Highlander's Captive (10 page)

“But I do not need protecting for this,” she insisted once again as he propelled her out the door. “I need privacy.”

“You need both, and I will see that you have both.”

She yanked her arm free and dropped the bucket. “You are a stubborn man who—”

“Intends to keep you safe,” he finished, and then took hold of her shoulders and turned her toward the side of the house and gave her a slight shove. “Now go see to your needs. The light is fading and it grows colder.”

She hurried off mumbling beneath her breath, knowing it was useless arguing with him. It took her a few moments to find a good spot and the brief delay had him calling out to her.

“I am fine. I will be a few minutes.”

“Call out to me when you are done,” he ordered.

For some reason, she smiled. She was not sure why, but that had been the way of it since meeting Torr. At times she found herself feeling happier than she had been in a long time and for no good rhyme or reason.

Love.

She shook her head. This was no time to be thinking about love. She finished what she had to do and turned, then turned back again. Something had caught her eye in the distance by a tree. She strained to see what it was and when she could not quite make it out, she took a few steps closer. When it still was not visible enough, she took several more steps and suddenly froze.

A pair of eyes stared at her from between the branches and she turned and ran, screaming out for Torr as she did.

Torr bolted around the cottage as soon as he heard Wintra scream out his name in terror. His blood ran cold as she continued screaming his name, and he swore to himself that he would never let her go off alone again.

She flew into his arms as he ran to meet her.

“A man! A man!” she said through quick breaths. “Watching me.”

Torr scanned the surrounding area and wondered why the man had not followed her, unless he was reporting back to someone in which case they would not be able to stay here, or perhaps he was simply a traveler on his own. He needed to determine for himself what was going on.

“Show me where you saw him,” he said to Wintra and took hold of her hand.

She nodded and gripped his hand tightly as she led him back to the spot, coming to a halt a few feet away. She shook her head. “He is still there.”

“Where?” Torr asked glancing around.

Wintra pointed as she walked. “He has not moved.”

Torr could see the man now and he knew with one glance that he was dead.

Wintra stopped a few feet away. “I think he is dead.”

“So do I,” Torr agreed. “Do you want to wait here while I have a look?”

She shook her head and held on to his hand. “No, I want to stay with you.”

They walked together to the man and stood and stared for a moment. Then Torr released her hand and pulled the man back from where he was braced between the trees. He laid him on the ground, though the man’s limbs remained frozen in the same position they had been in.

“I don’t know which one did him in, the stomach wound or the cold,” he said and turned to Wintra. She was as pale as the freshly fallen snow, and Torr silently cursed himself for letting her see the dreadful scene.

He hurried over to her, wrapping his arm around her and turning her away from the dead man.

But she shook her head, slipped out of his arms, and turned around, pointing to the man, though found it hard to speak.

Torr slipped his arm around her waist. “What’s wrong? Tell me?”

Wintra took a deep breath and shivered. “He is one of the men who had been with Owen when he rescued me from my abductors.”

Wintra sat by the hearth rubbing her cold hands together and staring at the flames. She could not get them warm enough, and she could not get the vision of the wide-eyed, dead man out her mind.

She jolted when Torr wrapped his hands around hers and started rubbing them. He had moved his chair closer to hers, and she did not hesitate to lean against him. She would crawl into his lap if she could. The strength of him combined with his tenderness was a comfort she more than favored and could use right now, but then curiosity reared its head and questions sprang forth spilling from her lips.

“What do you think happened to him? And why was he alone? Owen had said that his men were needed at his home and that was why they had to leave us. But this area is not anywhere near Owen’s home, so where did those men who were with Owen when he found us suddenly come from?”

Her pale cheeks had brightened pink, her wit was quick, and her curiosity as strong as ever, and he was glad to see it. She had paled so badly when she had stared at the dead man that he had thought she might faint. He had kept a strong arm around her waist, her feet barely touching the snow when he had rushed her back to the cottage.

“He met with them in the woods the morning I stole you away from him,” Torr said feeling it was time she knew about what he had seen.

She sat up straight. “Why would he do that? Why not have them come directly to our camp and who are they?” She continued as if searching for the answers. “And why send his other warriors home—unless.” Her eyes turned wide. “The warriors who left were not his warriors.” She shook her head, as if trying to make sense of it all. “What were Owen’s intentions?”

“It would appear they were quite different than what he led you to believe,” Torr said, Owen’s deception a growing concern to him.

“My brother will see to clearing this up and see to Owen,” she said with confidence.

“He will at that,” Torr agreed.

She slipped her hands out of his and turned to stare at the flames.

Torr did not disturb her. He understood that she needed time with her thoughts, so he let her be.

He was surprised when only a short time later she turned and said to him, “I think it would be better if you took me home as soon as possible. There is no telling what Owen will do or say and without being there to defend myself, I fear what may happen.”

