Before she’d even realized his warriors had ridden into the clearing, though none of them had dismounted.
The third soldier throwing down his weapon and falling to his knees in terror at the fearsome sight of Cameron coming toward him, Aislinn in awe, too.
His sword lifted.
His countenance truly ominous to behold as he slowly lowered the weapon and used the bloodstained blade to lift the man’s trembling chin.
“Out for an evening tumble?”
Aislinn had never heard such quiet fury in Cameron’s voice—not at all his usual bluster—while the soldier pissed himself, staining his tunic, and wildly shook his head.
“N-not me, lord! The others!”
“Och, so you were just going tae watch as they defiled the lass—mayhap awaiting your turn.Where did you find her?”
Now Cameron had roared, making the soldier begin to sob as he gestured to the west, the blade still pressed beneath his chin.
“Her home, lord, not far from here!”
“Tell me you didna slay her family—”
“No-no, we just took the girl—and the calf there, for our supper.”
Indeed, a wee bawling calf had been tied crosswise to a shaggy pony—the poor creature only a few days old, Aislinn judged.
Unable to hold back any longer, she slid from the saddle and ran to the girl—God in heaven, no more than twelve, Aislinn was certain of it!—who had rolled onto her side and curled up into a ball.
“Here… let me help you.”
In the background she could hear Cameron speaking in a low, menacing voice to the soldier, but Aislinn paid them no heed as she drew the sobbing girl into her arms to hug her.
“I heard you screaming,” she said softly, Aislinn’s heart aching as she tried to soothe her by wiping the light blond hair from her ashen face. “I rode here as fast as I could. Did they…?”
The jerky shake of the girl’s head made such relief sweep through Aislinn that tears burned her eyes, and she glanced at Cameron to see him standing there, watching her.
The soldier on his feet and still breathing, which made her certain that the man must have revealed something to Cameron that made him spare his life.
For the time being.
Cameron’s expression still so ominous that Aislinn felt a chill.
“She wasn’t… they didn’t—” she began, but he merely strode forward and swept up the girl into his arms.
“Let’s take her home tae her family.”
Aislinn nodded and rose beside him, watching as he carried the girl to his horse and lifted her onto his saddle.
So gently.
So carefully, which made Aislinn remember as if from a dream when she had been too weak to open her eyes and someone had picked her up and carried her—aye, with steady, strong arms—before blackness had claimed her.
Cameron…
Chapter 9
“You could have been killed.”
His hands clenched at his sides, Cameron had not yet relaxed from battle as Aislinn stared at him with defiance, her stunning eyes a dark blue in the firelight.
