The Viper (Highland Guard #4)(56)

Bella stuck her head out the opening. “What seems to be the problem?”

The man, who from his rough clothing and large, muscular frame appeared to be a laborer, acted surprised to see a woman. He bowed deferentially, his manner instantly more anxious. “I’m sorry to disturb you, m’lady. There’s been an accident. The cart carrying our load of logs overturned on the hill above. You should get out of the carriage while your men move it out of the path of the logs.”

“The lady is fine where she is,” one of Sir John’s soldiers said. “Turn the carriage around,” he shouted to the driver.

The carriage moved forward a few feet, rocking slightly as the driver attempted to turn the horses. Then it came to another sudden stop. “Not enough room,” the driver said. “The road is too narrow right here. If one of the wheels gets stuck in the muddy ditch to either side there will be no moving her. I need to back up—”

A loud shout of warning came from the road ahead of them.

“Watch out!” the newcomer shouted to the frozen soldiers, meeting her gaze with a knowing look. “Out of the way. The ropes have snapped.”

Bella didn’t wait to see whether one of the soldiers came for her. She jumped out the back opening of the carriage and ran toward the stranger, who she knew must be one of Lachlan’s men.

She heard a cacophony of sound. The crash of wood and rock as the logs barreled toward them. The terrified neighs and whinnies of the horses. The shouts of soldiers.

In the chaos, Lachlan’s man pulled her to safety behind a tree. No sooner had her feet touched the ground than she was spun around and handed to another man.

This one she recognized. She didn’t need to look at his face. It horrified her to realize that she knew him by touch alone. By the way the air shifted, her stomach fluttered, and every nerve ending stood on end.

God help her for a fool.

Suddenly, her cousin appeared next to her, slipping into the place Bella had just vacated by the tree. Their eyes met from behind the mirroring black veils.

“Take care, cousin,” Margaret said softly.

Tears sprang to her eyes. “Thank you,” Bella whispered, but Lachlan was already dragging her away.

They traveled a few dozen feet before he pulled her into a dense patch of shrubbery.

He held her pinned to his side, tucked under the protective shield of his chest and arms. She couldn’t help herself from leaning into him, savoring—absorbing—his warmth and strength. It had been so long since she’d felt safe. And tucked up against him, his big arm wrapped tightly around her, it was so easy to allow herself a moment of weakness, so easy to forget all that had happened, so easy to believe that she could rely on him. She felt safe and protected for the first time since—

Since the last time he’d held her.

She’d forgotten how strong he was. Forgotten how it felt to have layer upon layer of steel-hard muscle pressed against her. Her heart did a funny little stutter as feminine awareness, long dormant, flared to life. It poured through her veins in a hot molten rush that no force of will could deny. Her breath fell in uneven gasps that she hoped he mistook for exertion.

Her body’s betrayal bothered her. With all that had passed between them, she shouldn’t be feeling like this. She didn’t want to feel anything for him. The death of her husband hadn’t changed anything. Lachlan MacRuairi was as wrong for her today as he had been two years ago.

But she couldn’t force herself to pull away.

“Let’s see if it worked,” he said softly in her ear.

Bella ignored the shiver that ran down her spine and tried to focus on what was happening ahead of them.

The soldiers had recovered quickly. They surrounded Lachlan’s man and immediately relieved him of Margaret. There seemed to be a tense moment of discussion before Margaret said something to one of the soldiers. A moment later, the big man walked away.

Freed of its heavy load, the overturned cart was righted. The logs that had crashed down the hill on a perilous collision course with their party were cleared from the road. Margaret was loaded back into the carriage, which fortunately along with the horses had escaped the onslaught of logs, and not twenty minutes later the party was once again on its way to the convent.

Bella waited for them to pass out of sight before she spoke. “Do you think she’ll be all right?”

Lachlan pulled her to her feet, and then turned her to face him. “I think she’ll be more than all right, I think she’ll be happy. It was your cousin’s wish to do this, Bella. You’ve nothing to feel guilty about.” She didn’t like how easily he’d read her thoughts. He didn’t know her. The connection between them—had it ever existed—had been severed long ago. “You can’t be completely surprised by her decision?”

Bella held his gaze, the striking green eyes that seemed even sharper and more intense than she remembered. Everything about him was more striking than she remembered. His darkly handsome face, his height, his broad, heavily muscled chest and arms.

God, why did it have to be him? Couldn’t Robert have sent someone else for her?

Two years of imprisonment had taken more from her than she wanted to admit, and Lachlan made her feel weak even when she was strong.

She forced herself to consider his question—not the hard, stubbled lines of his jaw or the sensual curve of his sinful mouth. He was right; she wasn’t surprised. If anyone was destined for a convent, it was Margaret. “I can’t stop thinking that someone will find out.”