Page 3 of Sutherland's Secret
He was right. The last thing Brice needed was to be caught with an English woman who no doubt had been ill used.
Brice looked more closely at her. Her shoulder bones were prominent. Her neck looked too fragile to support her head. Her wrists were small and delicate and covered in raised scars, as if she’d been manacled. He touched one with his finger, trying to imagine what scoundrel would clap manacles on a woman.
He well knew the abuse that the Scottish women received from the English soldiers, but he hadn’t been aware that the English treated their own women the same way. If in fact she were English. But how else would she come to be wearing an English gown?
Lachlan stood and wiped his hand on his kilt. “We need to keep moving.”
Brice kept looking at the woman. She hadn’t stirred. If not for the shallow rise and fall of her chest, he would have thought her dead.
“My lord,” Lachlan said with a note of warning.
“I know.” Brice stood and picked up the woman.
Lachlan’s eyes widened. “Ye can’t think to take her with us. She’s aSasannach.”
“Ye do no’ know that.”
“She’s wearingSasannachclothing. If those soldiers backtrack and ye’re caught with her…”
“Look at her, Lachlan. She’s dying. I canno’ let her die alone.”
Lachlan looked at her. Her skin was pale, thin as parchment, her veins easily seen. Brice felt for the beat of a pulse at her throat. It was barely there, too faint and too erratic. She was starved, and it would be the death of her.
“So ye take her with us and put us all in jeopardy,” Lachlan said.
“Leave. Take the rest of the men and head home. I’ll take a different route.”
Lachlan stared at him in disbelief. “Ye canno’ be serious.”
Washe serious? He looked down at the lass, at her delicate features, at the bruises and scars and lacerations, and he knew one thing. He couldn’t let her die alone. If anyone knew this terrain, it was he. He knew where to hide and where to go for sanctuary if need be. “Go,” he said. “Ye’re wasting my time arguing.”
“I can’t let ye go alone,” Lachlan said. “It’s too dangerous.”
Brice raised a brow. “Do ye question my authority?”
Lachlan’s lips thinned. “Of course no’, but…”
“Go. If I’ve no’ returned home in three days’ time, then send scouts for me. I’ll keep to the less used paths.”
“This is madness,” Lachlan stated.
Brice looked him in the eye. “Some bastard left her on the road to die. If this were yer sister or yer wife, would ye want her to die alone?”
Their gazes clashed until Lachlan looked away. “Very well,” he said. “But if ye’re no’ back in three days, I’ll look for ye myself.”
Lachlan took charge of the men, and with one last look at Brice, they left. They didn’t question the decision, although a few of the younger ones looked at him oddly.
It wasn’t until he was alone that he cursed himself and the damn chivalry he felt for this wee lass who hadn’t even opened her eyes to look at him. But what he’d told Lachlan was the truth. Only an animal would leave a starving woman to die along the side of the road. Someone had left her here. He would do what was right and see her the rest of the way to God.
Chapter 2
Brice rode deeper into the trees, heading toward his land by a circuitous route in hopes of avoiding the redcoats. He held the lass tightly to him with one hand while directing his mount with the other. The lass had yet to move. Her breathing was more erratic and ragged, rattling in her lungs.
When it was too dark to see and the footing became treacherous for Galad, Brice found a small clearing in which to stop and spend the night. He carefully laid the lass down and watched her arms fall to her sides, lifeless.
Quickly he gathered enough wood to build a fire and keep it going through the night. Gently he moved the lass closer to it. With one last look at her, he jogged into the woods to find something to eat. The fire would keep any four-legged predators away, and he’d built it low enough that it wouldn’t attract any two-legged predators, either.
After scoring two hares, he skinned them and put them on a makeshift spit to roast. Only then did he settle down next to the woman to have a better look at her.
