"I am on your side, la.s.s," Alex said. "So let's not waste time lying to each other."

She folded her arms and looked out to sea. "I'll no spend my life hoping Ian will care for me."

"I'm no saying ye should accept less than your due," Alex said. "But I suspect Ian cares for ye more than he knows."

"Seems to me," she said between her teeth, "that not knowing that he cares is the same as not caring."

"Sometimes a man needs to be pushed a wee bit," Alex said. "Hitting him over the head with the skillet a couple of times was a good start."

Sileas felt her cheeks grow warm. "Ian deserved it."

"I haven't a doubt that he did," Alex said. "But ye can't blame him for trying to get ye under the blankets."

"Hmmph."

A seal popped his head up and looked at her with its black eyes for a long moment before disappearing again below the waves.

"Do ye remember how the four of us lads used to sail to Knock Castle to take ye out fishing with us?" Alex said. "It was always Ian who talked us into it. Not that the rest of us didn't like ye, mind, but we were lads off having adventures. We wouldn't have brought ye along if Ian hadn't insisted."

"He just felt sorry for me," she said.

"Aye, Ian always did have a soft heart," Alex said. "But he liked having ye around. He was always talking about the funny things ye said or how quick ye were to learn something."

"I was a wee girl," she said. "He doesn't know me now."

"So give him time to get to know ye again," Alex said. "That's all I'm saying. Don't decide against him so quick."

"Why are ye trying to convince me?"

"Because I know ye will make Ian happy," Alex said, his expression serious for once. "He's a good man, Sileas. That's why ye waited for him so long."

"Hmmph." She was more confused than ever.

Alex narrowed his eyes at the clouds on the horizon. "We'd best head back. A storm is coming."

The waves grew wild on the way back, bouncing them like an egg in a kettle at full boil. Sileas held tight to the sides of the boat, enjoying the rush of the water and the sting of the sea on her skin.

" 'Tis grand, isn't it?" Alex shouted, and they grinned at each other.

The rain was pelting the sea not far behind them as Alex rowed hard for the beach.

"Is that Ian?" Sileas shouted over the wind, though she knew that was him pacing up and down the beach.

"Ahh, perfect," Alex said. "Even from here, I can see he's in a state."

Ian had seen them now and was standing with his hands on his hips, glaring out to sea in their direction.

"Shall we stay out a bit longer?" Alex said. "The man deserves to suffer, wouldn't ye say?"

"What are ye about, Alex?"

" 'Tis all part of my plan to make Ian appreciate ye."

"Appreciate me? Ian looks as if he'd like to murder us both."

"What fills the eye fills the heart," Alex said. "Trust me, 'tis a good sign."

She crawled closer to Alex so she could hear him better over the wind. "Ye said ye had a scheme, but ye never told me what it was."

"Well, one part is to make him jealous," Alex said.

"Jealous? Of you?"

Alex laughed. "Believe it or not, most women find me irresistible."

Though Alex wasn't for her, it was easy to see the appeal of the sea-green eyes and Viking warrior looks combined with all that charm.

She turned to see Ian striding through the surf to meet them. He had that dangerous look about him that made her heart beat fast.

"Are ye sure this is a wise idea, Alex?" she asked.

"I'll make a wager with ye," Alex said. "If I'm right and ye have Ian groveling at your feet within a fortnight, ye must give me a big kiss on the mouth in front of him."

"Ye are a devil," she said, unable to keep from laughing, despite the tension she felt with Ian bearing down on them. "And if ye are wrong?"

A slow smile spread across Alex's face. "Why, the same, la.s.s. The very same."

Ian must have been bewitched by faeries to let his cousin take Sileas out in the boat alone.

You're no doing so well on your own, Alex had said to him. Let me see if I can help her to see things your way. Ye know how persuasive I can be.

Ian knew precisely how persuasive his handsome cousin could be. Women fell over each other to make fools of themselves with Alex.

The sea was rough, and heavy, black rain clouds were rolling in as Ian paced the beach. Where in the h.e.l.l were they? What was Alex doing keeping her out with this storm coming? The weather was getting worse by the moment.

He reminded himself that Alex had a second sense on the water, as if a Viking ancestor was whispering guidance in his ear. All the same, Alex shouldn't be taking chances with Sileas in the boat.

Ian glanced again at the old, leaky boat resting high on the sh.o.r.e. He was almost desperate enough to take it out to look for them, when he caught sight of their boat as it appeared and disappeared between the troughs. By the saints, he was going to kill Alex.

As they neared sh.o.r.e, Ian waded out into the rough surf to help haul the boat in. Neither the icy water nor the cold, wet wind on his face cooled his temper. It burned hotter still when Sileas moved to Alex's end of the boat and her laugh traveled across the water.

He caught hold of the side and steadied it as Alex dropped into the water. Instead of taking his side of the boat, Alex lifted Sileas out. Alex headed for the sh.o.r.e, carrying her in his arms above the reach of the waves-and leaving Ian to drag the boat alone as if he were a d.a.m.ned servant.

"Mind the boat!" Alex shouted over his shoulder. "We don't want to lose her."

When Alex reached the sandy beach, he turned with Sileas still in his arms to watch Ian do his work for him. For G.o.d's sake, why did the man not set her on her own two feet now? And there she was, smiling up at Alex, as if she were enjoying herself.

As soon as he had secured the boat, Ian stomped across the beach to join them. "Is my wife injured?"

