Authors: Jenna Stone
“Anna?” he croaked
as he pushed himself up painfully from the forest floor. “Anna!” he said now,
more urgently, voice wringing with alarm. He was on his feet, panicked eyes
scanning the trees and dense undergrowth of the forest, still hazy with
morning’s first light.
“Anna’s gone!
Get up ye lazy bastards!” Rowan bellowed, frantic now to find her.
Quinn rolled over
and squinted up at his brother.
“She left last
night,” he said lazily as he gathered his blanket more securely around his
shoulders to fight off the chill of the morning.
“She what?” Rowan
growled angrily as he hastily balled up his blanket and tied it to his mare’s
saddle.
“After ye fell
asleep, she left. The lass has a fair bit more sense about her than ye do, and
I figured that she made up her mind tae leave before she did ye anymore harm, sae
I pretended tae be asleep and let her go.”
“Ye just let her
go? Just like that ye let her go?” Rowan exclaimed, voice surging in
exasperation with his brother.
Quinn nodded, and
yawned loudly.
“Have ye any idea
how stupid…how dangerous it is for her tae be out in the forest at night alone?
Rowan raged, pacing back and forth and glowering down at Quinn.
“She’ll be fine,
she’s plenty capable. This place is crawling with English, they’ll get her tae
Arbor.”
Rowan shook his
head in blatant disapproval. “I canna believe ye, brother. Ye ken that I…that
I care about her and…”
“Yes, I know
precisely, Rowan,” Quinn snapped, cutting his brother off. “I can see it
written all over yer face. I’ve watched ye fall for her, and I warned ye…”
“I couldna help
it!” Rowan raged. “Do ye think that I wanted this?” he asked, eyes wild. “Do
ye think that I asked for this?”
“No, I doona, but
this is the best thing that could have happened – her leaving ye. Ye need tae
let her go and think of our future here. Leave her be,” Quinn threatened.
“I’m going after
her,” Rowan said sternly as he untied the mare from her tether. She pranced
eagerly him, ready to be on the road.
“She’s made her
decision brother,” Quinn said, rising to his feet and glaring up at his younger
brother, eyes clouded with warning. “If ye really love her, ye should let her
go. Let her find the life that she was meant tae lead before she met ye.”
“If anyone understands
what it means tae love someone, it should be
you
! I’ll no live the rest
of my life wonderin’ if I should have gone after her,” Rowan said as he mounted
the horse. “If it was Mairi…”
“Don’t ye dare
bring Mairi into this,” Quinn seethed, eyes dark and foreboding.
“I’m going after
her,” Rowan said defiantly and kicked the mare into motion, guiding her towards
the road.
When he reached
the pale dust of the road, he saw the unmistakable pattern; crimson contrasting
with the light Earth.
His breath choked
in this throat. Blood.
***
Quinn and Malcolm
caught up with Rowan at the edge of a small town just before dusk. Rowan
accepted their presence, but did not speak to his brothers. Unspoken words hung
heavy in the air between the brothers.
Rowan was on edge,
and shadow of worry was now openly visible on Rowan’s unshaven face.
Rowan reined his
horse to a stop outside of a small inn and dismounted painfully, holding his
ribs as he forced his body upright. He was stiff from riding all day, and his
injuries hurt more than he was willing to show his brothers. He walked into
the inn to inquire about Anna, and walked back out a moment later, shaking his
head in signal to his brothers.
Fear was beginning
to grow inside of Rowan. He was determined to find her, determined to set
things right between them. She could not just walk out of his life in the
middle of the night and leave so many words unspoken.
Repeating the same
ritual for the third time, Rowan painfully dismounted his horse and tied her to
the hitching post. He walked into the small inn and his heart nearly stopped
beating.
There sat Anna
smiling at the hotel bar, seated on a tall stool enjoying a mug of ale,
surrounded by the very same soldiers that had tried to kill him last night. Rowan
felt his mouth drop open in surprise, and in the same instant, he felt his
blood begin to boil as he spotted the man who had dared to lay hands upon Anna.
Involuntarily, a
low growl escaped from his throat and all at once, the pack of English Soldiers
and Anna turned to look at him.
