Page 2 of Highlander’s False Identity

Knowing that he no longer posed a threat, she got to her feet, straightening out her long, honey blonde hair, which had been set free from its cover.

Unmasked, the girl positively glowed in the dim morning light, amused at the lad’s entranced gaze.

“Well, hello!” she murmured, still catching her breath.

The lad stared uncomprehendingly into her face as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. His stare was so brazen that she felt like she had to deflect his gaze.

“Ye nae seen a woman afore, lad?” she mocked. “Put yer tongue back into yer heid!”

Then, getting up from her position on the ground, she walked tentatively around him. Now that she had made her connection, it seemed unlikely that he would continue with his attack.

“So then, ye’ve changed a wee bit since our last meet,” she said pertinently, raising a light brown eyebrow pointedly. “Long time, no see, laddie!”

The lad just stared into her eyes, as if he could not comprehend the words she was saying.

She could see by the way he was looking at her that he was trying to figure her out as if she were a puzzle.

He stood, running his bright jade eyes up and down, along and across her form. She had seen that look before on men’s faces and had reason to fear it. However, with this lad, she instinctively knew that she was safe.

It wasn’t even because she recognized him. The girl had learned, through bitter experience, that simply knowing a man did not preclude him from taking advantage of a girl if he thought that he could get away with it.

God knew, over the last few weeks and months, as she had picked her way through the Highlands from hunting lodge to hunting lodge, she had met more than her fair share of chancers.

So, she knew a good man when she saw one. From the honest glint in this lad’s eyes, there was no way he would take advantage. If anything, she was going to be the one to do that!

The girl did not wait around to find out if she was wrong. Without giving the lad a chance to get one over on her, she reached around for something, anything, to avoid him leaving her with nothing.

He had not only managed to get to his feet but had now summoned his enormous black stallion to his side, which was harrumphing and whinnying impressively in her direction. If she were not quick, he would jump on the horse and be gone forever!

Panicking, the woman looked about for some way to stop him. She desperately needed what he had, and there was no way that she could allow sentiment to get in the way.

However, she was disarmed, and her slingshot lay several feet away, near the wretched horse’s powerful hooves. Given the menace in its eyes right then, she felt little desire to try and acquire it.

She was defenseless!

He was about to leap up when she spied a very large stone, nestling at her feet. Without waiting to think it through, she hurled it straight at him.

The lad was in the middle of mounting the ferocious beast, when the stone hit him, squarely on the jaw, visibly injuring him.

Thump! The girl’s heart gave a jump as the lad tumbled unceremoniously towards her for a second time. But this time, the girl knew better than to get trapped beneath him and sidestepped to avoid his fall.

Wham! He landed in a sorry pile, not far from where she had been, but the girl wasted no time in getting free and preparing to run fast. To try and make good her escape, she picked a second stone from the ground and flung it at him, this time hitting him in the face.

“Aargh!” groaned the lad, clutching his face and rolling around in agony.

The girl tried to ignore his pitiful cries because she knew if she paid them heed, she might end up taking pity on him, which would never do!

Trying her hardest to push away the errant thought, the lass twirled around, just for a second, catching the red-haired lad straight in the eye.

He wasn’t hurt badly but was beginning to smart. She could not help herself from saying to him:

“Ye should ken better than to try and stop me, Beathan!”

She might as well have slapped him across the face; such was his surprise. It was hard for her not to laugh at his dismay.

“Aye, I ken ye, an’ yet ye dinnae ken me!” she quipped, smiling at his amazed face. “A lass could feel hurt!”

It was a jest, but something deep inside the girl’s heart stirred. She had been prepared for his recognition from the moment the mask had been pulled from her face. When it hadn’t happened, she had been stung slightly.