Highland Lover (13 page)

shoulder at him and was startled when he gave her a quick kiss upon the mouth.

“I will leave ye to your bath now, lass,” he said even as he started toward the door. “Nay too long,

though. The gracious Master Dunn charges dearly for what he considers needless luxuries, so I

agreed to the one bath and a few extra buckets of heated water.”

“I promise to be quick,” she said.

“Good. I will spend the time trying to find out exactly where we are.”

The door had barely finished shutting behind him when Alana started to remove her clothes. She

was disappointed that she could not sink herself into the hot water and stay there until it cooled and her skin had puckered up like a wizened apple, but she was determined to savor the luxury despite

that. A murmur of delight escaped her as she eased her body into the water. For a few minutes, she

gave in to temptation and just enjoyed the warmth of the water penetrating her body, but then she

recalled that Gregor would soon return to take his turn at the bath.

She was just lacing up the body of her only clean gown when Gregor rapped upon the door and she

bade him enter. “Did ye discover anything useful?” she asked him as he stepped in, followed by two

boys carrying in more hot water.

“Aye.” Stepping closer to her, Gregor idly sniffed her damp hair. “I am to stink of roses, am I?”

Alana blushed, realizing that her scented soap had indeed left the bath smelling of roses, a scent no man would want to carry. “Sorry,” she murmured.

“Ah, weel, ’twill fade. Leastwise, I pray it will, for I fear I must beg use of that soap ye used.”

She had to bite back a laugh at the grimace he made as she pointed to her soap set carefully on its

piece of linen to dry. “I shall now allow ye your privacy,” she said.

Gregor frowned. “I am nay sure ye ought to wander about alone.” He grinned and winked at her.

“Ye could stay and wash my back.”

A blush heated her cheeks and Alana knew it was not due to that bold invitation, but how tempted

she was to accept it. “I think not. Are we to stay the night here?”

“’Twas my plan, aye.”

“Then I shall spend my time in the kitchens seeing if I can get us some food to take with us for what few pence I still have. It might cost less if I went to the merchants, but I dinnae think it would be wise to be seen by so many. I am counting on the woman in the kitchen being eager to pocket a few

coins Master Dunn kens naught about.”

Gregor nodded but still frowned with unease as he watched her leave. He shrugged it aside and

hastily shed his clothes. She had left him some fairly warm water, so he added only a bucketful

before he climbed into the bath. Sniffing her soap, he chuckled as he recalled Sigimor making the

observation that a wise man always carried his own soap. He had to wonder what scent Sigimor had

had to carry once that had prompted such wisdom. As he began to wash, he decided her soap did

not smell so bad and its scent was light enough that it should fade quickly. He had certainly smelled far stronger and more flowery scents on some of the men who clung to the king’s court and fancied

themselves men of fashion, true gentlemen of the world. Too many of them, however, seemed to

ply the heavy scent in a vain attempt to hide the smell of a long-unwashed body.

One thing he heartily approved of in Alana was her cleanliness. She did not complain about

becoming dirty, but she did not hesitate to get clean again at the very first opportunity. He had never been that particular before, but he knew that, if he went to another woman now, he would sorely

miss that scent of clean skin touched with roses. Gregor sighed as he started to wash his hair. He

had the strongest feeling it would be far more than the scent of her skin that would turn him away

from another woman now.

His seduction of Alana was proving more difficult than he had imagined it would be. He had no

doubt in his mind that her passion ran as hot and fierce as his own, but her innocence and her

inability to believe in the depth of his desire for her were proving very stalwart shields. Gregor was not sure what key was needed to unlock his prize. It did not help his cause that she knew he was

trying to seduce her and that he was unable to offer her any more than passion as a reward for her

innocence. He could make her no promises. Not only was he still somewhat uncertain about what he

felt or wanted, but Mavis still stood between them. It would not be right to offer Alana any

promises of a future until he had let Mavis know that there would be no marriage between them.

