None of it mattered though. What mattered was that her mom still needed her. It might have been a dream but the sight of her mom sitting alone by the fire tugged at her heart. She needed to focus on hiding the locket somewhere they could find it in the future. Help him get the stone back and he’d be grateful enough to do that in return, she was sure of it.
She had to focus, not get distracted by how good he looked framed in the doorway by the morning sun. She got to her feet, hoping to leave all those thoughts behind her in the barn. “Shall we get going?”
“Aye, lass. And look who came back.”
The horse appeared next to him, nudging its nose under his arm, sniffing out the carrot in his hand. “All right, lass,” he said with a smile. “I see you’re no tired of our company yet. Or is it just ye want some breakfast as well.”
It took seconds for the horse to demolish the carrot and then it stood ready and waiting. Tavish held out a hand. “Shall ah lift ye onto her back?”
“You should ride. I’ll walk. I rode yesterday.”
“Your feet are hurting. Ahm used to marching.”
“They’re not hurting now. I don’t mind walking. You should ride. You tamed the thing.”
“Ahm no arguing. You ride.”
“This is stupid.”
“Aye, it is. If it’ll stop your blether we’ll both ride.”
He lifted her onto the horse before she could complain, his hands again around her waist to hoist her up. She almost fell but he noticed before she did, his hand in the small of her back, pushing her back into place.
With no apparent effort, he leaped straight up behind her, shuffling close to scratch the horse between its ears. “You do well to carry us both, lass,” he said as the horse began to move. “Stronger than you look.”
Lindsey had the strangest feeling he was talking to her rather than the horse. She shook the feeling away as his hands slid back until they were holding her waist. She tried to ignore the tensing up of her body as they rode slowly away from the barn.
“On the back of this lass we should be there in a few days,” Tavish said.
The sooner the better, Lindsey thought. And the sooner his hands were off her the better.
