Page 9 of It’s in his Highland Kiss

Marion could hardly disagree when all that beauty surrounded her. Despite knowing that she wouldn’t be sleeping in a bed any time soon, and that whatever food they would find on the way would be unlike anything she was used to eating, she supposed that Eiric was right.

There was much to see and enjoy along the way.

She heard a sigh next to her, and turned to look at Eiric, who slapped his hands on his thighs before standing. “Are we leaving?” she asked, a puzzled frown on her face.

“Nay, nay . . . I think we’ll spend the night,” Eiric said. “But if we do spend the night, lass, then we need somethin’ to eat, dinna ye think? I’ll go get us some food.”

“And you’ll leave me here?” Marion asked. “All on my own?”

She hadn’t realised that being left alone would be a problem, but the moment that she found out that was Eiric’s intention, she felt the cold grip of panic in her gut, clenching and twisting.

She didn’t want to be left all alone, in the dark, in the woods.

What if there are wolves? What if there are brigands? What will I do then?

What if Eiric never returns?

She didn’t speak any of her concerns aloud, though, but rather kept them to herself for fear of appearing foolish.

“I willna go far,” Eiric assured her. “I’m sure there’s a rabbit or two around here. I’ll be back before ye ken I was gone.”

“I’d very much rather come with you,” Marion said. “I . . . I’d feel better, coming with you.”

“It’ll take but a moment,” Eiric insisted. “Ye stay here, by the fire. I dinna want ye to get cold or, Lord forbid, fall ill. Travellin’ with an ill companion is never a good thing.”

“What if you fall ill?” Marion asked.

Instead of an answer, Eiric gave her a lopsided smile, and then disappeared behind the treeline.

And Marion was all alone.

She had never been alone before, not in the wilderness. Her mother and father, for all their flaws, would not let her out of their sight while they were travelling, and they always made sure that she was accompanied by someone else. To be left alone like that, without even a hint of how long Eiric would take, was a nightmare for which she was not prepared, and a fear that she didn’t even know she had.

The darkness of the clearing seemed to close in around her. There were sounds that she couldn’t quite place, the hoot of an owl a little further away from where she sat, the crackling of the fire, and then something else, something that she could not recognise.

Perhaps it was nothing more than Eiric’s footsteps in the distance, the soft grass crunching under his boots. Perhaps she had nothing to worry about, and that was what she kept repeating to herself, over and over.

There is nothing to worry about. You’re being silly, Marion, there is nothing to worry about.

And yet, there was no denying the dread in her veins, cold like ice. There was no denying the thumping of her heart in her chest, loud like a drum.

What if he never returns? What if he leaves me here, all alone?

It was an irrational fear, Marion knew. Eiric hadn’t taken his horse with him, after all, and there was only so far he could go without it. Besides, why would he have gone through all the trouble of smuggling her out of the manor, only to leave her in the middle of the woods?

This time, she hushed the voices in her head, the very ones that had plagued her while she hid in the stables, waiting for Eiric; all her fears, all her insecurities pushed down with a long exhale.

And soon, she was proven correct. Eiric did return, a bright grin on his face and a rabbit in each hand, just like he had promised, and nothing had happened to her. There had been no wolves, no brigands, no abandonment on Eiric’s part.

“That didna take long noo, did it?” Eiric asked, as he plopped himself down next to Marion and began to work on the rabbits. “I’ve never met a faster hunter than me.”

“No, it didn’t,” Marion said with a small smile.

Eiric seemed to take a lot of pride in his hunting, and Marion couldn’t blame him. It couldn’t possibly be easy to hunt two rabbits in the dark.

“Do ye want to ken me secret?” Eiric asked.

“Yes.”