He helped Helena down from the stallion before leading her inside.
“Welcome, Me Laird, Me Lady.” The older healer smiled warmly, bowing his head. He poured them each a hot cup of tea from the kettle over the hearth.
“I want ye to make and distribute the tonic ye gave everyone last spring,” Alexander instructed.
He put a small, fur-lined sporran on the table, the coins within it clinking slightly.
“I want everyone to be at their best as we enter spring—I have a suspicion we are goin’ to need as many able hands as we can muster,” he added ominously.
He glanced tentatively at Helena, deliberating sharing in front of her.
The previous year, the healer had made a tonic that cured all the men of their sneezing fits. It had made a considerable difference in their ability to fight. It was a bit impossible to sneak up on the enemy when the men were sneezing left and right.
“Aye, Me Laird, as ye wish.” The old man nodded with a touch of apprehension.
Helena wandered onto the front step and took in the small village. It was bustling, with many small shops set up along the main avenue. From the crowd, a young boy emerged, glancing quickly from one person to the next. He looked distraught.
She took a tentative step in his direction as she continued to watch him, her heart leading her movements. When the boy finally spotted her, he ran straight to her, grasping her hand and a handful of her skirt, looking up at her with wild eyes.
“Me kitty—he’s stuck, please help!” He pulled her toward the tree line, and she followed him without a second thought. “I’m too little, I cannae climb the tree. I tried and tried, but fell twice and then came to ask for help.”
Stopping in front of a large Sycamore tree, Helena looked up into the giant branches. Sure enough, about halfway up the massive tree was a small kitten, meowing and pacing.
“See, see!” The boy pointed at it. “He’s too little like me—he cannae get down, and I cannae get up. Can ye get him?”
“I dinnae ken…” Helena hesitated. “That’s a pretty big tree, but I can try.”
She reached for the bottom branch, barely able to reach it with her fingertips. She tried to climb the massive trunk and then hugged it, pulling the hem of her skirt between her teeth so as not to trip.
She made it two steps up the trunk when two large hands grabbed her waist and lowered her back to the ground. Squealing in surprise, she flailed ungracefully, spinning to look up into the very unhappy face of none other than her husband.
“Ye willnae move, ye hear me.” Alexander pointed a finger at her, his voice menacing. “Nae a step until I come back down. Then, we are goin’ to have a wee talk, ye and I.”
He proceeded to climb the tree with little issue, his long, strong arms and legs making it look easy enough. Helena folded her arms across her chest, annoyed that he made it look so easy yet impressed all the same.
Grasping the kitten by the scruff, he tucked it against his chest as he climbed down the tree, jumping the last few feet to the ground. His boots made a loudthudas he landed. The boy eagerly reached up for his kitten, not in the least intimidated by the behemoth of a man. Alexander, to her surprise, gave the child a quick smile as he handed him the kitten and ruffled his hair affectionately.
“Now, go home before yer maither starts worryin’, Torin,” he ordered.
“Thank ye, Me Laird,” the boy, Torin, replied. “Ye too, Me Lady. Thank ye for tryin’.”
With that, he scampered back up the hill toward the village, his kitten in hand.
Helena watched the child go, her heart feeling light and whole at the sight of them so happily reunited.
“Ye”—Alexander advanced on her, pointing a long finger in her face, his voice harsh and angry—“willnaeup and disappear like that ever again. Do ye understand me? Ye aremewife, and I will ken where ye are at all times!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Excuse me!” Helena shouted at him, her brown eyes blazing with anger, completely taken aback by his statement. “I may be yer wife, but I am most definitely nae yer property!”
“Aye, ye arenae me property, lass, but ye are me wife, and that fact alone puts ye in a great deal of danger,” he explained, his voice slightly calmer.
“How dare ye!” Helena looked genuinely offended that he was telling her what to do.
Alexander found himself more amused by that than he should be. His anger ebbed slightly as his amusement grew. While he was infuriated by the woman’s thoughtless actions, he was delighted that she had at least a wee backbone.
The idea of having a fully complacent wife utterly bored him. But he needed her to understand that shehadto obey his orders.