Anna’s eyes flew
open in recognition, and her mug of ale fell to the stone floor with a loud
clatter.
No one moved.
“I don’t want any
trouble,” the pot-bellied inn keeper said disparagingly as he shook his head
from behind the counter. He scratched his rust colored beard while
contemplating how to best diffuse the situation between the Scotsman and the
soldiers while still earning himself a hefty profit.
“After listening
to the lady, it sounds like what happened last night was all a big
misunderstanding,” the innkeeper said firmly, knowing that he needed to tread
cautiously or all hell might break loose. “Why the hell didn’t you tell them
that she is engaged to marry Lieutenant Arbor?” he asked, raising his eyebrows
in question at Rowan and shaking his head in the direction of the soldiers.
“Well, let me
see. It could have been that they did no give me a chance tae tell them
anything because he was too busy trying tae rape her and they were too busy tryin’
tae kill me,” Rowan said angrily, muscles tense and ready to attack at the
slightest movement from the soldiers. His hatred for them boiled hot in his
veins.
“And for their
rudeness, they should buy you at least a pitcher of ale,” the innkeeper nodded
at the barkeep, who had already begun to draw a pitcher of ale for said
purpose. “As I said, this appears to have been a misunderstanding, and now that
it is settled we can all get along,” he said with an air of warning heavy in
his voice. “I’ll have no trouble here tonight.”
Anna refused to
make eye contact with Rowan, knowing that she might fall apart if she did. She
was ashamed of leaving him without an explanation, without a goodbye, but it
was the only way that she could leave him.
Rowan stormed
forward and grabbed Anna’s hand, “What did they do tae ye?” he asked, his voice
angry as he examined the thick bandage that was wound around her forearm.
“It’s nothing,”
Anna said, jerking her hand away from his grasp.
“They
didn’t do
anything to me. I fell in the forest last night and I cut my arm,” she said,
cradling her arm in her lap.
“It was foolish of
ye tae leave in the middle of the night,” he said, exasperated, not caring that
the eyes of the entire English squadron were intently focused on their
conversation.
“It’s none of your
concern, Rowan
,
” Anna fired back as she glared up at Rowan in
challenge. “I’m fine.”
The innkeeper
cleared his throat, enjoying the drama but still seeking to avoid a costly
brawl in his establishment. “I’ve got a room for the lady,” he continued,
seeking to stay in the good graces of Lieutenant Arbor by providing his best
accommodations to his fiancée, “But the rest of you will have to take up in the
barn with the horses,” he said, eyes flashing over towards Rowan, who was now
flanked on either side by Quinn and Malcolm.
Quinn nodded in
agreement, not being able to muster the energy or the will to fight with the
innkeeper. He knew that the inn could not be more than half full.
Rowan paid for
Anna’s room, and the innkeeper slid the key across the counter and into his
waiting hand. Anna reached out to take the key from Rowan, and he stuffed it
hastily into his pocket, scowling at her.
“After what
happened last time ye were left alone with
them
, I’d feel better if I
walked ye up tae yer room and saw that ye were safely locked inside,” Rowan
said, eyebrows still knit together in a scowl as he remembered his previous
altercations with the English. “I’ll meet ye out in the barn shortly,” he
said, dismissing Quinn and Malcolm and starting for the stairs.
He fitted the
rusty key into the lock and swung open the door to the small chamber. The
small bed was covered by a shabby quilt, an ancient looking rocking chair sat
in the corner and there was a rickety bedside table. Rowan ushered Anna into
the room, and went to the business of starting a fire in the small hearth.
Being satisfied that the fire had taken; he stood and brushed the soot from his
hands, walking towards the door.
He could not talk
to her now, not while he was so shaken and unprepared. Rowan planned to go to
the barn, collect his thoughts and talk to her in the morning. He wanted to
make sure that he did this right, to make sure that his anger at the fact that
Anna had left him did not cloud his thoughts.
“Lock the dead
bolt as soon as I’m out the door. I’ll wait to leave until I hear it.”
Anna was puzzled.
He’s going to
leave? He chased me down and now he’s going to leave without speaking to me?
