Page 10 of It’s in his Highland Kiss

“I’m bloody hungry,” Eiric said.

Marion couldn’t help but laugh at that, and in that moment, it occurred to her that just in the hours that she had spent with Eiric, she had laughed more than she had in years.

It was no surprise though, considering that her mother would hardly ever allow her to smile, let alone laugh. It wasn’t proper, she would say, and smack her hand every time she caught her.

The phantom pain was still there, a reminder, every time that she smiled or laughed with Eiric, but it was merely a nuisance compared to the joy that it gave her. She wanted to share those moments with him, especially because she didn’t know how much time she could spend by his side once they would be in Scotland.

Surely, as the son of the laird, he’ll have plenty of work to do. And he must have his family and his friends . . . I’ll only be a burden to him.

Marion hoped that she could make some friends in the Highlands. She hoped that the people there would be different, more like her beloved Jane rather than her mother. She hoped for a better life, at least for the time that she would spend there.

The scent of meat permeated the air once Eiric put the rabbits over the flame. A rabbit was better than what she had expected; rats and other vile creatures had all been in the menu in her head, as had tiny birds and eggs that would do little to satisfy their hunger.

“Marion, do ye mind?” Eiric asked, settling down next to her as he watched the rabbits cook.

For a moment, Marion looked at him with a confused frown, not knowing what he wanted, until he grabbed his plaid, wrapping its tail around himself.

Suddenly, Eiric was so close to Marion that she could feel every little movement of every last muscle in his body. They were sharing his plaid, and though it was big enough for both of them, curled up as they were by the fire, she couldn’t help but wish that it was bigger; big enough for Eiric to keep his distance.

For all her fretting, he didn’t seem to mind. Marion could only hope that he wouldn’t notice the sudden change in her, or that at least he wouldn’t comment on it.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want Eiric close to her. It was simply the same fear that was always there, at the back of her mind, lurking and lingering.

What if I do something wrong? What if I do something that makes him laugh at me?

“Here you go,” Eiric said, as he grabbed the rabbits from the fire, handing one of them to Marion.

With the way he shifted, he wasn’t as close to her anymore, and she missed the warmth of his body next to her own, though she said nothing.

What could she say, after all? Whatever feelings she was beginning to have for him were nothing but another one of her usual infatuations, something that was to be expected when no man had ever paid attention to her.

It was nothing more than infatuation. That, too, would pass.

Chapter Five

Eiric watched as Marion ran to the left, then ran to the right, then dived, only to stand once more, empty-handed. She keeled over, bracing herself with her hands on her knees as she panted, trying to catch her breath, her hair flying out of her bun and her brow drenched in sweat.

She was the very image of defeat.

“I can’t do this!” she cried, throwing her hands in the air. “I don’t know how you do this. I can’t!”

“Ye were the one who wanted to learn how to hunt,” Eiric reminded her, a small, amused smile on his lips. He was leaning against a tree, leisurely watching her as she ran around the woods, trying to catch a rabbit. “I told ye I could do it meself.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier with a bow and an arrow?” Marion asked.

“Aye, but I dinna have one,” Eiric reminded her. “Besides, do ye ken how to use a bow and an arrow, lass?”

There was a moment of silence before Marion shook her head. “No,” she said. “But I’m sure that learning how to use a bow would be easier than chasing a rabbit!”

As she spoke, Marion huffed and puffed, trying to blow her hair out of her face, and Eiric couldn’t help but feel guilty for being amused by her antics. With a sigh, he pushed himself off the tree trunk and made his way to Marion, smoothing down her hair with a gentle hand.

“Perhaps it’d be better if ye gathered some fruit and roots from noo on,” Eiric suggested, but the look on Marion’s face told him everything that he needed to know before she even spoke a word.

“No,” she said, her mouth set into a thin, firm line. “I will get that rabbit even if I have to chase it the entire day and the entire night.”

Eiric was impressed by Marion’s resolve. He had men under his command who gave up faster than her, and who would have long cursed him and the rabbit, before deciding that it was better to be hungry than put any more effort into the hunt.

“Alright, alright, lass,” he said. “Here, I’ll show ye an easier way to catch it.”