“N-No! Please dinnae!” the bandit begged. “I will leave right now if ye let me go! Ye wilnae see me again!”
To Bridget’s surprise, Bruce lowered his sword. “Then go, but if ye come back, I wilnae hesitate tae spill yer blood.”
The bandit scrambled away to his horse and mounted it quickly, racing away in the darkness. Only then did Bridget loosen her breath.
“Are ye hurt, lass?” Bruce asked as he sheathed his sword in its scabbard strapped to his back.
“N-Nay,” she forced out, lowering her dagger. “Why did ye let him live?”
His expression grew contemplative. “I could have killed him, aye, but I’m giving him a chance that he likely doesnae deserve. Time will tell if he will decide that this life isnae worth his life.”
It wasn’t what Bridget would have expected for someone like him to do. “’Tis kind of ye.”
Bruce shook his head. “’Tis not kind. I’m certain I will be running mah sword through him at some point, but he cannae say that I didnae give him an option.”
He looked conflicted, so Bridget pushed herself away from the fence, tucking her dagger in her pocket for now and crossing the distance between them until she was mere inches from Bruce. He didn’t move when she placed her hand on his chest like it had been before, while they were dancing, and reached up on her toes to press her lips to his cheek.
“Thank ye for saving mah life,” she whispered against his skin.
He grasped her hand as she tried to move away, pulling her against him once more. “Next time, we dance together,” he stated softly, his eyes searching hers. “I will kiss ye, Bridget, for all tae see.”
A shiver danced down her spine as he dropped her hand and walked away, leaving her to stare at his back.
9
The next morning, Irvine felt as if he had stepped into another time, on another farm. From the moment he stepped outside of the hut with Malcolm, the tenants were greeting him, some thanking them both for their handling of the bandits the night before.
“Well now,” Malcolm stated as they made their way to the barn. “I can get used tae being a hero like this.”
“They would have never survived,” Irvine stated, thinking of how ill-prepared and unarmed most were. Only a handful had true weapons on them and had they not been there, it would have been a slaughter. The thought turned his stomach.
“Nay, they wouldnae,” Malcolm agreed, a dark look crossing his face. “Bandits coming after cows? Doesnae seem tae be true.”
“My father told me that bandits are usually starving,” Irvine replied, walking into the barn. “The food would have sustained them for weeks.” He doubted that would be all that they would have taken, and for most of the night, after saying his farewells to Bridget, he had thought about his decision to let the bandit go. One of the reasons was just as he had said, but the other was that he didn’t wish for her to see him kill a man.
Still, he couldn’t imagine what would have happened to her if he hadn’t been there. She had looked terrified, and rightly so, her pitiful dagger giving her no protection for a seasoned swordsman as that bandit had been.
Though Irvine had bested him easily.
The gratitude didn’t stop there. Midmorning, a gaggle of lasses crossed into the barn, and he and Malcolm spent the better part of the morning accepting their gifts of baked goods with a healthy smile.
Next came the older women who had gifts such as jams and herbs that they added to the growing pile in the corner.
“I dinnae ken how much more I can smile like this,” Malcolm grumbled as the women left. “’Tis draining being a hero.”
Irvine chuckled and shook his head, throwing his thoughts back into caring for the horses, something that at least could help him forget about his situation.
Four days. I have four days remaining.
At luncheon, he spied Bridget, bundled in a coat to ward off the sudden cold wind. “Bruce,” she stated, her eyes lighting with happiness.
Irvine fought the urge to frown, wanting to hear his given name on her lips instead of the false one he was using. He couldn’t tell her, of course, but it pained him all the same to know that he was lying to her.
“Bridget. I take it ye are well?”
“Aye,” she said softly, handing him a piece of bread and cheese from the platters on the table. “Thank ye again for saving us last night. Without ye and Marcus here, we might not be standing here today.”
Irvine didn’t like to think how they had set them on a dais as if they were gods now. He was nothing more than a liar and a fraud to them, but they didn’t know that.
