Page 39 of Desiring the Highland Laird
The sun was dipping close to the horizon as they put the Sinclair keep behind them. The wind was still cold. Her legs were still frigid. He was still mad. As the day began to wane, he slowed to a walk.
“I should have left ye there,” he said, his words terse.
She stiffened, unsure how to respond to that.
Finally, he came to a halt, twisted to look at her over his shoulder. Fire flashed in his eyes. “Ye did nothing but embarrass me in front of them.”
“I wouldn’t have embarrassed you if you had listened to me,” she shot back. “I told you the truth about who I am and where I came from.”
He turned back around. She resisted pinching his side. It would be so satisfying to take a piece of his flesh between her thumb and forefinger and squeeze. Instead, she remained still and mute.
“We will return to Dundale. Then I will decide what to do with ye.”
“What to do with me?” she repeated. “You act as if I’m some errant child who has to be dealt with. I amnotthat.”
“And what will ye have me do, then, lass?” he demanded.
“Give me back the stone and let me go home. Then I’ll be out of your hair and no longer a problem.”
He remained still and quiet in the saddle for a long moment, then swung his leg over and jumped down to the ground. He held his arms up to her and she realized he meant for her to get off the horse, too. She reached for him, falling against him in a most ungraceful dismount. He grunted as the full force of her body slammed into him, then stumbled back a step, taking her with him. His strong hands managed to keep her on her feet.
She wanted to delight at the way he felt next to her. Instead, she was still angry and shoved off all those amorous feelings.
He reached into his sporran, then held his hand out to her. The stone rested in his palm. To think, all this time he had had it on him.
“Take it,” he said, his voice hard and unforgiving. “Take it and be gone.”
The way he said it sent a pang of hurt through her. His dismissal cut her to the bone. She snatched it out of his hand, turning away from him and looking down at the stone. It was not humming. Nor were the lines glowing.
She didn’t know a way to reactivate it or if that was even possible. She had to try. She closed her eyes and thought of Chloe. Then she swept her thumb over the smooth surface with the jagged edges.
Nothing happened. She tried to remember what she was thinking and feeling when she initially swiped her thumb over it. She was afraid and trying to run from Bruce. She recalled the fear pounding through her and the deep need to get away from him.
She tried to recreate those feelings about Callum.
The truth was, she didn’t want to get away from him. She wanted him to… Well, what did she want from him? She looked over her shoulder at him. He stood with the wind whipping through his long, dark hair and his thick arms folded across his massive chest. She hadn’t realized how incredibly big he was until that moment.
“Well?” he demanded.
“It didn’t work.”
He lifted a dark brow in surprise and question. “Ye dinnae ken how it works, do ye?”
She spun to face him. “Do you?”
Callum looked at the stone in her palm, then lifted his gaze back up to her face. The truth was written all over it. “Nay.”
She closed her hand around it. “We can fight each other all day long, but it won’t change the reality of the situation.”
“And what is that, lass?”
“That I’m trapped here in the past withyou.”
Truthfully, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to be stuck here with him. Despite the fact he tried to pawn her off on someone else and make her their problem. She decided she was all his problem and he needed to deal with her.
He dropped his arms and turned back to the horse, his hand on the reins. He stood there a long moment, quiet as he contemplated what to do next. Or, at least, that was her assumption.
“We’ll return to Dundale,” he said again with a firm tone that sounded final.
