Page 12 of When the Laird Conquers

“I daenae want conversation,” Gordon retorted, curving his blade through the air, the sharp edge slicing a deliberate gash through the wool of Keith’s belted plaid.

Keith glanced down, brow furrowing. “Oi! This is me new one!”

“Then concentrate,” Gordon replied, though he was the one struggling to focus.

Every time Keith’s blade came close to his skin, changing the pressure of the air, making it whisper against his flesh, he felt the shy brush of Agnes’s fingertips instead. And where he should have been predicting Keith’s next movements or watching the subtle shifts that meant a strike was coming, he kept seeing her smiling face when he had offered a temporary, fake betrothal to her.

Why did she smile like that?

He parried a swing, the clash of steel ringing out across the yard.

Why did she look at me with… hope in her eyes?

He ducked another attack and punched Keith in the kidney.

Why did she smile like it wasnae a fake offer, like I’d done somethin’ good?

His sword slammed into Keith’s once more, his free hand coming up to grab Keith’s wrist and shove him bodily backward.

If only she kent…

He smacked the flat of his sword hard against Keith’s shoulder, dodged a kick, and whirled around until he was behind the man again.

If Agnes had any idea what sort of monster she had chosen to involve herself with, she wouldn’t have tried to embrace him. She would have run as fast and as far from this castle, and him, as she could, straight back to the border and onward without bothering to look back.

Bony knuckles skimmed Gordon’s cheek, and he blinked in surprise at the faint tingle of pain.

He had known that the lass was going to be trouble, and this just proved it. If he couldn’t concentrate on a simple duel with a man he’d fought a thousand times before because of her, then that was a problem.

Spurred on to finish this fight without embarrassing himself in front of the young men who looked up to him as their Laird and commander, Gordon glanced at Keith. He noticed the ripple in Keith’s abdomen, the slight twist of his hip, and saw the kick before it arrived.

He grabbed Keith’s ankle and pushed upward with all of his might. His man-at-arms’ eyes flew wide in alarm as all hope of balance was snatched away from him.

Keith fell to the ground with a hefty thud and groaned, winded.

Using the opportunity, Gordon stood over him, one foot pressed on the wrist of Keith’s sword-arm, and asked, “Do ye yield?”

Keith bucked a little, as if trying to test how pinned he was. Then, with a sigh and a weary grin, he nodded. “Aye, I yield.”

Gordon released the pressure on the man’s wrist and reached a hand down to help him up.

“Do ye feel better now?” Keith asked wryly, dusting himself off.

In truth, Gordon did. He was breathing hard, his blood pumping, his muscles warmed and loosened, his mind not quite quietened but not as loud as it had been before.

“Aye,” he replied.

Keith chuckled. “Good. Glad I could be of use to ye.” He turned, gesturing to the soldiers who had all been standing around, watching. “Enough of yer gawpin’. Get back to yer drills, before I have to fetch me whip.”

The men hurried into the yard and resumed their training, some sparring, some practicing with a wooden post, some working on their precision with a bow and arrow, while a select few practiced with the small quantity of rifles in the clan’s arsenal.

Despite his lighthearted nature, Keith never trifled when it came to the men under his command. It was one of the reasons the Buchlann army was one of the finest in the Highlands, as skilled in stealth and ambush as they were in facing the enemy on a battlefield.

Gordon and Keith wandered off to the water barrels at the side of the yard and splashed the sweat from their bodies before leaning against the fence to let their skin dry.

“So, who’s the lass, and why did she make ye want to cover me in bruises this mornin’?” Keith asked, smiling. “Is that bairn yers?”

Gordon grimaced. “Nay, the bairn isnae mine. And the lass… She’s a Sassenach in need of protection, who happened to get through one of yer guards last night. Walked right into the castle grounds and then climbed through me window.”