“Yes! Have you seen him?”
“Aye, I did. A little while ago but he’s long gone by now.”
She blew out a breath. “Good. Hopefully he’s made his way home.”
Magnus glanced towards the ridge where she had come running from. “Aye, as any creature of sense should be doing in this weather. What areyedoing up here?”
That was a strange question. Wasn’t it obvious she was walking her dog? Well, notherdog technically, butadog. “Hiking,” she replied with a shrug. “Like you.”
Magnus studied her. His eyes, she noticed, were a startling shade of blue, as clear as the Highland sky on a sunny day. He looked her up and down, his gaze lingering momentarily on her brightly colored hiking boots. With a slight frown, he ran a hand through his hair—a dark mane of curls, tousled and wind-blown. His face was unshaven with a couple of days’ worth of stubble shadowing his strong jawline. He wasn’t just tall either, but broad and heavily muscled, with the kind of physique that would have him playing prop in a rugby team.
With a start, she realized he was deliciously attractive, even if he was wearing someverystrange gear. Rather than hiking attire, Magnus wore a traditional tartan-wrap-type-thing. The fabric was heavy yet draped smoothly over his broad shoulders, cascading down his back and across his torso in a graceful fall that ended at his knees. It was fastened by a brooch at his left shoulder in the shape of a bird of prey that gleamed in the weak winter sun.
And that wasn’t the most unusual thing about him. No, the prize for that had to go to the enormous sword strapped to his back.
“Whoa!” Izzy exclaimed. “What isthat?”
He glanced over his shoulder to where the hilt stuck up. “My claymore,” he said, as if walking around the ScottishHighlands with a sword strapped to your back was the most normal thing in the world.
Izzy laughed nervously. “Oh. Right. Of course it is. Aren’t you a bit strangely dressed for hiking?”
“I’m not...hiking.” His eyes swept away from Izzy and back towards the rocky ridge.
Snaffles, bored with their conversation, began nosing about nearby, his tail wagging as he sniffed here and there among the rocks and heather.
Izzy followed Magnus’s gaze. “Um...are you expecting company?”
“Did ye see a band of men as ye came up here?”
“No. Why?”
Instead of answering, he knelt in the mud and began examining the ground, eyes darting every which way, as though searching for something. After a moment, he got up, moved off a little way, and did the same thing.
Izzy watched him, bemused. “What are you doing?”
“Searching for tracks. Although now all I can see are pawprints. Yer hound has ruined the trail.” He growled low in his chest. “Damnation.”
“Um, are you a hunter or something?” Izzy asked, trying to figure out this strange man.
He paused and looked up at her. “Aye, something like that.”
Curiosity piqued, she moved closer, mindful of Snaffles who had now found a new interesting scent on the other side of the path and was digging furiously.
“What are you hunting?”
“Men.”
She blinked at him, taken aback. What was that supposed to mean? Who hunted men? Was he police? A mountain rescuer? But to her knowledge, neither of those carried a damned sword!
“I didn’t see any men on my way up,” she said finally. “If it helps.”
His gaze flickered back to her—those intense blue eyes seeming to look right through her. “From which direction did ye come?”
“I parked up at Marris Head and took the westward trail.”
“The westward trail,” he muttered under his breath. “So they didnae go that way.” He began scanning the ground again before giving a frustrated sigh. “It’s no good. The trail is too churned up.” He gazed out towards the south, sunlight reflecting in his blue eyes. “Where are ye?” he muttered, so softly she barely heard him. “Iwillfind ye.”
This was all getting strange. Well, stranger. Today had not been exactly normalbeforeshe met Magnus. First Irene MacAskill, then a cat appearing out of nowhere, then Snaffles deciding he’d had quite enough of doing what he was told for one day, thank you very much. Yes, today was turning out to be very strange indeed.
