Page 24 of Savage Kilted Highlander

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They set off once more, in relative comfort this time, making their way steadily through the sheltering forest. They spoke little, which was just as well because Constance’s head was full of confusing thoughts concerning Bane, which she could not seem to pin down. Bane also appeared sunk in his own mysterious deliberations.

But after a time, as the day began to gradually wane, she began to get anxious about where they were going to spend the night.

“Where are we making for this time? Have you got another derelict ruin lined up for us to sleep in tonight?” she asked, only partly joking.

“’Tis nae much further now tae our destination. We should be there by nightfall. And nay, I havenae got another ruin lined up. Ye’ll sleep in style tonight,” he assured her, “in a proper bed. Though I daresay it’ll nae be as soft as the ones ye’re used tae at home.”

“I don’t expect so. Unless you are taking me to an English manor house with fine feather beds to sleep on.”

He gave a rueful chuckle, which reverberated through his chest and into Constance’s body, sending a tingle up her spine. “I couldnae afford it if I wanted tae.” He paused before adding, “I ken ye must miss yer comforts.”

“I do. I hate being cold and wet. But I am getting used to eating mouldy bread and goat meat, and it is not so bad when you get used to it, especially when you are famished,” she admitted. He looked surprised, which made her smile. “Odd, is it not? A well-bred young English lady like me? I am mystified by it myself. I suppose you could say that this… adventure is teaching me many things I would not have otherwise learned. And learning is good, is it not?”

He shrugged. “Aye. But it depends what ye’re learnin’.”

“That’s true enough. I wonder how you would get on in an English manor like the one I grew up in. Do you think you would be revolted by the lavish dinners, having a fleet of servants at your beck and call, or sleeping in warm, soft beds?”

“Nay. I’d make meself right at home.”

She could not help laughing. “I would love to see you sitting down to dine with Lord Ashbourne, the man I believed was my father. He hates all Scots and is a stickler for etiquette.”

“Ach, I’d put him in his place and then eat all his food and drink all his wine.”

“That would be fun. But I suspect you would not be invited back,” she replied, tickled by the notion of seeing Bane put the vicious snob in his place as he suggested.

“Who says I’d wantae?”

“Indeed. I for one am never going back there.”

While Bane had changed his sopping wet clothes for dry ones, he had sent up a silent prayer of thanks to the heavens that he had heard Constance screaming to him for help and got to the river in time to save her from drowning. Thinking about what would have happened if he had not made him feel queasy, and he tried to put it out of his mind.

She was all right, that was all that was important, and not just because he needed her to get Tav back, but because he found he did not want anything bad to happen to her, which was quite a shock to him. Apart from Tav and Fia, he had never really cared much about anyone else, certainly not himself. But now, he could not deny, he was starting to care about Constance.

When he had brought back her mother’s locket, it had been worth it just to see the way her face had lit up, her green eyes warm and glowing, her smile ecstatic. He had felt like a hero for the second time that day. God, she was the most breathtakingly beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes. Even as wet and bedraggled as a half-drowned rat, her nose red from cold, her face pale and drawn from weariness, or screwed up in fury, she drew him to her like a lodestone drew iron. And the best thing was, she had no idea how lovely she was, none at all. She was utterly innocent.

They were heading for the cottage they had not managed to reach the night before because of the weather. As he rode quietly through the forest, with Constance nestled in front of him, a warm, soft weight between his thighs, he wondered if it was normal for a grown man to feel as though putting a necklace on a woman was the most erotic experience he had ever had in his entire life.

Because when he had stood behind Constance to do that, and she had held her luscious auburn hair aside for him, the urge to trail his fingers over the smooth, flawless, white skin of the nape of her graceful neck and then follow that up with kisses, had been almost overwhelmingly strong. His sudden and embarrassing state of arousal had been a testament to that, and it had taken a mighty effort of self-control not to just grab her and devour her. How many times had he wanted to devour a woman? Never, until now.

But it could not go on, he knew it. Whatever feelings he was developing for Constance, they could not be allowed to get in the way of his mission to save Tav. But if not for the mission, he would never have encountered a woman as beguiling and fascinating as Constance Ashbourne. She was everything a lowly Scottish blacksmith like him should despise. What did he have in common with a prim, rich, upper-class English lady like her? He might be employed to shoe her best hunters, but that was all. By class and by nationality they were poles apart. There could never be anything between them, and he ordered himself to put all such thoughts out of his mind and keep his distance.

So, why did he groan inwardly and feel so bad when Constance got excited to see lights shining in the distance in the valley below the tree-lined bluff where they were riding as darkness began to fall?

“Bane, look, lights! It must be a village or even a town down there,” she said, sounding like a child on Hogmanay Eve.

“Aye,” he admitted reluctantly, mentally kicking himself for not having foreseen her reaction and half-wishing he had taken another route. “’Tis a small town.”

“A town! That means there will be an inn. Oh, can we go down there and see if there is one? Think, we could stay in an inn, in comfort for the night. Wouldn’t you like that?”

“I’m sorry tae disappoint ye, but it daesnae figure in me plans. Besides, it’ll be too dangerous.”

She pouted. She actually pouted. And it did something to him, something he had been telling himself for the last few hours he had no business feeling.

“Why will it be dangerous? You told me yourself we are over the border of my father’s lands and out of his reach,” she argued with annoying accuracy. He had told her that, more fool him.

“I told ye, I have a place fer us tae stay already. Surely, ye can see why it would be a bad idea tae go among people?”