Page 58 of Enchantment of a Highlander

She pressed a hand to the boy’s forehead, then his cheek.

Restlessness seized Alec and he paced the room. “Is there no anything I can do?”

“You can hand me my bag.” The musty spice of dried herbs wafted from within. She accepted the pack from him with a quiet note of thanks.

“How long have ye had yer fox?” Alec asked. He needed something, anything, to pull his mind from seeing Duncan so weak again.

Celia lifted a vial of clear liquid from her sack, along with several strips of linen. “Ruadh has followed me around for years now. You’ve probably seen him around my cottage—the day I returned, in fact. You thought I hesitated to get off the horse for fear of him.” She sprinkled several drops over the linen and gently waved the strips back and forth.

An acrid scent pricked the air, like pine, but sharper. “Aye, I remember. I dinna realize ye kept him.”

She laid the scented cloth over the sheets across Duncan’s chest. “I don’t. He comes and goes as he pleases, but he never seems to wander far. I healed his broken leg when he was a cub and I think he’s viewed me as a protector ever since.”

Her fingers skimmed Duncan’s forehead, pushing the hair from his face. Alec followed the slight movement with his stare and found himself wrestling against a stab of jealousy.

“He’s going to recover,” Celia said with determined force.

He glanced again at the boy, whose chest rose and fell with a slight wheeze.

“He’s much healthier than he looks,” she said. “I think he found the shelter soon after the rain started and we discovered him before the chill settled too deep.”

When Alec didn’t answer, she rose to her feet. Her fingertips brushed Alec’s jaw. He jerked his gaze to her, startled. Her touch was warm, soft, and so welcome he almost groaned. How he had longed for the invitation to claim what he desired.

Her cheeks reddened as if the realization of what she’d done hit her as well. She started to pull away when he cupped his hand over hers, gently pushing her slender palm to his cheek. His lips brushed the underside of her wrist where her pulse jumped wildly.

“I can’t keep coming here.” Her gaze went wide and pleading.

He steeled his heart against the inadvertent barb. “Because of me?”

“That’s part of it.” She slid her hand from his grasp and looked away. “I’m scared to be here.”

“Ye’re scared of me,” he stated. “Because I grabbed ye like I did at yer cottage.”

“No,” she breathed. “No, I’ve told you countless times you didn’t hurt me and I didn’t leave because I was frightened of you, nor because I thought ill of you. It’s…” Her eyebrows puckered together. “That’s not why. It has nothing to do with that day or that night.”

The bruise across her cheek had darkened and covered the jagged scratch. He trailed a finger down her cheek, careful not to touch her injury. She was warm silk under his touch. “Because of this?”

She pulled in a sharp breath and stepped away from him. “That is another part of it.”

Her skin branded his fingertips with a burn he welcomed. “Will ye tell me what happened?”

An indecipherable emotion showed bright in her eyes. “I would prefer not to talk about it.”

She looked smaller than he’d ever seen her, more frail. The weight of life sat on those slender shoulders, a feeling he knew all too well.

“I’ve told ye of myself. I’ve tried to be patient, to make ye understand ye can trust me. I want to know about ye, Celia. Why ye push me away, why ye come close only to run, why ye willna trust me.”

He reached toward her, but she flinched away. His veins hummed with aggravation. If only she would let him comfort her, stroke her, love her.

His cock stirred at the thought, but he tamped down the rise of lust in his body. The decision had already been made.

Hers and his.

She would continue a life without him and he would marry Saraid.

“Let’s talk in the hall.”

Together they strode from the room to where Duncan could not hear them. Still, Alec kept his voice low. “If ye want to be released of yer obligation to come every day, I’ll allow it. And if ye…” The words stuck in his throat for a moment. “And if ye wanted to be with another man, I willna intervene.”