The Highlander's Secret(32)
“It matters not,” he told her.
Jain looked up at him with her eyes wide and said, “What?”
He brushed his hand against her cheek and smiled. “I dinnae care who yer parents are. To me ye will always be Jain – my Jain.”
“Alan, ye cannae tell anyone,” she pleaded. “Keenan doesn’t ken. If anyone found out that I wasn’t Scottish born, they would run me from the village.”
“I’ll keep yer secret,” he assured her. “Ye deserve to have everything yer heart desires.”
“And what of love?” she asked him.
Alan paused. “Aye, ye deserve that too. Not just a marriage and family, but a passionate, soul-crushing need to bind yerself to another person. The kind of love that would change yer life forever.”
Their bodies touched, and he placed his open hand on the small of her back. For a moment, Alan forgot himself and was hypnotized by the burning fire of her clear green eyes.
Her hands and arms pressed against his linen shirt. Slowly, he eased his mouth close to hers. As they were about to touch, the door to the smithy swung open. Jain and Alan pulled away from one another, afraid of being caught, and she stepped back towards the doorway.
Conrad and his men came in looking furious and sauntered over to where she stood. Alan saw Jain stiffen at the sight of him but stood her ground with a scowl.
“Jain, I thought I might find ye here,” Conrad sneered. “Ye owe me an apology about what happened the other day.”
“Nae,” she told him bitterly. “I only wish I’d thrown the bucket at ye as well.”
“Is that so?” Conrad responded with a huff. “Perhaps I should take it up with Laird Gordon. He wouldn’t be too happy hearing about how ye humiliated one of his best fighters.”
Alan stepped in front of her. “Can I help ye lads with something? Otherwise, I’m going to ask ye to leave.”
Conrad scowled, turning toward him. “Stay out of it, blacksmith. This doesn’t concern ye. This is between me and Jain.”
Alan chuckled, angling himself even more directly so that he was standing in between them. Scott and Murray stepped back when he approached, their eyes growing wide with fright. Alan was larger and stronger than all of them combined. “On the contrary, I’m afraid it does,” he told them. “I was there the other day and saw the way ye were speaking to her. Ye dinnae come here and threaten patrons, especially Jain. Now I’ll ask ye again before throwing ye out into the square. What do ye want?”
Conrad’s lip turned back into a sneer. “Alright, Alan. Let’s get one thing straight – ye can make the weapons, but I’m the one who knows how to use them. Ye dinnae want to get in a fight with me.”
“Ye’re still in my shop,” Alan reminded him. “Tell me what ye’re doing here, or I’m well within my rights to kick ye out.”
The warrior stiffened. “Not that it’s any of yer business, but Jain has been offered my hand in marriage. She repaid that kindness by throwing a bucket of water in my face, now I expect an apology.”
Alan’s anger flared when he remembered his conversation with Jain on the rocky shore. Conrad didn’t see Jain for the beauty that she was, he didn’t see her at all.
He didn’t appreciate her fire.
Alan suspected this may have been what spurred their argument yesterday when Conrad claimed she “needed to be broken”. An impulse overcame him in that moment, and before Alan realized what was happening, the words were already coming out of his mouth, “I’m afraid that’s impossible, Conrad. Because ye see Jain here is engaged to me.”
Alan glanced over at her and grinned as her jaw fell open in shock. To his relief, she didn’t refute the claim. She didn’t say anything in fact.
Conrad’s face went red. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he heard the news. “What is this lie ye’re spewing? Since when?”
Alan took Jain’s hand in his and grinned. “Since Tuesday last at the festival, when her da gave me his permission. We plan to make our intentions known to her Uncle Keenan presently. Now, I’m going to have to ask ye lads to leave. This is a reputable establishment and I cannae have ye making a scene.”
“I’ll only leave when I hear it come from Jain herself.”
Conrad’s men remained behind him and took an aggressive stance. In an instant, Jain whirled around and grabbed one of the swords off the rack, preparing to defend herself. The way she held the blade and brandished it in front of her was beyond what he expected, and Alan was impressed. She not only appeared to know what she was doing, but had the courage to follow through. Conrad stared at her his mouth open. Like Alan, his shock probably wasn’t because she’d drawn a blade on him, but because of the skill with which she wielded it. Alan smiled watching her and retrieved an iron pick from the fire. “Ye might want to reconsider that.”
“That still doesn’t excuse the offense she brought on me. Jain—”
“Is not interested. She’s made that clear,” Alan growled. “Now this is my final warning.”
Conrad and the others looked back between himself and Jain holding her sword aloft to threaten them. Conrad sneered at the sight of Alan and Jain together and said, “Ye’ll regret this later. Soon ye’ll see how much better life could have been with me instead of with a lowly blacksmith.”