Page 25 of Her Highland Prophecy
“Couldn’t you have asked?”
He looked genuinely confused and surprised that she was upset.
“Why? I only wanted to keep ye warm and me plaid isnae large enough to cover us if ye lay far away from me.” He shrugged. “We do something similar with me men when we go hunting, though each man is in his own plaid.”
“That is not the point! You can’t just do that without asking.”
“All right, dinna fash,” he said placatingly, though she could tell that he still did not truly understand why she was so upset. “Will ye stand for a moment, lass?”
He rearranged the plaid so that it would fold in the opposite direction than before, with the two edges meeting on the outer, rather than the inner side as they had before. He motioned for her to get back into place and he lay down, his back to her and covered them both with the end of his plaid.
She could feel the tension radiating through him even as they curled further in the warm, woolen fabric feeling properly warm for the first time since she had been in her hotel room in a bed with her sister.
Despite her tension, Diana was exhausted. No sooner had she lay her head on the pile of leaves than her eyes slid shut and sleep overtook her.
In the tree sheltering them, an owl hooted in the night, the loud noise going unheard by the two people sleeping peacefully below. A small mouse scurried along the wall, its whiskers tickling the woman’s face. She twitched and burrowed further into the blankets, the feeling of warmth and safety keeping away the nightmares that threatened.
9
The next morning, Gordain woke up as the first sun rays reached them through the shelter of the trees. He could see a soft mist all around them, the morning dew settling heavily on the ground giving their surroundings a hazy glow.
The cold of the ground had seeped into his bones. It did not affect him much. He had slept on the ground many times before and he was sure he would sleep on the ground many more times in the future. Wrapped up in his plaid and laying in the heather with the open sky sprinkled with stars above him, he felt free.
Of course, he did not usually have a woman lying in his plaid with him. He looked down at the girl who was burrowed in his chest with amusement. Much as she had insisted on sleeping with their backs to each other the previous evening, she had turned into him almost as soon as her eyes closed, pushing her nose into his sternum and tucking her feet into his.
From their current position he could only see the top of her blonde hair. He lifted his hand slowly and pushed it behind her ear to reveal her face. He marveled at how short her hair was. He was certain that if he pulled on one of her curls it would only reach just below her chin.
He studied her face. She had such delicate features, her small, upturned nose scrunching a little as he exposed it to the cold of the morning. Even though her large eyes were closed at the moment he knew that when they opened, they would be as green as the leaves on the trees around them.
She stirred, yawning and he smiled at her when a moment later her eyelids pushed open to reveal the very eyes he had just been thinking about.
“Good morning,a nighean,” he greeted her, his smile widening further when he noticed the light blush that covered her cheeks. She scrubbed her hands lightly over her face.
“Good morning,” she replied, her voice rough with disuse. She suddenly seemed to register the way she clung to him like a vine to a wall and hastily pushed away from him.
“Sorry,” she said when she managed to put some distance between their bodies. He instantly missed her warmth. Much as he was used to sleeping rough, he had to admit that it was much more pleasant with another person so close to him.
It was a much more intimate feeling than when a hunting party slept close to avoid the chill and he realized why she had been so upset the previous evening. It felt more like he had brought a girl to his bed than a necessary action for survival.
He did not want to embarrass her any further, so he rolled out from underneath the plaid and stood. He was only wearing his shirt and breeches and the chill pierced through him lightly.
“I’ll go check on the snares,” he said and moved away from her.
“What snares?” he heard her ask, but he was already too far away to answer.
After taking the time to relieve himself on a convenient tree he checked on the snares he had set the previous evening, pleased to note that he had managed to catch two rabbits in the night. They would eat well that morning.
He headed back to their tiny camp that was temporarily abandoned as Diana must have gone to find a tree of her own. He put down the rabbits on a boulder as he looked around for kindling to start a fire, all the while keeping an eye out for curious animals. It wouldn’t not be good to be attacked by a hungry animal.
He quickly started a small fire and settled on the boulder and to prepare the rabbits. He made a small cut in the belly and had just started to pull off the skin off the first of them when Diana returned.
He looked up at the sound of her footsteps, just in time to see her eyes fixed on the half-skinned carcass of the rabbit that he held in his hand as she turned green. She back stepped slowly.
“I’ll just…go,” she said, her eyes never leaving his hands as he worked before she turned to leave.
“Ye have never seen an animal being skinned before?” he asked causing her to stop in her tracks. He could tell that she hadn’t, but simply couldn’t fathom how that was even possible. Even the smallest of children knew how to kill and skin a rabbit in the Highlands.
She was facing him now, her eyes fixed somewhere over his right shoulder, resolutely staring away from the animal in his hands.
