“Aye,” Erskine nodded, allowing the lad to pull the pistol clean from his belt. As Billie held the pistol up in the air, examining it as he turned it back and forth, Erskine let out the breath he had not realized he had been holding from the sudden touch on his belt. “Have ye nae held one before?”
“No,” Billie held the pistol uncomfortably in his small hands. “We never had weapons in the house.” Erskine was too busy noticing the delicate curve of the boy’s neck again to think of a response. Not until his eyes danced across Billie’s neck and up to the small lips where he saw those lips smiling.
“Ye’re thinkin’ somethin’,” Erskine said as he pointed at Billie’s smile.
“I was just wondering….” Billie offered the pistol for Erskine to take back. “If these dark roads are so dangerous, perhaps it would be good to learn something of how to defend myself.”
“Daenae do such a thing just because of Dearg’s teasin’ —”
“No, it was more Tam’s logic I was thinking of,” Billie assured with a shake of his head. “If I asked you to teach me to shoot, would you do it?”
“Aye, if ye wish,” Erskine smiled back at Billie just as the innkeeper approached them to take their food order. Erskine would not say it aloud, but he was impressed by Billie’s request.
By running across the country, Billie was changing his life, trying to start afresh. Now, he was showing a great willingness to learn to stand on his own two feet and try something he had never done before.
Aye, there is much to be impressed about in the lad.
Erskine cursed himself under his breath a moment later, realizing the implications of his thoughts.
I already think far too much of Billie, thinkin’ so highly of him, will only make this matter worse!
* * *
Erskine woke from his dream with a sharp start, sitting bolt upright in bed in alarm. He rubbed his eyes frantically as though trying to remove any trace of the dream. Sexual dreams were hardly unusual for him, but the partner in this particular dream had shaken him.
He had dreamt of a woman with slim curves, wearing a beautiful dress, with folds of silk falling to the floor. Erskine had been following her as she ran, desperately trying to catch up with her. At the last minute, he caught hold of her elbow and turned her back to him.
Though she was a woman, she had the features of Billie, with bright blue eyes staring back at him.
“What is happenin’ to me!” Erskine jumped from the bed, muttering under his breath and stretching his back in frustration. “That’s it. I have to nae drink so much ale before goin’ to bed.”
He reasoned with himself that he had just not been with a woman for some time, that was all. Not that he had had many partners in his life, but it had been a long time since his last. His mind was playing tricks on him. That was all… it had to be.
There was a soft tapping at the door, disturbing his thoughts. Erskine picked up his shirt from the side of the room, pulling it down over his head, so it hung loosely around the waistband of his trews as he went to the door.
“Aye?” He opened the door to find the very face that had haunted his dream before him.
* * *
“Have you forgotten?” Laura said the words quickly as she tried to keep her eyes focused on Erskine’s face rather than the open-necked loose shirt. It revealed quite a lot of him and had proved to her what she had already suspected, that his chest was built of toned muscle. She bit her lip as she kept her eyes on his face, hoping this simple act would somehow stop her from blushing.
“Billie? Aye, I did forget,” he realized a moment later.
“I’ll wait for you downstairs,” she turned and left quickly, unwilling to keep standing before him whilst the temptation to gawk at him was so present.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he called after her.
That man will drive me mad!
After their conversation the night before at the bar about learning to fire a pistol, they had agreed that the two of them would rise early before the others. Erskine would then give her a first lesson on how to shoot. She had been looking forward to it, but as she made her way through the inn and out to the stable beyond, she was beginning to think it was perhaps not such a good idea.
As Erskine appeared, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and her eyes followed him as he crossed the short distance toward her.
Why am I encouraging opportunities to be alone with the man? Perhaps I just want to torment myself!
From the way in which he was crossing the cobbles toward her and quickly pulling the pistol out of his belt, he was no happier than she was. In fact, he appeared even less so.
“Right, listen up, Billie,” he stopped in front of her and held the pistol out. “This ye call the frizzen, this is the pan, and this is the flint. This is the half-cock position,” he adjusted the metal lock on the back of the pistol, speaking so quickly that she could not keep up.
