Page 17 of Married to the Highland Devil
When they stopped by another lakeside that afternoon, he walked her to where they would rest and sat with her on a log.
“Have you ever stood at the top of a cliff before?” She knew he had, but they had been so silent during the ride here, and she needed to talk to him, so she did not drown in her thoughts.
“Every time I go ridin’ in the rain, I stop by the top of the cliff and look down to enjoy the view. Most times, there’s water down there, and watching it flow just… I cannae explain how bonnie it looks. The water is blue, clear, and the same shade as the sky… There are rocks, and goodness it is such a bonnie sight.”
She wished she could see all that he described.
“I will enjoy my time in Scotland,” she said with a wide smile.
“I am certain ye will. We can go ridin’ together in the moors, and I can show ye the garden my maither keeps. Ye can work with her too. I will take ye to the village, and we will dance too. Are ye good at dancin’? Please, say nay and save me from the embarrassment. I truly hate it.”
“I hate dancin’ too. I could never learn where to put one foot, and I stepped on my partners’ toe every time, so I gave up.”
He laughed, and Amelia loved the sound of it, so she moved closer to him and tried to reach for his hand. Duncan touched her hand instead and feeling his nearness made her sigh.
“You woke up very early today,” she said carefully. “Did you go somewhere?”
“Outside,” he answered. “I needed to practice my fencin’.”
“Oh…”
She had slept better with his arm wrapped around her, but she could not say that to him. It would be the same as admitting that she needed to be close to him when they had just met, and she knew very little about him.
“I do it whenever I cannae sleep, and last night was…” He did not finish his sentence. “We should resume our ride,” he said instead. “We still have a lot of ground to cover.”
Amelia rose to her feet with his help, and just when they got to Maple, she felt the first droplet of rain on her skin.
It was a full storm, and they had to hide out under the shade of a wild oak tree. “We usually travel in coaches in England,” she told him as she struggled to keep her teeth from chattering together.
The cold water touched her cheek, and she pressed her hand to her cheeks while laughing. She knew she might catch a cold, and so would he if they did not find shelter soon.
Amelia didn’t know Duncan moved until she felt him draping a cloth around her.
“You are handing me your coat? Will you not catch a cold?”
“I have thick skin, My Lady,” he said with a laugh. “Ye need to feel warm. I am sorry for this. We should have been at an inn or ridin’, and the storm wouldnae have trapped us here.”
“Even you cannot control the weather,” she said with a laugh then laughed some more.
The mirth flowed freely from her, and it did not matter that it was raining all around them, probably soaking up the ground, and making it muddy.
She heard Maple snort in the distance and followed the sound, gently stepping a foot in front of her, so she could find her way under the rain.
“Amelia,” he called at the top of his voice, and in the next second, she felt him grab and pull her close. “Ye must be careful. Ye cannae just run off like that; ye dinnae ken the grounds. Ye might fall and hurt yerself.”
“Come on, enjoy this beautiful time with me. I have fallen countless times, and I have managed to live thus far.”
She took his hands, and she then began to twirl around with him, wanting to let go of every thought in her mind.
Duncan stopped her by putting his hands on her shoulders then he pulled her close and wrapped them around her back, so she leaned close to him. She heard his heartbeat as she rested her head on his chest.
Their embrace lasted a long time, and slowly, the rain started to stop around them. When they finally parted, she was soaking wet, and he was the same too.
“Have you ever been under the rain like this before?”
“Many times,” he told her with a short laugh. “But we should find an inn to dry up and rest for the next day.”
He led her to their horse, and they continued their ride for the rest of the day.
