Part 11 (1/2)

Toni found herself staring at the trees. Deeper in, beyond the immediate area of the brook, the forest was dark. The green canopy made it appear like a dark den that beckoned and yet, somehow, warned of evil. Staring into the verdant growth, suddenly she felt herself s.h.i.+ver as an uneasy feeling a.s.sailed her.

It was as if the trees were breathing. As if the entire shroud of dark green were a living being, an ent.i.ty unto itself, something that crouched and waited, watching....

”Toni, what are you waiting for? It's great, sumptuous, wonderful, cool...” Gina said, her enthusiasm high.

Shaking off her unease, Toni rolled up her jeans and started to travel carefully out into the middle of the rus.h.i.+ng water.

”Ouch! Hey, we didn't think about the rocks under bare feet thing when we agreed to do this!” David shouted, following her example.

”Ouch, indeed!” Kevin cried. He hurried past David, but then hit a sharp rock, lost his balance and crashed into Toni.

Outraged and off balance, Toni went down. ”Kevin!”

They were both on their b.u.t.ts, soaked in a foot of water. Kevin started to apologize, but then he stared at her and burst out laughing.

”Oh, you think this is funny! Get him, guys.”

At Toni's prompting, the rest of them piled on. And in a matter of minutes, the six of them were drenched, bedraggled and laughing hysterically.

At last, gasping for breath, mud from head to toe, Toni struggled to get up--and realized suddenly that they'd all fallen silent.

She tried to smooth back her muddy hair, and blink away the water and muck that was blinding her. Then she saw. Once again, the great laird of the manor had returned.

Bruce MacNiall was there, bareback on his great black, Shaunessy. He was watching them as if they were, indeed, part of a theater of the absurd. And there was the oddest expression on his face. Tension, anger? Toni wasn't sure. He looked like a thundercloud himself.

She thought that, for a moment, he stared beyond them, deeper into the forest, from.. .from the place where the eyes seemed to watch, from where the sense of breathing and evil seemed to emanate.

His eyes fell upon the group again.

With.. .relief? Toni wondered.

And when he spoke, his tone was pleasant enough.

”Having a good time?” he called pleasantly.

”Yeah!” Ryan said. He truly looked like an overgrown child. ”It's great--wonderful. The water feels terrific.”

”A little cold,” Gina said. She sounded nervous, as if they had been caught doing something they shouldn't have.

”We're having a wonderful time,” Toni said, staring at Bruce. Surely, once in a while, he let down that stern guard and simply had fun. ”Really, you just need to have a bit of a sense of humor to be down here.”

”Great,” MacNiall called to them from the height of his stallion's back. He smiled. ”Glad you're having a good time. You might want to watch out for the leeches, though.”

They were dead still, like a tableau.

Then Kevin shrieked ”Leeches?”

Toni didn't think that she had ever moved so quickly. The same might be said for the others as they scrambled over one another to get out of the stream as quickly as possible. She knocked into Kevin. Ryan tripped over his own wife. Toni reached down to Gina, and in his haste to do the same, Ryan knocked Toni back down. Thayer caught hold of Toni, David helped both Ryan and Gina, and Kevin was on his own. Finally, after a scene straight from the Three Stooges, the six of them made it out of the water and to the sh.o.r.e. And there they began to hop up and down, checking what parts of one another they could actually see.

Gina, screaming, banged at her thigh. ”There's one on me! Get it! Get it!”

They ran around behind her, staring her up and down.

”There's nothing there,” Toni said.

”There is!”

”No, honestly, there's nothing there. Look, let's just get back to the castle--and the showers!” Toni said. She, too, was feeling things all over.

Twenty minutes later, after a fierce pounding of hot water, Toni was sure that she had none of the little b.u.g.g.e.rs on her. Wrapped in her terry robe, she emerged into her room, ready to find clean, warm clothing.

What she found instead was Bruce MacNiall, in her room, getting the fire going. Hunched down by the hearth, he coaxed kindling and logs to flame. In the light, his hair was sleek, blue-black in its darkness. As he moved, she was aware of the breadth of his shoulders and, oddly, a sense of the power within them. It was almost as if he, too, like his longhead ancestor, had hefted the great weight of a sword or battle-ax to gain such a strength.

She swallowed, feeling a strange quickening. It was one thing to acknowledge that he was an imposing, exceptionally attractive man. It was quite another to feel.. .such a strange affinity with him. She needed him out of the room--now.

”Hmm,” she murmured, crossing her arms over her chest, leaning against the wall and forcing a pleasant tone to her voice. ”Interesting. I could have sworn that I had to vacate the room on the other side of the bath since that one was yours.” At the end, her tone had risen. She couldn't help it; she was unnerved by his appearance. It might be his castle, and he might have fallen asleep in her chair, but still...he had no right to be in here.

”Sorry,” he said coolly, rising. ”I certainly didn't mean to be intrusive. I had hoped to get this going and be out before you were finished.” There seemed to be a slight smile on his face. She immediately felt even more defensive. ”I thought you might want some warmth. It's chilly out there, and the rain has begun. Interesting day for a lark in the water.”

”Sorry. The concept of wading through the rus.h.i.+ng water was a bit too much for us to resist.”

”Wading through the rus.h.i.+ng water? That was more like a ma.s.s, a Holy Roller baptism!”

”Yes, yes, I know. We got a bit carried away,” she said. ”We're silly Americans, being fools playing in the brook or the brae or whatever the h.e.l.l it is. You'll have to forgive us. We were just having fun. I have heard that the Scots are just a bit dour, so you probably wouldn't understand.”

”Seeing as how I lack a sense of humor, you mean,” he murmured.

”Well, we're very close friends. And maybe such a thing wouldn't exactly be your cup of tea, but I would hope that you could appreciate a little silliness. Call it an American sense of humor.”

Dark lashes swept over his eyes and his grin deepened as he gave the fire a last prod. Then he rose and headed for the door to the hall. But as he pa.s.sed her, he paused.

”Yes, of course, an American sense of humor. Surely I can appreciate that. And I hope that you can appreciate a Scottish sense of humor.”

”What do you mean by that?” she demanded, very aware of the size and scope of the man, and the smile that lent a certain charm to his face.

”Well, there are no leeches in that brook,” he said lightly, and exited the room before she could reply.

*6*

Toni stood next to Gina on the upper landing while David played his role as the kitchen maid below. They grinned at one another as they heard the laughter.

”This was such a good idea,” Gina murmured.

”Right. If only we really had a lease option on the castle,” Toni replied.

”Under the circ.u.mstances, Bruce has been really above and beyond,” Gina said.

”Oh?”