The McKinnon (44 page)

“Nic is not that petty, Morgan. He is just giving himself space before he talks to you. He was very angry and I would much rather that he avoid you than confront you while he is still on the edge of losing control. He is cognizant enough to recognize that fact and is wise enough to keep clear until he can deal with you rationally and effectively and not run on pure emotion.” Reagan was right and she knew it. A man the size of Nic McKinnon could hurt or kill a person before fully realizing it.

Reagan took Morgan’s hands into her own. “Morgan, listen to me. Nic loves you. This will not drive him away. What you have together is much stronger than that. It may take some work to patch this up because you broke his faith, but give him credit. He understands that he needs to be able to deal with this on his own terms, and I have every faith he will come to you when he feels he can. Now, eat. You will need your strength if you are to face him with your head held high. You did what you felt you needed to do. There is no shame in that.”

“Fine.” Morgan sat down in a near huff. Reagan was grateful for any improvement. At least Morgan was back on more even ground. Then Reagan struck on an idea.

“You stay here and finish eating. I have a few details I need to take care of. I’ll be back, all right?”

Morgan nodded as Reagan exited the tent.

She found Connor by a cluster of tents. “Hey, English? Over here.” She waved him to her.

“You need to speak with me?” Connor’s attractive face was just visible in the waning daylight. She conceded he was a handsome devil, and when he looked at her the way he was doing now, her heart skip a beat.

"I need you.” The words were easier to say than she had thought. That was progress, she supposed.

“Really?” Connor raised a dark brow in question. He was teasing her and she knew it. “You need me?” His smile was beautiful and disarming. Rarely having seen it, she was thankful. Her body's reaction to him was about to throw her under the supply wagon.

“I don’t need you, well, I do sort of. More like, I need your help. Just leave it at that.” Reagan was flustered.

“Never thought I'd see the day you would come willingly to me. What could I possibly have you need badly enough to come looking for me? Shall I guess?” He was teasing her again.

She did not fail to feel the undercurrent surrounding them lately; the sexual tension between them was thick tonight.

He took a step forward.

She put her palm on his chest. “Oh, enough already! I need you to convince Nic to talk to Morgan.”

That shut the teasing down. “Oh, no. No. No. No. You are not going to interfere and neither am I, Reagan. This is between husband and wife. I have not lived to the ripe age of thirty and not learned a few lessons. One being: never step between a man and his woman. Not on my life will I do this.”

She took a step closer.

“English, Please. I don't want to beg you, but will if I must. Help me to help Morgan. She is anxious. You know I would not ask if I did not feel it necessary.” She gently laid a pleading hand on his sleeve then fisted the material into her fingers.

“Connor...please.”

He looked down at her hand and back to her face. A foreign sensation shot through him as he looked at this woman standing only inches away. He had never heard her say his name. It sounded almost magical coming from her lips, as if she was a siren from the sea.

“Nay, Reagan, I will not do this. Ask me for anything, but not this.” Why did he feel remorse in refusing her? He was right not to interfere.

“Please, Connor, do not refuse me. Not in this. I beg you for Morgan’s sake.”

Connor closed his eyes and shook his head. He knew he was about to go to a place he swore to never go, but how could he possible refuse her. He knew what the cost to her pride had to have been to ask for his help. He laid his hand over hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Tell me again, just so I’m sure, Reagan, that you did not have a hand in this deception.”

“No, English. I would not lie to you about this. I did not. I would never have gone along with it had I known. But, Morgan is here and I feel that I need to do whatever is possible to help her.”

They stood looking at each other as time began to stretch out. She could see he was weighing it out.

“Connor?” Reagan gently squeezed his forearm.

“Very well. But….”

“Oh, thank you.” She impulsively drew her arms around his waist and was hugging him in gratitude. Then realizing what she had done quickly, stepped back, embarrassed at her show of emotion. He caught her arms before she could totally make good her retreat and did not let her go.

“As I was saying, yes, I will help you. However, my help will come at a price.”

“Fine. Whatever. Now, let’s go get Nic.” She was trying to pull him with her.

