Page 43 of Bound to a Warrior
They sunk down together in front of the stream and both leaned over, eagerly scooping up handfuls of water.
Duncan was busy quenching his thirst when suddenly his hand was yanked away. He turned, thinking to tease Mercy about her eager thirst and saw that she was falling facefirst into the stream.
His hands shot out and grabbed her though not before her face and shoulders disappeared beneath the chilled water.
Chapter 14
Mercy licked her lips. She could almost taste the fresh cooked fish. She certainly could smell it. The delicious aroma tempted her nostrils and made her stomach roll with the want of it.
As her eyes slowly drifted open and she recalled where she was, she knew it was nothing more than a dream, and yet the luscious scent persisted. She almost didn’t want to fully wake and lose the lovely mirage.
“Wake up, sleeping princess. It’s time to eat.”
Mercy’s eyes popped open. “I’m not dreaming?”
Duncan smiled. “No. You’re not dreaming.”
She struggled to sit up. Duncan’s hand was quick to assist her, going around her and helping her up. She realized she lay on a bed of pines and that the lone blanket they possessed was tucked around her. She was sheltered under the branches of a towering pine and a fresh cleaned trout was cooking on a spit over a campfire.
Her hand went to her head, recalling her wound and Duncan grabbed hold of her wrist.
“Your wound wasn’t that bad. I cleaned it. I have no doubt it will heal nicely.”
She shook her head. “How did you manage with—”
“You passed out?” he finished.
Mercy’s hand flew to her chest. “I passed out?”
“You don’t remember?”
“I recall looking at my reflection in the stream, not at all pleased with what I was seeing, when suddenly the water appeared to move closer to my face and then…”
“Nothing?”
“Until now,” she said. “I surely must have been a burden to you.”
“You’re never a burden,” he assured her, his tone so reassuring that a sense of safety settled around her.
“But how—” She shook her head again as she looked around. “How did you manage?”
“As you advised earlier, I addressed one issue at a time,” he said. “I saw to your wound first, which thankfully wasn’t that bad. Then I carried you over my shoulder while I hunted down firewood and what I would need to make a sturdy fishing pole and then found a spot under this tree to bed down.”
“Oh my,” she said, suddenly realizing it was hours past dawn. “Have I slept a whole day away?”
“That you have,” he said breaking off a bit of fish in his hand and blowing on it to cool as he handed it to her.
Mercy cupped her hand and gratefully accepted it, popping small pieces into her mouth. It was the most delicious fish she had ever tasted and she wanted more, much more.
“I slept myself, just getting up at the break of dawn, and then I caught two fine fish.”
Mercy gasped. “You mean this fish is all mine?”
“It is,” Duncan said. “I already ate mine.”
“You are my hero,” she said with a wide smile.
“And it only took a fish,” he teased and dropped a good portion of meat into her hand.
