"What lady?" Dugald asked.
"The Lady Anna. The Lord of Lorn's youngest daughter. An angel sent from heaven, that's what she is."
More like sent by the devil to torment Arthur.
Dugald took one look at Arthur's face and burst out laughing. "Sounds like the lass has tracked you down."
Arthur couldn't believe it. She couldn't have found him ... could she? The other men would have returned yesterday.
He shook it off. Nay, it was impossible. A coincidence. Anunfortunatecoincidence.
Brother Rory looked confused by Dugald's jest. "The lady comes every other Friday. As dependable as mist on the mountaintops. Do you know her?"
"A little," Arthur said, before Dugald could respond.
Even more anxious to leave than before, he hurried to the post in the garden where they'd tied their horses.
Unfortunately, Lady Anna chose this moment to leave the small cottage she'd been visiting.
She stepped out on the path, not more than fifty yards away, and turned to wave goodbye to the woman and two small children who stood in the doorway. The sun caught her hair in a halo of golden light.
He felt a strange skip in his chest. He'd thought about her more than he wanted to admit, and he'd be damned if seeing her didn't make him feel a brief flash of ...
Hell. It felt like happiness. As if he'd actually missed her. But of course he hadn't missed her. She was a nuisance. Anadorablenuisance.
Her gaze turned in his direction.
He saw her startle and knew she'd seen him. But she pretended not to, spinning around and heading quickly down the path toward the loch.
Awayfrom him, her guardsman following trustily behind.
Arthur frowned. Not because she's just ignored him, he told himself. Nay, because of her guardsman. Hersolitaryguardsman.
Before he could think better of it, he shouted, "Lady Anna!"
He could see her shoulders lift to her ears from here. Why that particular movement irritated him, he didn't know, but it did.
Ignoring his grinning fool of a brother, he retied his horse to the post and strode toward her.
She seemed to stiffen--stiffen, damn it--straightening her spine and bringing her basket closer to her side, almost as if she were preparing to do battle.
"Sir Arthur," she said in that soft, breathless tone that he'd forgotten.Right. She looked past his shoulder to his brother. "Sir Dugald. What a surprise."
It didn't sound like a pleasant one. What the hell was the matter with her? Had her interest drifted already?
That's what he wanted, blast it.
He stopped right in front of her, perhaps a step too close. If he didn't know himself better, he'd say he was trying to intimidate her. Using his size to block an escape. But he wasn't a barbarian--he didn't do things like that.
"Where are the rest of your men?" he snapped.
Her brows furrowed, creating those little lines atop her nose. "What men?"
He tried to sound patient but failed. "I see but a solitary guardsman," he said, with a nod of acknowledgment to the young soldier.
She smiled. "Robby always accompanies me on Fridays. He was raised in this village."
Arthur's nonexistent temper started to rise again. Robby, though tall, couldn't be more than ten and eight, and he sure as hell wouldn't stop anyone intent on harming her.
