Page 29 of The Son of a Highland Witch
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Finn had himself well in hand for the rest of the journey. As much as it hurt him to give Erica the cold shoulder, he had to. He found everything the girl said and did endearing. She had none of the coldness most regally beautiful women felt bound to display, nor did Erica play the saucy wench to entrap him. Finn had experienced both kinds of women in his life, and he would be happier if he never had to encounter another.
Erica was the first female who made him long to protect her while at the same time inflaming his loins in a way that he had never experienced before. Erica played no tricks or tried to act falsely with womanly arts; she was wholly natural and all the sweeter for it. He was sure the feelings he had for Erica were more complex than the interactions he’d had with women before. He enjoyed talking to her; he liked doing things for her; he adored the way she made him feel physically and mentally… But this was not the time and place to be falling in love!
He withdrew into himself, determined not to ruin Erica’s life with this additional complication. The poor girl had enough on her plate already.
“Are ye poorly, Finn?” Erica wanted to know. “If it were an adder that bit me, could the poison have made ye ill?”
“Nay.” God, but that sounded sullen and petulant to his ears. He must try harder. “Nay, Lady. It was a thorn, ’tis all. And I am quiet because I am busy searching the skies for smoke. Have ye forgot those brigands?”
That did keep her quiet for a long while. Then: “Finn, I cannae turn me mind from the way ye pushed away from me when I touched ye last night. Did I do it wrong? If I did, I stand to be corrected later…”
The image of him being able to teach Erica how a man loves to be touched danced in his mind for one beguiling moment. He must cut this out right now!
“Lady Erica, don’ play the minx! I would lose me reputation as an honest man if I were to dally with ye along a journey. And unlike ye, yer ladyship, I have only me reputation with which to earn me bread!”
He saw that his words had wounded her and loathed himself for doing it, but it had to be done.
“I’m a sword for hire, a warrior who fights for gold, and I have heard ye call me a glorified errand boy when talking to yer maid on the aside! Yet ye seek to take that away from me with yer bewitchin’ wiles! I’ll no’ have it!”
Erica had been downcast during his explanation but then suddenly perked up. “Ye think I am bewitchin’, Finn?”
She is incorrigible!
“Aye, Erica, I do! A lady of the Highlands an’ a working warrior have naught in common, d’ye hear me? Ye are to marry a rich an’ powerful man, and I will ride off over the Highland hills to seek out me next work posting. That kiss was a mistake. I am a common soldier, and ye are a jewel past price. We could nae be placed further apart.”
Erica shrunk back. He had allowed his anger at himself to involve her, and Finn could not allow that.
“Yer touch, yer kiss, they were everything a man could wish for, Erica. Please don’t blame yerself. I am a man who has seen thirty summers come an’ go. I should have kent better than to take advantage of a lass in the woods.”
The rest of their journey was undertaken in complete silence. Erica obviously had nothing to add to his outburst. She looked very busy with her thoughts, nonetheless. Whenever he looked over at her, she would meet his gaze but then dip her head back down, sometimes biting her lower lip with small white teeth, her mind turning his words over inside her.
The guards on duty and the gates were happy to see Erica but could not hide their consternation at her return.
“Are we to call ye Lady Buchanan?” one guard asked, moving his cap to one side so he could scratch his head.
“Call me free,” Erica said, and then trotted her horse through the gates as they opened.
As much as Finn liked this new independence of Erica’s, he hoped all signs of it would disappear by the time she entered into her father’s presence again!
He made his way to the stables, signaling to Erica that he would bring her bags inside, and then went looking for a groom. When the servants saw him, jaws dropped once again. Finn soon found out why when he went to the kitchens to find something to eat.
“A letter arrived from Buchanan Castle only this morning, sir,” the cook told him, after dropping a quick curtsy.
Finn sometimes wished servants would stop treating him like a legend come to life but had learned to grin and bear it. Now, he found his wolfish reputation quite handy, and he leaned against the kitchen table, draining a tankard of ale and listening to what the scullions had picked up from the breakfast table that morning.
“It is to be supposed that ye both took the long road home, Mister Finn?” one of the scullions asked him with a saucy wink. “Because the messenger rider from the Buchanans arrived here a good many tower bell rings before ye an’ Lady Erica did.”
Finn held out his tankard toward the scullery maid for a refill and then took another long swig, regarding her silently over the rim of the glass.
Immediately, she became flustered. “I do but repeat what others are saying, sir, an’ mean nay disrespect by it!”
Finn placed the tankard back down on the table. His expression was unreadable. “What did the letter from the Buchanans say?”
The scullery maid was eager to make up for her previous remark and was garrulous and forthcoming with her reply.
“They say ye overstepped yer status an’ station, Mister Finn. They wrote to say all was roses and merry weather with Lady Erica until ye began to whisper blandishments in her ear. They went on to suggest a certain power ye have to bewitch maidens an’ bend them to yer will…and that maybe ye cast yer spells over Lady Erica on yer journey back here, or even whilst both o’ ye were at Buchanan Castle!”
