Page 6 of When a Highlander Vows
Caitlin had dreamed of flirtations and kisses and meeting with young men ever since she was a girl, and as she got older, all the village girls talked about such things. They giggled and whispered, but then when she began to lose her sight, she knew she’d lost that hope too.
So, it had been a shock to feel the laird’s thick strong hands around her middle, lifting her into the air like she weighed nothing more than a small bag of flour. The waist was an intimate place to be touched and held.
She blushed, hoping that the man didn’t see it. Closing her eyes, she felt the laird surround her when he jumped up behind her, his strong arms wrapping about her to grab the reins.
“Ready, Lass?” he said gruffly.
“Aye.”
The laird called to his kinsman, and they rode, the hooves thundering against the grassy hill beneath them as the horse took them away from her home. She did not look back for fear that it would make her regret her decision to give into the man’s threats.
Have I made a mistake?
She remembered now that Seamus had mentioned something about it, that if anything would happened to him, she could go to live with the laird. But she’d hardly listened to him, not wanting to think about him dying or leaving her. But he’d never told her about a vow.
Laird McDougall had made it seem as though he had made avowof some kind with her brother. Had Seamus truly asked the laird, a man she did not know, had not ever met, and who wasclearly unkind, to watch over her if something happened to him? It didn’t exactly make sense, that he would go so far as to beg the man to promise to take her on. Seamus considered the laird a very good friend, his best friend, and yet the laird had not once visited their home. Caitlin knew very little about him. Seamus had a great many friends. Why did he ask the laird instead of merely another person in the village?
These thoughts filled her mind as she opened her eyes and stared at the fuzzy beauty before her. Her home had been perched upon the hill which overlooked the village, but it was simply one of many strings of hills which stood between her, the castle, and the sea. It was fields upon fields, and because of how flat it was beyond the hills, the castle looked far closer than it really was. Although, she did not know how far, and of course, she could not judge greatly.
It was these moments that made her ache for her sight the most. It was so incredibly human, she felt, to look upon great beauty. To feast one’s eyes upon something that gave back to one’s soul. She could sense the beauty for all its blurriness, however, but it was not the same as seeing it sharp, clear, and defined.
“Will ye describe what ye see to me, Me Laird? It is only blurry to me eyes, but I can tell it is a breathtaking view before us. The hills, the fields, the distant castle.”
“Ye can see that?” he said. “Doesnae sound as though yer eyesight is as bad as all that.”
His mouth was so close to her head that she could feel his breath brush her hair. The reminder of his closeness made something strange tingle inside her. Not unlike the feeling she’d had with his hands about her waist. Even with his insulting tone.
“Aye. I can see all that. It has nae grown worse in the last few years, which gives me some hope. Nay one wishes to be fully blind. I would be nay use to anyone then,” she whispered at the end, thinking she was speaking only to herself.
The laird said nothing, but she could hear his breath as they rode faster and faster. “It is naythin’ special, this view, Lass. Only a sea, fields, and a castle. A view I have seen many times before.”
She frowned but did not get angry at him this time. An idea struck her. Perhaps she could be so bloody talkative and cheery that he would be annoyed, and he would return her to her home. She could live out her days in peace, with Rachel’s and Mary’s help, and then that would be all. No one would bother her, and certainly not lairds who seemed to hold far too high an opinion of themselves.
He’ll be furious, and he will let me go home. It seems simple enough to anger the man anyway.
She shifted her seat on the horse, trying to get more comfortable. It was difficult to ride sidesaddle while her stays dug into her sides. After she moved, she was again reminded of just how close they sat. How warm and oddly safe she felt in the embrace of a strong man’s arms.
A small groan escaped him. “What are ye doin’?” he asked, his tone tense.
“It is going to be a long ride,” she said, stiffening, wondering if she’d hurt him. “I am attemptin’ to get comfortable. It is jostling enough as we gallop over the hills.”
“Well daenae dae that, ye hear me? ‘Tis distractin’.” He set the horse into a faster gallop, and his arms came even closer around her, and her back was pulled tight against his chest.
She gasped softly at the way he practically held her as they rode.
Caitlin had not allowed herself to think too much of men, knowing she would never marry, but over the years, she’d overheard her friends, and Rachel and Mary talk about them occasionally. She’d even heard Rachel described the way a man would ‘take’ a woman. When she’d first heard about it, it had made Caitlin all warm inside and made a clamminess come out all over her skin. She thought it must be a terrible thing if it was going to make her feel feverish. However, in the conversation Rachel was having with another, she did not seem to think it a bad thing.
“Will ye tell me about the Castle, My Laird?” she asked, trying to distract herself now from the strange path of her thoughts.
“I have never been to a castle,” she continued, not waiting for him to reply. She did not expect him to. “I imagine it would be rather cold. All that gray stone, and so near to the sea with the cool sea breezes. I wonder if fires are enough to heat the spacein a castle. Dae ye have a lot of breeze comin’ through the Castle, My Laird?”
She waited, but he only said one word. “Nay.”
“Well, that is a good thing then.” Sighing, she looked about her. “I would hate to feel cold when I have just been asked to leave a very comfortable home.”
A grunt from behind her made her smirk. At least she was beginning to get reactions out of him. Soon enough, she would be back on her way home, and all would be as it was.
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