She didn’t turn at his strangled reply nor did she give him the satisfaction of responding when the sound turned into laughter.
Infuriating man.
So, she’d been too weak for this particular game of dares after all. No matter. It only confirmed she’d been right from the beginning.
Robbie MacQuarrie had to go.
She was a feisty one, all right.
Robert smiled to himself as he watched Isa now, her head bent low over Jamie’s as she helped him make a soft pallet on the floor by the fire. Seeing her like this, it was hard to believe she was the same woman who’d argued with him all the way back to the cottage this evening.
Attemptedto argue with him was more accurate. Considering the circumstances of their meeting at the pool, there was no way he was allowing her to drag him into her verbal sparring. Some men might be able to channel their emotions into words but he wasn’t one of them. He felt what he felt and preferred to act upon those feelings, not talk them to death.
When he’d seen her there in the woods, the hunger sparking in her eyes as she’d watched him, he’d known it would take very little to push him over the edge.
He’d tried to warn her.
One more dare. One more challenge. One more anything and they’d likely have found themselves on the ground, going at it like wild animals in heat.
That wasn’t an option he could allow. So he’d ignored her verbal jabs though her underlying meaning was clear. She thought to drive him away with her sharp tongue and hateful comments.
But all that had changed mere feet from the cottage.
“Jamie’s inside,” she’d warned, her demeanor instantly transforming from scolding nag to mother tiger. “You’ll be kind to him or you’ll deal with me for it, you ken?”
The memory brought another smile to his lips as he watched the two of them now, the boy’s face shining with happiness when Isa sat down next to him on the pallet. There was something about the child, something so familiar, and yet he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Come on with you, lad. Lie down. I ken that it’s hard to get to sleep in a strange place, but we’ve a great deal of work tomorrow if we’re to be ready to leave for the castle.” She patted the blanket beside her and Jamie climbed under the covers, snuggling his head into her lap.
For his part, Robert finished off the mug of weak ale Isa had offered earlier. Relaxing in his spot against the rock wall, he was amazed that he could feel so comfortable, so natural, so at peace. The moment was almost perfect. A man, a woman, a child. If he had his little dog, Charlie, here, the scene would be complete.
Isa stared down at the boy in her lap, one long finger delicately stroking the side of his poor, misshapen face as little snores wafted up from him.
“What accident befell the lad?”
She looked up, startled, at his question, as if she’d been so lost in her thoughts she’d completely forgotten he was even there.
Not exactly a major stroke for his ego.
“Fire,” she answered at last, running her fingers lightly through the child’s hair. “Though his grandmother swore to me it was no accident, their home burning to the ground. He was just a wee thing at the time. Must have been going on five years ago? Maybe six. I dinna believe he was even walking when it happened. Annie, his grandmother, was the one who pulled him from the flames. Burned her hands so badly she couldna ever fully return to her duties as cook.”
“His parents?” From the ill-kempt look of the child, he had a pretty good idea what her answer would be.
“His mother died in the fire. He had no father. Well—” Here her eyebrows lifted in a knowing manner. “No father that ever stepped forward to claim the poor lad.”
Robert nodded. It happened. People were people. The only thing worse was that he knew it would continue to happen. The passage of time wouldn’t much change people for the better.
“Was the battle you fought near here?”
This time it was his turn to be surprised by a question.
“Battle?”
“I could no help but notice yer wound this afternoon. The one on yer chest.” Her cheeks colored and she fastened her gaze back on the sleeping boy. “I’ve no great experience with battle wounds, but yers looked to be serious. Was it recent?”
“No. It was a long time ago.” Another lifetime ago.
Her eyes cut to him, her brow wrinkled. “But I could have sworn... It looked to no to have been healed too long.”
