“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.

*  *  *

Glynis’s legs were so stiff when they finally stopped for the night that she could hardly walk. And yet, the hours had flown by. Alex Bàn MacDonald had a magical quality about him that she suspected drew females from age three to threescore. It wasn’t just his looks—though they were very fine indeed. When he was talking with you, he had a way of making you feel as if there was no one else in the world he’d rather be with.

Glynis realized that she was following Alex around the camp like a puppy and stopped herself. While he took care of the horses, she gathered dry moss and twigs for a fire.

“You’re a helpful lass.” Alex handed her the rolled blankets and squatted down to start the fire.

Glynis looked down at the blankets in her arms. Last night, Alex had been exhausted after rowing most of the night before. But now, with Alex wide awake and charm flowing from him like honey, the placement of the blankets seemed to take on more importance. How far apart should she spread them? On opposite sides of the fire, or side by side?

“Ye must be tired.” The glow of the sunset touched Alex’s hair as he smiled up at her. “Sit down, lass.”

She dropped down on a rock. Holding the blankets to her chest, she looked about her to avoid looking at him. Alex had chosen a lovely spot next to a loch surrounded by hills.

“In the morning, I’ll catch us fish for breakfast,” he said as he handed her dried meat and another oatcake. “We’ll make a quick meal of it tonight and get to bed.”

The oatcake caught in her throat. He’d spoken as if both the meal and bed were activities they would share. Glynis took a big gulp from the flask of ale and told herself this was not a good time to remember how he’d kissed her against the castle wall.

And yet, now that the memory had come into her head, there was no removing it.

Alex tugged at the blankets in her lap, reminding her that she still had them. When he laid them out side by side, she took another swallow of the ale. Would she have the strength to resist him?

A new question fluttered across her mind. Did she want to resist him?

*  *  *

Alex lay awake staring at the dark clouds moving against the darker sky and forced himself to think of his parents. Reliving their screaming battles in his head was his only hope for keeping his hands off the woman beside him.

His cock, however, didn’t want to listen to reason.

He knew damned well that Glynis did not want marriage any more than he did. And yet, she tried his will. Though she didn’t touch him, he could feel her leaning toward him in the darkness. Her desire vibrated through him. That made it damned difficult to keep his parents in his head.

Ye cannot have this woman. Ye cannot have this woman. He chanted the words over and over to himself. He gave up on his parents and imagined swimming through icy cold water.

Then he and Glynis were naked in a warm loch, with her hair streaming around them in the water …

Alex shook his head. There were no warm lochs in Scotland. Ach, this journey to Edinburgh was going to kill him for certain.

CHAPTER 13

Alex called on every saint he could think of to give him strength. Three days and nights alone with Glynis—especially the nights—and he was losing his mind.

He felt a prickle at the back of his neck again. He was so twitchy from unrelenting lust that he didn’t know if someone was on the trail behind them or if a flea was scratching itself a hundred miles away.

“We’ll go off the trail here to make our camp,” he said, in case there truly was someone coming up behind them. He was glad it had begun to rain, for that would wash out their tracks.

A short time later, he was cursing the weather. Only in the Highlands would it hail in mid-July. Now he’d have to make a lean-to for them to sleep under with one of their blankets—leaving them one blanket to share. The fairies were making mischief and laughing at him in their fairy hills.

“I’ll look for dry moss to start a fire,” Glynis said.

“No fire.”

“But I’m freezing,” she said, clutching her cloak close about her.