Page 58

Allie smiled. “Are you saying you have difficulty restraining yourself when you’re this close to me?” Of course, she knew the answer. Reveled in it.

“Aye, lass. Very much so.”

“Hmmm,” she said, taking a step toward him. “Then would you mind if I—”

He jumped back from her touch so quickly that Allie forgot her game for a moment. “How do you move so quickly?”

Reid tossed his training sword next to hers on the ground.

“You mean, like this?” He took off running toward the dovecote.

Allie followed, but when she arrived at the old building, he was nowhere to be seen. She looked inside and around the back, but—

“Ahhh!” she shrieked when a hand caught her waist from behind.

A moment later, when Reid pressed her back up against the stone building, her heart quickened for an entirely different reason.

“Reid, you scared me,” she said.

“And you, my dear Allie, do the same with me.”

She reached up to tuck an errant strand of his hair back in place. His side was pressed up against her, but he did not attempt to come any closer.

“Tell me,” she coaxed, the playfulness of the previous moment forgotten. “Why do you show me and no one else?”

He knew exactly what she meant—she could see it in his expression.

“A good question, lass.”

She blinked, waiting. He wasn’t going to answer.

“Tell me something,” she said, “something I do not know.”

As Reid contemplated her words, Allie contented herself by listening to the soft sound of rustling leaves in the distance. Some small animal, perhaps? Otherwise, she could hear only Reid’s breathing.

“Do you know anything of my family?”

“Very little,” she said honestly. “I know you have a sister and two brothers, and that Toren is chief.”

“And became so after my father died in battle. I was the only one of my brothers who was not there with him that day, as I was just ten and three. Toren and Alex . . .”

“Are older,” she finished.

“They could have taken me with them,” he said, “but they did not.”

He wasn’t looking at her any longer. After a moment of silence, she asked, “And your mother? Graeme said she came back into your lives.”

Reid’s eyes met hers again. “Aye, two summers ago. She left after my father was killed. Abandoned us, or so we believed. Alex would never let it go. Every so often, he would ride out to England to look for her.”

That surprised her. “Your mother is English?”

“It seems my father began a family tradition,” he said. “Aye, she is English.”

She had so many questions. How could a mother have abandoned her children at such a time? And how could they have forgiven her for it?

“You see, she was betrothed to a cruel man before she married my father. After she was widowed, this man came to Scotland and threatened her. He told her he would kill all of her children if she did not return with him.”

“Kill you?”