Page 26 of Intrigued By A Highlander

She went to disagree, having survived well enough on her own.

“Don’t bother to tell me you manage fine on your own. It’s obvious you don’t.”

“But I do,” she argued. “I wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for you. And if I had been on my own, I would have known better than to stop here seeing those men. I knew you couldn’t be far behind me so I took the risk to see what I could find out before you arrived. So, this mess is all your fault.”

“My fault?” Knox shook his head. “You can’t be serious. You took off.”

“You told me to walk.”

“Aye, but not leave my side.”

“You should have made that clear.”

Knox muttered under his breath, then reached out, his large hand closing around her arm. “Never leave my side again.”

She grinned. “Not ever?”

Knox released her arm and slipped it around her waist to hoist her up, so they were face to face. “You’re playing with danger, Dru. Those men were mercenaries. Need I remind you that I am as well?”

She cupped his cheeks with her slim hands. “You’re nothing like them. You’re a man of honor. They’re not. You called the man by name. Are they part of Phelan’s crew?”

He set her on her feet, shaking his head again. She didn’t know him. If she did, she wouldn’t believe him honorable.

“Nay. They’re a ragtag crew with little skill.” He grabbed hold of her chin. “One day, Dru, you are going to get into a situation you can’t get yourself out of.”

“Nah, you’ll be there to rescue me.”

“Not always,” Knox said, and the thought frightened him, and fright was not something he had experienced in a long while.

“Come on,” Dru said, “or did you forget we’re here to talk to Dugan?” She fell in step beside him, bumping her arm against his, and grinned. “You know, I almost had him.”

Knox eyed her with a smirk. “In your dreams, Dru. Only in your dreams.”

CHAPTER 8

Thunder rumbled promising rain before nightfall that wasn’t far off.

“Take that narrow path to your right up ahead,” Dru said. “It will take us to the Wynn croft. They’re hard-working people with four bairns. If I’m nearby when it rains, they let me shelter in their barn. If you have a coin or two to spare, they could use it. They’re good people.”

Knox nodded and took the path. Dru claimed she had no friends, but with how easily Hennie and Birdie talked with her, and how freely Dugan and his wife Hannah spoke with them, and how glad the old blind man, Albert, had been to see her, she had more genuine friends than she realized.

He cast a glance at her and could tell that something troubled her. She gazed off, her brow scrunched, and her lips slightly pursed, as if she was deciding if she should pucker them for a kiss or not. They reminded him of a rosy, ripe berry ready to pluck.

Would they taste as warm and delicious as a fresh plucked berry?

Where had that thought come from? He wasn’t attracted to Dru, though she was entertaining. He fought a smile. Life had become far more interesting since meeting her.

He pushed the interfering thoughts away and asked, “What’s wrong, Dru?”

“Like I said, the Wynns are good people.”

“But?” he asked, hearing hesitation in her voice.

She sighed softly. “I don’t think they will let us shelter for the night unless they know we’re wed.”

“Then we tell them we’re wed,” he said and wondered why it didn’t seem to appease her. “You don’t agree.”

She looked directly at him and noticed the slight scar near the corner of his right eye and the sliver of a scar along a small section of his jawline. They weren’t noticeable unless up close, so close that he could hide nothing from her. Every detail of his face was revealed to her.

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