Page 17 of Highland Spy

His attention returned back to Ariana and fire seemed to burn in the depths of his hazel eyes.

Suddenly the memory of how he’d looked at her that fateful evening slammed into her. She’d been such a dolt for assuming his attention had been one of interest.

Her cheeks lit with shame, burning away all the chill of the morning air upon them.

But she had not come here to give in to the heart-sucking pressure of humiliation.

She had come to train.

• • •

Connor stared down at the small woman who dared defy him on her first day of training.

The trews sagged on her hips and the shirt hung from her shoulders as if it were set upon a line to dry.

Deep smudges of exhaustion showed under her eyes.

“Ye should take the day to rest. It may be the only one ye get,” he said. “Ye look as though a strong wind could knock ye down.”

“There is no wind, which makes your statement a wild assumption.” She folded her arms over her narrow chest. “I’m quite capable.”

He smirked. “If ye insist, but ye’ll do well to remember I’m in charge.”

Some of the defiant spark faded and she gave a nod.

“Percy, ye can go.” He nodded toward the manor and gave her a pointed look. “I think ye’ve done enough here.”

Percy gave a hesitant look at Ariana before she made her way back to the tower house. Connor watched her leave without guilt. If she’d been uncomfortable with Ariana staying, she shouldn’t have allowed the lass to come down in the first place.

He turned to the other girls. “Enough watching. Get back to it.”

Sylvi was a snake, coiled during the lull and waiting to strike. Delilah barely had time to lift her own weapon and block the blow.

The clang rang so sharply, it twinged deep in his ears.

They were good on their own. His attention went back to Ariana. “The first thing we need to do is get ye warmed up.”

A shiver wracked through her. “I’m not cold.” The lie came out in a fog of frozen breath.

“It’s no’ to make ye feel warm, it’s to get yer muscles limber and ready for fighting. Ye take care of yer body so it takes care of ye. Do ye understand?”

She nodded sharply, and the muscles of her slender neck stood out like twigs beneath thin silk.

“Then we’re going to run five times around the length of the wall.”

It was a fraction of what they usually did, but he didn’t want to kill the lass. He nodded for her to start and set his pace to match hers. They’d only done one lap when her breathing began to go ragged.

She’d wanted to train, he reminded himself.

By the second lap, her footfalls were heavy—a slow, staggered crunch, crunch, crunch against the ice-lined snow.

His body moved with ease, but he remembered a time long ago, when he’d been a boy and his father had done this with him. He’d gotten a stitch in his side so fierce he could only imagine he’d been stabbed. It was how one learned.

By the third lap, they were moving slower.

Still she had not stopped, not even to catch her breath.

On the fourth lap, she stumbled.