Redemption (Book Two of the Shipwrecked Series) (5 page)

Quinn Murray
prided himself in being a simple man, a man that did not want for much.  He was
perfectly happy sleeping under a blanket of stars. Being that he wasn’t much of
a cook, a simple meal of bread and ale was enough for him.  He was not used to
wanting things.  This being said, when he did find something that he wanted,
nothing would stop him from getting it.

At the moment, he
found himself wanting Sarah.  The feelings that the lass had stirred within him
were perplexing.  He had known her but a few short days and yet there was an
inexplicable pull, something that drew him towards her.  Yes, he wanted her,
wanted her badly.  And herein lay the problem: he wasn’t quite sure what to do
about the fact that he wanted her.

Quinn had simply
never anticipated that he would feel this way about a woman again.

Was it her quiet
dignity?  How brave she had been during childbirth?  Her green-brown eyes
captivated him and when Sarah gifted him with a look from those blazing eyes,
his heart was set afire with the wanting of her.  Her olive skin was so smooth
beneath his fingers, simply touching her aroused him.  Perhaps it was that she
and the babe needed him?

Admitting that he
was attracted to Sarah had opened the first hole in his wall of defenses. 
Quinn had always wanted this.  He had always wanted a woman to love, a woman to
call his own.  He had wanted someone to build a home with, someone to come home
to.  He wanted someone to carry his bairns and someone to love them with as
they grew. 

When Mairi was
killed, Quinn had thought that these dreams had died with her.    He had been
wrong.

Sarah had kindled
the tentative rebirth of these dreams.  Quinn wanted to protect her, to hold
her and love her.  He wanted to build a life with her and it terrified him.  If
she was taken from him, he could not bear going through that torture again. 
And thus, he had shielded his heart from her and the babe.  But, Sarah was relentless. 
She effortlessly chipped away at his defenses with her tender, trusting smile
and Lord above, when she laughed, Quinn had never felt happier.

Quinn dared to
believe that Sarah wanted him back.  His heart was alight with dreams that he
had long thought were dead and he hoped that wishful thinking was not causing
him to see something with Sarah that wasn’t there.

..ooOoo..

Malcolm Murray
returned home in the earliest hours of the morning, having ridden through the
night just to enjoy sleeping in his own bed.  He opened the door to the small
cabin that he shared with his brother Quinn and quietly slipped inside, being
careful not to wake his brother. 

“Christ!” he
exclaimed as he tripped over a wooden crate that was sitting on the floor,
blocking the pathway to his cot by the fire.  His shin cracked against the rim
of the box and he rubbed it briskly, hopping on one leg in an effort to nurse
his wound.

Something from
within the box began to wail.  It sounded like a baby.

Malcolm forgot all
about his throbbing shin and peered cautiously inside the wooden crate. 

Big, brown eyes
locked with his and Mairi let out a wail fit to bring down the house.

Perplexed, Malcolm
looked frantically towards Quinn’s bed.  His eyes bulged when he saw his
brother, lying in bed naked to the waist with his arms wrapped around a
beautiful woman.  She slept against Quinn’s chest and was completely
undisturbed by the wailing infant. 

Quinn’s gray eyes
locked with Malcolm’s and he raised his eyebrows in warning. 

“Quinn?  What in
the hell have ye done?” Malcolm whispered as he backed away from the baby and
inched towards the solace of the door.

“I’ve done
nothing.  Ye were the one that woke her up,” he said non-chelauntly as his eyes
darted towards the screaming baby.

Quinn’s voice
caused Sarah to wake and she sat up, then brushed her long black hair away from
her face.  When she saw that they had a visitor, she grabbed at the quilts and
pulled them up around herself.

“Who’s he?” she
asked, startled.

“That’s Malcolm,”
Quinn said dismissively.

“Pleased tae make
yer acquaintance,” Malcolm said, bowing slightly.  His face openly displayed
his shock of finding a woman in his brother’s bed.  A woman with a baby.

“This is Sarah,”
Quinn said.

“Hi Sarah,”
Malcolm said uneasily as color flooded his face.  “Who’s she?” he asked,
looking down at the baby.  He squatted down now and patted her awkwardly on the
chest.  Much to his surprise, she stopped crying and studied him intensely with
her big, brown eyes.

“That’s Mairi,”
Quinn whispered.

“Good Lord,
Quinn,” Malcolm said, his mouth falling open in disbelief as he shook his head
from side-to-side in obvious disapproval.

