Only it didn’t happen. One moment she was bracing herself for impact, the next she was being crushed against a warm, solid form that smelled like clovers.
Gasping, Iris looked up to see James’s strong jawline above her, her hand clenched into his tunic.
What had happened?
He guided his horse to a slow trot as she felt the rapid beat of his heart under her hand.
“Stop!” she called out, attempting and failing to scramble away from his impossibly warm body.
James’s arm clenched her, but he did slow them to a stop.
“Wot are ye aboot, Iris?” he demanded, his angry eyes looking down at her. “Are ye trying tae throw us from mah horse?”
“Wot did ye do?” she screeched, realizing she was settled on top of his powerful thighs, his arm wrapped around her waist just under her bosom.
“I saved ye,” he ground out. “From breaking yer neck.”
Iris couldn’t believe it. He had literally taken her off her horse thereby causing her to lose the race!
“Ye bastard!” she screamed, beating at his shoulder. “Let me go!”
“Stop!” he shouted in her ear. “For Christ’s sake, woman, stop!”
Iris halted her fists, glaring at him. “Ye caused me tae lose! I would have been fine. I would have.”
She couldn’t go on, her eyes frantic as she looked for her horse. Relief filled her bones as she saw the horse nearby, waiting patiently for its rider.
“Ye would have been trampled,” he told her, his voice losing some of its anger from before. “If ye had fallen off, ye would have been trampled, Iris.”
The way he said her voice made Iris tremble for another reason. She had to get away from him. James was clouding her thoughts again, and she couldn’t… It was too difficult.
“Put me down,” she said in a harsh tone, though she didn’t bother to scream at him. “Now.”
His throat worked before he loosened his hold on her, letting Iris slide to the ground.
“’Tis too late tae catch up with them, Iris,” he told her as she found her bearings. “Someone is likely already crossing intae the camp as we speak.”
The very thought made her upset, but she was not one to quit, not yet.
“There will be others that did not cross the line!” she called out over her shoulder.
She had seen far too many go down as she had passed them. All Iris had to do was show up in camp and not be the last one to do so.
“Iris!”
Iris ignored James as she mounted her horse and rode off back in the direction of the camp. Inside, she was trembling with both rage and a hint of fear, realizing that he had indeed kept her from being trampled by some unsuspecting rider. He had saved her life.
She couldn’t find fault in his actions because of that, but he had in turn made her limp across the line back at camp. Herbrother Ian was there in an instant, taking the reins of her horse so she could dismount.
“Wot happened?” he demanded, his face creased with worry.
Iris looked around. “Am I last?”
“Nay,” Ian replied. “About five others have not made their way back yet. Ye are still in the games, lass.”
The tension in her chest loosened. She hadn’t failed her clan just yet.
“Wot happened, Iris?”