He stepped out of the rapidly cooling water and began to rub himself dry with a coarse linen cloth.

The fine line he walked between wooing Alana and not offering promises he had no right to offer

yet was beginning to make him dizzy. When he held Alana in his arms, kissed her, and touched her

soft skin, he felt the urge to promise her all manner of things he had never promised a woman

before. Gregor knew that should tell him something, but he was not quite sure what it was. He had

the feeling his heart and body had already decided that Alana was a perfect fit for him, but his mind was reluctant to concede. It might be wise to take a moment to try and understand why that was, he

mused.

His wandering thoughts were abruptly shattered when Alana burst into the room. She carried a large

sack and Gregor wondered how she had gathered so much of what he assumed was food for their

journey. Then he noticed that she had come to an abrupt halt and was gaping at him. Suddenly

recalling that he was naked and, a quick glance confirmed, aroused, he supposed he ought to

hurriedly cover himself. Instead, he grinned at her.

“Ye are too late to scrub my back, lass,” he said, drawing her wide-eyed gaze up from where it had

been fixed upon his groin.

Alana blinked at Gregor as she struggled to clear her mind of the sight of his naked body. She knew

she had rushed up to their room to tell him something very important, but it had fled her mind. She

feared that if she opened her mouth to speak, some very embarrassing words would tumble out. The

way he was grinning so cockily told her he did not need to hear her tell him how beautiful he was. It struck her as odd that the sight of that tall, leanly muscular body in all its glory would make her

want to leap upon him and demand he make love to her, even as the sight of his manhood standing

so proud between his long legs made her quail. That part looked a lot bigger than it felt when

pressed against her backside as he slept. Since God intended man and woman to go forth and

multiply, she had to believe it would fit inside of her, but she found it difficult to believe she would enjoy it.

When Gregor started to dress, Alana slowly came to her senses. She pushed aside the regret she felt

over seeing all that manly beauty covered up as she began to recall just why she had burst in upon

him. Her trip to the kitchen had gained her far more than the food she carried.

“We must leave here,” she said even as she moved to shove the clothes she had shed before her bath

into her pack. “Now.”

“Why?” Gregor dressed more quickly as he caught her mood of anxiety and her need for action.

“Master Dunn is selling us to the Gowans.”

“The Gowans are here?”

“Nay, not yet, but Dunn is having them fetched. He heard they were looking for a mon and a wee

lass.” She scowled as she recalled some of the man’s words. “I heard him talking to one of his

workers, sending him off to find the Gowans. Dunn is certain ye are the mon the Gowans are

hunting for, but he said the lass with ye is no child. Then he said he could understand the Gowans’

mistake, for I am as small as a child and nay more shapely than a knotted thread.”

“He is clearly as blind as he accuses the Gowans of being.”

Alana blushed with pleasure although she knew his words were probably no more than a well-

practiced bit of flattery spit out to soothe her badly bruised vanity. “Mistress Dunn was outraged

when she heard what her mon was doing, although nay really for our sakes. She grumbled about

how it would ruin their business if word spread that Dunn was willing to sell anyone out to their

enemies. That truly distressed her so that she gave me this sack of food, free, saying we wouldnae

have time to get back the fee we paid for this room and the meal we willnae be eating. Then she told

me to flee this place.”

“And that we will. I am sorely tempted to steal a horse from Dunn’s stables for this.”

“I think he fears that someone might, for he has set those two braw laddies of his to watching the

stable.”

Gregor cursed. “Get the cat. I pray we can slip away from here without being seen.” He quickly

shoved his belongings back inside his pack as Alana settled Charlemagne in his sling. “’Twill be a

bed under the stars again, lass.”

