A preposterous notion. Or was it?
He inhaled the scent of the woman in his arms. Foreign. Enticing. Enchanting.
“I almost shot the lass with a wayward arrow when one of the pixies startled me,” he said.
Duncan snorted. “’Tis said they are particularly pesky.”
Gregor tightened his hold on the lass, feeling an intense need to provide for her, to offer protection. “Who is she? Do you think she might be one of the Fae?”
“Nae. If she were, you would already be enchanted.”
He squirmed and glanced at Duncan. Had the man read his mind? Gregor had become enchanted at first sight.
Deep in thought, he was surprised when the small hunting party broke from the wood onto the ridge above the stables and forge. Loch Fyne and Castle Lachlan lay below. Torchlight, leading from the distant beach to the castle situated on the islet within the small bay, shimmered on the calm water.
Trepidation slid into his gut. He’d intended to impress theclan with his hunting prowess. Instead, he returned with an unknown lass.
By all that is Holy, what am I doing? The chief and his lady-wife might well be furious. And rightly so. What if I carry a Fae woman through their gate?
CHAPTER THREE
Down the slope from the stables, at the edge of the loch, across the bay from Castle Lachlan, Munn was losing patience with the lad in his care. “Stop draggin’ your feet.”
“When will we get there?” Tevin whined. “I’m tired and hungry.”
I should have left the whelp in the wood to fend for himself, and forgotten he existed.Sweat broke out on Munn’s skin with the spiteful thought. Stephen would be unforgiving if anything untoward happened to his son.
“Almost there,” Munn said to appease the lad. “The castle is but a stone’s toss across the bay.”
“Oh. Wow.” Tevin scuttled to the water’s edge. “How will we get there?”
“In one of these.” Munn dragged acurrachacross the shingle.
“Way cool.”
“Actually, ’tis a warm eve’n.”
The lad pursed his lips and scrunched his face as if he didn’t understand the common fact. “But I—”
“Dinnae dawdle,” Munn insisted. “Climb in.”
Tevin did as told, sliding to the fore. Water lapped the small boat made of skins and wicker, making it bob up anddown, and the lad gripped the gunwales on both sides. Munn pushed the craft farther into the water and jumped aboard, getting wet feet for his effort.
He sneezed then glared at thebairn. ’Twould be the lad’s fault if Munn caught the grippe. It definitely wasn’t the briny sea air irritating his nostrils. Stephen’s son should have stayed in the future where he belonged.
Munn worried his fingers on histrews. The pixie clan were the most notorious and mischievous of the Fae. Why had they singled out the wee lad for an adventure?
He shook his head and took to the oars with a grumble. He hated the necessity to travel like a human. ’Twas easier to fade into the vanishing and travel on the breeze.
As they neared the castle beach, a horn blasted from the watchtower warning the castle folk of their approach.
“Wow. Look up there.” Tevin sprang to his feet and pointed toward the battlements. The boat rocked precariously. “Those men have bows and arrows.”
“Sit. Now,” Munn said. “If you tumble into the frigid water, I will not suffer a dunking to fetch you.”
The lad plopped onto his arse, but not before brackish water slopped over the side of the boat, dousing Munn’s feet yet again. He mumbled a curse under his breath too foul for the ears of abairn.
When the craft hit the shoal, Munn jumped into the shallow water. No point in trying to keep his feet dry at this juncture. He dragged thecurrachonto the shingle and…stilled. His sensitive ears perked. “Come out. I ken you hide behind the boulders, Lach.”
