Devil of the Highlands Page 0,57

the scare he'd given her. "Well, why the devil did you not just call out and let me know 'twas you rather than following and scaring the devil out of me?"

"Following ye?" His eyebrows rose. "I have no been following ye. I just came upon yer mare on me way back to the castle, then spotted ye in the tree as I reined in."

Evelinde frowned and glanced back up to where she thought she'd been perched in the tree. She could not see the arrow from the ground but knew it was there. Her gaze then shifted to his mount to see that there was no bow and arrow on the animal. Cullen also wasn't holding one, she noted. Her husband hadn't loosed the arrow. If it had been loosed at all today, she thought. It was wholly possible that the arrow had sat in the tree for years or longer, and the sound she'd heard had been another branch or even a bird's nest falling from one of the upper branches as her climbing shook the tree.

Unfortunately, Evelinde hadn't got a good look at the arrow and couldn't say if it had looked weathered or not. She'd barely realized what it was before releasing it, then had been preoccupied trying not to fall.

"Why are ye in the woods?" Cullen asked.

"I thought to take Lady for a ride," Evelinde answered absently, her gaze now moving around the woods surrounding them, but there was no one there that she could see. Still, she turned to him, and said, "There was an arrow in the tree."

He shrugged. "There are probably many in these woods, arrows gone astray during a hunt."

"Aye," Evelinde muttered, but then felt it necessary to add. "I did not notice the arrow ere grabbing it while climbing."

Cullen smiled faintly. "I am not surprised. Come."

Evelinde's eyes widened, but she didn't protest when he grabbed Lady's reins in one hand and her arm in the other and urged her over to his mount. He stopped there and released Lady to catch Evelinde by the waist, then paused before applying the pressure necessary to lift her. "How sore are ye still?"

"I am not sore at all. The bruises were mostly healed by the time we reached Donnachaidh. 'Twas mostly my muscles bothering me then, but Biddy's salve and your massage seem to have done the trick," Evelinde admitted, blushing as she recalled what had followed the massage.

Cullen nodded and lifted her onto his mount, then caught Lady's reins again and mounted behind her. Evelinde expected that he'd return them to the castle then, so was somewhat startled when they broke out into a clearing beside a river.

"Ye'll no want to wade here like ye did in England," he announced as he slid off his mount and helped her down. They walked to the riverside and peered at the water.

"Why?" Evelinde asked, her eyes moving over the clear water bubbling past.

"The water runs off the mountains and is cold."

"Oh," she said, but didn't really mind. The clearing was small and the river narrower than the one at d'Aumesbery. There also was no waterfall here, but it was pretty just the same. It would be a nice spot to relax when she needed a moment to herself.

"Yer no to leave the castle alone in future," Cullen announced, turning her by the shoulders and reaching for the laces of her gown.

Evelinde reached for his hands, unsure what he was doing, but then paused and frowned as she realized what he'd said. She wasn't to come here alone? Seeing her vision of peaceful moments alone slipping away, she forgot about what he was doing and lifted a frown to him to ask, "Why?"

"I like ye," Cullen announced, quickly undoing her laces and beginning to ease her gown off her shoulders.

"I cannot come here alone because you like me?" she asked with confusion, wondering a bit distractedly what he was doing and catching her gown to keep it from slipping off her arms.

"Nay, well aye," he corrected himself. "Ye canna come here alone because 'tis no safe… and I like ye," he added, giving up on her gown and raising his hands to begin unpinning her hair from the bun she'd place it in on the back of her head that morning.

"Why is it not safe? And what are you doing?" Evelinde asked, trying to swat his hands away from her hair.

"I like ye," he repeated.

Evelinde opened her mouth, then closed it again as his words sank