Highland Wolf (Highland Brides #10)(3)
A moment of silence followed his announcement as both men turned stunned gazes to Claray sleeping peacefully in his lap.
“But—” Payton began, and then paused and simply shook his head, apparently not having the words to express his amazement.
“She’s slept quite a while,” Roderick said suddenly, a touch of concern in his voice. “Is she ailing?”
Conall stiffened at the suggestion, his gaze moving over her face. She looked pale to him, with dark bruising under her eyes that suggested exhaustion. Concern now slithering through him, he shifted his mount’s reins to the hand he’d wrapped around her to keep her on his horse, then used the back of his now free hand to feel her forehead. Much to his relief, she didn’t feel overly warm. But his touch apparently stirred her from sleep. Her lids lifted slowly, long lashes sweeping upward to reveal eyes the blue of a spring morning, and then she blinked at him before abruptly sitting up to glance around.
“Are we stopping?” Her voice was soft and still husky with sleep as she took in their surroundings.
Conall opened his mouth, intending to say, “Nay,” but what came out was, “Do ye need to, lass?” as he realized she might wish to relieve herself after so long in the saddle. Actually, he could do with a stop for the same reason.
Claray turned a shy smile to him, and nodded with obvious embarrassment. “’Tis the truth, Laird Wolf, I do.”
Conall blinked at the name he’d battled under for the last twelve years, surprised that she knew even that much about who he was, but then shifted his gaze to survey the landscape around them. He’d come this way often and knew exactly where he was and what lay ahead. Lowering his eyes to her once more, he said, “There’s a river no’ far ahead if ye can wait just a few moments. But if yer need is urgent, we can just stop here.”
Claray considered the trees bordering either side of the path they were on, and then peered over his shoulder and stiffened, her eyes widening.
It made Conall glance over his shoulder as well. He had no idea what had startled her so. The only thing behind them were his men. But then perhaps that was what had overset her. There had only been the three of them and her when they’d ridden out of Kerr. She’d been asleep by the time they’d met up with his warriors who had been waiting in the woods around Kerr while he, Payton and Roderick had ridden in to get a lay of the situation. In the end, they hadn’t needed the men, so it was good he’d left them behind. He suspected an entire army riding up to the keep would have got an entirely different welcome than just he and his two friends had received.
Turning back to Claray, he raised his eyebrows in question. “Here or the river?”
“I can wait ’til we reach the river,” she assured him quickly, and then managed a smile. “I’d like to splash some water on me face to help wake meself up ere I tend to other business.”
Nodding, Conall tightened his arm around her and urged his horse to a gallop, leaving the others behind. Moments later he was reining in next to a river that was really just one step up from a babbling brook. Claray seemed pleased, however, and flashed him a smile before sliding under his arm to drop from his mount. She did it so quickly that Conall didn’t get the chance to even attempt to help her down, and then he dismounted himself and headed into the woods on the other side of the clearing to water the dragon.
When he returned a couple moments later it was to find that the others had caught up. Roderick, Payton and Conall’s first, Hamish, were waiting in the small clearing by his mount, while the rest of the men were gathering on the path beside it, some dismounting to wander into the woods on the opposite side of the trail to take care of their own business, others watching the horses.
“Where’s Lady Claray?” Payton asked as Conall walked to his horse.
Conall nodded toward the trees she’d disappeared into as he mounted.
Payton’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Ye let her go off into the woods by herself?”
Settling in the saddle, Conall glanced to him with surprise. “O’ course I did. She’s tending personal needs and would no’ want an escort for that. Besides, ’tis no’ as if she’s like to get lost.”
“Aye, but . . .” Payton grimaced, and then asked, “What if she tries to escape?”
The suggestion amazed him. “Why would she try to escape? We came to save her.”
It was Roderick who said, “Mayhap. But ye said ye’d had no chance to explain, so she does no’ ken that. She may flee out o’ fear o’ what ye plan to do with her.”
Conall frowned at those words in Roderick’s deep rumble. The man was not much for talking. Which was why when he did speak Conall, and anyone else who knew him, listened.
“She did no’ seem afraid,” Conall muttered, his eyes scouring the woods Claray had disappeared into. He was now worrying over the fact that she hadn’t yet returned, and fretting over whether she hadn’t burst into a run the moment she’d got out of sight and was even now trying to fight her way through the forest.
“Nay, she did no’ seem afraid,” Payton agreed, but sounded more troubled by the knowledge than relieved before asking worriedly, “Does that seem right to ye? I mean, ye did just scoop her up away from her uncle and ride off with her moments ere she was to marry another.”
“She was to marry Maldouen MacNaughton,” Conall reminded him grimly, still disgusted by the very idea. “The man’s a lying, conniving, murdering bastard.”