Page 56 of Enchantment of a Highlander

Alec cast her a strange look, but he did not press her to explain. She’d not told anyone of Ruadh before.

“There’s a way to get rid of the outlaws,” Alec said unexpectedly, continuing onward. “But there is a price.”

“What is the price?”

Alec drew a deep, pained breath. “Something I hold verra dear.”

She felt his gaze heavy upon her and he spoke again before she had a chance to comment. “What would ye do?”

“What would I do?” she repeated back to him.

“Aye, to stifle the attacks of the outlaws, ye’d have to give up something ye want verra badly and let yerself have something ye dinna want, something ye know ye’d never want. What would ye do?”

She thought about it for a moment before answering. What did she want badly?

Safety, security, a chance to rest without fear of the future or being haunted by her past.

And she wanted Alec.

She wanted the warmth of his embrace, the love he promised to offer.

Her heart beat a little harder.

Was it her he wanted?

“If it’s for the safety of all,” she answered, measuring her words carefully, “then I think you already know what you must do.”

He grimaced and she knew her words hit their mark.

His gaze dragged over her face, then he turned his head sharply to the side. “I do.”

Ruadh bumped her fingers with his cold, wet nose. She glanced down to where he’d appeared at her side, his golden gaze fixed intently on her.

She reached down to scratch his ears, but he scampered away, ducking with his usual skittishness.

A quiet desperation hung on Alec and pressed Celia the longer they trudged through the forest. She understood his conversation for what it was—yes, partially a solution to a greater problem, but also a distraction from the fact that Duncan had been missing for far too long in such bad weather.

If Duncan was outside, he wouldn’t be well, not with him still being so frail.

Ruadh’s nose bumped her hand once more, this time more insistent. She turned toward him and again he darted away. He folded himself onto the ground and laid his head against his front paws.

Something tingled along the back of Celia’s neck.

“Let’s go back,” she said quickly.

Alec’s head snapped up. “Did ye see something?”

“Not me. I think Ruadh did.”

The eagerness on his face sagged to skepticism. “Yer fox? I dinna think he’s exactly a hunting dog.”

She brushed off the comment and made her way back to where Ruadh lay watching her with his indifferent stare. Her pulse throbbed with restrained hope.

He rose to his feet and trotted through the trees.

Celia picked up her pace, following him, winding through the underbrush and ducking beneath random branches. The light of the lantern Alec held followed her. Alec was close behind.

Her breath came faster with the excited thump of her heart.