Bound by Wish and Mistletoe (Highland Legends #1.5)(4)

His red-haired companion approached. “We’ve secured the pine.”

“Good,” her captor replied, not looking away from her. “We’ll camp here for the night.”

A shiver traveled through her. She did her best not to show the weakness, but his eyes traveled down her body in response to the involuntary action.

“Finish buildin’ the fire, Duncan. Susanna needs the warmth of it.”

Susanna glanced beyond their shelter into the growing darkness as snowflakes fell more closely together. The storm continued to help camouflage her tracks, but if those who pursued her discovered the direction of her escape...

“You canna light a fire!” she shouted.

Duncan looked up from his squatting position and stood, still holding a large piece of wood in his hand. The other man, the one called Seamus, had been unfastening something from the back of a horse but stopped and turned fully toward her. Both men walked closer until they stood just behind her captor.

No one spoke. They merely stared at her as if she’d grown another head atop her shoulders. As the seconds ticked by with not one of them looking away—or blinking—she began to wonder if she had.

Duncan broke the silence. “She supposes to tell the commander how to best handle a situation. Bold.”

“Aye,” Seamus replied, a smirk twitching the corners of his mouth. “She speaks against the great leader of our guard, somethin’ no man has ever dared, let alone a woman.”

Their commander dropped his head, staring at a spot on the ground between her boots and his. He took a deep breath as his jaw muscles clenched. “Do you seek to join her in such folly?”

Both of his men burst into laughter. Duncan clapped his leader on the shoulder as they turned to leave. “Nay, Commander. We merely paused to commit a rare moment to memory.”

She’d had enough of people talking about her as if she wasn’t there. Cloistered her entire existence, she hadn’t dared to speak against a man to his face. But she’d abandoned that life.

A strength rose from deep within her as she vowed to be the liberated woman she had set free in her new world. “I’ll speak to you in any manner I choose. Do you have a name? I tire of callin’ you Highlander, and I refuse to call you Commander.”

He roared with laughter. The rare sound caught her off guard, and her lips twitched. She pressed them into a firm line, furrowing her brow, remembering they were the enemy—all of them.

“Only my men call me Commander.” His lips twisted into a smirk. “You may address me as Commander if you ever choose to show such respect. My friends call me Robert. You held a blade to my throat”—he lifted his fingers and gently touched the spot where a red mark remained—“but I’ll allow any address you choose...for now.”

“Can friends be untied?” she asked, hopeful.

He chuckled. “You misunderstand, lass. I doona keep female friends. Call me Robert if it suits you, but you’re simply a stray lass, and I’m your obligated escort...nothin’ else.”

To her left, his men had a sizable fire started. Much as she longed for its warmth, a daunting anxiety grew within her like the orange flames that licked up from beneath the logs. “They’ll find us,” she said softly, staring into the growing blaze.

Robert drew closer and squatted in front of her. She tore her gaze from the fire and looked into his dark eyes. Light and shadows danced across his features—a strong jaw line, straight nose, dark stubble below chiseled cheek bones—making his face look even more fierce.

“You’re safe from harm now, Susanna. If your father or his men chase you, they’d be fools to do so in this storm. We canna return to the castle ’til the morrow, but you’ll do so under our protection.”

She lifted her bound hands in front of his face. “As a prisoner?”

Robert laughed. “If I unbind your hands, will you promise not to injure my men or flee?”

He asked a lot. She could guarantee neither. The only promise she’d ever made had been to her mother, and she intended to keep her word at all costs. One thing she’d grown adept at, however, was lying.

“You hesitate too long. Friend.” He winked and tapped a finger to the tip of her nose. “Maybe we’ll release you once you get those wild ideas out of your head.”

She snapped her teeth at his extended finger, but he yanked it out of her reach.

“Be careful, Susanna. I’ll easily bind that luscious mouth of yours as well.”

Her jaw dropped open. She snapped it shut. With her recent luck, one vicious retort would tempt him to make good on his threat the instant she let her thoughts fly free.

He waited, watching her, but she returned her gaze to the fire, acting uninterested in any further communication with him.

She sighed. If only she’d angled her mare a degree to the east or the west, she wouldn’t have come across a soul. A straight ride for a day or two, unseen by anyone, and she would’ve never been under the power of another man again.

By stumbling across Robert and his men, she’d inadvertently dashed her hopes of guaranteed freedom. What she’d been left with were chances. Earlier today she’d seized upon a chance to escape certain doom from her father. She’d simply have to keep steadfast watch for another opportunity.

“Are you hungry?” Robert asked.