Malcolm stood
abruptly and strode purposefully from the cabin.   Quinn had fathered a bastard
child and had the audacity to name her after Mairi!  This was more than Malcolm
could handle at present and even the allure of sleeping in his own bed after
many a night on the road was not enough for him to stay in that cabin.

..ooOoo..

Quinn begrudgingly
pulled on a shirt and laced up his boots.  He had resigned to go after Malcolm,
seeing the hurt that had played across his little brother’s face as he had left
the cabin that they shared.

He trudged
reluctantly into the first light of the morning and found Malcolm wrapped up in
a quilt sitting on Rowan and Anna’s front porch.

“She’s no mine, ye
ken,” Quinn said without pre-amble.

“Are ye sure?” 
Malcolm asked sarcastically.  He was wounded by his brother’s omission of the
fact that he had found a woman to warm his bed.  Malcolm and Quinn had always
been close and Malcolm was displeased to be left in the dark about such a huge
development in Quinn’s life.

“Christ!  Of
course I’m sure, Malcolm.  Do I need tae explain tae ye the way that it works? 
I thought that ye were old enough tae ken how babies are made!”

“Buggar off,”
Malcolm responded and wrapped the quilt around himself more firmly.

“I found her in
the woods last week while ye were away.  She was giving birth.  I helped her
get the baby out,” Quinn said earnestly.

“And ye named her
Mairi?” he asked incredulously.  “I canna believe that ye…”

“She asked me tae
name her.  If I hadna come along, they both would have died.  It just seemed
right,” Quinn said in his defense.

“And why were ye
sleeping with her in yer bed?”

“Now that’s a good
question,” Quinn said, pondering how to proceed.  “I guess I’ve taken tae the
lass.  She’s made me feel things that I thought I couldna.  I thought that I’d
never feel that way again,” Quinn confessed.

“What do ye intend
tae do with them?” Malcolm asked, taken aback by Quinn’s unlikely feelings
towards Sarah.

Quinn chuckled. 
“Another good question.  I don’t right ken what I plan tae do with them.  Keep
them safe for now, I suppose,” he said, raking his hand through his hair.

“Why in the hell
can’t my brothers just meet a nice girl, get engaged and follow a
normal
path in settling down with a lass?” Malcolm said, laughing softly now.  “That’s
what I intend tae do ye ken.  Find the right woman and go about it properly.”

“It’s no like I
planned this!” Quinn said, exasperated.  “Sometimes ye don’t have a choice in
matters of the heart,” Quinn said softly and clapped his brother reassuringly
on the back.

“Come back tae
bed,” Quinn said, hoisting Malcolm up by the elbow, quilt and all.  “It’s cold
out here,” he said, shivering in the late autumn air as he was clad only in a
thin linen shirt.  He draped his arm over Malcolm’s shoulders and together they
walked back towards the small cabin.

“Do ye think I’ve
time before winter tae start building a cabin of my own?” Malcolm asked.

“Aye.  I’ll help
ye.”

..ooOoo..

“May I have her
back now?” Quinn asked Malcolm with the faintest hint of possessiveness in his
tone.

“I’ve but just
gotten a hold of her.  Ye’ve had her all this time!” Malcolm said, resisting
his brother’s attempt to take Mairi from his grasp.

Quinn shook his
head and walked over to sit in the chair before the fire.

“She’s a miracle
is she no?” Malcolm asked as he bent over Mairi.  He had the baby lying on her
back, nestled on his thighs so that she could look up at him.  Her big brown
eyes strained to focus on him and he smiled like an idiot at her, making funny
faces for her enjoyment.

“She’s too young
for that, ye ken?” Quinn scoffed as he watched Malcolm play with the baby. 

“Nay.  Look…she
likes it!” Malcolm retorted as he brushed his nose against Mairi’s. In response
she began to flail her tiny arms about wildly.

Quinn shook his
head again.  He couldn’t help but smile when he watched Malcolm play with
Mairi.  His heart swelled as he watched them.

“Aye.  She is a
miracle,” Quinn agreed.

“Just look at her
tiny fingers and those big brown eyes,” Malcolm cooed as Mairi wrapped her
fingers around his much larger index finger.  “I think that it’ll be awhile yet
before ye get her back,” Malcolm teased as he brushed his hand lovingly over
Mairi’s soft brown hair.

