Highland Master

chapter 16



I’m feeling so much that I can’t think,” Catriona muttered. Then Fin touched something that made her earlier feelings seem tame by comparison. Fire shot through her. His lips claimed hers again, holding them captive as his fingers teased her more.

His tongue invaded her mouth, and she responded at once with her own.

She barely realized that she was moving against two fingers now, trying to increase the pleasurable sensations they elicited within. Then he withdrew them and moved to replace them with a larger part of himself.

Straddling her now, bearing his weight on his legs and his hands, he looked into her eyes as he pressed himself gently inside her. Catriona tried to relax, moaning in soft protest to a dull ache. He paused, eased out again, and repeated the movements. Now resting on his knees and forearms, he no longer kept her mouth occupied with his lips and tongue, but the sensations below, both mesmerizing and somewhat worrisome, kept her mind well occupied.

Moving one hand to cup her left breast, he used his thumb to tease the nipple, diverting her attention just as he pressed himself fully inside her.

Gasping at the increasing pain, she felt her body respond nonetheless to his. She had closed her eyes, but she opened them to see his face contorting as if he were the one in pain. His body gave a sudden start, and his grimace became more profound as he drew in a long deep breath and let it out again. Just as she wondered what would come next, his face relaxed and he eased himself out of her.

“That should satisfy anyone bumptious enough to inquire into the matter,” he said gruffly as he shifted to lie beside her. “Was it so painful, lassie?”

“It ached some, but now it feels only hot and a bit prickly,” she said.

“A good word,” he said with a chuckle. “We’ll get you cleaned up then, or do you want me to shout for Ailvie? I do need to change my clothes for the journey.”

“Prithee, don’t call her until I can tidy myself, but you must do as you like.”

“I don’t like it at all,” he said with a wry smile. “I’d rather stay right where I am. And I should warn you that all I’m going to be thinking about until we’re safely in bed together at Castle Moigh is that I have unfinished business with you.”

She nearly told him that she would be thinking much the same thing. Then, she remembered that she was still annoyed with him. Somehow, that little detail had flown right out of her head the moment he had touched her.

Since she still wanted to make her feelings clear, she thought it might be wiser not to admit the effect that his touch had on her, so she said lightly, “You may not be safe as soon as you think, sir. We still have matters to discuss, you and I.”

“Aye, sure, lass. In turn, I’d remind you that a husband has greater rights in such discussion than a guest or a friend does. You have given your temper free rein several times since we met. I prefer that my wife remain civil in her manner to me.”

“Do you, sir?”

He gave her a direct look. “I do, aye.”

“Then do not give me cause to lose my temper, and all will be well.”

Holding her gaze, he said, “We’ll see just how well it is, won’t we?”



Fin grinned at her as he got out of bed and was glad to receive a wry smile in return. He did not want to debate anymore until they were on the road.

Shortly afterward, wearing suitable attire for riding, they joined James, Morag, their attendants, guests, and family members at the boat landing, where the travelers piled into one of the larger boats. Fin was thankful for all the company, the activity, and his mantle, because his body still expressed its disapproval of his decision to remove himself from the velvety warmth of Catriona’s sheath.

All the feelings that she had engendered remained wide awake in him, albeit not as strong as at the time of his withdrawal. Then it had elicited a surge of instinctive, primitive yearning to conquer her. His cock still twitched in awareness of her nearness, but at least it no longer ached.

That his decision had been the right one, he knew. Just watching her on the landing with the family, seeing how naturally she smiled when she spoke with the others and how gracefully she got into the boat assured him that their brief coupling had not hurt her enough to cause her distress as they traveled.

If God was kind, He would reward them both by nightfall. If He was in a more fractious mood, He would resurrect the earlier, more irritable lass.

Fin would do his best to prevent the latter choice.

They reached the opposite landing to find Toby and Ian waiting with a string of Highland garrons, the small, sure-footed horses that could travel nearly anywhere in mountainous terrain without missing a step. Four of them were sumpter ponies.

