Page 63 of Sins of a Scot
Ye dinnae ken how this is going tae play out. Besides, dae ye really want tae ruin the little time ye might have together?
Indeed, she did not. It might be her last chance for any semblance of happiness. She could not have imagined their journey would bring about what they had shared, what her heart now felt, how much he meant to her. And their journey was far from over. No. She would listen to her heart. She did not want to waste the little time she might have left with him, nor could she bear seeing the pain he would suffer at her words.
When Owen eventually awoke, sometime later, he pulled her into him and softly kissed the top of her head.
“Morning,” he growled.
Even the depth of his voice now made her body react as though he were a puppeteer and she a marionette. Eliciting excitement through her as he pulled at the strings of her heart and beyond.
Turning her head up to him, she smiled widely.
“Hi.”
Owen gently pulled her up his body so her face was close to his, and raising his lips to hers, he kissed her tenderly. When he pulled away, Iseabail found herself lost in his gaze, and once again mesmerized. Even the turmoil she had battled internally earlier seemed to slip away.
“How are ye feeling?” Owen asked.
“If ye mean am I fit tae continue on, then aye. I’m fine.”
“I’ll admit,” he nodded, “ye look a lot better now than ye did when we arrived yesterday.”
“Maybe that has something tae dae with how well ye looked after me,” she replied with a gentle smile. “I still cannae believe that ye saved me life.”
“I told ye last night. I’m nae going tae lose ye, Iseabail. Nor am I going tae let ye go. In fact, from here on out, I’m nae letting ye out o’ me sight.”
Those words, as wonderful as they were, pained Iseabail greatly, and pushing herself off him, she hid her despair by sitting up and turning her back to him.
“While I would love tae lie beside ye fer the rest o’ the day, we ought tae get moving. We have tae travel tae the other side o’ the island and try and find this woman.”
“I agree. While ye dress, I’ll go down and ask the innkeeper if he kens anything about the merchant or where he might have travelled while he was here.”
Once Owen had left the room and Iseabail was left alone, her feigned easiness fell from her as she once more, thought of what lay ahead. Her father and brother were the most important people in the world to her, and she could not let her selfish desires be the reason for their death, for she had no doubt, Laird Sutherland would keep his promise.
She wanted so badly to be able to tell Owen the truth, and yet, as she had concluded earlier, there was much they yet had to go through together before she could return to the laird with his prize. It would be better to hold onto what she knew, for what they had yet to do was going to be difficult enough.
When Owen returned to the room, Iseabail was dressed and ready to leave.
“I have good news. The innkeeper kent exactly who I was talking about, and has told me the location o’ the woman we seek.”
“How far is the journey? Will we get there by nightfall?”
Owen nodded, expressing certainty. “Och, aye. ‘Tis only three or four miles.”
“Good. Then let’s go.”
They had been trekking over glens for just over an hour, when Owen pointed ahead.
“There,” he said. “That’s the woman’s cottage.”
“How can ye ken?” Iseabail frowned.
“The innkeeper said that I wouldnae be able tae miss it. That it was the only cottage in this area with a trellis up either side o’ the door. That has tae be it.”
Sure enough, the cottage ahead did have roses climbing up the trellis on either side of the front door, and thus, the two continued on, Iseabail with a renewed hope that she would, at last, find some answers to where she might find this crystal.
“Who are ye?” the woman said, after they had knocked on the heavy wooden door.
Her long dark hair was tied in a bun on her head, and suspicious eyes peered out at them. She looked to be a woman in her forty years, and by the wrinkles on her face, time had not been kind to her.
