Page 14 of Highlander's Sinless Nymph
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Charlotte breathed, staring up at the creature that was a little smaller than a woodpigeon.
“Aye, it’s fair enough,” Edward replied gruffly, his eyes already turned back to the track he was cutting. His gaze darted about the secret trunks of the trees. His ears strained for the slightest hint of approaching soldiery.
A hand touched his sleeve, breaking into his tense concentration, and he turned, his lip drawn back in an instinctive snarl.
It was, of course, just the young Englishwoman. Her countenance was pale and her light blue eyes huge in her heart-shaped face.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a weak voice, “it’s just that, I wanted to point out that you should stop and appreciate such little and unlooked for moments of beauty as that if you can.”
She pointed back over Edward’s shoulder at the owl.
“The world is full of…darkness, so you have to learn to see those little spots of light that gleam out every now and again.”
Edward felt the scowl, that her surprising him had put on his face, soften somewhat. “I saw it, lass,” he said. “I took me time to appreciate it. It’s just me time was quicker than yers.”
Charlotte relaxed a little, the startled expression fading from her face. “Well, aren’t you just the masterful woodsman? What sort of owl was it, then?”
Edward’s eyes ran over the woman’s face, at the crooked set of her mouth as she gave him an awkward half-smile, the slightly narrowed eyes as she challenged him. There was a stray curl that had sprung free from the rest of her messy, leaf-decorated hair, and he found himself fighting an overwhelming desire to run it between his finger and thumb.
“A long eared owl,” he said, not taking his eyes off of her.
Charlotte’s cobalt eyes flicked up at the bird that was silhouetted against the stars.
“Hm,” she said, “yes, it does appear to have quite large ears.”
“They’re nae its ears, o’ course,” Edward replied.
“They’re not?”
“Nay. They’re just fer decoration. Handy though. If ye’re holed up somewhere, perhaps avoidin’ folk that are best avoided, and ye can see one o’ those little fellows perched in a tree and ye see the wee tufts go up, well, ye ken that danger is near.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed further. “What sort of life does a hunter lead in order that he learns lessons like that?” she asked.
Edward raised the eyebrow divided by that neat white scar at her. “Depends what sort o’ huntin’ ye’re doin’, lass,” he said.
They followed the river for a goodly way, until the beech trees began to thin and the mist relent a little.
“We’ll be free of the trees soon, Charlotte,” Edward told her, holding out a hand to assist her in stepping over a mass of tumbled stone. “If ye fancy showin’ me this secret way o’ yers then ye might want to get about it.”
Charlotte’s hand was warm in his as she pulled herself up the scree and breathed a steamy breath out into the chill air. “Yes,” she said, her chest rising and falling in rather a distracting manner as she looked out from the low hill that they found themselves on. “Yes, I think I can take us from here.”
“Lead on then, Miss Bolton,” Edward said.
Charlotte grinned at him. “You must promise not to tell anyone about it, of course. My father has made many enemies through the years.”
“Aye,” Edward said, “I wager he has.”
Charlotte turned away, and so she did not see the way Edward’s hand moved thoughtfully to the dirk at his belt.
6
The thought of taking that blade and plunging it into Captain Bolton’s heart sang in Edward’s ears as they made their way forward. His revenge was so close, yet he had specifically been told not to strike. Not without the blessing of the clan at any rate.
The need to avenge his mother’s murder burned his heart. To have the man who was responsible for it so close at hand and yet unable to do anything was a torment. He felt like a parched man in a desert stumbling across a cup of water but being told he could not drink it.
It was Edward’s turn to follow now. He was glad, in a way, that they had now made their way to the edge of the moorland on which Captain Bolton had set up his camp. It meant that it was a little easier to see any approaching sentries––what with there being only a scattering of stunted yew trees on the heath––whilst also affording Edward an unlooked for bonus.
She certainly has a fine shape to her, and the way that she walks…
