Page 43 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

“Aye, please,” he said, offering another one of those charming smiles. “I am determined tae ken ye better, me lady, albeit there is already so much tae admire.” As his eyes wandered down her, she felt a need to grasp the nearest shawl and throw it over her shoulders, hiding her body from his view.

“Very well.” She took her hand from his and offered a smile. “Shall we go fer a ride then?”

“A ride?” He seemed somewhat perplexed by the idea, his eyes darting to the nearest lead-lined window and the gray clouds which hovered threateningly beyond. “But it may rain.”

“Even better. Nothing like a dramatic ride, is there?” She clapped her hands together and called to one of the guards to have the horses prepared. Helen was summoned too, who brought Kyven her riding boots and a thick cloak.

Kyven stood on the front step, pulling up the cloak as Laird Shay pulled himself into his saddle. Two guards prepared to ride with them.

“Ye are riding on a day like today, me lady?” Helen whispered as she helped Kyven into the cloak.

“I shall test him, Helen,” Kyven murmured so low, no other could hear her. “If he truly is tae be me match in life, then we must like the same things, tae dae the same things. By the end of today, I shall have determined what he thinks about everything in life. Does he admire art as I dae, or could he at least put up with a wife who talks of great artists and painters all the time? Can he come riding with me when I am feeling low, fer it is how I like tae escape the trauma of the world? Does he like tae read?”

“Will he sit with ye fer hours in that library?” Helen said, almost knowingly.

Kyven froze and turned to face her maid, her eyebrows lifting in a silent question.

“Oh, I just… wondered.” Helen shrugged, as if she had asked the question with no real reason. “Enjoy yer ride, me lady. The guards willnae leave ye alone with Laird Shay. They will always stay close by.”

“Good. I am glad fer it.”

Kyven wished her goodbye and hurried to the horse, pulling herself up and ignoring the hand outstretched from Laird Shay’s advisor who offered to help her up. This was something she needed no help with. She had always been told she could ride as well as any of the soldiers in the castle. In fact, Gilchrist had made such a compliment himself once. He’d stood in the courtyard of the castle as she had returned, with his arms folded and something of an admiring glint in his eyes. Never had she felt so comfortable and content as she had done under Gilchrist’s gaze that day.

“Well, shall we take a slow amble around the estate, me lady?” Laird Shay offered, moving his horse slowly toward her side.

“An amble? Pah!” She laughed deeply at the idea. “I dinnae amble when I ride, me laird. If ye dae wish tae ken me better, then this is something ye should learn about me now. Riding is in me blood, and I’m hard tae slow down once I begin. See if ye can keep up,” she said in challenge, then flicked the reins.

The horse darted off toward the gate, with the two guards so used to her that they were on her tail at once. For some reason, the fact that Laird Shay panicked and struggled to keep up with them, made her smile greatly.

“They went riding all day?” Gilchrist asked at the mess hall in the barracks.

“Aye, Captain,” Myers said, still shoveling pottage into his mouth as he spoke. “Difficult tae keep up with her as she rode. She rode wildly.”

“She always does,” Gilchrist murmured, his eye catching Aaden’s. Gilchrist had lost all interest in eating now. He even pushed his cup of mead away and just hung on the words of Myers and the other young guard who had attended Kyven and Laird Shay on their ride. “Did anything happen?” he said slowly, not wishing to draw suspicion towards him.

“Happen?” the other guard asked between mouthfuls.

“Aye, Barrow,” Gilchrist said a little sharply. “Ye are ordered tae protect our lady. She was quite safe, I trust?”

“Aye, she was.” Barrow nodded, not even looking up from his own bowl. “If ye ask me, she would have been happier if we were nae there.”

“She wished tae be alone with Laird Shay?” Aaden asked the question when Gilchrist couldn’t bring himself to.

“Nay.” Myers shook his head. “I dinnae think she wanted him there either. She rode as if she wanted tae be alone. Took everything we had just tae keep up with her.”

Gilchrist now lifted his goblet to his lips and took the smallest of sips, hiding his smile behind the rim of the cup. This was the Kyven he knew, the one who would rather be riding the mountains than the hills, talking of how she would paint them in the rain, the woman who would infinitely prefer that freedom to sitting in a council meeting. Yet she knew her duty, she always did, it was just that she had a free heart too.

“And Laird Shay?” Gilchrist said eventually. “How did he take tae the ride?”

Myers and Barrow looked up from their bowls for the first time, with amused smiles on their faces.

“And what does that look mean?” Gilchrist added.

“We didnae think that Laird Shay took tae the wild ride so well,” Myers chuckled under his breath. “I think he would have been happier tucked up under a blanket in the castle. He came back shivering, and the two didnae exchange a word as they returned.”

“He had a face like thunder,” Barrow hissed under his breath, as if it was the greatest scandal. “Worse than the weather.”

“Aye, it was.” Myers nodded in agreement.