Page 12 of The Highlander’s Untamed Lady

A sudden rap sounded within the carriage, startling her from her thoughts. They rolled to a slow stop. The cabin swayed and Diana knew the Mackenzie stood. In the limited line of her vision, his hand reached for hers. She should fight him, this man who consorted with her father, who abducted her from her home, but her body was too weakened by her broken soul.

His skin was warm against the chill setting in her fingers. Soothing heat blossomed through her and a tingle began in her palm.

He knelt comfortably on the narrow floor beside Zeus and looked up at her through the shadowed gap of her hood. “Ye’re to be my wife, Lady Diana. I willna ever allow hurt to come to ye from this day forward, and will do all in my power to see ye happy.” He paused and looked away. There was more he wanted to say, but when his eyes met hers once more, she knew he would not continue.

“If ye need me, dinna hesitate to ask, aye?” he said encouragingly.

Diana nodded her acquiescence. She wanted him gone. She wanted solitary silence where she could give in to the harsh grip of her tears.

He rose smoothly to his feet and released her. Diana looked down at her fingers where his foreign touch still hummed against her skin.

The door opened and a gust of icy wind swept through the small cabin. It stayed open for only a moment before the carriage rocked with the Mackenzie’s departure and he was gone.

Chapter Five

The journey had been neither short nor pleasant. The farther they made their way north, the colder the chill became within the carriage. Diana had been grateful for the company of her wolves, who huddled close and shared their great warmth.

Evander had kept his promise to Diana and had remained with his men outside the carriage. There had been only a few exchanges with him, when he brought food and water for her and her wolves, and when he took them all out for a brief respite.

He always approached her cautiously, as if she were an animal liable to frighten away.

The land outside Diana’s window had changed with the temperature, going from the refined beauty of England to something large and wild. The skies held a gray pallor and the dots of snow gave way to larger patches with pools of muddy ice. Perhaps she ought not to like the gloomy weather so much, but it matched the mood which had settled damp and cold within her heart.

The coach came to a halt and Diana pulled back the curtain over her one window. Several heavily bundled people strode on the muddy grass alongside the path, one man’s skinny legs jutted out like twigs from beneath his kilt.

Zeus shook his head and pawed at the wooden floor. Diana ran a hand through his thick fur. “You’ll get to run soon. Have patience.”

He fixed his gaze on the door as if in understanding. She knew he was desperate to tear free of their narrow confines. Ironic that after having spent those previous six months eager to escape the tower, she had been content to remain in the box of a carriage.

But in the tower, there had been hope.

Several minutes ticked by, but the door did not open. Hera’s long, low whine needled the air and Zeus gave a grumble of impatience.

“A moment more.” Diana peered out the window to determine their delay.

Evander was bent over the semi-frozen soil with a spade in his hand.

Indignation flashed through Diana. He would have them wait while he dug a bloody hole?

With a hiss of irritation, she snapped open the door. Zeus shot out in a streak of black lightning while Hera dropped from the coach, gingerly favoring her right paw, which had begun to heal over the many days spent on the road.

Shouts erupted from the Highlanders and they tore after Zeus. A man with shoulder-length blond hair approached her, his hand out to gently motion her back. His body blocked where Evander stood. “Lady Diana, get back inside. We’ll mind yer wolves and ask that ye just wait a—”

“Mind my wolves?” Diana snorted a laugh and continued forward. “They won’t kill your people, don’t worry. They’re hardly bloodthirsty.”

The man braced himself with a wide-legged stance in her path. “It’s no’ to protect others from them, but to protect them from others.”

Diana finally looked for the first time at the man’s earnest expression. He was younger than she’d first assumed, his face lined only with crinkles at the corners of his bright blue eyes.

“Please, Lady Diana.” He motioned behind her once more. “Get back inside.”

She considered him a moment. “No.” She pushed past him in a move she knew he had not anticipated and strode to where Evander stood shin deep in a hole of torn earth.

The man called after her, but she ignored him. “What are you doing?” she demanded. “And why would you not let me out of the coach as I waited for you to…to…”

A long, thin bundle of cloth lay in the shallow hole. A small, wrapped body with a skeletal face exposed.

“I hadna wanted ye to see this,” Evander said softly.