Page 18 of Scot of Deception
“She’ll be fine,” he said as he gripped her shoulders and firmly pulled her back. “I said ye’ll get kicked.”
“She willnae kick me,” Kathleen said dismissively, though she allowed Blaine to pull her back.
With a chuckle, Blaine turned to look at her, taking in the genuine concern as well as the pride in her expression. It was such a pure notion, thinking her horse would also refrain from accidentally kicking her when it had already thrown her off the saddle. Kathleen seemed to be a trusting girl— she trusted her horse and trusted him when she hardly knew him.
It could easily turn into an issue. He had to make sure she wouldn’t trust anyone else while they traveled.
“Stay there,” Blaine said as he planted her firmly a few steps away from the horse. Then, he made his way back to it, gently taking its leg to try and dislodge the piece of glass that had gotten stuck in the horseshoe. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be too deep, but it was still bothering the beast and no matter how much Blaine tried to pull it, he never seemed to get a good grip on it.
He was reluctant to use his knife, fearing that he would hurt the horse more, but what other choice did he have? Kathleen couldn’t ride like this—the horse was bound to throw her off the saddle again.
He glanced at his own horse. It was big enough and strong enough to carry his belongings and two riders, at least until they found the next farrier on their way who could help the creature.
“I cannae dae it,” he called to Kathleen, who rushed to his side once more, despite his previous warnings. “We’ll have tae take it tae the next village.”
“Ach Sorrel… poor lassie,” said Kathleen as she patted the horse’s flank.
“Sorrel?”
“Aye,” she said. “That’s her name.”
“Bonnie name fer a bonnie horse.”
Much like her rider.
For a moment, Blaine allowed himself to gaze at Kathleen as she smiled at him, taking in the radiance of her joy. It was a good look at her, and he could hardly look away.
Not for the first time since he had first met her, he reminded himself that she was not the kind of woman he could pursue. In fact, she was hardly a woman at all, as she was over a decade his junior and the kind of girl who was destined for better things than him. He had no land, no title. He had nothing to offer her.
Drawing in a sharp breath, Blaine pulled himself away from Kathleen abruptly, standing and dusting himself off. “Let us go. We have a long way ahead o’ us.”
Kathleen took a moment to pet her horse once again, speaking softly to it as Blaine fetched his from where it had wandered off down the path. Once he reached Kathleen, he hopped off and offered her a hand to help her up, but she only smirked at him before jumping on on her own.
Blaine shook his head with a soft, amused chuckle. “It’s only polite tae offer.”
“Dinnae fash fer me, Master Farquharson,” said Kathleen and the way she spoke his name, with that hint of playfulness, had his stomach twisting with the kind of sudden need that left him reeling. “If there’s one thing I can dae, that’s ridin’.”
Rather unhelpfully, Blaine’s mind supplied him with images of Kathleen doing just that—only not the kind of riding that was proper for a lady like her. Despite his years, despite his experience with women, he found his cheeks heating with embarrassment at his own thoughts.
Then they heated even more as he realized his blush was not only ridiculous for a grown man, but also surely visible to anyone with a pair of eyes.
He rushed to jump on the horse behind Kathleen in the hopes that she wouldn’t notice the redness on his cheeks. He could easily blame it on exertion or the heat—though the day, like most days in those parts, was chilly. And Kathleen would probably know the truth regardless. Women had a strange intuition like that.
Pulling Kathleen’s horse behind them, Blaine led his own down the path once more, only this time they were riding at a much more leisurely pace. He would have loved nothing more than to ride as fast as his horse could go and put an end to this torture of lingering and persisting embarrassment, but Kathleen’s horse could only limp slowly down the path.
And so, Blaine resigned himself to the fact that he would spend several hours with his chest pressed against Kathleen’s back, with her hips brushing against him with every step his horse took.
They were far too close for comfort. It wasn’t often that Blaine rode with someone else sitting in front of him, and certainly not such an alluring woman. Blaine could feel the heat emanating from her body, the soft breaths she drew, the soft undulation of her body as she balanced herself on the saddle. He gazed at the curve of her neck, the soft, bare skin there that seemed to glow under the dim light of the day, the cascade of her auburn waves down her back.
It was a mesmerizing sight and Blaine found himself distracted by it, so much so that when his horse abruptlyadjusted its gait to compensate for a slant in the road, he began to slip off the saddle, heart leaping to his throat.
He held on with his thighs on the last minute, a surprised grunt escaping him as he was suddenly wrenched back to reality. In front of him, Kathleen jumped, alarmed, her head whipping around to stare at him in concern.
“Are ye alright?”
“Och aye,” said Blaine with the brightest smile he could manage under the circumstances—which still looked more like a grimace than anything else. “All is good. Dinnae fash.”
“Are ye certain?” Kathleen insisted. “If ye’re too tired, we could stop fer a while longer.”
