The Highlander's Secret(25)
He saw her gulp and nod before looking up at him. “I understand.”
“Promise me ye’ll never do anything like that again.”
“I promise.”
Alan sighed and rested his hands upon his hips. “Let me go talk with yer da, I’ll be right back.”
Jain did what he asked and waited in the mossy glen for him to jog up the hill and speak with Eamon. Her father was still grumbling when Alan made it back and had the horses reins still wrapped around his hand. “Well?” he asked.
“She’s pretty upset,” Alan told him. “I understand that what she did is unacceptable, but mayhap I could talk her down fer ye.”
Eamon sighed. “If anyone else had asked me thus, my answer would have been nae. I’m not one to let my daughter ride off with anyone she pleases. However, I trust ye and I believe ye’re a man of honor. I ken ye have a special relationship with Jain and I ken ye’ll keep her safe. Take one of the horses from my stable and give her a ride across the moor – she’d like that.”
“Thank ye, Eamon. I promise to keep her safe. We’ll be back as soon as I can talk some sense into her.”
He walked over to the stables and retrieved the gray mare, Bess, hitching her up with tack and reins before climbing on her back. Alan clicked his tongue and urged it forward, trotting down the hill. Jain’s wide green eyes observed him when he approached, full of questions, and reached out his hand towards her. “Come with me.”
She took Alan’s hand and let him pull her onto the horse behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. When Jain was secure he tugged lightly on the reins and set the horse into a gallop. He could feel her begin to relax against him, resting her head against his back and her breathing became slow and even.
The wind whipped past them as they rode across the moors with their horse’s hooves thundering across the rocky hills. Soon, the smell of salt tinged the air around them and Alan knew they were at the coast. He brought the horse to a stop at the crest of a hill overlooking the rocky shoreline.
Neither of them spoke until Alan had dismounted from the horse and lifted Jain down to the earth as well. When her feet hit the ground, she looked up at him and smiled, but did not release him from the contact where he was touching her. In spite of his feelings for her, Alan withdrew and stepped away from her embrace.
“Jain, we need to talk about what happened.”
He noticed her jaw become tense as she cast her eyes away from him and out towards the sea. “What do ye want me to say?”
Alan felt his anger rise. “Jain, I understand why ye did it, but ye cannae behave like that. Especially, not around Conrad. What if Eamon hadn’t shown up when he did, or if I hadn’t been there to protect ye? I dinnae think I need to explain how dangerous it is to provoke a man like that – he could have hurt ye. As much as I admire that fire inside ye, ye’ve got to learn how to temper that and reel it in.”
“I just, I dinnae care anymore,” she muttered. “I dinnae care what happened to me. Conrad’s a disgusting human being and he deserved everything he got.”
Alan gritted his teeth in frustration and stormed over to where she stood, taking her face within his hands. “Damn yer pride, woman! Would ye just listen to what I’m saying?”
Before she could respond, Alan’s lips came down on her. He wasn’t thinking, the impulse just overtook him suddenly and then they were melting into one another.
Their mouths fought for dominance, caught in a delicious battle that Alan hoped would never end. It wasn’t how he intended their first kiss to happen, but it was everything he wanted it to be. She leaned into him and responded, placing her hands against his waist and kissing him back with equal vigor. When both of them were breathless, Alan released her with a sigh and placed his forehead against hers.
“What am I going to do with ye?”
She chuckled softly while panting to catch her breath.
“I need ye to understand the danger ye put yerself in today,” he murmured. “… please be careful.”
Jain nodded in stiff agreement as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I promised to hear ye out about what happened, so now I’m listening. What did Conrad say to ye?”
Her lips pursed into a line before responding. “He said I was like a horse that needed to be broken. Then he practically threatened to rape me and insisted I’d enjoy it.”
Alan’s fury raged when he heard her say it. “I could break his neck for saying that,” he told her. “But it has to be me or yer da that does it, do ye understand? It has to be one of us. Conrad could rip ye in half if he wanted – ye cannae antagonize him, nae matter what he says.”
“I understand.”
When he looked over at her, Jain was staring off into the waves with a bittersweet smile on her lips. The wind coming off the sea caused her red hair to dance in the salty breeze.
“I haven’t been here since I was little,” she told him in a quiet voice. “Eamon never brought me back to the shore, he thought it would be too painful. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve always felt this connection to the sea. There’s something about it that I find soothing, like how ye feel about the stars. The water extends fer as far as the eye can see, beyond the horizon—it’s free. Yet, the waves always come back to the same place and wash up on the shore.”