Page 46 of In Bed with a Highland Brute

“Harper, ye can. Trust me,” Eloise called to her. “On me count, are ye ready?”

“Nay.” Harper closed her eyes and dropped her chin.

Eloise clamped down on the frustration in her gut. Harper’s fear may have been annoying at this time, that she couldn’t even bring herself to walk around a tree because of her terror, but Eloise had to remind herself that fear could play all sorts of tricks on a mind.

“Trust me,” Eloise pleaded again. Slowly, she stepped forward, trying not to spook the snake. With the branch stretched out, she was ready to strike.

“Eloise, please, be careful,” Harper whispered.

“Stay quiet,” Eloise begged. “We dinnae wish tae be too loud in case we spook it too soon.” Her intention was to bat the snake away, frightening it so much it would have no choice but to slither into the undergrowth and look for cover.

“Eloise!” Harper abruptly shouted her name.

I said be quiet!

Before Eloise could even swing the branch at the adder, it lurched back, the lower half of its body coiling up even more than before. Its head turned and struck out in Eloise’s direction. She could not get away fast enough and it reached up toward her, going for her leg. Eloise backed up, but the snake managed to reach her ankle. He dug his jaws into it, shooting such pain into her body that it radiated up her leg.

“Ahh!” an unearthly scream erupted from Eloise.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Murdoch jerked up his chin at the sound. The others did the same, all turning to look across the loch, where Callie and Aila were returning from their flower picking, arm in arm. The guards moved to their feet, also startled by that scream, but none were as fast as Murdoch who was already on his feet.

“What was that?” Clyde asked, reaching for his belt.

“It was Eloise.” Murdoch knew her voice, even in such depths of fear.

He raced away, jumping and leaping over the rocks at the side of the loch. He passed Callie and Aila who had already spun on their heels and turned back in the direction of where the scream had come from.

“Eloise?” Murdoch shouted for her, needing another call from her to know exactly where to run.

“She’s here,” Harper’s voice answered him instead.

Murdoch darted between two Douglas firs, his hand reaching for the weapons at his belt, in case an attacker was lurking between those tree trunks. He halted, skidding to a stop when he saw what had actually happened.

Eloise had staggered back against a tree, standing on one foot as she raised the other in the end. Harper waved a mad hand at the grass nearby.

“There may be more, dinnae came too near.”

“More what?” Murdoch cried, hurrying to Eloise’s side.

Her face was red, the sinews in her neck taut as she tipped her chin back, seeming in unimaginable pain.

“The snake!” Harper shouted loudly.

Murdoch took hold of Eloise’s waist, dragging her away from the tree.

“Ow,” she muttered. “It bit me.”

“What? Where?” He lifted her easily, into his arms. The skirt of her gown fell down past her knee, revealing her ankle that was now bright red, with two puncture marks across the skin. “In the name of the wee man. My father’s note warned us about adders.”

“Adders?” Callie’s voice sounded as she appeared behind him. “Quick, let me see.” She examined the wound, reaching for Eloise’s ankle.

At once, Eloise winced, apparently the light touch making the pain worse. When she turned her head toward Murdoch’s shoulder, hiding against him, he held her tighter. The pain was clearly unbearable, yet she was gritting her teeth and trying to contend with it as much as she possibly could.

“Harper, what sort of snake was it?” Avery had appeared along with the others and moved toward her. Clyde walked straight to Harper’s side and took her arm, pulling her away from the tree where she cowered. “Was it an adder?”

“Adders can have different markings. They can indicate the strength of the venom,” Callie went on, never once looking up from the wound.