“We’ll see about
that,” Quinn threatened.  It was obvious to him that Malcolm had fallen in
love.  Quinn leaned back in the chair before the fire, choosing to bide his
time and indulge his little brother.

“I think I might
have to separate you two,” Sarah chastised as she rose from the bed where she
had been watching the Murray brothers fight over her daughter.  “You’re
fighting over her as if she’s a new toy!”

Both Murrays flushed with embarrassment.  They weren’t used to having an outsider be privy to
their constant stream of good-hearted bickering.

“Mairi’s already
decided that she likes me best,” Malcolm teased as he leaned down and smiled
over the tiny baby.  “Isn’t that right, Mairi?”

Quinn scoffed and
shook his head.  “Twas I that saved her life,” he said handily.  “Ye pale in
comparison.”

“Ye’ve got me
there, brother,” Malcolm admitted as he kissed Mairi on the forehead.  He
lifted her carefully from his lap and stood, tucking her handily into the crook
of his arm.  “She still thinks that I’m more fun,” he chided as he walked
across the room and handed the baby to Quinn.

“I doona ken about
that.  Little Mairi has quite refined tastes, I’m afraid.  I think that she was
just placating ye,” Quinn teased as he smiled down into Mairi’s big brown eyes.

Sarah shook her
head. “Are you going, Malcolm?” she asked, trying to conceal the hopefulness in
her voice. 

She longed to be
alone with Quinn.  Having slept wrapped in his strong arms, she had so many new
feelings about Quinn.  So many questions remained unanswered between them.
Sarah desperately wanted to be alone with him.  Her mind was reeling from what
had taken place between them last night.  Did Quinn feel the same feelings that
she felt when she looked at him?  Did it feel like fire course through his
veins at the touch of her hand against his skin?

“Aye.  No rest for
the weary,” Malcolm said as he cast a goading look over his shoulder at Quinn.

“Buggar off,”
Quinn said, still focused on entertaining Mairi.  “I’ll be out tae help ye in a
while. 
Someone
forced me out of bed in the middle of the night and I’m
a bit tired this morning.”

Malcolm laced his
boots and pulled on his coat.  A rush of chilly air burst into the small cabin
when he opened the door and stepped out into the November fog.

“Did ye want her?”
Quinn asked, his eyes flashing towards Sarah.

“No.  She looks
happy where she is,” Sarah said smiling as she watched Mairi look up at Quinn. 
Mairi’s almond shaped brown eyes scanned his face and she occasionally raised
her eyebrows, giving her a look of sudden surprise.

Sarah rung her
fingers together and bit her lower lip.  Was Quinn really attracted to her? 
How could he possibly be when she had been ruined by another man?  Sarah sighed
and decided to bite her tongue.  She would wait to talk to Quinn about her
feelings.

“She is a miracle,
ken.  That’s what Malcolm was saying as he held her and he’s right.  Can ye
fathom that ye made her?” Quinn said, breaking the silence that had fallen
between them.

“I hadn’t really
thought of it in those terms,” Sarah said, chuckling softly as she noticed the
look of awe on Quinn’s face.  “She’s such a gift,” Sarah said wistfully. 
Watching Quinn’s large frame bent over Mairi, his handsome face alight with wonder
as he admired the baby sent a rush of warmth through Sarah’s body.  She tore
her eyes away from Quinn.  He certainly had no idea of how he affected her.

“Aye,” Quinn
agreed as he bent and touched his nose to Mairi’s.

“Did you and
Malcolm spend time with babies when you were growing up?  You seem so
comfortable with her,” Sarah said.  She found Quinn’s ability to calm Mairi
remarkable.

“Och, aye.  There
were always babies about the house.  Cousins and the like.  I was nine when
Malcolm came around so I remember playing with him when he was small like
this,” Quinn said.  “We had always hoped for a sister, but it wasna tae be.”

“It sounds like
you had a happy childhood,” Sarah deduced, casting aside her intentions to bear
her soul for Quinn. 

“Verra happy.  We
grew up in the country.  Our parents had a good-sized farm.  Plenty of space
for three wild boys tae run amuck,” Quinn laughed.

“Was your
childhood a happy one?” Quinn asked, caught up in the moment as he remembered
the happy times of his youth.

“No,” Sarah said
softly.  “At first it was, and then, well…things changed,” she explained,
thinking it best to leave this topic of conversation alone.  There were things
about her past that she was not ready to reveal.