“Stay,” Anna said,
standing next to the small bed. “I owe you an explanation.”
Rowan shook his
head and rested his hand on the door knob. “No, Anna. I canna.”
“Stay with me,
Rowan,” she said more urgently now, closing the distance between them and
pulling his hand from the door knob. “I don’t want to be alone here. I’m
scared of them…and if you’re all the way out in the barn…”
“If ye are so damn
scared, then why did ye take off in the middle of the night? God knows what
might have happened tae ye! When I found that you were gone, and saw yer blood
on the road I….” Rowan thundered, his anger making it difficult for him to put
his feelings into words. He raked his hand through his hair and scowled down
at Anna, trying to collect his thoughts. “Ye’ll be fine, Anna. Look at this
lock,” he said, pointing at the thick metal bolt that would be sure to keep
intruders out of the room.
“And with your
ribs, the last place that you should be sleeping is on the ground!” Anna said,
trying to strengthen her plea to get Rowan to stay. “You can have the bed, and
I’ll…I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“It doesna matter
much where I sleep, they’re still going tae hurt like hell,” Rowan said,
knowing full well that she had no intentions of sleeping on the floor.
“We need to talk,”
she said honestly, now getting to the root of the matter. “Stay,” she said
simply, hazel eyes imploring him not to walk out on her.
Rowan let out a
heavy sigh, and settled himself gingerly down so that he was sitting on the
bed.
“I canna continue
tae do this, Anna,” he said, raking his hand through his hair and looking up at
her. “I’m mad with the wanting of ye, it felt like a dagger had been driven
straight through my heart this morning when I found that ye were gone,” Rowan
admitted, spilling out his emotions.
“I left because I
wanted to stay,” Anna said, heart wrenching because she knew that Rowan had
been hurt by her actions.
“Do ye realize
that that makes exactly no sense? If ye want tae stay then why the hell don’t
ye just stay?”
Rowan strode
across the room in two strides and silenced Anna’s explanation with his lips,
astonishing them both. His arms were demanding as they caressed her back, her
arms and her neck as if assuring himself that she had not further injuries;
that she was safe.
Anna parted her
lips in response to his kiss, and savored the shivers that ran down her spine
as his tongue slid inside her mouth, staking claim. Her body thrummed in
response to Rowan’s hot, wet mouth, and his fingers burned trails of gooseflesh
on her skin.
Rowan was so
aroused by the intensity of Anna’s response to his kiss that he felt as though
he might combust, her skin was so soft beneath his rough fingertips, and her
sweet feminine scent drove him wild with desire. Memories of how she had
allowed him to make love to her with his fingers last night caused him to go
hard, and his erection strained against the fabric of his pants.
Oh, how he wanted
her. Not just for one night, Rowan wanted her forever.
Anna felt light
headed from the passion that Rowan had evoked within her, and she kissed him
softly on the lips, and then pulled away only slightly.
“Stay,” she
whispered as she un-tucked his shirt and ran her fingers slowly up inside of
it, savoring the feeling of the warm, taut skin that covered his abdominal
muscles. “If you want to stay, then why the hell don’t you just stay?”
***
Rowan snuck
quietly into the barn, well before the first light of morning.
“Did ye get lost?”
Malcolm asked from underneath his blanket at the back of the stall, resentment
heavy in his tone.
“Mind yer own
business,” Rowan grumbled as he tenderly lowered himself down into the hay,
wincing from the pain of moving his ribs.
Quinn sat up in
the dark, wiping the sleep from his eyes. “Ye must stop this, Rowan,” he said
firmly, seeking to finish the argument that they had started in the forest the
morning before.
“And just how am I
supposed tae do that, Quinn?” Rowan asked eyes open staring into the dark of
the barn.
“I’ve seen the way
that ye look at her brother, ye canna hide it. Hell, I’ve seen the way that
she looks at ye back,” Quinn said, voice steady in the darkness.
Malcolm grumbled
from beneath his blanket.
Quinn continued,
refusing to drop the issue. “Nay good can come of this, Rowan. Ye need tae
let her go, distance yerself from her. She’s promised tae be marrit.”