Yet they looked with awe at Gabriel, who made a powerful figure, indeed, in his dark tunic and with his plaid breacan wrapped around him, his sword sheathed in a wide leather belt around his waist.
Magdalene felt her heart beat faster just looking at him, the bright sunlight glinting off the reddish tone in his hair—which oddly, she had never noticed before. He appeared so youthful around the children, his teeth a flash of white as he smiled and chatted with them.
“Is all well in the village?”
A host of nods greeted his query, though one boy, taller than the rest and with a shock of coppery hair, stepped out of the group and thrust back his shoulders.
“I’m twelve now, Laird! Surely old enough tae come and help tend tae your horses—and one day tae ride with you and your men, aye, I will!”
“I’ve no doubt of it, Jaime,” Gabriel said solemnly, though still with a hint of a smile. “I’ll have your da come speak with me and we’ll find a place for you with the other stable hands. What say you tae that?”
The boy bobbed his head and beamed from ear to ear, his young companions gathering around him to slap him on the back to congratulate him. Several of the girls ventured closer, too, eying Jaime with evident admiration, which made Magdalene smile at their sweet innocence.
When she had been twelve, she’d had so few cares, flitting around her father’s fortress, her life so untroubled then. Even the young warriors who had stood guard in the bailey had been ordered to watch out for her, one even picking her up when she had tripped and fallen right in front of him.
His dark eyes filled with amusement, his warm smile making her heart skip a beat…
“Och, no, it couldna be,” Magdalene whispered to herself, staring at Gabriel as if seeing him for the first time as he met her gaze.
His smile gone. His dark brown eyes appearing almost black as he stared back at her while she curled her fingers more tightly around the reins.
Her sudden memory of him from years ago so incongruent with the brute she knew him to be…yet was he?
Would a brute speak so gently to her and care that she’d not eaten for two days?
Would a brute laugh so easily and hug children just as he had done with his own nieces, Keira and Rhona clearly adoring him?
What manner of man had she been wed to that seemed to have two sides to his nature? One so resolute and harsh and the other, so kind and benevolent that children ran laughing to greet him?
“Maggie, would you like tae walk the rest of the way into the village? I know it would please the bairns…”
Gabriel had approached her in what seemed one stride while the youngest children hopped up and down with excitement.
“Aye, Lady MacLachlan, walk with us!”
She looked from them to Gabriel, a part of her screaming to seize the chance to kick her horse into a gallop even as she found herself mesmerized by the gentle query in his eyes.
Her fingers relaxing upon the reins before she was aware she’d done it, Gabriel taking that as her acquiescence and reaching up to lift her with care from the saddle.
At once the youngest children surrounded her, beaming, as two girls clasped her hands.
If they had heard she was a lunatic, none gave any sign at all of fear or concern or even curiosity, their eyes shining instead with unbridled joy.
Magdalene glanced at Gabriel, but he merely nodded that she go with them, his smile making her breath still…the same warm smile she had seen so many years before.
She knew her mouth had dropped, but she couldn’t help herself. Everything was happening so fast, she felt in a whirl as she tore her eyes away from him and walked with the children into the village.
Some of them skipping. Some of them singing. The girls holding her hands, swinging her arms and laughing.
All of them acting as if she had bestowed upon them the greatest gift imaginable.
Soon it seemed that everyone in the village had heard the commotion and stopped whatever they were doing to spill out into the road to greet her and Gabriel.
She knew he wasn’t far behind her because she glanced over her shoulder to see him leading their nickering horses.
His gaze still intent upon her, yet his expression was different now. He looked somber as if mulling over something, but one of the girls holding her hand distracted her by leading her over to a woman whose belly was swollen with child.
“Mama, it’s Lady MacLachlan!” cried the lass, her mother dropping an awkward curtsey and wiping floured hands in her apron.
