Highlander's Faerie (Highlander Heat #5)

His form wavered and he disappeared.

Another barrage of images flared to life, of a scraggly bearded warrior with a grass-stained tattered tunic smeared with blood. The warrior hauled her toward a skiff beached on the shore of an isolated cove. “Make haste,” the man snapped.

“You have to let me go.” Arms bound behind her, she stumbled in her heavy sapphire skirts across jutting rocks and onto a pebbly beach, the sunshine glinting off her amulet and catching her in the eyes.

“The MacDonalds watch you like a hawk. The guards will notice you’re missing afore too long. There can be no delay.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“You’re the faerie my chief brought into camp when we fought to take the Rhinns, the one who appeared from Dunyvaig’s faerie stones. My chief believed since a MacLean came forth from the guardians’ circle, it proves Islay belongs to us.”

Few could tell the difference between her and Marie, and it could only have been her sister he’d spoken of. “I’m not only MacLean but also MacDonald.”

“Aye, but with Lachlan choosing to use you to lure the MacDonalds into a battle, then so will I. Except on our own land where we’ll have a greater fighting force.”

“I’ll never aid you in your war, not when the fae have given me the task to bring about some peace.”

“There will never be peace.” He spat on the ground. “You have the power to aid us in the return of our land, and even though the MacDonalds captured my chief and handed Lachlan over to the king’s men following our battle, I willnae give up his fight. As my hostage, you’ll provide me with the bargaining power I need over the MacDonalds. The Rhinns will be ours. Make no mistake about that.” He tossed her into the skiff’s hull, pushed the boat into the water and sprayed drops over her as he bounded in.

In the distance along the coastline, the MacDonald stronghold stood guard like a sentinel. She’d never wanted to leave John this way. Pain speared through her.



A heart-wrenching cry echoed around the room and John snapped upright in bed.

“Please, no.” Katherine sobbed as she stood across the chamber rocking before the narrow window, her face eerily pale in the moon’s glow. “The MacDonalds will come after you, Finlay. There can be no more bloodshed.”

“Katherine.” He burst across the chamber, grasped her shoulders and turned her around. “’Tis I, John.”

“So c-cold,” she mumbled, her gaze blank.

“Wake and all will be well.” He pulled her into his arms and murmured soothingly, “’Tis naught but a nightmare which holds you. Who’s Finlay?”

“Finlay MacLean.” She blinked and her gaze cleared. Clasping his face with chilled fingers, she gasped. “John?”

“Aye, you’re awake now.”

“I’m at Dunyvaig?” She glanced around the chamber, squeezed her eyes shut then opened them again. “My nightmares have taken a turn. I didn’t dream of my death tonight but of something else.”

“You spoke Finlay MacLean’s name. Come and tell me all.” He eased her in under the covers, wrapped himself around her in order to provide as much warmth as he could then nudged her to begin.

“The first dream was so sweet. You took me to your sacred cavern. A waterfall streamed over a stone ledge and a tunnel led deep underground. Steam rose and glistened over black rocks surrounding a pool of hot water.”

“I spoke of the cavern this eve.” Not that he’d mentioned the stone ledge and waterfall. “Mayhap you dreamt of it since ’twas one of the last things we spoke of.”

“I saw it so clearly. A trickle of moonlight beamed in through an overhead vent that lead out over the ocean’s cliffs. We swam and I listened to your heartbeat.” She gripped his hem, lifted his tunic over his head and tossed it onto the floor. Swiftly, she edged over top of him and straddled his hips. Her gaze skimmed his chest then she wriggled down and pressed her ear to his chest. “The sound of your heartbeat soothed me, just as it soothes me now.”

“Tell me more about the cavern.” He couldn’t deny the accuracy of her description of the hidden entrance.

“There was a hunger in your eyes and I wanted to kiss you.” She pressed her mouth to his flat nipple, teased the tight flesh with her tongue and teeth and sighed. “Sooo good.”

“Katherine, you cannae tempt me so.” Sensations stormed through him, a whirlwind of desire and need. Nay, he wouldn’t take advantage of her, not when she’d awoken so distressed. “You cried out and spoke of a MacLean warrior, that the MacDonalds would come for him, and that there can be no more bloodshed.”

“One moment I was in the pool with you and in the next, the dream changed. I saw a warrior, a man who believed me to be Marie. He’d seen my sister during the battle at the Rhinns. I didn’t deny I was her.”