Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,16
standing off with Mac, watching her. He smiled at her when their eyes met.
Will chuckled, looking at the both of them.
“You enjoy getting under their skin, do you not?” she said to him.
“Ye dinna know how tedious fightin’ and killin’ can be,” he complained with a feigned sigh. “I must humor myself somehow.”
She giggled behind her fingers. “You enjoy laughter.” She added nothing else when he waited for more.
“As do ye,” he finally guessed with a crook of his mouth.
“’Tis good medicine.”
He agreed and made her laugh a little more before they set out again.
The five men rode around her, encircling her in their power and size.
“I must admit,” she told the captain, riding closer to him, “I am a little apprehensive about sleeping outdoors tonight. I have never done the like before.”
“We are goin’ to stop at my grandparents’ farm in Hethersgill before we cross the border. ’Tis a bit oot of the way, but I was told my grandsire was ill and I would see him before headin’ off to Ayrshire.”
“Of course,” she said, liking that his family was important to him.
“We will spend the night there. I wouldna have ye sleep in the woods.”
“What d’ye think John will say if we are late?” Will tossed at him. “We have already lost many hours with all the stoppin’ we have done.”
“I will receive his reprimands when and if they come,” the captain assured him.
She looked at him when his gaze returned to hers. She didn’t want him to receive reprimands. “Captain, I will take the blame for being tardy, as the fault is mine.”
He smiled and her heart fluttered. “No, that willna be necessary. I can take care of hi—it.”
She nodded, but she would not let the fault fall on him.
“What made ye want to become a nun?”
He was asking her to share a part of herself with him. As friends would. She was thankful and took a moment to think about her answer. “I did not want to at first. I was forced by my uncle. But ’tis difficult not to fall in love with the Lord when you learn of Him. ’Tis no longer a burden. I am happy.”
His smile stiffened just the slightest.
“What is it, Captain?”
“Nothin’.” He shook his head to give more emphasis to his response. “I’m glad to know that ye are happy.”
But he was not smiling.
He didn’t smile for the next two hours.
She had pulled back and let him ride away from her. Morgann began to slow his pace but Mac cut him off and rode to her, ordering Morgann to stand his position.
“What is the trouble?” he demanded—but gently.
So much for subtleties. But then, this was Mac the Menace. She’d made up the name for him. He liked it.
“I feel the enormous weight of the task before you all to protect me.”
He stared at her for a moment, his dark eyes trying to find the truth of her words.
“’Tis not yer doin’, Sister. ’Tis the doin’ of a man we all serve. Yer uncle.”
“Aye. He is truly blessed to have men like you and the others to keep him safe.”
His steely eyes finally dipped to his horse’s head.
“I know you like to fight,” she continued. “Your face is a testimony of your bravery.”
She watched his menacing demeanor melt away with a smile. “Thank ye, Sister.”
She nodded and used the moment to find out a little about him. “What were you like before you fought? What did you want?”
“What did I want?” He looked at her like she’d just grown another head.
“Was there a special girl?”
“I was five and ten, Sister.”
“Were you stubborn and cynical at fifteen?” she teased.
“Aye. I already bore this scar and this one.” He pointed to two of his scars on his face. “I fought at my father’s side when the English rode through our village to claim it fer Edward. We killed ninety-four men and drove the rest away. Three days later, they returned in the night and set the village on fire. We tried to fight but the men were more concerned with savin’ their families and their homes. As they should be.” He paused when his gaze flicked to the captain. “I left the village and the fires and found the soldiers campin’ in the forest. Thirteen men. I killed them all. When I returned to my village, I found everyone dead. Instead of buryin’ my kin, I left and found the soldiers who lingered in the village when I had left the first time.