As swiftly as possible, Gregor divided the food between their packs. Thinking of the meal and the

bed he had paid for but would not receive, Gregor took the blanket from the bed as well. He prayed

the Gowans were not too close at hand, for he and Alana were losing a lot of time just preparing to

leave. Grabbing Alana by the hand, he led her out of their room and down the back stairs he had

discovered while waiting for her to finish her bath. As he led her on a crooked route, weaving in

and around the buildings of the village, Gregor kept a close watch for the Gowans. It did not really

surprise him when the Gowans arrived before he could get Alana out of the village. His luck had

been very poor of late.

Keeping an eye on the Gowans, who were wandering about the village near the inn, Gregor finally

reached the far end of the village. The open space they now had to cross to reach the wooded hills

where they could hide was not so very wide, but he knew it was wide enough to be a danger to them.

It would only take one fleeting glance by a Gowan to espy him and Alana, for they would be fully

exposed until they reached the trees. Since there was no other choice, Gregor exchanged a hard look

of determination with Alana and then headed for the trees as fast as he could run. He was not really

surprised to hear her keeping pace at his side, for he had already observed her skill in running, even while wrapping one arm around the cat’s sling to hold it steady. Later he would smile over how the

cat had its head jutted forward, its ears flattened against its head, and looked as determined as he

and Alana did.

The moment they were within the shelter of the trees and the shadows they cast, Gregor paused to

look back toward the village. He felt a brief surge of satisfaction when he saw no Gowans in pursuit, only to feel it washed away by a soft gasp of alarm from Alana. Gregor drew his sword as he turned

around. The Gowans had obviously grasped enough wit to place a man in the woods to watch for

them. That man held a sword on Alana. Gregor briefly tasted a fury so hot he ached to immediately

cut the man down.

“Let us pass,” Gregor said. “We are no threat to ye.”

“My laird wants ye caught,” the man said. “He needs the coin your ransoms can bring us and he

cannae let ye escape without trying to catch ye again, can he? It wouldnae look good.”

“Shall I step back and allow ye more room to cut this lack-wit into wee pieces?” Alana asked

Gregor.

“If ye would be so kind, m’dear,” Gregor murmured.

“My pleasure. Have at it, then.”

It amazed Gregor that he had to swallow the urge to laugh. Have at it? Now that his fury over

seeing someone threatening Alana had cooled a little, Gregor knew he did not want to kill this man.

The fool was simply obeying his laird and would be wanting to capture him and Alana alive.

Unfortunately, once the clang of swords filled the air, a man could easily forget such fine

distinctions.

“’Twould be best if ye let us pass,” Gregor told the man even as he and the man began to warily

circle each other, each waiting for the other to start the battle that now seemed inevitable.

“Best for who? Ye and the wee lass? It certainly wouldnae be best for me.” The man cast a fleeting

glance toward Alana. “And when did the wee bairn grow breasts, eh? True, they are as wee as she is,

but I am thinking she was alying to us, aye? She be no child. Och, weel, ’tis said that sometimes the smallest fruit be the sweetest. Tiny wee bumps that they are, I bet ye find them so. Mayhap I will as weel. No need for the poor wee lass to be cast back into the pit. Nay, she can stay aboveground and

warm my bed. She may have nay more shape than a knotted thread, as the fine Master Dunn says,

but she will do me for a wee while.”

Gregor sighed and shook his head. “And here I was deciding that I wouldnae kill ye after all. Weel,

now I willnae disappoint ye after ye have worked so hard to kill all the mercy in my heart.”

After chancing a brief glance at Alana, Gregor dared not look her way again, and not just because it

could cost him dearly in the fight he was soon to be in the midst of. Her gasp had caused him to fear that some other Gowan had arrived, but her expression as she glared at the man facing him told

Gregor it had been outrage that had caused the sound. She looked prepared to argue with the Gowan

man over his disparaging remarks concerning her size.

The man’s sudden attack pushed all thought but survival from Gregor’s mind. Although he quickly

tested the man’s skill and felt confident he could beat him, Gregor did not hold back or ease his

vigilance. Even the most inept of swordsmen could get lucky, and this man was not completely