Page 104 of Intrigued By A Highlander

He screamed, dropping the dagger.

Dru backed away from him. “You should be grateful I didn’t throw it in your face and leave you uglier than you already are.”

Laughter was heard again.

Elden grew even more furious when he saw that his fellow warriors were joining in the laughter.

“Why are you just standing there? Grab her!” Elden shouted.

Dru let out a hardy laugh. “You prove your cowardice by demanding help and against who—a wee bit of a lass.”

The other warriors stepped back, one calling out, “She’s right, Elden. You shouldn’t need help against the likes of her.”

“My hand is injured,” Elden cried out.

“You’ve got another hand,” a warrior called out with laughter.

Dru realized how bad this could turn out if she continued to humiliate him and she had enough people hunting her. She didn’t need another one.

“What do you say we call a truce, and you have the healer look at your hand?” she offered.

“I don’t surrender,” Elden argued.

“Clean your ears out. TRUCE. I said TRUCE,” she shouted at him as if he were deaf. “And your word that you leave the lad alone.”

“He’s the one who bothers me with endless questions.”

She shook her head. “How he could think you have all the answers is beyond me.”

Elden looked ready to argue again and stopped, wrinkling his brow as he rested his burned hand against his chest. “That lad is a bright one, seeking wisdom from me.”

Dru took a chance and stepped towards Elden. “Yet you chase him. Shake him. Frighten him.”

Mara was suddenly at Dru’s side, handing over her cloak while her son clung to her leg. She looked nervously at Elden. “The healer is tending to someone. I can see to your hand if you’d allow me to.”

Dru admired Mara’s courage to make friends with him to keep her son safe.

“Best not let Penn ask him anything,” Dru warned, looking at Elden.

“Hold your tongue, woman, Penn can ask me anything he wants,” Elden said and looked down at the small lad and smiled. He raised his head after the lad returned his smile. “And you’re lucky I’ve agreed to the truce, or I would have given you a good beating.”

A commanding, powerful voice cut through the air. “If you had touched my wife, it would have been the last thing you ever did, Elden. And that would be a shame, the man who once saved your life ending it.”

Elden turned and stared wide-eyed. “Knox. I didn’t know, I swear. I didn’t know she was your wife. I never touched her. She kept me at bay. Burned my hand. Called me a coward.”

Knox turned to his wife. She was grinning. He flicked his finger at her. “Come here.”

Dru scooted past Elden, who stepped back to avoid her getting too close.

Brack hurried toward them. “What is going on here?” His glance caught Eldon’s burned hand. “What happened? Who did that to you? I will see him punished.”

Knox grabbed his wife’s arm when she went to step forward and claim the deed.

“A mishap that’s all,” Elden was quick to say. “Mara was about to tend to it for me.”

“Then go and be done with it,” Brack ordered. “And the rest of you get back to your chores.” He turned to Knox and pointed to a sole cottage sitting at the edge of the woods. “That one is for travelers. You can stay there until Torrance returns and there will be no interfering with village matters while you’re here.”

His warning was stern, but it didn’t deter Knox from issuing his own caution. “Then don’t give me a reason to.”

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