“What?” Dearg asked, his dismay evident.
“I said —”
“I ken what ye said,” Dearg shook his head. “So, we have wasted a whole day on our journey? We could have gone straight home without this detour.”
“Dearg,” Erskine warned, but it did little use.
“Complete and utter waste of time.”
“Dearg, lay off,” Camden said at his side.
“What did ye expect, Dearg?” Aiden chimed in. “How could Billie possibly ken his aunt had died?”
Dearg looked between the two of them in surprise. Erskine couldn’t help but smile at this eventuality. It seemed Laura, disguised as Billie, had earned their respect very well across their journey.
“I am just sayin’ —” Dearg attempted to explain himself, but Tam chimed in.
“What ye should be sayin’ is this,” Tam turned to Laura. “Billie, I am sorry for yer loss.” Erskine watched as Laura smiled sadly.
“Thank ye, Tam,” she affected her deeper voice once more. Though Laura’s natural voice was higher pitched, Erskine had discovered in the woodland that it was actually quite husky too. There was something sultry about the tone. As quickly as he thought it, his eyes went wandering again. He was looking down at the breeches she wore, amazed at how well they showed off her legs.
“We best get goin’ then,” Aiden’s sudden words tore Erskine away from his stare.
As they all turned and mounted their horses, preparing to leave town again. Erskine watched Laura mount the horse first. Now, he was unashamed in his watching of her.
It is all right to look now…isnae it?
It was only when he found himself admiring the way her slender legs sat either side of the saddle that Erskine realized what danger he was in. He physically shook his head as though he could shake the thought of Laura from it and climbed up to the saddle too. It seemed the young English lady had crept under his skin, despite how long he had been trying to persuade himself she had not.
Chapter Eleven
“There is no coaching inn?” Laura asked in surprise.
“Nae on this stretch of road,” Erskine appeared to her unperturbed by this possibility. The two of them were trailing at the back of the group again, their horse tiring from carrying two. It allowed the two of them to talk freely without fear of being overheard.
Now, as the sun was dipping far low in the sky, they were facing stopping for the night when Erskine had revealed they would be spending the night sleeping at the side of the road.
“Please tell me this is a jest,” Laura whispered to him.
“Nay jest,” he said, keeping his gaze forward. He had barely looked at her since the revelation the day before. Neither had his manner particularly softened. It left Laura feeling anxious and just as irritated at him. She poked him in his back, surprising him enough to turn and glance back to her. “What was that for?”
“Just checking you can still look me in the eye,” she smirked at him but only earned a roll of his eyes in response before he turned to face forward again. “Erskine, I am still the same person I was before.”
“Ha! Do ye realize how odd that sounds? I thought ye were a boy,” he whispered to her. “Ye are very much a different person now.”
“You know what I mean,” Laura sighed, but he did not respond, apparently not liking her words. “I still laugh at the same jests and think the same things. None of that was a lie.”
“I’m reservin’ judgment on that for now.”
Laura gave up trying to persuade him and returned to their previous conversation instead.
“Is there really no coaching inn?”
“Nay coachin’ inn,” he said again. “We are goin’ to stop in the forest by Loch Orchnor. A safe place to camp for the night.”
She did not particularly like the idea. Camping outside seemed to her a greater risk. What if she talked in her sleep and one of the others heard it? They could realize she was not a man!
“Seems like a risk to me,” she sighed, her eyes tracing Erskine’s back and the breadth of his shoulders. He had given her his coat to wear once more, though this time the coat had been deposited on her shoulders that morning as they had left rather sharply, and with no kind words accompanying them.
