Page 9 of Scot of Seduction

Tad looked around at the horses now snorting in nervousness. The three soldiers that were accompanying him all looked at the storm too. Perched behind him on a horse, flanked by two of the soldiers, Catreena’s attention was in quite another place. She was the only one attempting to soothe her horse. She ran her fingers down the thick mane of hair and spoke soft words to the mare. At once, her horse stopped snorting, unlike the others who all grew restless. One soldier gripped the reins tight to halt the horse from acting out, as another horse dug his hooves into the ground, clearly reluctant to carry on any further in their journey.

“How far away are we?” Catreena asked, clearly reading his thoughts though she did not look at him as she spoke. For some reason, it irked him. His stomach knotted tight as he looked at her, waiting for her to lift her gaze.

Her blond hair was tucked into its usual updo, with just two loose locks framing those soft cheeks. She had a warm fur hooked loosely over her head and around her shoulders, to ward off the chill of the air. The fact the fur was anchored to her waist by a belt that accented her curves wasn’t helping matters. He dragged his gaze away from her waist.

“Too far,” he admitted reluctantly. “Had it been a fair May day, an hour or two’s ride at most…” He trailed off as more lightning flashed in the distance and a second bout of thunder rumbled. The horses were even more restless this time in response. Tad’s steed threatened to buck, and he had to tighten his hold on the reins to keep him in check. As one of the other soldiers broke their line because of his horse acting up, Tad saw that again, Catreena was the only one able to manage her horse.

She whispered something soft to the mare, and Tad felt a stirring in his gut. He couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to hear Catreena whisper soft things to him for a change, instead of the fury she always threw his way.

“The path will be too boggy tae pass quickly,” one of the soldiers spoke up.

“Aye, ye are right.” Tad knew it well. The fastest road between Catreena’s clan and his own would be half underwater by now because of this heavy rain. The prospect of taking a second route in this storm was no fine thing either. It would be a long and hard slog. They would also be vulnerable out on that open road.

He glanced back at Catreena. He couldn’t risk taking her to a road where they would be so open to an ambush.

“We’ll have tae stop for the night.”

“What?” Catreena spluttered, looking up at last, those blue eyes wide. “We cannae stop. Ye expect us tae camp out here in this storm?”

There was a third flash of light, and the rain reached them at last. The clouds which had been inching ever closer to their position were now firmly overhead. Rain poured down, making the horses’ behavior even worse than before.

“Funnily enough, little Cat, I am nae so great a fool.” Tad turned his horse around with some difficulty. “We’ll go intae a village nearby. They have an inn where I have stayed before.

“But –”

“It isnae open for discussion, Catreena.”

“Oh, aye, I see how it is.” She flicked the reins of her horse and hurried to catch up with him, her cheeks now flushing red as the rainwater ran off her furs and across her face. “Ye see yerself in the place of me braithers now, dae ye? Ye intend tae give me orders as well?”

Tad didn’t know how to answer. He just looked at her instead, watching as she actually reared back a little in response to that look.

“I am nae yer braither,” he said after a few seconds of riding in silence. “But I willnae let any harm come tae ye, and that means, resting fer the night.”

“That means treating me like a child, doesnae it?” she countered back, raising her eyebrows.

Was that what I was daeing?

She urged the horse on again and suddenly shot down the hill path toward the village. Angered, he raced to catch up with her. Even his soldiers had a hard time keeping pace. When they reached the village, Catreena slowed her pace, allowing him to draw level. Their horses fell into step as they looked about the roads. Great puddles were running between the houses like a bubbling river, a sign of what worse effects were yet to come from the storm. People shot inside, disappearing behind doors, eager to escape the rain.

At the end of the road, a wooden sign swung in the strong breeze outside of an old inn. The Black Wolf, with a painted wolf’s face on the sign, didn’t look the most inviting of establishments, but it would have to do for tonight.

“I’ll tie up the horses,” Tad began, turning to Catreena and offering his hand to take the reins as she stepped down from the horse.

“That will take too long. We’ll be quicker if I dae it meself.” She rounded the building fast, heading to the stable. Tad trailed after her, the soldiers behind him. By the time he had finished tacking up his own horse, she was long done. Again, her horse looked the most comforted, the mare’s nose turned toward Catreena as she softly drew her hand down the horse’s neck.

Tad stared at those trailing fingers longer than he should have done. He was thinking about those fingers trailing elsewhere, places they should not be.

“Ye’re dawdling,” Catreena called, the first to leave the stable.

Tad exchanged a humored looked with his soldiers. They all tittered then followed her out of the stable, back up to the inn.

They stepped in through the door, a sudden heat greeting them with a warm yellow light. Three fires had been lit in one room and each table shone in the light of a candle. Drunken faces turned to look curiously at them. When more than one set of hungry eyes lingered on Catreena, Tad’s hand curled around his belt.

That simple action was enough to make most look away.

One man was not so dissuaded though. As Tad turned to the innkeeper, ready to talk and discuss a room for the night, the man lumbered up to Catreena’s side.

“Nay thank ye,” she said before the man could even part his lips to speak. She turned her head away. Dismissed, the man retreated across the bar again.