Page 2 of Scot of Desire
Bran acted fast. He reached for a branch that had fallen off the tree, nestled between him and the hollowed-out trunk, weighing it up in the palm of his hand, then he craned his neck around the tree once again.
Alec was now hastening toward the tree where Ilyssa was hiding, clearly accustomed to checking this spot first. Bran made sure his elder brother wasn’t glancing his way when he lobbed the branch away. It arched through the air perfectly then splashed into the loch nearby.
Alec at once whipped his head around, now sprinting in the direction of the loch.
“I heard ye!” he cried to whoever he thought might be hiding there. “I’ll find ye.”
Bran clambered down from his place in the tree, still trying his best not to make a sound, then tiptoed around the trunk toward Ilyssa and held out his hand. She didn’t take it at first. She looked too small and scared at the base of her own tree, but Bran persisted in waving a hand at her.
“Trust me,” he urged.
This time, she raised her trembling fingers. He clasped hold of them and pulled her toward his own tree.
“I cannae climb up there, ye eejit,” she muttered angrily. He chuckled, for this was a name she had so often called him over the years.
“Then ye’ll have tae hold on tight.”
“What – ah!” she squeaked in surprise, and he hissed at her to be quiet again as he started to climb, pulling her up behind him. She did well, staying close behind him, though he could feel just how tightly her small hand clung onto his. She didn’t dare let go.
They pressed themselves into the crevice of the tree, their feet pressed on makeshift ledges within the trunk, neither one of them daring to say anything as they heard Alec’s footsteps come past them again.
“Damn ye,” Alec muttered, clearly angered to think that someone by the loch had escaped him. “I’ve usually found Ilyssa by now. Where are ye?”
Ilyssa flinched at Bran’s side. He raised a finger to his lips, urging her to stay as quiet as possible. Alec was now searching the trees, going first to the very spot where Ilyssa had been hiding moments ago.
“Why?” she whispered, barely moving her lips with the words.
Bran jerked his head toward her, looking away from Alec, to see that Ilyssa was blushing a deep shade of red.
“Why help me?”
He shrugged, for he had no answer for her. All he knew was that as she smiled at him in this way, blushing so red, he felt like some sort of hero, the kind that he had read about in his father’s books in his library. It was a thrill to feel her hand holding tightly onto his own. It was a habit of his, trying to protect Ilyssa. It was something that Tad had pointed out more than once and liked to jest about, but Bran ignored him.
Aye, someone has tae protect her.
“We’ll be found,” she murmured in great panic, her face turning redder than before.
Bran realized she was right. Alec was now getting closer to their hiding spot, and if he saw them at the same time, Alec would no doubt expect Ilyssa to steal the bannocks along with Bran.
I cannae let that happen.
“Hold ontae the tree.” Bran steered Ilyssa’s hand to the tree, forcing her to release his own palm. She looked most reluctant to do as he asked, but he urged her to do it fast.
“What are ye doing? Bran!”
Then he was gone. He jumped down from the tree and straight into his brother’s path.
“In the name of the wee man,” Alec abruptly cried, stumbling back in alarm. “Bran! I found ye first. That means – hey!”
Bran took off, sprinting away across the lawn.
“Ye have tae catch me first,” he barked back at his brother, intending to draw him as far as possible from Ilyssa’s hiding place.
He created a mad path across the lawn, heading first to the stables where Alec followed him inside. They practically ran straight into Dunn and Evander who ended up running with Bran, each one of them making it increasingly difficult for Alec to catch any of them by sprinting off in different directions across the lawn.
By the time Alec had caught them all, and found Catreena and Tag in their hiding places, he was so exhausted from all the running that he had quite given up trying to find Ilyssa. She was announced the winner, and Bran went to help her down from the trunk.
The rest of them all collapsed on the lawn, making fun of Alec for not being able to keep up with the rest of them. Branstepped around the trunk and reached up to Ilyssa, who was now beaming at him widely from her position up in the tree.
