Page 9 of Claimed by a Highlander
“Ye must allow for a man’s pride,” he said. “But I will admit that the arrow didn’t improve my leg any.”
He kept his gaze fixed on her as he brought the flask to his mouth and took a long drink. Despite his wound, there was no mistaking the lust in his eyes, which brought her thoughts to the night ahead with a jolt.
When he grasped her arm and leaned close, Sybil’s heart went to her throat.
“I didn’t mean to make ye uneasy,” he said, holding her gaze. “You’re mine to protect. Ye needn’t fear me, ever.”
His pledge, spoken with that intense stare, was reassuring but not exactly calming.
“Thank you,” she managed to say. “But I’m not afraid of you.”
That was a slight exaggeration, though she did believe she was probably safe so long as this fierce Highlander believed he was honor-bound to protect her. But heaven help her if he learned her brothers had played him for a fool and he had risked his life for a woman who was not his betrothed.
“A burn is just over there through the brush if ye want to wash.” He struggled to his feet and held out his hand.
With that wound, she should be helping him up, but he was surprisingly steady on his feet. The man was made of iron. What she really needed was a privy. She left him to find some privacy behind the bushes.
“Don’t go far,” he called after her. “I’ll wait for ye at the burn.”
She felt on edge with him out of her sight and quickly joined him at the burn. They knelt side by side to wash the blood and dirt off their hands, arms, and faces. It felt so odd to share the commonplace but intimate activity of washing with a man. She stole glances at him as he splashed water on his face and neck and watched the water stream down his muscled forearms in the last rays of sunset. When he caught her staring, she quickly finished her own washing, and they returned to the blanket.
“We’ll have to make do with dried venison and oatcakes tonight,” he said, as he opened a cloth bag that he had untied from the saddle earlier. “I’ll hunt tomorrow.”
He sounded as if he were apologizing for not being able to hunt with his injury. For heaven’s sake. She could not recall ever feeling an urge to soothe a man’s pride before, but the urge struck her now.
“Ye showed great foresight in bringing food along,” she said with a bright smile.
He gave her a puzzled look. “It would be foolish to travel without any.”
As soon as he unwrapped the oatcakes and dried meat, Sybil realized she was famished. She picked up one of the oatcakes and took a tentative bite. It was dry as dust, but she was too hungry to care.
“I’m surprised we saw no villages where we could stay the night.” She still clung to the hope that she could persuade him to take her to one tonight. She was nothing if not persevering.
“I avoided the villages. We can’t risk your being seen while the guards are looking for ye.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You’re the sort of lass who would be remembered.”
“But how will your men know to find us here?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder into the increasing darkness. “Will they join us soon?”
“I told ye that I came alone.”
Sybil inhaled dry oatcake and coughed. “I thought ye meant ye came alone to the castle but left your men waiting somewhere for ye.”
He shook his head.
“Ye came all this way with no armed guard?”
He shrugged, so apparently he had.
“You’re telling me ye actuallyplannedto take your bride on such a long journey and through the wilds of the Highlands without a large guard to protect her?” For a moment, Sybil almost forgot that she was not the affronted bride. But this Highlander believed she was his bride, so it was an insult to her. “Why, such a journey could take days—or weeks—through dangerous lands.”
The Highlander was quiet, and she sensed that, whatever his reason for coming alone, he did not wish to share it. She folded her arms and waited for an explanation.
“I was not certain I’d be returning with a bride,” he finally said. “I thought your brother may have wed ye to someone else by now, despite our agreement.”
“I see ye don’t think much of my brother’s sense of honor,” she said.
He shrugged again, which was answer enough. Well, at least her rescuer was not a fool.
***
