Page 22 of Laird of Smoke
She lowered her gaze, obviously embarrassed.“Prithee, sir, do not mock me.”
“Mock ye?”
“I’m all too well aware o’ my flaws.”
He blinked.Flaws?As far as he could tell, she had none.
“So ye’re missin’ a toe, are ye?”he asked with a smirk.
“Nay.”
“Ye’ve got a tail?”
“A tail!”she exclaimed.
“Perhaps your knees are on backwards?”
He wasn’t prepared for the chiding punch she gave his shoulder.
Apparently, neither was she.Caught up in the moment, she’d reacted instinctively.And scared herself.
“Oh dear,” she said.“I apologize.”
He laughed.“I deserved that.”He rubbed his offended shoulder.“But the strength o’ that wallop proves yewerethat archer.”
She only shook her head.
Through the stand of trees, he glimpsed a double row of thatch-roofed cottages with pale golden light flickering through their horn windows.
It was the last tiny village before Scone Priory.
To his surprise, his heart sank.He was enjoying the wayward lass’s company.He wanted their journey to go on longer.
He knew once he saw her to her destination, his responsibilities would end.She’d be safe from the thieves.He should bid her farewell.It was the gentlemanly thing to do.
But he wasn’t feeling like a gentleman.Not in the attire of outlaw-thwarting Adam Greenwood.And he didn’t want to bid her farewell.
Not only because he was beginning to feel a kinship for her.
Not only because he knew a woman living a life of deception would never truly be safe.
But because, for the first time in his life, he’d met someone who considered him worthy of remembering.
Eve spotted the signs of civilization through the pines.She was equally relieved and disheartened.
She didn’t want to part ways with the attractive, brilliant, charming stranger.It was rare to find a person with whom she could exchange lively conversation.Her sister nuns, bless their hearts, were mostly dull and predictable.Speaking with Adam had been as refreshing as taking a bracing dip in a cold loch.
Perhaps it was because it was the first time she’d been able to reveal her secret.
Of course, she hadn’t truly revealed much.He still didn’t know who she was.But he knewwhatshe was.And he approved.
More than approved.He didn’t think she was plain.Or invisible.He thought she was talented.
The abbess’s dire warnings suddenly tolled like bells in her head.Now, as her heart melted and her veins filled with molten need, she understood the irresistible temptation.
But it wasn’t just the call of lust.It was more.
An attraction as powerful as iron to a lodestone.