“As you wish,” he said thinking the same himself. “We can leave at first light.”

“How long until we reach home?”

“Five or more days, depending on the weather and our stamina.” He did not add that it also depended on whether they ran across Owen and his men.

She nodded and turned her attention back to the flames.

Supper was quiet, neither having anything to say, though Torr urged Wintra to eat.

“I do not know when we will have our next meal. You should eat more to help sustain your strength,” he urged.

“My stomach cannot abide another piece,” she insisted and shook her head. “My brother will be disappointed in me. I have made a fool of myself and that reflects on him.”

“There is no way your brother would ever be disappointed in you and, in the end, it is Owen who will look the fool.”

“You are a good man and you have been good to me, and I thank you for that. And I wish to say something, though I hope I am not making more of a fool of myself yet again, but since I find it easy to talk with you, I thought I could—” She shook her head, and then the words rushed from her mouth. “I think I may have fallen in love with you.”

He felt a squeeze to his heart, a punch to his gut, and he was struck silent, though it did not matter since she went right on talking.

“I do not know anything of love, but I do know that I miss you when you are not near me and I tingle when you are near me, and I love when you kiss me, whether it be a quick or a lingering one. And I wonder now if it will ever be possible to sleep without you by my side.

“You must understand that this is all so strange to me. I have only met you, so how could I possibly be in love with you? And yet I feel that love has struck me good and solid, and I have no idea what to do about it. And there, I have said what I have meant to and you—” She stopped abruptly as if words suddenly failed her or she ran out of them, or perhaps it was that she feared his response.

Torr stood and walked over to her, turning her chair around, with her still in it, and hunched down in front of her. “Marry me, Princess, for I feel the same about you.”

While her eyes turned wide with delight, her words were more cautious. “What if we are wrong? What if it is not love?”

“I do not want to live without you. I would miss your stubborn nature too much,” he said with a chuckle.

She gave him playful punch in the shoulder. “I am not stubborn.”

“It is your choice. Marry me. I promise you that I will see that we have a good life together.”

“This is foolish,” she said, though did not want to believe that. She wanted to listen to her body that tingled all over, her heart that beat wildly, and her stomach that fluttered with delight.

“Then we will be foolish together.” He kissed her quick. “If I linger kissing you, then we will end up in that bed together, and I will make you my wife this night.”

Did she dare let him?

“Again, the choice is yours, but know I would be proud to call you, wife.”

It was so tempting to simply fall into his arms and surrender to love, though her once foolish actions had her not only hesitating, but recalling aloud something similar to what Torr had once said to her in regards to Owen. “If you truly love me, you will wait and speak with my brother and arrange a proper marriage.”

He smiled. “My own words return to haunt me.”

She placed a gentle hand to his cheek. “They are wise words, and as much as I want—and I do want—to have you make me your wife this night, I also want it to be right between us. I want to know for sure that you love me.”

“As I said, Princess, your choice, but know this—you are mine and always will be.” His hand went to the back of her head and eased it forward as he brought his lips to meet hers.

If his words had not convinced her, his kiss did. And it did not take long before she had to force herself to break away and gently shove at his chest, needing distance from him.

Her teeth nibbled at her lower lip to try and stop the deliciously spine-tingling throb he had left upon her lips. She closed her eyes against it and the sinful, but oh so lovely, sensations that ran through her. If she was not careful, she would find herself dragging him to the bed and—she shook her head. She had made the mistake of thinking herself in love with Owen. And now here she was thinking herself in love again. She could not be foolish again. This time she must be sure.

She grabbed her dress off her lap and pressed it tightly against her chest, and stood. “I need to put my dress on.”

Torr did not say anything. He did not have to. Passion smoldered in his eyes, and he quickly turned his back to her. “You will save that dress, for one night I will rip it off you again.”

She not only shivered, she grew wet at the thought. And God forgive her, she looked forward to that time.

Wintra hurried out of her shift and into her dress that was not completely finished being repaired, but would have to do. She had managed to stitch closed part of the rip from top to mid-thigh. Her shift would cover the rest.

“You can turn now,” she said when she finished.

Torr turned slowly, his blue eyes heavily burdened. “I want you to remember one thing. No matter what happens I love you and nothing will change that.”

“How do you know for sure that you love me?”

He laughed. “Only you would ask for proof.”

“We barely know each other. How could love have hit us so fast?” She did not truly want to question it, yet she could not help but question it. Could she truly believe that love could strike as fast as lightening? It seemed so unlikely, and yet here she was in love, or so she believed, and did she dare believe?

Lord, she was confused, but wasn’t that what love did—confuse?

“I have no answer for you. I cannot explain it. I do not understand it myself, and I do not want to. I simply want to enjoy it, revel in it, and know—not how or why—it is real.”

