Page 10 of Her Highland Prophecy
He approached the creek and drank deeply from the crisp water. When he stood back up, she was standing beside him.
For the first time since he saw her in the clearing, she looked directly at him with unclouded eyes, and he noticed again how green they were, almost like fresh shoots in a garden.
“Thank you,” she said in a clear, high voice, “for saving my life earlier.”
Her accent took him aback.
An English lass? What is she doing in these parts alone?
“Ye’re welcome,” he said simply, though curiosity burned through him. Who was she?
“Where… where are we?” she asked.
“Ye’re safe now. We’re on the lands of the Sutherford Clan,” he reassured her.
“The Sutherford Clan?” She asked the question carefully as if she had never heard of such a thing before.
“Aye.”
She still looked confused for a moment, but then she shook her head. Gordain could almost see her mind working and figured that she had come to a decision of some kind.
“Can you take me back to the fair in Ballachulish, please? My friends are there.”
His brows furrowed in confusion.
The fair?
“What fair, lass? There isnae a fair in Ballachulish right this moment.”
“What are you talking about? I was just there last night. There was dancing and food and…and the gypsies were there,” she said, getting more agitated with every second she spoke. Her eyes were starting to shine with tears.
He was confused in turn. What she was describing was impossible.
“The gypsies? The gypsies willnae be here for another few weeks, lass.”
She looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth.
Is she lying?
He could not figure her out, but of one thing he was certain. There was something strange going on, and he was going to figure out what it was–
4
Diana stared at her savior with wide eyes, utterly confused. She had been terribly confused since the moment she woke up on the ground without her shoes. The day had gone downhill since then, and this was the cherry on the cake.
She no longer knew how to feel. Her body seemed intent to take her for a ride, much like the carousel that her sister loved so much. Her emotions ebbed and swelled like the horses moving up and down. A moment ago, she had been on the verge of tears for want of something familiar, but now all she felt was confusion.
“The gypsies were there last night,” she said stubbornly. She wasn’t crazy, although she could see that he didn’t think much about her intelligence.
Honestly, she still wasn’t sure if this was not an elaborate practical joke. It was entirely plausible that the fortune-telling gypsy had sent her to the cave where one of her associates was waiting as revenge for her not paying her. She had heard them whisper in the dark. They had hit her hard enough to cause her to black out and then moved her away.
Except for the fact that she had been accosted and held at knifepoint before her savior stepped in. She could still vividly remember the feeling of the cold steel pushing against her throat and the fear coiling inside her as the three men discussed what they should do with her.
Oh, and my savior carried a sword and had killed a man in front of my eyes, and talking about clans.
Clans!
The clans in Scotland had all died out in theeighteenthcentury after the Jacobite rebellions, right?
