Page 10 of Tempted By a Highland Beast
“Fantastic observation,” he said.
Rowena bristled. “We cannae ride on the same horse. Surely ye ken that!”
“Ye’re wasting daylight.” Constantine spoke like rules meant nothing to him at all. “Hop on, will ye?” He lifted a dark brow, locked his eyes with hers, and waited. He was daring her to oppose him.
He obviously didn’t seem bothered by the proximity. Still, the idea of being pressed against his strong body, feeling his warmth against her skin, stirred a strange, unsettling awareness in her, one she’d never felt before.
A smirk appeared on his mouth. “Besides, ye owe me fer cleaning up yer mess now, dae ye nae? I will take me payment in kind.” There was a glint in his eye that made her pause. Not coarse, but bold enough to stir a heat beneath her skin.
Still, his use of humor to make light of the situation offered her some relief. A small smile formed on her lips, too. She supposed she could ride with him. Just this once.
Reluctantly, her heart still thrumming with a mixture of fear and a strange, burgeoning curiosity, Rowena took his extended hand, her fingers once more brushing against his rough skin.
The contact was steadying and unnerving.
Constantine lifted her as if she weighed nothing, and he held her right in front of his body.
The hard press of him against her back felt preposterously good. Her core tingled. She tried not to squirm, so she hissed in false displeasure instead. She couldn’t have him know what he was doing to her, especially when she didn’t even understand it.
“I can sit behind ye, ye ken. In fact, that would be far more comfortable.”
“Aye, maybe.” Constantine said. If he sensed her ruse, he gave nothing away.
Their bodies were too close. There was no way to lean away from him, to escape him. His scent, clean and wild, filled her senses. She tried not to focus on the hard plane of his sculpted chest against her back, the one she had seen bare and dripping with water earlier today.
She fixed her mind, instead, on the rhythmic sway of the horse, on the many ways this could go wrong.
Yet, whether she would regret it or not, this man was her only way out right then.
She was going to his territory. With any luck, she would be looked after, and Constantine would keep his promise to have her away from harm. For now.
I can definitely deal with that, Rowena decided.
CHAPTER FOUR
Time was a cruel mistress, and it flowed like treacle around Rowena.
Or at least, that was what it felt like to Constantine. They had ridden her horse for what felt like hours, on a slow pace so the horse wouldn’t get tired. Now, the sun had disappeared behind a sheet of clouds, and dusk was settling around them.
The landscape had changed away from the stretch of trees and shrubs, and they were trekking through a small village. The soft, yellow glow of the fire shone through the doors and windows. Men and women walked around the land, all looking like they had some purpose.
Constantine, giving the mare a break whilst passing through people, decided to go on foot. He led Rowena and the horse at a relaxed pace, making way for them to continue whilst greeting and nodding at people who were walking by.
The sound of laughing children was like a balm against Rowena’s exhaustion. Two of them ran towards her and Constantine with speed that could rival a hare, and they almost barreled into them, but they halted a few paces from him, held back by the unmistakable authority in his stance. Both stared up at him wide-eyed, their energy momentarily stilled by something that looked a lot like awe.
“Ye’re back!” The boy jumped up and down.
“Have ye been keeping out of mischief, lad?”
“I have! I promised ye I’d be good, did I nae?”
Constantine turned to the girl. “Daes he speak the truth, Ainsley?”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid nae, Sir. He chased the goat intae the forest, and Faither had tae go after it. Maither was furious.”
“Ainsley, must ye always betray me?”
“I am only speaking the truth, unlikesomefolk,” said Ainsley.
