“I’m going to bed.”
Willa watched him walk back to the cottage. So close… He had touched her…and she had felt him tremble.
Chapter 10
Willa threw open the door and bright sunshine flooded the room. Another beautiful day! A rarity to have so many in a row here in the highlands, although it had been even worse in London. How she had hated the dreary filth of the city where she had spent far too many days of her life. She would take a week of torrential rain here in the mountains any day over London. This was where she truly belonged, where the air was fresh and clean, and one could walk for days in the wilderness and not see another living soul.
Willa walked across the yard and paused outside the door of the make-shift stable, lifting her face to the sky and drawing a deep breath of pine-scented air. The horse was taken care of, the warrior still dozed in the cottage… what to do with the rest of the hours in the day? She was unaccustomed to being less than busy, and in truth there was not much to be done in a place where she wouldn’t be staying very long. If only she had her sketching book and pencil, or maybe some yarn…
The distant sound of hoof beats put her instantly on alert. Surely it was too soon for James and Maura to return? Unless something had gone wrong… with her heart in her throat, Willa ducked behind the end of the stable and watched as a horse and rider approached from the east. When at last she saw who it was, she let out the breath she had been holding and ran forward to greet him with a smile, skirts lifted around her knees to avoid falling over them.
“William!How on earth?”
He laughed at her enthusiasm. Maura’s older brother was like a brother to her, as well, and he had always treated her like a second little sister.
“Pet!” He slid from his horse and enfolded her into a bear-like hug.
“What are you doing here Will? Is everything all right? Maura and James?”
“Aye. All is well, lass, dinna fret. I was traveling this way and Maura asked me to look in on you, but not to tell ye she asked. She worries, ye ken.”
Willa nodded. “Let’s see to your horse, then I’ll feed you. I was only just wondering what to do with the day when you appeared like magic!”
“Well, I canna stay long, I still have a long ride ahead, so perhaps just a bite for my mount.” William gathered the reins and followed with the horse. “Are ye bored, then Pet? Maura implied ye had yer hands full with nursing a dy’in man. Is he…”
“He’s fine. He’ll live”, she said quickly, dismissively.
William narrowed his eyes. His sister had spoken to him about the situation here in the cottage, and he, too had a feeling that the relationship between Willa and the Warrior had a special significance which would make itself clear in time. He led his stallion into the wattle and daub stable and smiled when the beast snorted at Willa’s mare in what sounded for all the world like masculine appreciation.
“Och, lad, but she’s a pretty lass, is she no’?”
William lifted off the saddle and Willa began to brush down the still-prancing animal, giggling at his antics. She handed William a feed sack, and he tied it on. The horse chomped eagerly on the grain.
“So this warrior…”
Willa’s gaze snapped up. “Drust”, she supplied.
“Drust. What do ye ken of him?”
She shook her head, frowning. “Not a lot at all. He doesn’t speak much. I don’t know his surname, or where he’s from. I know he has a brother who likely thinks him dead. He has battle scars, is well-muscled like a warrior. But he’s sullen and proud and exceedingly stubborn.” She turned back to brushing the horse’s shiny coat. “That’s all I know. He won’t tell me anything else.”
“Ah. And yet still ye want him.”
Willa looked up, surprised. Then the corners of her mouth turned up in a little smile. “You’ve been talking to Maura, and I see she still can’t keep her mouth shut.”
“Aye. She’s seen the two of ye together, and I’m telling ye, she’s never wrong about these things. ‘Tis the only thing that gave me hope in winning my Lizabet. Och, but that lass did do her best to spurn me in the beginning… and the middle and near the end for that matter!”
Willa laughed at the thought. Now the two were nearly inseparable. Just like Maura and James.
“Where is Lizabet? Did she not come with you?”
“No, I’m on my way back home to her now. I heard of what happened… with Colm. I’m sorry lass, for what ye went through.”
She managed a slightly shaky smile. “I think it was for the best. I didn’t love him, Will. I was foolish to even consider him, when all my instincts were warning against it. I realized… and then… well, as long as we can reclaim the castle, it all will have worked out for the best, I hope.”
Drust stood frozen at the window, staring at the stable where Willa had disappeared with a man. A man she had apparently been very happy to see. A man whose arms she had run into. A man who had looked happy to see her, too.
His arms began to ache, and he realized he had been clenching his fists at his sides, hard enough that his nails dug into his palms.