The others bore minimal leather saddles similar to those that Borderers used. Like the men, the women rode astride, their skirts made full enough for discretion.

Having said their farewells on the island, they mounted quickly.

Fin had not ridden a garron in years and recalled Rothesay’s description of riding such a horse. His feet seemed awkwardly close to the ground, but garrons were strong and could carry weights greater than his with ease.

After setting out on the trail that he and Catriona had followed to the loch’s outflow, they rode only a short way before they saw a half-dozen men striding toward them. All carried swords and dirks.

Toby Muir said, “Master, that be the gallous young slink that lost his sword tae ye the day we met ye and her ladyship just yonder.”

“Rory Comyn,” Catriona said at the same time. “What is he doing here?”

“I can guess,” James said. “We heard that he and other Comyns have been casting threats about and saying that he’d have you for his wife before the month is out. We ignored them, suspecting that Granddad had other plans.” He looked at Fin.

“Well, he means to make a nuisance of himself now,” Catriona said.

“Wait and see, lass,” Fin said. “We are too many for them to stir mischief.”

“Sakes, sir, all six of them are armed. And although our party is larger, our gillies carry just dirks. You, James, and Ian are the only well-armed men with us.”

“I’m here, too, m’lady,” Toby said indignantly. “And yon other lad, as well,” he added, gesturing to James’s equerry.

“So you are,” Catriona said. But Fin could see that she still believed that if the six Comyn men attacked, the Comyns would win.

He did not think that they would attack. Glancing back, he saw that the boatmen were still within call. Also, the six men approaching looked purposeful rather than dangerous.

Knowing that the garron would be of no use to him, he told Catriona to stay on hers and swung his leg over to dismount. He saw James and Ian do the same. But he did not notice until Catriona strode ahead of them that she had also dismounted.

He opened his mouth to call her to order just as she said, “Good morrow, Rory Comyn. ’Twas thoughtful of you and these others to come and bid me well.”

Fin shut his mouth when, except for their redheaded leader, the other Comyns halted. Rory took a few more steps toward Catriona, but after a glance at Fin and another at James, he stopped before he got too close to her.

“What be this, then?” he demanded. “Why should I wish ye well, lass?”

“Because I am now a married woman, sir,” she said with a smile. “As I ken fine that you had some thought of taking me to wife, I think it was kind of you to come all this way to help us celebrate the day.”

“I heard nowt o’ this,” he muttered, frowning at Fin. Then he looked more measuringly at James, Ian, and the others behind them.

Taking his cue from Catriona, Fin moved to extend a hand to Comyn, saying, “I can understand your vexation. I’d be wroth if you had been before me, too.”

“Aye, well, I were before ye, and I’ll be after ye, come to that,” Comyn growled, ignoring Fin’s outstretched hand. Looking at Catriona, he said, “So, ye be celebrating the day. D’ye mean to say the event has only just taken place, then?”

“Hours ago,” she said, nodding. “And a fine day it is for a wedding, too.”

“There will be a reckoning for such betrayal, lass. The Mackintosh—aye, and your da, too—knew I wanted to speak more wi’ them. Yet they put me off. I came here today to make that plain to them and demand that we continue our talks.”

“There were no true nego—” Catriona broke off when Fin put a hand to her arm. She glanced at him, clearly eager to challenge Comyn’s words.

Aware that the man had talked himself into a temper that would seethe into fury before long, Fin said, “Gently, my lady. One can see that he believed that your kinsmen were still considering his suit. Forbye, when we met him before, you told me that they were. Sakes, any man would be irked by such treatment.”

“Aye, anyone would,” Comyn agreed. “But dinna think to cozen me into friendship wi’ such words, because I’ll see ye dead first.”

“Mayhap you will, Comyn,” Fin replied calmly. “But not today. The guards yonder at the castle will have noted your presence. They will likewise be eager to discuss your unwelcome presence further if you do not leave now.”

