Page 22 of To Wed a Laird
Where had that thought come from?
Her thoughts were about to drift away in a dangerous direction, but at that moment, Elspeth tugged her sleeve. “Time to go,” she said in a bossy, authoritative tone that made Rose laugh.
Once again, Cormac helped them onto the horses, and this time the feel of his hands on her body made Rose tremble with desire, a feeling she had no idea how to deal with. If only Cormac MacTavish were not a Laird, she might have a little chance of getting to know him better.
Heather, the little mare, was calm as they turned and moved slowly down towards the loch. The horse was eager to please and easy to handle, and Rose was just congratulating herself on how well she was doing with her riding when suddenly a blur of red shot past them in the shape of a fox, which disappeared into the woods.
Heather, taken by surprise, neighed and reared up in fright. Elspeth screamed and began to slide sideways out of the saddle, but Rose grabbed her, pulling her tightly against her own body.However, she was also falling from the horse, but she managed to twist around at the last moment and hit the ground first.
As she fell, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle as her foot caught in the stirrup, and she cried out as her shoulder hit the ground. Elspeth had landed on top of her but quickly managed to roll away, seemingly unharmed, but the force of her weight landing on Rose’s body had knocked the wind out of her.
Rose lay for a moment, gulping in great breaths of air and clutching her sore foot. Elspeth scrambled to her feet and was bending over her, her face anxious. “Rose! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Rose gasped, trying to reassure her, although she was still gasping for air and her ankle was shooting spears of pain up her leg. “Just a little tumble.” It was a lie, but she did not want Elspeth to worry.
Cormac appeared then, “Elspeth, are you hurt?” he asked anxiously.
When she shook her head and said, “No, Da. See to Rose first,” she looked fearful.
Cormac gently guided Elspeth out of the way before bending over Rose. His expression was one of sheer terror as he looked at her.
“Lie still for a moment,” he said, trying to sound calm. In truth, he was looking anything but composed. Rose wondered if his mind kept going back to the terrible day when Catherine died. Was he more frightened now than he had been at any time since then? Most probably…
He noted that Rose’s foot was the same one she had hurt previously, and hoped that the two injuries would not cripple her.
“Tell me if I hurt you,” he instructed, as he began to feel her arms, her shoulders, her legs and her ribs. When he reached her ankle, she gave a gasp of pain, and he stopped at once.
“I am taking you straight back to the castle,” he said grimly. “Can you stand up?”
Rose nodded, and he helped her to stand, but as soon as her injured foot touched the ground she flinched and let out a long moan of sheer agony.
Cormac did not waste a second, but scooped her into his arms without a word, and they moved across to Heather, who was now standing placidly munching grass as though nothing had happened.
Rose made a show of protesting for a few moments, but in truth being in Cormac’s arms, wrapped in the leathery, manly scent of him, was heavenly. She felt safe, warm, protected with her head against his hard chest, listening to the firm, steady beat of his heart.
Cormac lifted Rose into the mare’s saddle again, then took a thick piece of fabric out of his saddlebag and gently wrapped Rose’s injured foot in it.
“This should help a little if your foot bumps against the saddle,” he told her, “but it will still be painful.”
“I can bear it,” Rose assured him with a valiant attempt at a smile. He looked so anxious, she thought. There was something about his attentiveness that made her feel special, as if she was the only person in the world that mattered to him.
“Tell me if you need to stop for a while,” he instructed.
Rose nodded. “I will,” she replied, trying to ignore the pain and keep the smile pasted onto her face.
Cormac lifted Elspeth onto his horse then leapt on in front of her, then they made their way, agonisingly slowly, back to the castle. Elspeth, obviously fearful that something serious had happened to her, kept glancing over at her with a deeply anxious expression on her face.
Rose smiled and occasionally winked at her to make light of the situation, but Elspeth did not smile back.
At last, they reached Inverrigg Castle, and Rose breathed a deep sigh of relief. Cormac lifted Elspeth from his horse and instructed one of the guards to fetch Nell, then turned to Rose.
He had been carefully avoiding looking at her during the journey, not wanting to see the pain in her eyes behind her cheerful façade, but now he saw her face assuming an expression of sheer agony.
Nell came rushing to meet them, concern written all over her face as she saw Rose. “What happened?” she asked fearfully.
“Nothing serious,” Rose assured her. “Just a little tumble.”
“Rose saved my life.” Elspeth’s eyes were full of tears as she looked up at Nell.
