AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Caitlin spied her and came running. “Oh, my lady!” And threw herself at Moira. They held each other for moments.
Moira had to take this in hand. “Let’s make a line of water buckets,” she shouted above the noise of fire and people. People were bringing buckets full but it was not enough. “Is everyone safe?” she asked the other woman.
“Bonnie and Kin are outside, but a beam fell by Mabel’s cot and Duncan ran back inside after sending us out.” Her distress surfaced. “He’s still there.”
The information had Moira running to the entrance. Fire licked from the destroyed windows while everyone tried to give a hand. About to go into the inferno, someone caught her arm firmly.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Fury emanated from Lachlan’s eyes. His hair was dishevelled and stubble darkened his jaw.
“Duncan and the baby are inside,” she said in distress as she tried to shake her arm free.
“Stay here. I’ll go,” he commanded.
“No!” she countered. “You stay here.” But he was not listening.
“You,” he called to a man nearby. “Hold her,” he ordered. “If she moves, chain her!”
“Aye, my laird.” Of course, the man would first listen to another man, a laird no less. Two hands covered in ashes held her as the man obeyed the McKendrick giant.
And then the scoundrel ran into the very mouth of hell.
Even if the commanding man had not ordered her to be still, she would have frozen on the spot. The sight of Lachlan using his tartan as a shield before plunging right in the fire frightened her.
In a trance, her stare fixed where he had disappeared, as though she could see through the flames and smoke that had swallowed him. Her heart was on the verge of falling to pieces at the possibility of him being hurt, or worse.
But their union would be a betrothal in appearances only. Strictly speaking, he had no obligations towards her clan. She had involved him in this mess when she had no right to do so. Should something happen to him, she would never forgive herself. The screaming, the splashes of water, the insurmountable heat, the flames rising to the sky, all disappeared in the sick worry that shredded her insides. It made normal breathing impossible, her entire body convulsing in fear for his safety.
She could not stand here doing nothing. Breaking free from her assigned care-taker, she entered the line of buckets right in front of the cottage’s now torn down entrance. Yelling orders, organising the people, she also threw water on the fire as if she alone would be able to extinguish it. Never did she tear her gaze from what once had been a home to a family.
Her anxiety mounted unbearably, so much so that the weight of countless buckets of water did not register. She poured them as if they were filled with feathers.
An eternity seemed to pass when she discerned movement in the ocean of flames threatening to make the structure crumble down at any minute.
The giant emerged carrying a motionless body on his arms and a bundle tied in his tartan on his chest. Several onlookers ran to help him with his burden.
Something splashed over her feet. Her unresponsive hands had dropped the bucket, her eyes glued on the man ahead. The worker beside her nudged her with a new one, making Moira startle from dizziness. She excused herself before striding to where the mad McKendrick stood.
There were a million things she wanted to do. Yell at his brashness until she lost her voice. Shake him until her arms fell. Fall in gratitude to her knees until they bled. But most of all, she wanted to kiss him until her lungs burned. Clutch herself to his tall frame until there was no space left between them. And then pound her fists on the edifice of muscle on his chest until she inculcated some sense in his stubborn head.
Damn him!
But when she reached him, her feet only planted to the ground while her wide perusal assessed his condition. The perfect, Apollonian face was smeared with ashes. His tartan showed singeing on several spots. The ex-pristine shirt displayed tears and had darkened to a dirty shade of grey. His legs were bruised where the cloth did not cover them for protection.
He looked…glorious!
And in one piece.
Caitlin ran in his direction and cut through the crowd surrounding him. The movement rent Moira out of her petrified state.
That was when his dark head lifted and he held her gaze. All the muddy feelings that had swamped her, feelings she kept at bay, bubbled, swashed, almost overflowed, and dragged her to the point of explosion.
Caitlin took the baby from him, marvelling at the fact that the little one escaped unharmed.
“Duncan has a few burns.” Lachlan informed, eyes still fixed on Moira. “We’ll call the doctor.”
Moira turned and walked away. It was that or go berserk on his heroic stupidity.
Everyone, including Moira and Lachlan, worked on extinguishing the fire with renewed intent. They managed to control it as the foggy morning manifested in the horizon.
