Page 11 of The Veiled Wish of a Highland Bride

She wondered how stupid the men were to not have noticed that they were being trailed for several miles. But no matter how stupid they were, they were strong. Even with the element of surprise she would lose in a fight against them.

Before long, Mia began to feel the full weight of her exhaustion creeping up on her. Her adrenaline had worn off completely. She had barely gotten a wink of sleep the night before, having tended to her husband’s guests all night and day.

Just as she felt herself dozing off against a tree, she heard one of the men tell another that they should go and hunt their dinner. Mia was relieved, but that still lefttwomen behind, who were just as physically intimidating as the others.

They had pulled down their hoods now, and she could see that they were Highlanders. The two that remained both looked gruff and hardened. They looked like they hadn’t taken a bath in days. She didn’t recognize the color of their plaid.

The taller of the two stood up from before the fire, and the other stoked the flames. The man went a little distance away, freeing his members from his britches and whistling as he relieved himself.

Mia realized that she had been given the opportunity of a lifetime. They had left their mark unattended. Now their overconfidence would be the death of them.

Laird Macnab was sitting to her right, bound to the trunk of a tree. Without allowing herself a moment of doubt, she picked up the largest rock she could find around her and charged silently at the man by the fire, hitting him in the back of the head. He fell to the ground immediately.

Thankfully, the other man was still whistling away, leaving Mia to wonder how much ale he had drunk earlier. In the darkness, she searched for Archie’s gaze.

His eyes widened and then softened as he saw her. She ran over to his side, took the knife she always kept hidden around her waist and cut the bindings away. Mia had learned the importance of carrying a weapon early in life, and now she always felt incomplete without her skene, even if she rarely used it.

Just as she and the Laird tiptoed their way to Buck, the other man turned around. The relief on his face died the second he saw Archie loose and on the move.

“Ye! Stop!” he roared, staggering after them, his britches only halfway up.

But Mia and Archibald had mounted her horse already, riding Buck as hard as she could. The man darted around, seemingly unsure whether he should pursue the prisoner and leave their horses and his companions behind. Buthe stood around dilly-dallying, Buck galloped away.

CHAPTERFIVE

As they rode further from the camp, Mia slowed Buck down to a steady trot. Archie was grateful—he was not sure how much more heavy riding his body could take.

The curve of her buttocks had unapologetically pressed against his crotch while they were riding. He'd tried to distract himself, but his attraction to this woman would not go away, even in the face of certain death. When she spurred her horse to move faster, the front of his arm gently brushed against hers, and his chest was flush with her back as she leaned into him, basking in her scent.

Although he had been silent and brooding, he finally broke the ice, having decided that it would calm him to engage her in conversation.

“Thank ye for… helping me out, and for saving me,” he said, unable to muster his usual dry wit. Archie wondered who had sent those men after him, but as far as he knew he had no enemies anywhere on Murray land.

“My laird… who were those men?” Mia inquired. He could feel her body tense in quiet worry.

“I think we can drop the formalities now, can we nae? Ye just saved my life, and I ken yer deepest secret. That’s enough to be friends,Mia.”

His body was sore from the beating, and he tried to stretch out his back. The pain pushed his worrisome thoughts to the back of his mind.Good. Fretting over what those men wanted and who they were would not help him for the moment. He resolved to discuss it with Lennox upon getting back to the village.

He knew Lennox would have assumed his Laird had gone into the village with a girl, without having any idea that it was far from the truth. He was lost in the woods with only Mia for company. It seemed unlikely they would return before the matins.

Archibald had grown up in the Highlands, but this was far from terrain he knew well. His own clan house was not as close to Drummond land. All that was around them for miles were trees and fields.

“What secret?” Mia asked suddenly.

Archie sighed. “Yer desire to be wanted as a woman. Or have ye so soon forgotten our discussion just hours ago?”

He smiled, the teasing invigorating him. Archibald loved playing with her. Most women were too sensitive for such things, but this one could take it.

He had never met anyone like her, and he was desperate to explore every bit of her mind, every bit of the smooth body that was currently hidden beneath the rags of men. Her hair had come undone from the plait she had weaved it into, and strands of it were curling down her back.

Archibald felt oddly comfortable sitting behind her on her horse, and he could not help but smile whenever her horse's gait on the uneven path caused her to lean into him.

“Well,” Mia began, “seems to me are far enough away from yer attackers now. Get off me horse.”

Archibald was perplexed. “Do ye mean to leave me here for dead? In the middle of nowhere?”

He heard her titter at his suggestion. “And what if I did? I thought ye were the great warrior that fought and survived the Battle of Culloden!”

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