“Afraid of my feelings for you.”
There, she had said it.
Hamish looked at her and it was as if a warm cloak of reassurance had settled about her shoulders.
“What are ye trying ter tell me, Isabella?”
Despite the chill breeze, heat rose to her cheeks. “Have you not worked it out?”
He smiled, gently. “I dinna want to jump ter the wrong conclusion.”
“I am falling in love with you,” she blurted out. The admission left her vulnerable and exposed, but then he placed his remaining hand on top of hers and she was safe again.
“Just as I am falling in love with ye.”
Relief and surprise made her flesh tingle. Her lips parted. “You are?”
“’Tis a condition I have struggled against,” he chuckled. “But ultimately, one that I canna deny, however hard I try.”
“But you said—” she floundered to recall why she had become so cross and embarrassed. “You said I was not fit to be the Lady of Greenock.”
“I said no such thing.” His voice rose in denial.
“You did.” She shook back a loose strand of hair as she tried to remember. “You said I would tire of the work and long foreaseandgrandeur.”
“Are ease and grandeur such terrible things?” He squeezed her hands. “Ye told me ye would miss the music. As if a granite keep in Scotland would ne’er be a place for music.”
Isabella shook her head in confusion. “Andisit a place for music?”
“I play the lute,” he announced.
It was so unexpected that Isabella found her lips inching into a smile. She looked down at their cojoined hands. “Now that is something I long to see.”
“Perchance ye shall.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers in a kiss that was sweet and gentle and left herwanting a whole lot more. “But fer now, we have more pressing matters to deal with.”
“What is more pressing than love?” she whispered. Her body shivered with a mixture of cold and desire.
“The small matter of our location on the moors, far from anywhere, with darkness coming upon us in less time than it will take to reach Wolvesley Castle or return to Ember Hall.” He tilted his face to the side as if thinking still. “’Tis a problem compounded by my useless arm and the fact your mount stands with his head down as if already exhausted. Ye dinna happen to know of a nearby inn or a ruined barn where we might take shelter?”
She widened her eyes and shook her head. Most often, she traveled by carriage and paid little attention to her surroundings.
“I was jesting, lass,” he said softly. “Forsooth, a ruined barn would serve little purpose when the nighttime temperatures plummet. Dinna fear. I will get ye ter safety. But we need to get on our way. And ye need to cover yerself with yon cloak before ye catch yer death.”
He slowly rose to his feet and Isabella immediately noticed the absence of his warmth. She also couldn’t help but see how he walked tentatively and off-balance.
Hamish was more affected by his injury than he was prepared to admit.
Wrapping her cloak over her shoulders, she chased away the kernel of fear that had been growing in her belly ever since Hamish’s speech. They simply must find warmth and safety before the darkest hours of night. If they didn’t, ’twould be her fault.
She walked briskly to join him at the top of a small plateau. Hamish held his bad arm with his good hand, trying not to wincewith every step he took. He spared her a smile and then turned to scan the horizon.
“Your horse is not here.” She was winded by the shock of it.
But Hamish only pursed his lips. “She is, somewhere.”
Isabella clutched her cloak about her. All she could see was an expanse of heather and sloshy snow running all the way to the distant tree line. The only break in the nearby landscape was the tree she had climbed earlier, with the grey pony beneath it.
Ye Gods, if the horse has gone, our prospects are bleak indeed.
