Page 44 of Scot of Deception
As they walked, Kathleen kept up with Blaine, the two of them moving side by side. Every now and then, her hand would brush against his own, sending a jolt of excitement through him; the kind he had had when he had been but a boy.
A man his age had no business getting this excited over a mere brush of hands. A man his age had no business being so close to Kathleen in the first place, but it was already too late for that.
How long could Blaine deny his feelings for her? He had already made the grave mistake of bedding her. He had already done the very thing he had sworn he would never do: ruin her.
He should have never given in to the temptation. Kathleen most likely thought there was a future between them ,despite their age gap. But she didn’t know the truth; she didn’t know that they could never be together like that.
What have I done?
The reality of it all weighed heavy on Blaine’s shoulders. All the blame was his, but a part of him—a big part, much to his irritation—didn’t truly regret what he had done. It was more than desire, this thing between them. It was more than sexual need, more than a mere fling.
It was something deeper, but he refused to put a name to it. The moment he did, the moment he would admit what it truly was, it would be too late for salvation.
Soon, their company split into groups, each pair going off in a different direction. Blaine led Kathleen north, deeper into the woods, since she was used to walking on uneven terrain and he didn’t have to worry about ruining her pretty dress or expensive slippers. As he made his way through the forest, Kathleen easily kept up with him, stepping over roots and jumping down from boulders without his assistance, and he realized she truly did know what she was doing.
“What?” Kathleen asked when he gave her an incredulous look. “I told ye I ken how tae hunt. I used tae hunt with me cousins,” Kathleen said with a shrug.
“An’ yer parents let ye?”
“Dae ye think they had a choice?”
Kathleen laughed at her own words before pushing forward, going ahead of Blaine. For a while, it was he who followed her as she set the course and rhythm, expertly tracking the path a deer had left behind.
It wasn’t long before she held up her hand, signaling at him to come to a stop. Blaine stopped right behind her, looking overher shoulder at the general direction of her gaze until he found the deer nestled among the tree trunks, almost invisible among all the brown.
Slowly, carefully, Kathleen removed an arrow from her quiver and prepared her bow, stretching the string taut. Blaine watched her, enraptured by the methodical way in which she moved, like a seasoned archer—like a warrior rather than the noble girl she was.
This was what he loved so much about her. She was unpredictable, sometimes even strange compared to others—a force of nature that could not be stopped. Blaine was a slave to her whims and desires, and deep down, he knew he would end up doing anything she asked of him just to see her smile.
Just as she was about to take the shot, though, another pair of nobles came hurtling through from their right, the man jumping over a fallen log to reach the deer. The creature was much faster than him, though, and before any of them could react, it was gone in a blur of movement.
Kathleen turned to them in disbelief, throwing her hands up in the air. “What dae ye think ye’re daein’?” she demanded. “I almost had it!”
“Well, forgive me, but ye were too slow, Miss Mackintosh,” said the man, not sounding apologetic at all. “Perhaps ye’ll be luckier next time.”
“I’ll have ye ken?—”
Blaine dragged Kathleen away by the arm before she could get into a fight with the man. She protested, trying to wrench her arm free, but Blaine was firm with her, not allowing her to engage.
“Why are ye draggin’ me away?” she asked, her shrill voice echoing in the woods around them. Only when they were far enough from the pair did Blaine let go of her, turning to stare at her with his hands on his hips. “I ought tae tell him exactly what I think about him!”
“An’ that is why I dragged ye away,” Blaine pointed out. “I preferred ye when ye were scared o’ travelin’ an’ listened tae me.”
“Well, we’re nae travelin’ now, are we?” Kathleen pointed out. Her anger quickly dissipated, though, as a bunny that hopped nearby, white as pure snow, caught her attention. “Dinnae hunt it. I couldnae bare it.”
Blaine chuckled to himself, approaching Kathleen and the bunny. “I wouldnae even think o’ it,” he promised, though it had, in fact, crossed his mind.
Kathleen smiled gratefully at him for a moment, and then turned around to observe the bunny again. She took careful steps as she followed it, making sure not to frighten the creature, but Blaine didn’t know what her goal could possibly be.
To capture it, perhaps; to keep it as a pet, as bad of an idea as that would be.
Blaine followed it too, sticking close to her. His gaze was focused on Kathleen, on the gentle slope of her neck over her cloak, the way she stretched out her hand to pet the bunny, the way her nose crinkled as she smiled at it. So focused was he that he didn’t notice the patch of mud right in front of him at all—not until it was too late and he slipped, falling right into the small puddle.
He fell onto his rear with a thud that seemed to shake the entire forest floor, and the pain that suddenly radiated from his hip was enough to keep him where he was, entirely frozen for a moment.
That would have been bad enough, as Blaine was suddenly covered head to toe in mud, all of his clothes soiled, along with his hands and face. But as he fell, he reached out for something that could stop his descent, only to grab none other than Kathleen’s cloak, dragging her right into the pit as well.
Kathleen sputtered and flailed as she landed in the mud, desperately trying to save herself from the same fate as Blaine. There was no escaping it, though; within moments, she too was covered in mud, her hands sinking into the soil as she sat there, stunned.
