Devil of the Highlands Page 0,41

climbing it.

Her climbing the fence, however, was another matter entirely. She could not climb and hold her skirt up at the same time. Evelinde could hear the pounding hooves behind her and actually feel the hot breath of Angus's angry snorts on her back. She would never climb the fence before he was on her. She was going to be gored, and he would then toss her through the air and stamp all over her where she landed, Evelinde thought dismally even as her hand closed on the rail… and then Cullen reached down from the top of the fence, snatched her by the back of the dress, and hauled her out of the paddock.

Chapter Seven

"What the devil were ye doing, ye daft woman!" Cullen roared. It was not the first time he'd shouted the question. In fact, it seemed to be the only thing he could say as he stared down at his trembling wife, not even giving her a chance to answer before bellowing it again.

Cullen couldn't help himself. When he'd spotted his wee wife rushing across Angus's paddock, his heart had lodged firmly in his throat, leaving him gagging on a terror like he'd never before experienced. His terror had only increased when he saw that Angus had spotted the witless woman and was charging down the paddock toward her.

Worse yet, the senseless female had stopped moving when she'd seen him, a relieved look crossing her face. Why the devil she'd looked relieved was beyond him. He'd been too far away to do much but roar at her to move and rush to climb the fence to try to help her. And what had the foolish wench done? She'd done a little turn on the green as if she were at a bloody ball, and then sprinted for the fence.

Truth be told, Cullen had been rather impressed by her speed in that final dash, but it didn't lessen his anger. Dear God, he was sure she'd scared ten years off his life with this little adventure… and he did not scare easily. In fact, Cullen could honestly say he'd never ever experienced that kind of horror and fear before in all the years of his life… over anyone… and he never wanted to feel it again.

"I—"

"What the devil were ye doing?" Cullen interrupted to ask again. The bull had been a hairbreadth away from goring her when he'd lifted her out of the paddock. And this wasn't the first time she'd put herself in jeopardy with mad behavior either, he recalled. There was that little ride of hers in the meadow with her mare's reins in her teeth, too. The woman seemed prone to dangerous behavior.

"I was coming to speak to you," Evelinde blurted quickly, before he could repeat his words yet again.

"Me?" he asked incredulously.

"Aye. I had reached the first paddock when I saw you get thrown from that mad horse. I feared you had been injured and would need me. Rather than waste time running around the paddock, I climbed the fence to run through. I thought it was empty," she explained in a rush.

"Empty?" Cullen echoed with disbelief. "Are ye blind as well as daft? How could ye no see him?"

Evelinde just stared back at him helplessly apparently not having an answer for that. It was Fergus who stepped to Cullen's side and placed a calming hand on his arm as he murmured quietly by his ear, "The paddock is L-shaped, me laird. Angus may have been in the inner far corner, where she could not have seen him."

Cullen felt his shoulders sag at that reminder. In truth, a lot of his anger had slipped away at the knowledge that her stupid behavior had been out of concern for him. Fergus's comment simply drained him of the rest. He was terribly happy to know his wife wasn't an idiot. He was even happier to know she had been concerned for him. Though, Cullen couldn't have said why he cared… except perhaps because he found he quite liked her, and he had been concerned for her when he'd seen her in the paddock with Angus. In truth, he'd been in a panic when he'd realized the peril she was in.

The sound of throat clearing made him glance to Fergus to find his first jerking his eyes toward the other men standing around them, gawking at his wife. Cullen glowered at the lot of them and caught Evelinde by the arm to urge her across