Page 13 of Falling for Her Highland Steward
“Are you all right?” he asked anxiously. “You took quite a fall.”
Erin nodded, then stood up, squaring her shoulders. “Fine,” she replied, although she looked shaken.
Caillen could have beheaded half a dozen of the mob with one sweep of his sword, but he valued life of any kind, and violence would achieve nothing.
“My name is Caillen Johnstone,” he announced. “I hope that we will come tae know each other well, for I am the laird’s man now. I have used this claymore in battle, but I swear tae God I wilnae use it against ye unless there is vera good reason.” He put the sword down at his feet, took two steps back, then held up his empty hands.
“Now I am defenseless,” he told them. “An’ I will listen tae ye. But please dae not take out yer anger on milady, for she has just lost her man, an’ she has had only a wee bit o’ time tae mourn him. She was that worried about ye a’ that she came out tae see ye as soon as she could, an’ she wants ye tae know that things will be better fae now on.” His glance swept around them all again, and Erin could see that the expressions on the villagers’ faces had softened, and some of them even looked ashamed. “But everythin’ cannae be done at once. It will take time. I would like ye a’ tae be heard, so I will have a gatherin’ taemorrow in the great hall in the castle, an’ everybody that wants tae can come. How does that sound? Are ye willin’?”
“Thank ye, sir.” A sturdy man in his middle years stepped forward. He had a mass of straggly fair hair, a bushy beard, and dark gray eyes, and he looked a little like a shorter version of Caillen. “I am Douglas McVittie. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it is past time somebody listened tae us. Will ye really help us?”
“I will, and so will the new laird,” Caillen replied, smiling.
“But the new laird is only five years old!” Douglas protested.
“The new laird is standin’ in front o’ ye,” Caillen informed him, smiling. He put his arm around Erin’s shoulders and gave the villagers a challenging look. “Lady McCaskill is yer laird until the wee laird comes o’ age, an’ I think ye should be treatin’ her wi’ the respect she deserves. She should no’ be knocked off her horse then trampled in the dirt, so if ye dinnae mind, I would like ye a’ tae come an’ take her hand an’ say sorry.”
The villagers looked at each other, then in a moment, each one came to kiss Erin’s hand and offer an apology. She could not thank them, or smile, or even speak. She was utterly numb. When she fell from her horse, all she could see, after her body hit the ground with a jarring thud, were ugly, snarling, furious faces. She had been too scared even to scream, and had thought that her last moments had come.
After the last person made their apology, Caillen looked around them all and smiled. Later, he would wonder how he had the strength, since all he wanted to do was slam a fist into each of their faces. “I will see ye a’ taemorrow,” he said.
There was a chorus of farewells before everyone went their separate ways.
Caillen lifted Erin up onto his own mount, and she did not even protest, then he climbed up onto the horse himself and sat behind her so that her head was lying on his solid, hard chest. When he urged his horse into a slow walk, Erin gradually relaxed as she felt Caillen’s strong arms on either side of her, and she began to doze. Then suddenly, she jerked upright as a spasm of terror shot through her, and she screamed, then burst into tears.
Caillen dismounted and reached up to help her dismount, then he gathered her into his arms and held her tightly. She smelled of earth and sweat, and now, instead of the passionate desire he usually felt when he was near her, what he experienced was a fierce protectiveness. No one would ever harm Erin as long as he was there to stop them. God help him… He had never felt this way before; what was she doing to him?
Erin sighed as she was pulled against the hard wall of his chest. His arms were tightly but gently wrapped around her, and suddenly she felt secure in a way she never had before. Nairn McCaskill had been a lovely man and a good husband, but he had never made her feel like this, and she realized what it meant to be truly safe. Whether she liked it or not, she was smaller and frailer than a man, and Caillen had shielded her from harm when she could not defend herself.
Erin’s tears gradually dried up, but she did not leave Caillen’s arms straight away. She was far too comfortable standing there with his heart beating against her cheek, and Caillen was more than happy to be holding her.
“Are you better now, milady?” he asked at last.
“Yes,” Erin replied reluctantly. She looked up into his deep brown eyes and was lost for a moment. His lips parted, and for a split second, Erin thought that he was going to kiss her, but instead, he loosened his grip and let her go. She felt cold, and hugged herself.
“You are in shock,” Caillen told her, before he took his cloak off and draped it over her. “It happens a little while after a bad experience.” He lifted her onto his horse and jumped up behind her. “It will pass.”
Unable to eat, Erin had gone to sleep after a strong cup of valerian root tea, but she had been plagued by a nightmare in which she had been punched and kicked by people whose faces she could not see. She woke in the morning still tired and puffy-eyed and with bruises beginning to emerge on her hip bone and elbow, both of which she had hit when she fell.
Caillen came to Erin as soon as she entered the dining room and pulled out a chair for her.
“I forgot to say thank you,” she murmured, smiling at him. “You were wonderful yesterday.”
“Thank you.” He inspected her face, noting the purple shadows under her eyes. “But I was very frightened too.”
“You have a strange way of showing it!” She laughed softly. “You looked as though you were about to do murder!”
“As I said before, looks can be deceptive.” He looked at her with concern. “You should rest today.”
Erin shook her head firmly. “I must be at the gathering. I cannot be seen to be a coward.”
“You are not a coward,” he began.
“I am going to be there.” Her voice was firm. “I am a woman, and I have to work twice as hard to prove myself.”
Caillen could see that it was useless to argue, and they breakfasted in companionable silence. Afterward, they walked along to the great hall and paused outside the entrance.
“Ready?” he asked.
