Page 6 of Highlander’s Burning Touch

Chapter Three

“Quick, bring the haversack, Allyth, hurry now,” Deva called from the middle of the clearing.

The two brigands were gone, and she had arrived just in time to find the man flopped dramatically on the ground, face down in the mud.

“Can ye hear me?” she asked, hopefully, as she supported his heavy head and tried, despite her slender weight, to pull him from the mire.

The middle of the glade was wet, full of water from the oncoming downpours, and Deva quickly realized that if he was not moved, his biggest risk was from drowning, never mind anything else.

“Come on, shift yer bones, big lad,” she muttered, dragging him breathily, for all she was worth. Then she looked around in annoyance. “Allyth?”

Silence.

It was as if the girl had disappeared. Which was all she needed. Vaguely, she remembered that the haversack was all the way back at the edge of the copse by the horses. Silently, Deva rolled her eyes. She would be ages. In the meantime, she needed a hand moving this hulking shape of a man.

“Well then, there’s nothing for it. Ye’ll just have to buckle up. It’s goin’ tae be a bumpy ride, laddie.”

Although she sounded confident, deep down, Deva was anything but. The sight of him, splayed out, so helpless at her feet, had set her heart beating for all it was worth.

Dragging him as carefully as possible, Deva summoned up every inch of strength in her to move him away from the waterlogged ground and towards the trees where she could take a better look at him.

“By the grace o’ God, I dinnae think I can do that again,” murmured Deva, as finally, Allyth came to help her. Together, they dragged the unconscious man over to where the horses were tethered, sheltering beneath the boughs of a big tree.

“How is he?” Allyth asked, pushing her dark blonde hair back into her coif. Her light eyes opened widely.

“Breathing, at least,” said Deva, shortly, “Here, help me prop him up…”

With Allyth’s help, she managed to bring him against the tree, resting him against her arms.

Whoosh! Instantly, a surge of something strange raced through her veins, shaking her deep. The feeling of his skin, so smooth against her own, set in motion a chain reaction. An immediate crackle of electricity leaped through her, making her smolder and burn deep inside.

For a minute, Deva could do nothing but gawp. His body pressed up against her own, so warm and soft, unleashed a ball of pleasure within her.

Breathless with surprise, Deva released her hand, sending the man’s head crashing back against the tree trunk.

“Och!” she cursed, as he collapsed back again, “I didn’t mean to--”

Slowly, the man gave a groan, filling Deva with a terror mixed with curiosity.

Briefly, he opened one eye. A warm, brown eye surveyed her groggily before shutting tight again.

“Well, yer alive, then,” she said, to herself more than anyone else, “But how long for?”

Despite her brittle words, Deva found her hands were shaking, all the more for having seen his face close up. And now, a tantalizing glimpse of his eyes.

So, they were brown, then, she thought. She didn’t know why, but this seemed to make all the difference. As if she didn’t feel it before, now the man before her was ever more real to the touch.

Gently, she pressed her hands to his head, feeling the softness of his skin against her own. Then, she extended them down, running them over his torso and down along his limbs.

It wasn’t just her curiosity she was feeding. She needed to look for a sign of injury, as, right then, it was not obvious what had felled him.

Although she had seen the ambush, it wasn’t clear what had happened. In fact, the lad insensible in her arms had actually managed to repel the two attackers and do so single-handedly. And yet, somehow, he had ended up unconscious.

Methodically, Deva pressed her hands through his warm body, feeling the rush of blood in his veins against her own. There had to be something that she could find.

Breathlessly, she scanned all over, her fingers running free over his torso. Even through her panic, Deva could not prevent a ripple of pleasure dancing through her, causing her nerve ends to tingle and her insides to dampen.

Wheesht! A sudden thrill blasted all through her, taking her by surprise. Then, she chided herself. She hadn’t expected to feel like this, but the more she looked at his firm frame, the more she liked it.