Page 5 of Bewitching her Highland Savior

“Verra weel, we’ll set up camp outside,” he said. “By the loch. But if ye get cold, dinnae blame me for it. I warned ye.”

“The fire will be enough,” Muriel assured him. “Besides, I’m the bairn of a pirate chieftain. Do ye really think that I’ve never spent a night in the cold before?”

“Och, I dinnae ken,” Liam said. “Ye dinnae seem like the kind of lass who would.”

“And what kind of lass do I seem to be?”

“The kind of lass who would complain about getting’ her dress soiled.”

Muriel gave him an amused look, as if she thought the mere thought of being upset by something as insignificant as that was silly, and Liam had to reconsider his first impression of her as a spoiled brat.

Still, it didn’t make her any less infuriating.

“Ye ken nothin’ about me, so it would be better if ye kept yer assumptions to yerself,” she said politely but with that same heat under her words exuding a clear warning. “And whatever ye think ye ken about me is probably wrong.”

How can a lass so bonny be so frustratin’ at the same time?

Liam shook his head but said nothing else. When they finally reached the lake – he tied the horses nearby and began gathering wood for the fire. At the same time, Muriel made her way around the clearing, examining the bushes that surrounded the lake with an interest that Liam found both strange and endearing. The warmth of the fire was a welcome relief from the chill in the air, and he realized for the first time how stiff his fingers had become after holding the reins for so long. For the first time, he wondered if Muriel had been cold all along.

“Come sit by the fire, lass,” he told her as a way to get her warm without expressing immediate concern. Muriel joined him as he held his hands in front of the flames, attempting to get the blood back into them.

“Look what I found,” she said, showing him some berries she had stashed in the folds of her skirt, which Liam regarded with suspicion.

“They’re nae poisonous, are they?”

“Of course, nae,” Muriel said popping one in her mouth. Liam then took one as well; marvelling at the sweetness that burst on his tongue as he bit into it.

Perhaps this willnae be so bad after all.

“I wish to talk to ye about somethin’,” Muriel said then; drawing a pained moan out of him. He already knew what she wanted to tell him — the same thing she had been telling him all along.

Or perhaps I spoke too soon.