The Ranger (Highland Guard #3)(61)

“Then why the frown, little one?”

“Why are the men acting like this? Why don’t they thank him? Why are they avoiding him?”

A wry smile turned his mouth. “Are you sure it’s not the other way around, sister? Campbell isn’t exactly known for his sociability. He likes to keep to himself.”

He was right, but there was something more this time. The men were uneasy—almost fearful. When she said as much to her brother, he sighed and shook his head. “Something happened today when the men were scouting. Richard told me about it and probably some of the other men as well. Apparently, Campbell heard the riders well before there was any sign of them. Richard said it was unnatural.”

Any delight she might have felt in having her own suspicions confirmed after what had happened with the wolves paled in comparison to the fury that stormed through her.

Outrage flooded her cheeks with heat. “That’s ridiculous. Don’t they realize that he saved us all? They should be grateful, not casting wild aspersions.”

“I agree, but you know how superstitious Highlanders can be.”

“That doesn’t excuse it.”

“Nay, it doesn’t. I’ll speak with Richard and try to put an end to it.”

Anna drew herself up to her full hand over five feet. “See that you do or I will speak to him myself. I won’t see Sir Arthur shunned for helping us. God’s wounds, Alan! Without that ‘unnatural’ ability we might all be dead.”

Alan gave her a long look, and what he saw there seemed to worry him. He frowned, and rather than admonish her coarse language, he simply nodded his head.

She started to walk away, intent on finding Arthur. Her brother must have guessed her destination.

He called out. “We’ll arrive at Auldearn tomorrow evening, Anna.”

She turned and gave him a quizzical look, puzzled by the non sequitur. “Aye.”

“If you mean to go through with the betrothal, perhaps it would be best if you left him alone.”

She hesitated, hearing the truth in her brother’s words. But she couldn’t. The men’s actions had raised every protective instinct in her body. She had to thank him, even if they would not.

She found him by the loch, seated on a low boulder. He’d bathed. His hair was damp and he wore a simple linen shirt and tunic with his leather chausses. He was bent over, oiling his mail with a cloth, and his expression in profile seemed unusually somber.

She knew he’d heard her, but he didn’t turn around. As she moved closer, she could see what he was cleaning.

Her stomach dropped to her feet. Blood.

Without thinking, she rushed forward, kneeled beside him, and put her hand on his arm. “You’re hurt.”

His gaze lifted to hers, catching in the moonlight. “It’s not mine,” he said.

Relief crashed through her. She exhaled deeply. Though his expression betrayed nothing, she heard a strange emotion in his voice. He almost sounded as if he regretted it. That the death of one of their enemies might have bothered him.

Perhaps it wasn’t as easy for warriors to kill as she’d assumed. At least it wasn’t for him. The realization made him seem somehow more human. More vulnerable.

Sir Arthur Campbell vulnerable? The thought would have made her laugh a few weeks ago.

“You had no choice,” she said softly.

He held her gaze for a moment longer before dropping it to the hand that rested on his arm.

Immediately she became conscious of the intimacy of the warm, hard skin flexing beneath her palm, and she hastily snatched it away. But it didn’t stop the urge to curl up against him and rest her cheek on that broad shield.

He resumed his task in removing the bloodstains from the small, interlocking pieces of steel.

She sat beside him on a lower rock, watching him for a few minutes in silence.

“Why are you here, Anna?”

“I wanted to thank you for what you did today.”

He gave a short shrug, not lifting his gaze from his task. “I was only doing my job. It’s why I’m here.”

She bit her lip, recalling her anger at his interference and skepticism at his motives. “It seems you were right,” she admitted. “I’m grateful for your presence on our journey. We all are.” Her mouth thinned with annoyance. “Though some of the men might have an odd way of showing it.”

His shoulders tensed almost imperceptibly. “What are they saying?”

“That you sensed the riders coming before it was possible to do so.”

He cocked a brow, amused by her attempt to soften the blow. “I’m sure that’s not all they said.”

Her cheeks burned, ashamed for the superstitions of her clansmen. “It’s true, isn’t it? It’s like what happened with the wolves, and when I stumbled off the cliff. You know things before they are going to happen.”

She pleaded with her eyes for him not to lie to her. Not again. He was quiet for so long, she thought he wasn’t going to answer.

“It’s not like that,” he said finally. “It’s more a feeling. My senses are sharper than normal, that’s all.”

“Sharper?” she repeated. “They’re extraordinary.” Her praise only seemed to make him more uncomfortable. “I don’t understand why the men don’t see it. You saved us all.”