13
It was their first night alone together, and Erica was trying hard not to be too aware of it. If she were entirely honest with herself, if being closer to the man she desired meant lying back on a desk while he poked at her with an inflamed meaty member that resembled a red finger, Erica was not at all sure she wanted to show her love for any man that way. Perhaps she could take the old cook’s advice at O’Donnell Castle and bake her husband a nice pie instead. What was she even thinking about love and joining her body to a man’s anyway? A fine way to spend her first night alone with Finn, to be imagining such unladylike things!
They had decided to break their journey atop a knoll midway between the woods and the burn. The burn had fresh water, and the woods provided them with logs for the fire. Soon, their little camp was looking quite cozy, and when Finn came out of the gloaming forest trees with a dressed hare hanging from a cord twisted around his fingers, Erica was feeling very charitable and chatty toward him. She saw him scanning the horizon for signs of fire smoke, the memory of the attack by brigands still fresh in his mind.
“They are all dead an’ gone, Finn,” she said, patting the log next to the one she was seated on. “No brigand would be foolish enough to hang about after the trouncing they received from ye. There are no more dangers in the wilds, I promise ye.”
He frowned. She could see that he had gone back to thinking of her as a charge, a bairn he must sit, a package he must see safely delivered. When was he going to start thinking about her as a woman, the same kind of creature that her betrothed had been pleasuring on the desk in the library?!
As she skewered the meat onto a sharp branch, Erica smiled to herself.
“As pleased as I am to see ye in a better mood, Lady,” Finn said, “I must ask ye for the reason ye give such a cheeky smile? Ye wouldnae have spiced the meat to excess by any chance, have ye?”
Erica shook her head so hard that her curls bounced. “Nay, me mither would birch me back if she kent I was heavy-handed with the spice. It’s just the way the meat is poking through the stick. It reminded me of Jamie an’ that screeching maid he had atop the desk…”
She blushed but stood by her jest and was well rewarded by Finn’s deep laughter. He threw back his silver-blond head and roared. When he stopped laughing, he looked at her with dawning respect.
“So, ye can cook and ye can turn a good jest too? What other talents d’ye have hidden up yer sleeve, lass?”
He shifted off the log and lay at her feet in the grass after throwing part of his great plaid onto it, propping up his head with one hand, leaning on his elbow. The way he was scrutinizing her with those icy blue eyes of his made the breath catch in her chest.
Erica took this as a sign he was in a talkative mood. “Finn, I must ask ye to assuage me curiosity…when Jamie came to yer room, what happened exactly? What did he say to ye?”
He sighed and shifted uncomfortably. “Och lass, as I’ve told ye, this man is mad. He threatened me to stay out of yer wedding. I’ve told him that my main priority is to protect ye. He doesnae understand what he did with that woman in the library. He is a selfish man.”
“Maybe ye are a bit jealous of him,” Erica told him, and she chuckled.
Finn made a grimace full of anger and took his glance away from Erica.
This was the kind of conversation Erica had been dying for all her life. Finally, someone who was prepared to inform her about the ways of the world.
“An’ yet ye’re no’ jealous of his gold an’ power or that he is about to marry me?” This was fascinating stuff. Erica wished she could sit there all night and talk to Finn about the mysteries of men.
He shook his head. “I am no’ such a shameful fellow, Lady. I desire none o’ Jamie’s supposed enviable material qualities. I am scornful of the way he abuses them to get what he wants, and he seems to be so busy doin’ it that he has allowed ye to slip through his fingers. A glorious gift such as yerself falls into his lap, only for him to abuse ye an’ upset ye so many times over the last few days, I have lost count.”
Now it was Erica’s turn to climb down off the log and lay on the grass next to the fire after placing her arisaid down first. She pulled some grass out of the ground and lightly stroked her lips with it.
“The meat will be ready soon. Finn, thank ye for standin’ by me in that strange household, by the way, but me mither always told me that ’tis a woman’s lot to be the receptacle for the man to put his seed into her any way he wants.” She decided to lighten the mood with another joke. “It’s just too bad for me that I find the way Jamie wants to do it so unappetizing!”
They sat up, still laughing together. Erica reached for the long sticks with the skewered meat and handed one to Finn. She reached out the tip of the stick and touched it against Finn’s.
“Slàinte, Finn. Here’s to a better future.”
He grinned, the fire flames making his face flicker in the light. “Here’s to yer appetite being satisfied in better ways, lass.”
They ate together in companionable silence. Afterward, Erica went looking for sage or sorrel to freshen her breath, and finding none growing by the burn, she headed for the forest. She was bending down to tilt the torch closer to the turf when she felt a sharp stinging sensation on her ankle. She gave a sharp scream and began hopping on one foot.
“Ach, ye busterd! What are ye?!”
She had dropped her torch and could not see when Finn left washing his hands in the burn and ran over to where she had collapsed on the ground.
“What ails ye?” Short and to the point—typical Finn.
“Something stung the frisk out o’ me, Finn.” Erica gritted her teeth in pain. “It’s a cross between an ache an’ a sharp pain.”
He wasted no time in lifting up her skirts, ripping the stocking and boot off her leg, and holding her foot toward the light. He had brought his own torch with him and inspected her ankle closely. Erica was in too much pain to worry about the formalities of their situation.
“It could be an adder. Then again, it could have been a thorn. There is only one hole, deep but no’ large,” Finn murmured, half to himself, twisting her ankle from side to side. “I don’ want to risk ye sickenin’ from the poison if it be an adder, lass.”
