Page 61 of The Highlander's Auctioned Wife
Still, Gordon didn’t move, his finger continuing to rest on his lips. And Anna had no intention of escaping the protection of his body, the solidity and safety of him.
After a few minutes, the sound of that other person almost faded to nothing, he finally moved, pushing himself up.
“Who was it?” Anna gasped, as he gathered her to him and helped her to her feet, holding her there for a moment, against his bare chest.
“I daenae ken,” he replied, though she could feel his heart racing. “Nay one important. Come, we’re leavin’.”
Throwing his shirt over his shoulder, he took her hand and led her across a stepping-stone bridge to the opposite meadow, where the horses had been grazing out of sight. He didn’t look back, but she couldn’t help it.
Squinting at the serene place they’d just abandoned, she couldn’t see anyone at all, as if the person Gordon had struck had just disappeared into thin air. There was no one running off, no one at all.
Yet, something told her that the person who had been approaching couldn’t have run fast enough to avoid her line ofsight, not when the meadows stretched as far as the eye could see.
They are hidin’, right there in the long grass.
She had no proof, only a feeling.
A shudder ran through her, prompting her to hold tighter to Gordon’s hand, leaning closer into his side, as he hurried her back to the horses. Not at all the behavior of someone who thought that unknown person was “no one important.”
CHAPTER 28
“They were tryin’to find us, David,” Gordon snarled, foaming with anger as he paced back and forth in front of his study window.
Anger with nowhere to go, nothing to soothe the beast or ease the anxiety that prickled in his veins.
His m an-at-a rms looked suitably pale, his hand instinctively wrapping around the hilt of his sword. “Are ye absolutely sure, M’Laird? It might well have been someone wanderin’.”
“They ran,” Gordon hissed.
“Aye, and I’d have run too if someone like ye had hurled a rock at me head, out of nowhere,” David replied evenly, as if trying not to let his own worries win. “Ye have perfect aim. A second throw with a bigger stone would be enough to kill a man. Whoever they were, they likely dinnae want to take the risk.”
Gordon shook his head, his mouth twisting into a sneer. “Ye daenae understand. Ye were nae there.” He stopped, glaring at his m an-at-a rms. “They hid. They ran at first, aye, but then they hid. They were watchin’.”
“How can ye ken that?”
Gordon’s glare hardened. “Ye ken me, David. I might only have one eye left, but it sees as keenly as two men with their eyes intact.” He clenched his jaw. “They were watchin’. They were nae just wanderin’. They were searchin’ for us, tryin’ to creep up on us; they dinnae expect me to attack first. Believe me when I say it was nay mistake, nay accident.”
Expelling a shaky breath, David nodded, his expression resigned as if he, too, had come to the same conclusion.
“I’ll increase the guard on the walls. Anyone comin’ in or headin’ out will be checked.” He hesitated. “Do ye want me to put an additional guard outside Lady Anna’s chambers? An escort to keep an eye on her? She wouldnae have to ken; I’ll put our most discreet lads on the task.”
Gordon shook his head. “I’ll guard her meself. As for ye, I want ye to find information.Anythin’ye can discover about who is doin’ this. Someone kens somethin’, and I’d start in Morden if I were ye. Someone must have been watchin’ us there, too, else they wouldnae have kenned where we ended up.”
He took a dagger off his desk and slid it into his boot, his broadsword already hanging from his hip. “I’ll get them thistime, David. They’ll ken, once and for all, that they should’ve killed me when they had the chance.”
“May the Devil have nay mercy on their souls,” David replied solemnly, bowing his head before he took off out of the room, ready to bolster the guard as if the enemy was already at the gates, and ride off in search of clues.
They’ll take nay one else from me,Gordon vowed fiercely.They’ll nae takemelife either.
With that, grabbing another dirk from the top drawer of his desk, he followed his man-at-a rms out into the castle, where he meant to begin his own tireless watch, protecting the woman who held his future in the palm of her hand. The woman who had begun to matter to him more than anything.
“Did ye nae have a nice time?” Sophia asked, stricken.
Anna, seated beside the worried young woman on the low wall that overlooked the glittering sea, offered up a bittersweet smile. “I had the loveliest time. It was perfect, truly.”
Until it wasnae…
“But, if I may, ye daenae seem like ye had a nice time,” Sophia replied, chewing her lower lip in consternation. “It was me suggestion, ye see. Gordon wanted to take ye to the rockpools,but I told him that ye wouldnae want to go lookin’ at crabs and wee beasties, gettin’ yer skirts all wet and salty. I thought the market at Morden would be more to yer likin’.”
