“Ah, Buttercup, there’s a good horse,” Alex said in a low voice, as he rubbed the horse’s forelock. The other horse followed and nudged Alex with its nose. “Now, don’t be jealous, Rosebud.”
“Ye know these horses?” Glynis asked.
“We just met,” Alex said. “’Tis a long journey overland from here to Edinburgh so we’re borrowing them from the Campbells.”
“But if we steal their horses, they’ll be after us for sure.”
“We should hurry,” Alex said in a calm voice, as he rubbed the second horse. “Do ye know how to ride?”
The saints preserve her. “Aye, but—”
Without waiting for her to finish, he lifted her up onto the horse, which was already saddled, and handed her the reins. “We can talk on the way.”
“Which horse am I on?”
“I named that one Rosebud,” he said, as he swung up on the other one. “Be good to her.”
“I’ve never ridden in the dark before.”
“We’ll ride slowly,” Alex said as he moved his horse into the lead. “Just give Rosebud her head, and you’ll be fine.”
“What if the Campbells chase us?” she asked.
“Their first duty is to get their chieftain’s sister safely to Inveraray, so they probably won’t,” Alex said over his shoulder. “And I scattered the other horses.”
After what seemed like a couple of hours, Alex dismounted and led their horses across a creek. Then he lifted her down from her mount.
“We’ll sleep here, where we’ll be hidden by these bushes,” he said.
“Shouldn’t we get farther away?”
“We have a good lead on the Campbells, and they won’t be able to look for their horses until daylight,” Alex said. “Besides, it’s dangerous to ride in the dark.”
Dangerous to ride in the dark? Glynis stood with her arms crossed while Alex rolled out two blankets.
“We must rest while we can,” he said, as he lay down on one of them. “We’ll need to be moving again at first light.”
Glynis lay down on the other blanket, facing him.
“Did ye sleep when the fishermen left us at their camp today?” she asked.
“Of course not.”
“How did ye do that with the horses?” she asked.
“I just have a way with horses,” he said in a fading voice. “I always have.”
Just like he had a way with women.
* * *
“Time to be on our way,” Alex said after they ate their cold breakfast in the predawn light.
He couldn’t understand why Glynis seemed surprised that he had collected the dried beef, cheese, and oatcakes from their boat before he got the horses last night. Did she want to go hungry?
He was anxious to put more distance between them and the Campbells. There had been no point in worrying her last night, but he was not as certain as he pretended that none of the Campbells would follow them.
Glynis rolled up the blankets and packed away the food while he saddled the horses.
“Traveling across other clans’ lands is dangerous with just two of us,” Alex said, as he lifted her onto Rosebud’s back. “I don’t want ye out of my sight, understand?”
Glynis fixed him with her serious gaze and nodded.
They rode steadily for hours. Though Alex saw no one behind them, twice he had to quickly pull their horses off the path to avoid meeting other travelers. Because of Glynis, he couldn’t take any risks.
To pass the time, he told her stories. Glynis liked the one about how Ian fell in love with his wife Sìleas best, judging by all the questions she asked.
“Ian left her for five years after they wed?” she asked.
“Ach, he didn’t take it well, being forced to say vows with a dirk at his back,” Alex said. “And he blamed Sìleas for it.”
“I’m glad their story ended happily,” Glynis said with a soft smile.
“Do ye need to stop and stretch your legs?” he asked, but she shook her head. “For a lass with a sour disposition, ye don’t complain much.”
“It’s my stepmother who says I’m sour.” Glynis heaved a sigh. “And it’s true I do complain when she expects me to sit indoors doing needlework for hours.”
“Well, ye are a fine traveling companion,” he told her. “Ye have several advantages over the ones I usually travel with.”
“I do?”
“For one thing, ye are prettier to look at than my cousins and Duncan,” he said. “And for another, ye haven’t heard all of my stories before.”
On the other hand, if he were traveling with one of them, he wouldn’t have to dive off the path like a frightened Lowlander every time a group of warriors was headed their way.
“Ye have a gift for storytelling,” Glynis said with a faint blush. “I wouldn’t mind if ye told them to me more than once.”
“You’ll regret those words,” he said, and laughed. “We have a long journey ahead of us, and I’ve only got three days of stories.” Of course, Alex had a good many more that he couldn’t tell her.
“Ye told me about Ian,” she said. “Will ye tell me about your friend Duncan next?”
Why did she want to know about Duncan?
“Duncan is a fierce warrior,” he said, after a moment. “I’ve never seen him beaten. Not once.”
“I liked him,” she said. “He seems… dependable.”
Alex stifled a groan. “Aye, Duncan is exceedingly dependable. He’s steady, never wavers. Decides what he wants and that’s that.”
All the things that Alex was not.
“There is a good deal of mystery about Duncan’s birth,” Alex said. “And some say a bit of magic.”
“Ye must tell me,” Glynis said, turning wide eyes on him.
“When Duncan’s mother was a lass of sixteen, she was stolen from the beach one day,” Alex said, settling into his story. “A year later, she was returned to the same beach with a babe in her arms. That babe was Duncan.”
“Who took her?”
“His mother never breathed a word—not about what happened, or where she’d been, or who the father of her child was.” Alex paused. “Eight years later, it all happened again.”
“And she still hasn’t told?” Glynis was leaning so far out of her saddle that he feared she might fall off her horse.
"She took her secret to the grave.”
As they rode and he told his stories, Alex scanned the green hills sprinkled with summer flowers. The Campbell men should have turned back by now, but there were plenty of other dangerous men who traveled this trail through the mountains.
“Who is it ye must meet in Edinburgh before the end of the month?”
Alex winced. He had hoped she wasn’t listening when he mentioned that to Catherine.
“Ah, I see this is a story ye don’t wish to tell me,” Glynis said, raising her eyebrows. “Of course, now it is the only one I wish to hear.”
Alex rubbed his neck. He did not want to discuss the Countess or her letter with Glynis MacNeil.
“So who would be waiting for Alex Bàn MacDonald in Edinburgh?” She tapped her finger on her chin—it was a very pretty chin. “Definitely a woman.”
This lass, who was usually so serious, was teasing him. Alex might have enjoyed it for the sparkle in her eyes, if she had chosen a different subject.
“This particular woman must have something special ye want,” Glynis said, narrowing her eyes. “Not the same ‘reward’ Lady Catherine was offering, since ye clearly don’t need to travel all the way to Edinburgh for that.”
“All right, I’ll tell ye.” The tale he told about Sabine was short since he left out the bedding parts.
“A countess,” Glynis said, and there was a harder edge to her wit now. “I suppose that is even more impressive than an earl’s daughter.”
Alex never pretended to be other than what he was. Most women liked him, and he never cared much one way or the other whether they approved of him. And yet, it rankled like hell to have Glynis MacNeil think ill of him.