Una, for her part, was equally stunned.
She had been hurled through the air like a sack of grain, expecting to hit the ground hard.Instead, strong arms had caught her mid-flight, cradling her against the broadest, most solid chest she had ever encountered.
And the strangest thing happened.
She was not afraid.
She should have been terrified.She was bound and helpless, at the mercy of a masked stranger.But fear was not what she felt.She was breathless, her skin hot and flushed and strangely alive.She had the most bewildering urge to bury her face in the crook of his shoulder and weep.
It made no sense.
Then her eyes found his above the dark mask, and everything else fell away.
They were extraordinary – a clear, piercing grey that seemed to see straight through her.Intense and intelligent, framed by dark lashes, staring at her with an expression she could not quite read.
Una felt something pressing against her bottom and understood she affected him as much as he affected her.She frowned, bewildered, before sense reasserted itself.This man had just stolen her.This was, by her count, her second abduction of the day.The odds of that were surely impossible.
The bewilderment curdled into a scowl as her rage and the reality of the situation came rushing back, and she began cursing at him through the gag.
The moment shattered for Cormac as he found himself with a spitfire in his arms trying to wriggle free.He supposed he could not blame her.He sighed but tightened his hold lest she tumble to the ground.
He glanced up to find her former captors already sprinting for the hills.His men awaited instructions.
"Shadow?"Seumas asked, raising an eyebrow."What do ye want us to do with them?"
"Send two men to track them.Find out where they go and report back."
Seumas gave the order at once, and two men disappeared into the trees.
Cormac swung down from his horse with the woman still in his arms, which was no small feat.His remaining men watched with undisguised curiosity.He ignored them and carried her a few paces from the road, setting her down carefully on a fallen log.
His hands lingered at her waist a moment longer than necessary before he stepped back and reached for his knife.
***
UNA SCRAMBLED BACKWARD, suddenly wary of the knife.
"Steady, lass.I'll not harm ye."
Before she could flinch, he cut through the gag, then the rope binding her wrists.She rubbed them; the skin was raw and painful.She noticed her new captor scowling at the welts on her arms and wrists.
She was about to demand he let her go when he turned back to his horse, produced a small bottle, and returned to crouch before her.He took her hands gently and poured the contents over the welts.She hissed at the sting.
"I ken it burns, lass, but ye need to tend to these lest they become infected."
Una was taken aback.What manner of mercenary stopped to play healer?
She watched him apply the ointment with careful hands.Then he glanced at his men and made a series of quick hand signals.They nodded and melted into the forest, leaving only one man standing a few paces away.Now it was just the three of them, on the side of the road beside an abandoned cart.
Her masked captor asked gruffly, "Are ye that man's wife?"
"No."
"Do ye have a husband somewhere?"
She noticed he stiffened slightly.She shook her head.He seemed to relax.
"Are ye betrothed?"