"I wouldn't let harm come to my favorite la.s.s, now would I?" Alex said with a broad wink at Sileas. "But I couldn't risk letting her get tossed about in the surf. 'Tis a stormy day, if ye hadn't noticed."

"I suggest ye set her down before I break your arms," Ian said. "Better yet, I'll take her."

"I can stand," Sileas said. "Put me down."

"Whatever ye say, la.s.s," Alex said, and set her down.

Ian itched to give his cousin a clout across his smiling face, but he wanted some answers first. "What in the h.e.l.l were ye doing, having her out on the water with that storm coming? And don't tell me ye didn't see it."

" 'Course I saw it coming," Alex said, easy as could be. "I may have cut it a wee bit close, because we were having such a grand time, ye see. But we made it in all right."

Ian glared down at Sileas and did not feel at all badly when she trembled. With her color high from the wind and her hair wild about her, she looked like a sea nymph come to sh.o.r.e hoping to be ravished.

"What were the two of ye doing out there so long?" he said to her. "I didn't see any fish in the d.a.m.ned boat."

"It was a poor day for fishing," she said.

Now that he thought of it, there wasn't even a net in the boat.

"Then just what were ye doing all this time?" he yelled, with the image of her arms around Alex's neck as he carried her to sh.o.r.e vivid in his mind. "Is it not enough that ye have Grdan Graumach eating out of your hand?"

"Ye may find it strange, but I enjoy being with a man who doesn't shout at me," she said, shouting herself.

"Enjoying Alex, were ye?"

With her green eyes flashing and her hair whipping about her face, she looked like the magnificent Celtic warrior queen, Scathach, herself.

"Ye have no call to accuse me of what ye are," she said, poking her finger into his chest.

Her statement calmed him a bit. Sileas wouldn't lie to him.

"Ye should mind how it looks when ye go about with other men," he said. "I won't be made a fool of."

Sileas sputtered what might have been curses but was lost in the wind. When he reached for her hand, she kicked him in the shin. He stood dumbfounded as she turned and ran up the beach to the path above.

Ian looked to his cousin, expecting commiseration-and the apology he was owed.

"What in the name of heaven is wrong with ye?" Alex said, raising his hands in the air. "Did ye have to yell at her?"

"Me? You're blaming me for this?"

"Accuse me of anything ye like," Alex said, with a hard edge to his voice. "But there's no excuse for insulting Sileas."

"I hope you're telling me that nothing happened between ye out there," Ian said, clenching his fists.

"I was out there doing my best to persuade her that ye are not the idget that ye are. You've somehow managed, in spite of yourself, to get the perfect wife, and now ye seem to be doing all ye can to lose her."

Alex, who was usually hard to rile, was pacing back and forth and gesturing with his hands as he ranted.

"Sileas is not just lovely, but she's sensible and kind as well," Alex said. "Adding to this miracle, your family adores the la.s.s."

"I've told her I want her," Ian said. "What more does she want from me?"

"Why have ye done nothing to make amends to her?" Alex said, spreading his arms wide. "Would it be so hard to show her that ye admire her, that ye care for her? I tell ye, I'm disgusted with ye."

With that, Alex turned and left Ian alone on the beach staring after him. He was still standing there when the heavens opened up and drenched him.

CHAPTER 11.

Sileas sat at the small table in her bedchamber with her letter to the now-dead King James and a clean sheet of parchment before her. How did one address a letter to a widowed queen who was also Regent? She brushed the feather of her quill against her cheek as she considered the question.

To Her Highness, That should suffice. She bit her lip as she copied the rest of her original letter. It annoyed her that she had Ian to thank for the skill. Did she have no pleasant memories from her childhood that did not involve him?

Her mother had never been well long enough to teach her to write, and it wouldn't have crossed her father's mind to hire a tutor for her. When it was apparent that no one else would teach her, Ian did. For a boy who never liked to sit, he had been diligent, spending hours with her. The result was that while she did not have an elegant, feminine hand, she was a slow but competent writer.

She smudged the ink and had to start over on a clean sheet of parchment. When she finished, she blew on the letter and read it over again. It would do.

The problem now was how to get it delivered to the queen at Stirling Castle.

She started at the sound of a rap on her door and shoved the letters under the sheaf of accounts stacked on the table. "Who is it?" she called out.

Ian stuck his head through the door.

He gave her a smile that raised her heartbeat. Why did he have this effect on her? She had avoided him since yesterday-no small task when they were living under the same roof-because she feared seeing him would weaken her resolve.

"May I come in?"

When she failed to summon an answer, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Her cheeks flamed hot as she remembered her letter. She felt a pang of guilt for not telling him she was seeking royal a.s.sistance to annul their marriage-and stifled it.

"I promise, I won't shout at ye. And I won't touch ye..." Ian's voice trailed off as his gaze slid over her, as if he were remembering every part of her he'd had his hands on two nights before. "... unless ye want me to."

She could not get enough air. With his dark hair falling over one eye and the shadow of beard over his strong jaw, Ian looked rough and dangerously handsome.

He drew his brows together. "I wouldn't hurt ye. Surely ye know that?"

He would. He already had.

Ian's gaze drifted around the room. "You've made it nice in here." He sniffed and the corners of his mouth tipped up. "Smells much better than when I slept here as a lad. It used to smell of dogs and horses-and me, I suppose."

She remembered waking to the smell of him when he crawled into bed with her. The scent had lingered faintly in her bed, giving her a restless night.

She swallowed as Ian's gaze fell on the bed and remained there for a long moment.