Page 16 of The Runaway Bride and the Highlander
“Ye sound as though ye love it,” Skylar said.
“I do love it,” Maxwell replied. “It’s my homestead, the place my family has been for many years.”
“How fortunate for ye tae have such a place.”
Her words sounded terse, but for the life of him, Maxwell could not understand why. He had not bragged about his wealth or his accolades; he had simply answered her question. Her strange and uncalled-for response annoyed him, and he stiffened behind her. He had a right to be proud of the place he had called home, for he had lost much to keep it.
For the rest of the day, they did not speak. Nor did she speak to him when they stopped and set up camp for the night.
“Leave her be,” Bram said when Maxwell told him about it. “She’s been through enough these last few days. Ye forget, brother. We’re used tae this kind o’ life. She’s a woman who’s been living in the confines o’ a convent for a long time. I cannae imagine it was any place o’ comfort, but compared tae these last few days we’ve had tae suffer, it probably felt like a palace.”
The following morning, her form had not changed, and Maxwell simply did not have the patience to try and placate her. They were only hours away from the castle now, and he was desperate for a warm bath and a hot meal.
Sitting once more upon his steed, they traveled in tense silence. Maxwell tried to ignore it, but her pettiness gnawed at him. It would not have been so bad if he could at least ascertain what it was she was so annoyed about, but he was too proud and stubborn to ask. Instead, he tried to occupy his mind with what the council might say when first he had the chance to speak with them.
At last, the castle turrets came into view, and a loud and relieved cheer came from his men.
“We are nearly home, men,” Maxwell called back to them. “Warm meals and clean clothes await us.”
Another cheer came from them, and Maxwell sat a little straighter on his horse. They had been on the road for months following Johnson’s men, and he did not think he had ever been so pleased to see the walls of Dunvegan Castle in his life.
As they passed some trees on their approach, Skylar suddenly whipped her head toward them. “Did ye hear that?”
“Nae, I didnae,” Maxwell replied coldly.
It was the first words she had spoken all day, and he had grown tired of her coldness. Her head whipped about again, and straining her neck, she was clearly trying to hear something. In another second, he too heard the whimpering coming from the trees.
“Someone is in there,” she cried. “We must stop and check.”
“Nae, we must continue on tae the castle. We all need rest and food and water.”
“We must stop,” Skylar said with more determination. “I think it is a child.”
“Ye are saying that only so I will stop,” Maxwell said, ascertaining her cunning. “We are going tae continue. I’ll send someone from the castle tae come and check who or what it is once we have made it through the gates.”
“But it may be too late by then,” she pressed again, infuriating him even more.
“Too late for what?” Maxwell argued back, struggling to control his temper. “Whatever or whomever it is could have been there for a day or an hour. Ye cannae possibly ken what it is ye are wanting us tae stop for. It could be a dog or a fox or a badger.”
“But—”
“I’ve heard enough,” he cut her off abruptly. “We continue on. I am tired o’ this arguing, and I’ll hear nae more about it.”
With no word of warning, Skylar threw the plaid from around her shoulders and leapt from the horse as it continued trotting forward. She had been sitting side-saddle, and though she stumbled a little when she landed, she righted herself and ran back the way the horse had come.
Maxwell suddenly lost his temper at her stubborn insolence. “For the love o’ God!” Maxwell barked, pulling heavily on the reins. “This woman will be my undoing.”
Bram held up a hand to stop him. “Ye carry on. I’ll go back for her.”
“Nae, brother. I am the one who chose tae save her. She’s my burden tae deal with. But I swear, if we get back tae these trees and it’s some wounded animal we find or some other such nonsense that’s keeping me starving with hunger, I swear she’ll wish Colum had taken her with him, for I’ll throw her in the dungeon myself.”
CHAPTERNINE
Maxwell might have stubbornly refused to stop, but Skylar was not taking no for an answer. If he wouldn’t listen to her, she would just go and discover who it was that needed help. The sound she heard was neither a fox, a dog, nor a badger. It was a person, and by the high-pitched tone of the whimpers, she was also more than convinced that it was a child.
Pushing through the branches and moving deeper into the woods, the sound became louder until eventually, she saw a small boy lying on the ground. He could not have been more than four or five years old, and with a quick glance around him, it was evident that the boy was all alone.
“Och, my God,” she gasped, dropping to her knees amongst the dead twigs and leaves. “It’s all right,” she soothed. “Ye’re alright now.”
