Her mother looked at her, narrowing her eyes. “Wot does she mean, Edna?”
“Nothing,” Edna said quickly. The last thing she needed was her mother attempting to play matchmaker with a man who wanted nothing to do with her. If he was interested, then he would have engaged her in conversation, given her the small looks that would have sent Edna’s heart racing.
Malcolm had done none of those things, and now he was going to think her odd for bringing up the very few short words that she had. It was horrid, completely horrid!
Edna quickly excused herself from the table before her mother could ask any other questions and walked outside the house instead of back up to her chambers, willing the cool night air to calm her nerves and her embarrassment. She didn’t wish to make herself look like a fool, but she had, and now Edna couldn’t wait to see Malcolm ride out with her cousin in the morning. The only thing that Edna could hope for was that Malcolm would forget her blunder over time, and the next time she saw him, he wouldn’t reference anything she had done tonight.
3
The next morning, Edna dreaded coming to breakfast. She hoped that her cousin had already departed home, but when she arrived at the table, both Irvine and Malcolm were seated there. Her parents and Elise were nowhere to be found.
“Edna!” Irvine called out, motioning for her to join them. “Good morn, Cousin.”
“Good morn,” she murmured, taking the seat across from Malcolm. Malcolm didn’t even look in her direction, instead focusing on his plate before him, and Edna felt even worse. He was going to be her first and last attempt at flirting for quite some time. “Are ye leaving after breakfast?” she asked, placing items on her metal plate. “I’m certain ye are ready tae go home.”
“Aye, I am,” Irvine stated, glancing at his companion. “But Malcolm here is staying.”
Edna nearly dropped the fork in her hand. “Wot?”
Malcolm lifted his eyes to her then. “Aye,” he said in his soft yet steel-laced voice. “Yer da wishes for yer warriors tae have some training.”
Edna couldn’t believe it. He was staying?
“I’m hoping that ye can get him tae focus on something more than just training,” Irvine was saying with a chuckle, slapping Malcolm between the shoulder blades. “He thinks of it too much.”
Edna ducked her head so that her cousin couldn’t see the fierce blush on her cheeks. As much as she would like to help Malcolm, she had already attempted to garner his attention to no avail.
This was going to be an utter nightmare!
The next few days were just that. Edna avoided Malcolm as much as she could, though she did admire him from a distance. Fortunately, he preferred staying in the warrior’s barracks instead of the house and took his meals with the warriors, which limited their time together and gave her a small reprieve from making any further embarrassing gestures.
It wasn’t until Malcolm had been with them for four days that she had her first run-in with the handsome warrior. Edna was in the village, visiting the healer so that she could find something to ease her sister’s suffering of nausea. It had hit Elise something fierce, and her sister was starting to look pale and wan from the constant vomiting.
Having gotten the herbs needed, Edna found herself walking along the sparring ring, a place that her own parents had spent many a day before their bairns were born. The sound of the clashing of swords drew her to the rough hewn fence, and her breath caught in her throat as she realized that one of the warriors training was Malcolm.
It wasn’t so much that he was training but the fact that he was doing it shirtless. Edna felt her cheeks flame with heat along with the rest of her body, but she wasn’t the only one ogling over the newcomer. There were quite a few of the women from the village making their paths to walk alongside the warrior barracks, the whispers and giggles filling the air.
Edna paid them no attention; her eyes fixed on Malcolm as he attempted to dodge the warrior’s sword. Despite his frame, Malcolm was quick on his feet. She had never seen anyone move as fast as he was, his muscles shifting with each movement.
“He’s far too handsome tae be a warrior,” one of the women next to her sighed.
“I bet he moves like that in bed too,” another giggled. “Imagine having those arms wrapped around ye every night.”
Edna swallowed as she noted those same arms, the strong forearms that moved with the sword. The sun glinted off the sweat on his bare torso, and when Malcolm laughed, the women next to her sighed in unison.
She shouldn’t be ogling him so! She shouldn’t be standing here, watching a man like this.
But the moment that Edna thought about turning away, Malcolm looked up sharply, and their eyes met. His jaw worked as he stared at her, and instead of breaking the connection, Edna decided that she would stare at him as well. She didn’t know how long they stared at each other, but he was the first to break the contact, turning back to the warrior that he had been sparring with.
Edna found herself breathing heavily, walking away quickly before anyone could ask her any questions. What had just happened? She thought he had hated her, but the way he looked at her just now, it was almost like he wanted to devour her.
Edna let out a small laugh as she made her way back to the house. Of course not. She would just continue to stay out of his way and definitely not make any other trips to the warrior barracks until he was long gone.
Unfortunately, she didn’t plan on him visiting with her father the next day. Edna was hurrying down the corridor when her boot tripped on one of the uneven stones, and she felt herself pitch forward, only to be hauled from hitting the floor in an instant. Before she could even draw a breath, Edna found herself staring into Malcolm’s hard gaze. It was then that she could feel his hands locked on her upper arms, his grip firm but not harming her, the smell of crisp air and something earthy assaulting her senses.
“Whoa, lass,” Malcolm murmured, his breath fanning over her face. “Ye almost broke yer face hurrying like that.”
Edna continued to look at him, not believing he was actually conversing with her. “The stone gets me every time,” she blurted out, her mind blank on what to actually say to him.