He accepted how he felt without reservation. Wasn’t that love? Shouldn’t she accept how she felt and not question it or him, but rather enjoy the love she had found, or rather the love that had found her?

“I want to believe that, I truly do, but I seriously misjudged Owen, so how then can I be sure that I am not misjudging—”

He interrupted her, stepping closer, and his arm went around her waist as he said, “I am not Owen promising you sweet nothings. I am a man who, to his great surprise, has fallen in love with you.”

He loved her, but was stunned over the revelation, which had her asking, “Why surprised?”

“I was on a mission for your brother, not on a mission to find love,” he said, shaking his head as if in disbelief.

“So you are as baffled about this as I am?”

“Baffled? I suppose that fits well with love, since love, at least from what I have observed, can certainly confuse.” Torr pressed a firm finger to her lips before she could respond. “The only thing I want to hear from you right now is yes or no to my proposal that we wed. The rest we will sort out as we go.”

Her lovely eyes held a hundred questions, and she appeared to struggle for a response.

“Yes, or no,” he warned, “or I will kiss you senseless, and it will be you who drags me to that bed and demand I make love to you.”

Her eyes rounded wide and a blush tinted her cheeks.

He leaned his head down and whispered in her ear, “Your whole body will blush when I make love to you.”

She squeezed her eyes tight against the hungry tingles that ravaged her body. They nipped and feasted ravenously at her most intimate places. Even though she would have preferred to simply let the tingles devour her into surrendering, she had to do this right. She had to make amends for her debacle with Owen. And if it was truly love, then she and Torr could wait, for love would not disappear. It would only grow stronger.

Reluctantly, but firmly, Wintra stepped away from Torr. And just as reluctantly, he let her go.

“I want to say yes, my heart tells me to say yes—” She shook her head. “So I do not know why I hesitate in giving you an answer.”

“I will wait. Answer me when you are ready.”

“What if—”

“No what if—a simple answer is all that is needed. Now it is best we sleep so that we will be well rested to leave at sunrise.”

Wintra agreed with a nod and walked over to the bed. It was better she gave it thought, although she would no doubt think it to death and probably be no closer to an answer than she was presently. After removing her boots, and leaving her garments on, she hurried beneath the blankets, turning her back to Cree. She was relieved when he climbed in and slipped his arm around her, drawing her back snugly against him. She had to admit that she was disappointed he was fully clothed. But it was better that way, less tempting.

It did not take him long to fall asleep. Wintra could tell by his breathing, though his arm remained snug around her. She kept her eyes closed, trying to force herself to sleep, but it was useless. Her mind refused to quiet.

She did not know what had compelled her to tell Torr that she believed she had fallen in love with him. It had been an overwhelming urge that she had not been able to fight. And while she had been thrilled to hear he felt the same, his proposal had startled and frightened her. This being in love was all too new to her, and she was not sure what to make of it.

“Something troubles you?”

She was surprised that Torr was awake, but his whisper was much too soft and filled with concern to startle her. However, she was curious to what had woken him. “I am fine, but what woke you?”

“Your hand that continually squeezes my arm.”

Wintra pulled her hand away, realizing she had been doing just that.

“What troubling thoughts keep you awake?” He took hold of her hand and placed it back on his arm, his hand resting over hers and holding it there.

How was it that he could tell when something disturbed her? And how did he find such patience with her never-ending musings? And why did his touch feel so wonderfully enticing?

“No one thought in particular, but rather many that refuse to leave me alone.”

“Then tell me all your thoughts so that your mind will finally empty and you can sleep,” he said, settling more comfortably around her, as if prepared to spend the entire night listening to her.

The warmth of his body, the weight of his strength, and the thought that he would listen to her endless ramblings made her think that he had to be in love with her, for no man would have such patience. And for some reason that soothed her and her thoughts seemed to fade as her eyes drifted shut.

Torr lay there keeping Wintra close as she slept. This task had turned out far different than he had expected, though he had to admit that it had turned in his favor. Never had he expected to fall in love with Wintra and that he did, still startled him. He could understand her misgivings about being in love after what she had been through with Owen. What he could not understand was that he himself had no such uncertainties. He knew he loved this woman sleeping peacefully in his arms, and there would be no changing that no matter what happened.

He knew there would be hurdles when he returned her home, but they would overcome them. He would see that they did. What concerned him the most was Owen. He knew well of the man and he was a devious one, not to be believed or trusted. He did not do anything out of the goodness of his heart. He did things to fatten his own coffers, and he did not care who he hurt along the way.

Wintra moaned and turned around in Torr’s arms to settle snug against him once again and rub her face against his chest, sighing contentedly and resting her head there.

Torr wrapped his arms around her, yawned, and placed his cheek on the top of her head. He had been happy to learn that Wintra did not think she could sleep without him by her side, for he knew for sure that he wanted her in his arms, in his bed, every night.