Page 6 of A Flower for Angus

Feeling helpless, she turned and scanned the horizon, wondering how far it was to Neamh from where she was? Could she walk in and then have someone come back for her bags?

Uneasily her gaze darted here and there. Did wolves live in the highlands? Did they run cattle with bulls that she couldn’t see? What about snakes? Macy was deathly afraid of snakes. She was a pretty good sprinter but she knew she couldn’t outrun bulls or wolves if it came to that.

Maybe she should just wait in the car and hope someone would come looking for her. Then she slapped herself on the forehead. Duh! She had a cell phone. She could call Mr. MacNamara and explain what had happened.

Hurrying back into the car, she opened her bag and pulled out the cheap cell phone she’d bought in town and added minutes to, but was dismayed to see she had no signal. Frustrated, she shook it as if it just needed some diodes or something rearranged to make it work, then finally gave up.

Huffing in exasperation, she laid her head back trying to decide what to do. After 15 minutes of putting off the inevitable, she got out of the car, retrieved her jacket and bag, and started walking along the road.

Macy kept glancing at her watch and after about 30 minutes, she decided to rest for a minute on a rock wall. She picked her way over to the picturesque stones stacked neatly and sat down gratefully for a breather. With her face to the sun and her eyes closed to bask in its warmth, she didn’t realize she had company until she felt something touch her hand. It only took a fraction of a second for her to realize that a small snaky-looking creature was sitting on her hand. It was a greenish gray color with a darker striping down the sides...and it had legs?

Screaming in panic, Macy jumped up and flipped her hand as she started running to get away. When her foot landed in an indentation in the unlevel grasses, she went down, moaning in agony as her ankle twisted beneath her. Glancing back to see if the snake was following her, she realized it was gone. Only what appeared to be the tail was left in sight and it was wiggling on the wall. What kind of weird snake did that?

Not waiting around to find out, she forced herself back up and tried to hop on one foot as far away as she could get. That’s when she saw the jacked up black pickup truck coming up the road from the direction of Neamh. Biting her lip, she tried to put her foot down and gasped in agony when her toes touched the ground.

Glancing from the wall to the truck, panic threatened to overwhelm her. Mr. MacNamara’s additional warning leapt to the front of her mind. Was this someone who would help her? Or someone who might take advantage of her situation?

Barely able to breathe, Macy forced herself to calm down. Maybe she’d get lucky and it would be another woman.

When the big pickup accelerated, she knew she’d been spotted. And there was certainly a man behind the wheel. So much for hoping desperately that it might be a woman.

The truck stopped, the door opened, and a big man hopped out and started walking towards her. He certainly had plenty of muscle groups in the forearms where his long-sleeved thermal shirt was pushed up. The hat on his head blocked his eyes but his face looked strong with a grizzled lower jaw. It looked like he'd missed a few morning shaves.

“Would ye happen to be Macy Kennedy?” He called out to her as he moved forward.

She slumped slightly in relief at his words, tears threatening to spurt into her eyes. “Yes, I’m Macy Kennedy,” she returned his call. “Are you from Heaven’s Gate?”

“Aye,” he replied, hurrying his pace. “Are ye all right?”

Macy watched his confidant stride eat up the grassland as he closed the gap between her and the road. “Yes...no...I’m afraid I’ve hurt my ankle,” she stuttered as he reached her and glanced down at her foot barely touching the ground for balance.

His piercing gaze was disconcerting as he took her hand and placed it immediately on his own muscled arm for support. She snatched it away as if he’d burnt her and started to spin and fall, but he caught her by both her arms.

“Easy now, lassie, I’m no goin’ to hurt ye.”

Taking a deep breath and trying to calm her racing pulse, Macy nodded. “I-I’m sorry, you just startled me. I’m actuallysoglad you came by. My car died...and there was this snake...and then I fell...and it left its tail behind. What sort of snake does that?” She muttered helplessly, trying not to appear like a complete loony. She glanced back at the wall where the tail of the snake was still lying on the stone.

He chuckled rich and deep. “That was no a snake, lassie, it was just a common lizard. It’s their way of gettin’ away from an enemy. The tail piece wigglin’ distracts the predator long enough for the lizard to escape and then it grows back. Ye see them all over Scotland and they are harmless,” he assured her gently.

The soft burr of his highland accent was soothing and Macy found herself relaxing with a nod and a sigh. “I didn’t know that.”

“No reason ye should,” he replied. “My name is Angus Sangster and I work at Neamh. Can ye walk, Macy? If not, I’ll just carry ye to the truck.”

Her face flamed. “Oh no, I can walk.” When she bravely put her foot down, hoping desperately that the earlier pain was only temporary, she gasped and started spinning again. Pain jolted through her ankle as she tried to regain balance on one foot and the tears spurted into her eyes for sure this time. “Ow!”

“I’ve got ye, lass.” Angus swept her up in his arms as if she was nothing but thistle in the wind and strode confidently towards his monstrous truck. “We may have to call a doctor for that ankle. It could be broken.”

Macy held herself stiffly in his arms, not trusting herself to speak. She hadn’t been this close to a male body for a long time, especially not one as fit and strong as Angus’s body. It was causing her to feel things she hadn’t felt in forever.

She peeped up at the uncompromising male jawline. His hair was laced with strands of white in the rich hazelnut color she could see beneath his cap. Tanned skin with sun wrinkles spreading from the corners of his eyes judged him to be in his late forties or early fifties. His hair was too long to be called neat...more like grizzled. As if he didn’t have a reason to be neatly trimmed anymore. Was he married? She castigated herself for even wondering. Hadn’t she had enough of men to last her a lifetime already?

“Open the door, lass,” he instructed when he came to stand in front of the passenger’s door. She reached out and did just that, wincing when he sat her in the seat and then picked up her foot to inspect it more closely. The sturdy leather loafers she was wearing couldn’t disguise the fact that her ankle was swelling. She hissed when he gently moved it back and forth. “I no think it’s broken, but ye are going to have to ice it down and stay off it for a few days.”

“I can’t do that, I’m going to a job,” she protested.

“Housekeeper at Neamh?” He eyed her shrewdly.

“Yes,” she replied with an anxious nod. “I want to make a good impression because I was hoping to stay on. Do you think Mr. MacCandish and his wife will be understanding?”

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