“Is something troubling ye?” Niall asked. “Ye look worried.”
“I…” There was no explanation for what she thought she’d seen. She didn’t understand it, and Niall certainly wouldn’t. “Nae. I just doona want ye to overstrain your wound.”
It wasn’t really a lie, after all. She clicked her tongue at her mare and moved ahead of him so he wouldn’t ask any more questions.
****
Inside the cottage, the crone watched them leave through a curtained window. She slowly straightened and ran her hands over her white hair, turning it back to brown and gold and then smoothed the wrinkles from her face.
Strange that the red-haired woman had actually seen her the night she’d healed Niall. Care would need to be taken for the next two weeks while the woman was still here, since it bode trouble for mortals to discover her. The faerie uttered a spell and cast it silently on the wind.Forget…
Only MacLeods should be able to see the descendant of the Faerie Queen.
****
The sooner they could leave the forest, the better. Even the woods seemed to agree for there was only silence, save for the tread of the horses’ hooves. No birds chirped and nothing stirred. Not even the wind. The air itself felt heavy, as though Annie sat under a blanket as she rode. What she needed was blue skies and sunshine.
The whole experience at the cottage had unsettled her more than she wanted to admit. Annie had almost talked herself into believing the experience in Niall’s bedroom had been because she was tired to the point of exhaustion. That she’d only imagined the transforming of facial features because of the effects of the herbal mist. Not that she was given to flights of fancy, but still it was a more or less rational conclusion.
But seeing a young woman in the middle of the forest that lookedidentical? Annie wished the girl had reappeared while they were there so she could have studied her more. Maybe it had been the hair with its strange streak of gold that had made Annie think the girl resembled the other one. Maybe they didn’t really look the same after all—Annie frowned, feeling confused.
She shook her head. There was no sense pursuing this line of thought unless she wanted to drive herself mad. Since her mountseemed to have no trouble following the twists and turns of the trail without any direction, she looked back over her shoulder to check on Niall. At that moment, a red deer bounded across the path and her mare reared, causing Annie to lose her balance. She landed on her backside with a hard thump as her horse cantered away.
“Are ye hurt?” Niall asked as he slipped from his saddle and knelt beside her.
“I doona think so,” Annie said, feeling embarrassed that she had been so lost in fanciful thoughts that she’d not kept a tighter rein. She started to get up, but Niall put a hand on her shoulder.
“Doona move just yet. Let me see if anything is broken.” He placed his hands on her ribcage and Annie’s breath hitched. He looked up quickly. “Does that hurt?”
She shook her head, not quite trusting her voice. Where his hands encircled her was awfully close to her breasts. His thumbs practically grazed the undersides. And, for some unexplainable reason, the fact that he wasnottouching them made her nipples peak. Hopefully, her jacket hid her response to him. “I…am fine.”
“I doona think ye have cracked any ribs, but I want to make sure.”
As Niall’s fingers gently slid down toward her waist, something clenched low in her belly. When he traced lightly over her hips, wet heat began to pool between her legs, followed by a throbbing at her core as his hands settled on her thighs. Her breath hitched again and Annie fought for a gulp of air, trying to ignore the sensations that racked her body. If Niall’s examination continued much longer, she’d be whimpering and wiggling like a puppy, in need of a whole lot more touching…
“Ouch!” The pleasure she’d been feeling turned sharply to pain as Niall picked up one foot and started to rotate her ankle.
He stopped immediately. “Ye must have twisted it when ye fell.”
“Is it broken?”
“’Tis hard to say without removing your boot, and I’d rather keep it on for support until we get home.”
Annie smiled ruefully as the pain subsided somewhat. “My horse is probably already there.”
“Nae matter.” Niall put one arm under her knees and the other about her shoulders and stood, lifting her as though she weighed no more than a sack of feathers, and started toward his horse.
“Your leg!” Annie said. “Ye should nae be putting so much weight on it.”
“My leg is fine. ’Tis yours I am concerned with,” he answered and then placed her on the saddle while he vaulted up behind her. “The sooner we get ye tended to, the better.”
He edged forward, lifting her slightly until her legs dangled over one of his thighs and her bottom was settled firmly against the other. It was surprisingly comfortable even though she was seated sideways across the horse. Niall’s arms went around her, cocooning her warmly inside his embrace, filling her nose with his scent. It wasn’t until the gelding started trotting that Annie became aware of something hard bumping against her hip in rhythm to the gait. All of the earlier awareness of him came rushing back like a kindled fire. Heat rippled through her, igniting all her vulnerable spots.
Annie didn’t dare look at Niall. She knew from her experience with Broderick that men’s bodies hardened when physically close to a female. She didn’t want Niall to see in her face what she was feeling right now. Instead, she closed her eyes and laid her head against his chest, feigning sleep.
Which was probably an even bigger mistake. Lord, but Niall felt good.
****