“Aye? Well, I dinna fear them, nor the Mackintosh, nor Shaw, nor any grander laird wi’ them wha’ thinks he wields power over any Comyn. Not one o’ them does, and so they should all ken fine. We’ll meet again, Fin o’ the Battles. Make nae mistake about that!”

Fin’s hand was still on Catriona’s arm, and he felt her stiffen. Believing that she was about to add her mite to the conversation, he squeezed her arm in warning.

Glowering at them both, Rory Comyn turned and strode away, signing to his men to follow him.

James and the others remounted, but instead of following them, Catriona turned to Fin and said testily, “Why did you not let me speak?”

“I did let you speak, as long as you were encouraging civil conversation,” Fin said quietly. “But when I saw that he was getting angry and that you were about to make him angrier… If you will recall, lass, I told you to stay on your horse.”

She grimaced but said nothing, turning abruptly toward her garron.

He followed, caught her at the waist, and put her on the horse himself.



Fin’s action caught Catriona by surprise. When he put her on her garron with enough force to make her teeth snap together, she drew breath to tell him what she thought of such behavior.

His expression made her think again.

“We’ll talk soon,” he promised. “First we’ll let that lot get well away from us whilst I have a word with James.”

“What about?”

“Aye, what?” James asked curiously.

“Comyn knows about your exalted guests,” Fin said.

“I don’t see how he could,” James said, frowning. “Rothesay rode into the Highlands as one of Alex’s men, and Donald came to us as a mendicant friar. Nae one can have recognized either one of them.”

“One would hope not. Yet Comyn suggested that Rothiemurchus houses ‘grander lairds,’ wielding more power than the Mackintosh or your father.”

James’s frown deepened. Turning to his man, he said, “Ride back and tell the boatmen what just happened here. Tell them to report it to the Mackintosh and Shaw. Tell them, too, that we think that Rory Comyn kens more than he should.”

As they watched the man hurry back, Catriona said gently to Fin, “ ’Twas my speaking to Rory that earned us that information, was it not?”

“It was, aye,” he admitted.

“It is good then that I did annoy him a trifle.”

“The man was angry from the moment he saw us,” he said flatly. “I’d wager that when he departed, he’d have hurled much the same words at us.”

“But he had come to negotiate with my father, so he was not really angry until I told him that you and I had married.”

“You made the matter personal, Catriona, a matter betwixt you and him, Mackintosh and Comyn. A woman telling any man who wants her that he can never have her utters fighting words, words that beget trouble.”

He had given her something to think about, but his calm voice did not fool her. She decided that she would keep her thoughts to herself for a time.

When James’s man returned, they continued on their way, watching the now distant Comyn party until all six of them vanished over the ridge north of the loch.

Their own party followed the barely discernible track that she and Fin had followed the day they had met, when she had led him to Rothiemurchus. At the top of the ridge, they headed northwest and downhill to the river Spey. Fording the river, they splashed out onto a wider, more traveled path that followed the river for some fifty miles to its outlet into the Moray Firth near the cathedral town of Elgin.

Fin had not tried yet to open a discussion with her, so as they rode, she mentally practiced what she would say to him. But their party remained tightly grouped, and she had no more desire than he did for James or Morag to hear what she said. So she bided her time.

When she saw Fin look back across the river and then at James, she realized that they had been waiting until the Spey lay between them and the Comyns. At that time of year, the next ford lay ten miles to the north. Moreover, they would soon be in the heart of Mackintosh country and less likely to meet any Comyn.

Armed Comyns would certainly draw notice, and word of their presence would quickly spread until Mackintoshes confronted them in great number.

Fin said, “Do you know the turning we want, lass?”

“Aye, sure, I do,” she said.

“Then you and I will ride on, so we can talk of anything you like.”

