Page 48 of Saved By the Highland Beast
“No matter.” She laughed. “I was just deep in thought.”
Anthony frowned as he saw Cillian playing with the dog. “You should nae be out here so late. It’s nae safe, given the current circumstances,” he said with concern. “Perhaps ye should go back inside. There’s a nasty blizzard on the way by the looks of things.” He nodded toward the castle walls and worsening wind.
“I know,” Sophia said a little more seriously. “I just wanted to bring Cillian and Nessie out for a bit. They will bounce off the walls inside if I don’t at least give them a little time outside.”
“Aye, I understand.” Anthony nodded. “Just dinnae go beyond the gates. There are men patrollin’ the perimeter, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“I promise we won’t go outside,” she said with a warm smile. “I wanted to thank you for agreeing to look out for me. I know you must have a lot of work. I never meant to be a burden. I should have told Dean about the letters and my situation before I came and accepted the position.”
“Aye, ye definitely brought us all more work,” Anthony returned with a teasing glint in his eyes.
Sophia’s smile broadened as she looked at him. She liked the way Anthony and Hamish had become comfortable whenever she was around. They treated her as if she were one of their friends, teasing her and making light of situations. “I’m just grateful for friends like you.” She looked back at Cillian, who was getting closer to the gate as he played with Nessie. “Don’t go too far, Cillian!” she yelled.
“Aye! We willnae,” Cillian yelled back.
Anthony turned to her, the corner of his mouth tilted up in a smile. “Besides, I think the laird will skin us alive if anything were to happen to ye.” He winked. “It’s nae like we have a choice in the matter.”
Sophia turned scarlet red. She hadn’t been aware that anyone else knew about the feelings that she and Dean shared.
“We’ve all noticed the way he looks at ye,” Anthony continued. “Yer the first woman I’ve ever seen him look at like that, as if ye were the most important person on the face of the earth.”
“I…” She struggled for words.
How do I explain the relationship and feelings I have for Dean when I don’t even know where things are going?
“Ye dinnae have to say anythin’,” Anthony said after a while. “I ken Dean. He was scared to love ‘afore ye came along, but all of that changed because of ye. Hamish an’ I saw a difference in him from the start.” He turned and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Just be careful out here,” he said and gave her a gentle squeeze. “An’ never apologize for coming to the castle. All of our lives are far better when ye are around.” He smiled at her warmly.
“I have to go an’ see what the guards at the back of the castle need. Hamish said there was a problem with one of the patrols. It’s probably naethin’, but I need to go an’ check. Will ye promise nae to leave the castle grounds?”
“I promise,” Sophia said with a smile as he turned to leave.
Her heart felt as if it could burst with happiness as she turned back to Cillian and Nessie. Dean loved her, and everyone around them could see it happening.
“Cillian!” she suddenly yelled as she watched the boy leave the gates and run after Nessie, who was chasing something in the wind. Her voice became lost in the drifts of snow that were being blown about by the wind.
She lifted her skirts and followed Cillian out of the gates, leaving the safety of the castle walls behind.
“Cillian!” she continued to yell as she strained her eyes through the growing blizzard that was making it difficult to see. They had wandered off beyond the walls, disappearing entirely from view.
Contemplating whether or not she should fetch a guard to help her look for them, or simply go after them alone, she decided that the blizzard was far too strong to turn back now.
They could get lost outside the walls if they wandered too far.
She squinted and tried to see where they had gone as she used her gloved hand to shield her eyes.
“Sophia…”
Her body froze beneath the confines of her warm clothes as a slick voice called out to her through the wind.
“Fate has brought you back to me when I thought I would never see you again.”
She backed away in an attempt to escape as she struggled to put a face to the voice that was talking to her from beyond the drifts of snow. The curtain of snow was becoming so thick that she could barely see her hand in front of her face. “Who are you?” she called out, stumbling over a log that had been hidden in the snow as she backed away.
The outline of a man began to emerge through the blizzard as she struggled to move, the depths of snow beneath her body preventing her from standing again.
“Do you not recognize my voice, my sweet Sophia?” the man asked as he stepped closer and towered above her, his features still hidden.
Sophia could feel her heart beating in her throat as she struggled to see who he was.