He was resisting her unsuccessful tries to move him. “Not so fast, Love. Don’t you want to know the price I shall extort for my assistance?”

“Later.” She was impatient now that she secured his agreement. “We have work to do. In addition, you may ‘extort’ your payment as you choose to call it only if we are successful, and I mean successful by him staying the night in her tent. I will settle for nothing less. Agreed?”

She stood looking up at his towering form and wondered why she had never noticed he had a cleft in his chin. It made him look devastatingly handsome.

“As my Lady wishes. You wait here. I’ll go to Nic in private.” He turned her loose and stepped back.

“But--”

He put a finger to her lips.

“No, Reagan. We do this my way or not at all.” He cut off any argument she may have had.

Reagan nodded. He took a last look at her before turning to go back the way he had just come and headed to Nic’s tent.

Approaching cautiously, but none too quietly, he gave Nic some warning he was there.

“Nic, may I enter?” he asked outside the tent.

“Yes. Come in.”

Connor entered to see Nic sitting in front of a folding table with maps of Seabridge that Morgan had drawn for them spread out in front of him.

Nic waved him over.

“Come here and look at these. The architects were brilliant in their design and location of this stronghold. It should not be hard to take under the current circumstances. However, any other and it would be near impossible to overtake. Come and sit. Have a drink with me and let me show you what I’m talking about.”

“I’ll have that drink. I have need of it right about now. It would seem I have met my match, Nic."

His statement got Nic's attention. "Hum, really?" Nic asked, wondering where this was going.

"I have finally found a woman who can readily say no to me, but I cannot say no
to her in return.”

Nic pushed the maps aside, stood and went to the decanter. He filled a glass for Connor and refilled his own. “It's a sinking feeling, isn’t it. We are talking Reagan aren’t we?” Nic asked as he studied Connor.

“Yes. It’s Reagan.”

He looked back at the glasses and continued to fill them. “What did she ask that you could not refuse?”

“Nic, she has asked me to speak to you about Morgan.”

Nic handed Connor his drink, never flinching at the revelation.

Connor continued. “I didn’t want to get involved. Truly, I didn’t. But, I just was not able to say no to her. Even against my better judgment, I find myself sitting here.”

Nic softly laughed as he fully understood Connor’s plight. “Count yourself fortunate that talking to me was all she has asked of you, my friend.” Nic understood Connor’s predicament. He lifted his glass in a small toast.

Connor took a small drink from that cup. “I was not going to do it until it struck me that she had come to me of her own will.”

Nic understood where Connor was coming from. “And that is something we both know she most likely swore she would never do.”

Connor agreed. “It probably cost a great deal for her to do that. She has never had issue asking favors on the behalf of others. However, I think this was as much for her sake as Morgan’s.” Connor sighed. She was stubborn and willful, but had never shown selfishness in her demands.

“I understand.”

Both men sat in silence for a few moments, each sipping on the watered wine. Connor broke the silence first.

“She is leaving, Nic.”

This information surprised Nic. “What? Leaving? When?” Nic felt he knew her well enough to read her. He had not seen or heard anything to give him even the smallest hint of this news.

Connor sensed Reagan's desires in his gut. “She has not come right out and said so, but it is a feeling I have. She has grown more restless of late. I have watched her, and there are times she stands out on the ramparts looking longingly to the west. I assume to Ireland. There is no binding reason for her to stay. I can protect her, but I cannot command her,” Connor said then he slammed down the rest of his drink in one swallow as a punctuation mark to his statement.

Nic had not thought to hear this news. “We must stop her then. She belongs here with us.”

Connor looked at his friend and pursed his lips. Nic could read the signs. Connor wanted something.

“There is something more?” Nic probed.

“Yes, I have a favor to ask.”

Nic started to open his mouth to speak, but Connor stopped him with a gesture.

“Before saying anything just hear me out, Nic.”

Connor stood, paced a moment, and sat down again. “Look, I have been a little underhanded with her.”

“Sometimes it is necessary, Connor. We may not like it, but that is reality. What did you do?”

“I agreed to help her, but told her my help would come with a price.”