His matter-of-fact words had an odd effect on her. Although she had been waiting for such an opportunity, now that he was granting it to her…

“What now?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“I was ready and willing to tell you just what I think,” she replied. “But I did not think you would be so willing to hear it. In troth, sir, your invitation has acted like a damper on the heat of my anger. And I am not sure that I like that any better than other things you have said or done of late.”

“Is that all?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

That look had another effect, a deeper one. But she fought it, determined to hold her own and have her say. “Faith, do you laugh at me?”

“I am not such a fool,” he assured her. “Now, shall we discuss what Rothesay said to anger you just before we left the hall, or have you another topic that you would prefer to offer first?”

She sighed. “By my troth, sir, I think what angers me most is almost the same thing in every instance.”

“And that is…?”

“You used to listen to my opinions and seem to respect them. But now you either ignore what I say to you or you dismiss it as unimportant. But if I do the same to you, you get as irritated as Ivor does.”

“You will have to explain to me how that applies to what Rothesay said about my having been born at Tor Castle.”

“God-a-mercy, you ken fine that you misled me when I asked you if you knew the place,” she said.

With a wry and rueful look, he said, “I did not tell you the whole truth, but we had met just the day before.”

“Then what about when I asked you yestereve, before I agreed to marry you, if you had told me everything about yourself that I should know? Then, you made it sound as if the only things you had not told me were things that you had not thought of or secrets that belonged to other people. That was not true, sir.”

“I should have told you then, aye,” he admitted. “I do see that now. At the time, I was acting on your father’s orders to persuade you to our marriage. The truth is that I wanted to persuade you for my own sake, sweetheart. But I feared that if I admitted that I was born at the very place over which our clans had fought for decades, you would be as irked as you are now. And our fratching over it would have done nowt to change your father’s mind or that of the Mackintosh.”

His explanation took the wind out of her sails. But she soon rallied, saying, “That is all very well, sir. But when you told me that you had only heard of Tor Castle, that was deception, plain and simple. How can you expect me to believe what you tell me when you do such things?” Tears welled unexpectedly into her eyes and she stared straight ahead, hoping that he would not notice them.

He reached over and caught hold of her hand. “Look at me, lass.”

She ignored him. She would not let him see that her own words had stirred such foolish emotion in her. When he squeezed her hand, a tear spilled over. But it fell from her left eye, and he was on her right, so he could not see it.

“Sweetheart,” he said, “I wish I could promise never to do such a thing again, but I cannot. Sithee, I serve a man who behaves impulsively and holds his secrets close. That means that I often have to keep my activities secret, too. I have spent years keeping personal secrets as well. Sakes, I thought that even Rothesay knew nowt of them. I was wrong about that, as we have seen, but even he knows nowt of one dilemma that I failed to resolve before I met you.”

“You did resolve it then?”

“I did, aye, and I am sure that I chose the right way.”

“Will you tell me what the resolution was, and why it was such a dilemma?”

“A fortnight ago I’d have said that I could never speak of it to anyone,” he said solemnly. “I am still not persuaded that telling you would be the right thing to do. But that is not because I don’t trust you, so I make you this promise. I will never forbid you to ask me about it, and mayhap the day will come when I can tell you.”

The tear dried on her cheek as she considered his promise.

At last, still watching the road, she said, “I must be able to trust you. But how can I when I’d often wonder if you were parsing your words or just lying to me?”

“Will you agree to let a matter drop if I tell you that I cannot discuss it?”

She glanced at him, saw him looking intently at her, and could not look away. Something in his expression challenged her to think before she replied.

At last, licking dry lips, she said, “If I say that I agree, will you promise never to say those words just because you don’t want to answer me?”

“I will promise that without hesitation.”

His voice sounded hoarse, and his gaze was more intense than ever. The way he was looking at her sent new sensations surging through her, touching her in the very places that had reacted earlier when he had stroked her breasts.

She muttered, “Will you promise never to mislead me again?”

