” Gideon corrected, laughing.

“You had it coming to you for helping Gideon stick me with a dirk.”

Melissa walked over to Daniel and gave him a kiss on the lips. “There, do you feel better?”

Daniel’s eyes got very big for a moment, and Gideon broke out laughing.

“Your present is on the table in the cottage.” Daniel winked.

Melissa whispered in his ear. Daniel shook his head.

Alex growled. “If you’re going tae kiss someone, ye can start with me.”

Alex had a cut on his lip that she had to kiss several times before he felt better.

“Perhaps a back rub would help sooth your severe injuries.” She teased Alex as they returned to the cottage.

Gideon was curious. “What did she say tae ye?”

Daniel flexed his arm and winced. “She told me it was far too extravagant tae spend money needed for food and medical supplies on presents for her.”

Gideon collected his medical bag and supplies. He held up a hypodermic needle filled with a crimson blood sample. “She never saw it coming. Damn, I’m good.”