“And exactly what was your price?” Nic cocked his head and raised one dark brow. Knowing Connor, as well as he did, the price was going to be something unexpected.

“I'll get to that in a moment. Rea was in such a hurry to get you to talk to Morgan that she did not want to hear the price. She agreed to allow me to extract payment before hearing all my terms, but not before laying out her own.”

“And you expected anything less from her?” Nic laughed softly.

“No, but unless her terms are met, I cannot extract my payment in full.”

Nic thought that was reasonable enough. Yet, he also knew Connor was not sure how to move forward with her.

“Nic, there are things I need to know. I need answers to questions lurking in my mind. I need time to figure out what I feel for her, and I cannot do that if she is gone. I am going to tell her my payment is that she must remain at my side and at Featherstone for a year and a day, and she must seal the bargain with a kiss.”

“A hand fasting, hum, all right. And her terms would be?”

“You must go to Morgan and stay the night with her.”

Nic sat in silence. He was weighing his decision carefully. If his anger was still raw, he could do her physical harm. However, if Reagan had asked Connor for help, he could well be harming his woman emotionally anyway.

“I love my wife, Connor. To stay the night with her is no hardship. Go and tell Reagan that you will be able to extract your payment in full at first light. And here I thought I was the only one to play dirty.”

Nic's small laugh was filled with irony.

Connor relaxed visibly.

“Nevertheless," Nic said, wanting to dispense some brotherly advice, "you have to understand that if she is set on going then your restriction would only delay the inevitable. It may well be easier to let her go now, before you are in too deep to extract yourself with your heart intact. Consider it, Connor, before you set yourself and Reagan on a path where neither can turn back.”

It was Connor’s turn to stand in silence as he watched Nic leave the tent.

Reagan watched from the shadows as Nic entered the tent she shared with the Duchess. 

“They will be all right, Reagan." Connor said as he approached her.

She startled a little. He must have been watching her as she watched Nic.

"You're cold. Here, let me warm you.” Connor walked up behind her and enfolded her as he wrapped them both in his riding cloak.

He felt her stiffen, but slowly relax against him sinking into the warmth. It was a cold night, and she could feel the heat radiating from him. What was more, she loved the feel of strong arms wrapped around her.

Reagan was beginning to realize that while behind those protected walls of Featherstone, even though she had been on her own for so long with no one to lean on, many were still depending on her. Maybe that need by others for her help was what kept her going in Ireland. She just kept putting one foot in front of the other.

It was nice for a change to be the one to have her needs met. She snuggled deeper into Connor's warmth, and he adjusted his hold on her.

“What did you say to him?” Reagan asked quietly in the darkness. She felt him shrug.

“Nothing much, really. He just figured he had been long enough away from her to keep from hurting her. You asking for help was what actually convinced him he needed to go see her. I think it is safe to say he will stay the night. I believe that was your stipulation was it not? Come the dawn, we will seal our bargain.”

“If they can begin to patch things up, it will be worth whatever your price.” She tilted her face back and up to look at him. “Thank you for helping me, Connor. I don’t think he would have listened to me.”

Again she looked back at the tent. The candles were being snuffed one after another, and soon the tent was nearly dark.

“You think Morgan will be all right?”

Connor nodded. “Yes, I do, Love. Nic has cooled down considerably. He won't hurt her if that is your concern. He is deeply in love with her so, I would imagine it would be near to impossible for him to cause her physical harm."

"I know, but still...." She let her concern hang there for a moment. 

"They do not need a guard so come. Let us get you inside."

Connor felt her nod.

"Will you allow me to walk you back to Nic’s tent?”

Not waiting for her answer, he draped his arm around her shoulder as they began to walk back. He kept the cloak securely wrapped around her. She was not at all sure what she was feeling about the change she felt taking place between them. He was not safe for her. The closer she got to him the more she liked him. And liking him was not something she could afford. She was leaving after they took care of the business in London. Where she was going no one could follow. It was full of wonders that those from this century could never begin to understand. She would not be coming back and it was going to be hard enough to leave Nic, Morgan, and the babies behind. She did not need one more soul to grieve once she left. They would be forever gone to her.