He closed the distance betwixt them, studying her. “Are ye weel? Is something amiss?” Concern laced his voice.
She shook her head. “I,” she paused. What was her reasoning? It was because Torquil consumed her thoughts. She could not stop thinking about him. Every minute of the day was focused on the next time she would be able to see him. She had to make it happen. But she couldn’t tell him all of those things. Instead, she kept her answer simple. “I had to see ye,” she finally answered.
“At this hour?” he questioned. “’Tis dangerous for ye to be walking aboot the woods at this time of night.” He looked around to see if anyone was there. “What if ye came across bandits or marauders? ’Tis not safe.” He gathered her in his arms and she inhaled his scent. Pine and peat smoke.
“But I didnae,” she said as she lifted her head.
“Ye came across me. I could have been one of them. What would ye have done by yerself?” His voice was clipped, and she could tell he was angry.
“I have my dagger.” The statement sounded weak even to her own ears. It had not proven to be of any use when she thought Torquil was a stranger. She had been frozen with fear.
“Which ye would quickly become disarmed from.” He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head as she laid her cheek on his hard chest. “I am happy to see ye, my sweet. But ye must take heed.”
Eilidh nodded with a sniffle. “I ken.”
“I should get ye back home.”
“Nay.” She pulled back, her voice strong and loud in the quiet of the night. “I doonae want to be there right now. I want to be with ye.”
“Yer family—”
“Have nay idea that I have left,” she cut in. “One song. I just want to play one song and then I will be on my way. I promise.”
Torquil studied her face for so long, that she feared he would deny her and turn her away. Instead, he heaved a sigh and nodded.
The sharp snap of a branch had both of their heads whipping to the trees around them.
“What was that?” Eilidh whispered.
Torquil put his hand up in a sign for her to remain silent as his gaze scanned the woods.
“Are ye for certs no one kens ye are here? Mayhap someone followed ye.”
She shook her head. “I left from a path not widely used. No one would ken.”
They waited for a few more minutes, but when they didn’t hear aught else, they attributed the noise to an animal. Still, she saw that Torquil’s was on alert. They both kenned they were playing a dangerous game.
“My cottage is near,” he finally said. “I will get my lute and then we can go to the clearing where we spent the afternoon yesterday.”
After he acquired his lute as he said, they walked to the clearing and upon entering it, Eilidh couldn’t help but feel like she was stepping into another world. One that was forbidden, but also one where she belonged.
Torquil strummed a few notes, setting the tempo, and she quicklycaught on and began playing her fiddle. Their blended notes filled the quietness of the night. Eilidh felt like she was exactly where she needed to be. One song, turned into two. Then three.
They laughed and danced, drowning out their guilt, as if they had no cares in the world. Like their clans weren’t on opposite sides and that what they were doing wouldn’t cause unnecessary strife between the two.
Torquil sensed the shift in her mood and paused his playing.
“I can tell when ye are sad. Yer bow trembles when ye play,” he said at her raised brow.
She smiled solemnly. The way he took heed in learning her feelings made her chest ache with something that was far more than infatuation. Her growing feelings were much deeper than that.
“The hour grows late, and the morn grows near.”
She nodded, kenning the time to leave had arrived.
Pulling her into his arms, he enveloped her in a warm hug. “I am glad ye found me yet again.” He captured her mouth in a searing kiss that left no doubt what his feelings were, and she melted against him. He broke the kiss and held her gaze. “But promise me ye willnae be so careless. I cannae bear the thought of any harm coming to ye.”
“I promise,” she said quietly.