“With respect, Catriona, I did not really mislead you about Tor Castle. You asked me if I knew of it, and I said that I did and that I knew its exact location. We were on the loch trail then, and we met Comyn, which ended our conversation.”

“But by not being forthright…”

“That was just after we’d met. Recall that I still did not know how the people of Rothiemurchus felt about members of the Cameron confederation. I had good reason to tread cautiously.”

“We do have a truce,” she reminded him.

“Aye, but truces are not set in stone, lass. Men break them all the time.”

“Men break many things,” she said. “How will I know I can trust your word?”

“Because I will trust yours if you say that I should. Should I?”



Fin saw color fire her cheeks and knew that he had touched a nerve. He decided to press the advantage. “We need to be able to trust each other, lass. I know that it angered you when we met Comyn today and I told you to stay on your horse.”

“And I irked you when I dismounted and said what I did to him.”

“Aye, but I quickly saw that you could manage him, so I let matters be. Then you began to contradict him about his so-called negotiations, and I could see that you were going to make him even angrier than he had been.”

“By my troth, sir, had I not been thinking as much about how you would react to my defiance as I was about what I should say to him—”

“Don’t you see, sweetheart? That is just the sort of thing we need to learn about each other. Until we do, I would ask that you obey me when I make it clear that I expect obedience, if only because I have more experience of the world than you do. In return,” he added before she could argue, “I will do my best to give you the same respect when we speak of things about which you know more than I do.”

“What if I don’t obey you?” she asked, regarding him now from under her lashes. “Sithee, sometimes I just act because it seems right to act.”

“Then I fear you must accept whatever consequences I impose. I am your husband now, Catriona. So, law and tradition accord me certain rights and likewise certain duties. The greatest of those is the duty to protect you from others. And from your own folly,” he added bluntly.

When she licked her lips, his body stirred in response, making him wish James and Morag to perdition. What he wanted to do was snatch his defiant, beautiful wife off her garron, carry her into the nearby woods for privacy, and master her so thoroughly that she would know forevermore that she was his woman.



Catriona could not mistake the heated desire in Fin’s eyes, and since her own body had reminded her any number of times that they had consummated their union too hastily, his desire and even his threat stirred other, much stronger feelings.

Preferring not to think about those consequences he had mentioned, because she knew he would never approve her habit of taking her own road whenever she could, she was glad to see the turning they wanted ahead. As they ascended the steep, wooded trail into the mountains, she remembered his penchant for waterfalls.

Shouting to James, she suggested that they stop at the one they knew and eat the midday meal they had brought with them. That plan being heartily approved by everyone, they ate so near the tall, spectacular torrent that they felt its mist on their faces. Watching Fin, she saw him relax, grinning, and knew she had chosen well.

When they had finished, everyone remounted and they returned to the trail.

James and Morag seemed happier, too. When James suggested that they all ride together, neither Catriona nor Fin objected.

They reached Loch Moigh well before sundown, and the guards on the castle ramparts were watching for them, because a boat with two oarsmen set out at once. The castle occupied a sizeable island, and the loch was larger than Loch an Eilein.

When the boat neared the landing, James shook Fin’s hand and said, “We’ll be off now straightaway, because we want to reach Daviot by suppertime. But I do wish you the best of luck in taming our wildcat, and all happiness for you both.”

Catriona hugged her brother and Morag, then stepped into the boat when it arrived at the landing. Fin followed her, leaving Ailvie, Ian, and Toby to supervise the unloading of the sumpter ponies and tend to the garrons.

“ ’Tis a beautiful place, is it not?” Catriona said as the boat left the landing.

“Aye, but frankly, lass, I’m thinking about my wife and our bed,” he said.

Grinning, and aware of heat swiftly rising within her, she saw a man in a tunic and a blue-green plaid emerge from the castle and stride toward the landing, evidently to meet them. Feeling Fin stiffen beside her, she said, “Do you know him?”

“I do, aye. That is my brother, Ewan MacGillony Cameron.”