Bound by Wish and Mistletoe (Highland Legends #1.5)(6)
Robert stared at her with an intensity that made her breath catch.
Nervous, she glanced toward Duncan and Seamus, but they’d already settled onto their plaids, each man facing outward, their backs to the fire. Both happened to be directly between her and her horse. Even if she managed to slip by Robert, she doubted his men would sleep through any escape attempt.
Since she had no choice, she tried to accept her present circumstances. That his men appeared to have no interest in her personally encouraged her. Robert showing her attention, but doing so with a respect she’d only seen from her clansmen toward her father...puzzled her.
With a crackling thud, the fire-decayed logs fell, settling into the red glow below. One of the logs reignited in dancing orange flames. Weary from the eventful day, she gazed up into the dark forest canopy. Lush, green pine branches guarded their small party for the night, shielding them from a wind that swirled tiny snowflakes into the darkness beyond.
“Susanna.”
She glanced back at Robert as he lowered down a bite of cheese that he’d apparently held out to her while she’d been daydreaming.
“You’ve nothin’ to fear from us. We’re not brutes like Broc MacEalan. No harm will come to you.”
So he does know of my father.
The harshness of Robert’s dark features softened. His eyes held tenderness, like Mama’s. She shook her head, refusing to believe Robert’s words and actions. Men were born as selfish, hateful creatures. Mama had said so. Warnings had been drilled into Susanna for her own protection, and she’d clung to those rules and beliefs, because she’d needed them to survive with each breath pulled into her lungs.
“Aye, Susanna,” he continued. “I doona know what demons you’ve had to fight, but the nightmare ends tonight. No man will ever harm you again.”
As a rising fear took hold, she blinked and gazed deep into his eyes. He professed things that made her nervous. The calm, low tone of his voice and his serious expression frightened her in a new way, causing an unsettling flutter in her chest.
She closed her eyes and shook her head harder, shutting out the unbidden anxiety floating from her belly into her throat.
His warm hand gently curved over both of hers, and she opened her watery eyes. Angry at her uncontainable reactions, she blinked away the hot tears.
Robert lifted his other hand and caught a falling tear with a feather’s touch. “I’ll protect you, Susanna,” he vowed.
At his words and the unexpected caress, all of her thoughts clarified into a single point. She swallowed hard as a suspicion of his intentions hit her. Her voice fell to a whisper. “And who will protect me from you?”
CHAPTER THREE
Robert let the startling question hang between them—for he had no answer to give. He stared in awe at a creature more like an angry bird with a broken wing than a prowling cat in a ball gown. She bore a determination found in the best of his men, yet she harbored a past that she’d fled from at all costs.
Never in his life had he felt compelled to protect a woman beyond his role as commander. A heart that had only ever thundered for his clan suddenly stuttered, and he needed to ease the burning ache developing in his chest.
With quiet patience, he again lifted the cheese that he held between his fingers, and Susanna opened her mouth obediently. Her many darted glances toward her horse told him she would flee at the first opportunity. The fear she held was so great, she remained a danger to him, to his men, and to herself.
After Susanna chewed and swallowed the last bite of food, she quenched her thirst again with water, cradling the bottom of the pouch with her fingers while he held it to her lips.
Her gaze drifted away from him as he brushed the crumbs from her plaid, and she straightened her spine, leaning toward the dying fire. The unforgiving cold night crept in, burrowing past his cloak and through his linen shirt. Although she had his plaid wrapped around her, the dress she wore beneath had to still be damp from her fruitless battle in the snowbank. He sighed and drew her down, curling her body against his, facing away from the horses and his men. She struggled from the moment of contact, bucking against his hold.
“Shhh...I only intend to prevent your freezin’ to death in the night.” He wrapped an arm over both of hers, caging her, ensuring if she made a single move while he slept, he’d stop her before she made the second.
An exasperated sigh escaped her lips, but the muscles in her body eased, and she relaxed back into his chest. As she stilled against him, he tucked a folded arm beneath his head. The pull of exhaustion tugged at him, and he gave in to the luring fall of sleep, knowing the men at his back would alternate guard through the night. At his front, the woman in his arms had calmed, secured for the moment. The deep ravine beyond her provided all of them a natural barrier to danger in the darkness.
*
First light filtered a glow through Robert’s eyelids. He awoke to Susanna snuggled into his side, facing him while she remained sound asleep. Her full pink lips were slightly parted, her chest rising and falling in gentle rhythm. Her fierce edge had been tamed in the comfort of his arms—even if it was because she was unconscious.
He’d never seen a more attractive woman. Angered or pacified.
The women who’d relentlessly pursued him had always pressed into his arms, argued among their peers over who had the rights to a dance, or schemed throughout their day to bump into him. Literally. He’d always seen through their ruse and had grown tired of women—had quite vocally sworn off women—in an attempt to stem the tide. His clansmen had laughed, giving sometimes sarcastic, but mostly empathetic, condolences. The women only persevered, seeing an even greater challenge.