Page 14 of Darach

He didn’t seem to be affected by her, judging by how calm he was. She’d been all over him tonight, in fact, and all he’d done was apologize for looking at her body.

At least he likes my feet.

“I won’t ask any more questions.” Charlotte gripped the coverlet to keep from nudging his chin so he’d stop hiding his face. “But if you want me to help your clan, eventually you’ll have to tell me everything. Even the things you wish you could lie about to me.”

Darach looked up at her. “’Tis more than you should bear, my lady.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Other than crying every five minutes I’m pretty strong, I think.” She thought of Zoey. “When I found my friend after the stalker tortured and killed her, I knew he would do the same thing to me. I even saw how I would die just before I came here. Only I didn’t die that way. I heard a man’s voice in my head. It sounded Scottish, like yours.”

He frowned. “What said the man?”

She got up and walked toward the hearth, trying to remember. “He said he wouldn’t let me die there, and that in return I needed to save his sons. Or maybe I was just hallucinating. It’s still hard to know what’s real.”

“Dinnae dwell on such, Charlotte.” Darach brought a tartan over and wrapped it around her, chafing her arms with his hands. “The killer who hurt you, he’ll no’ be born for centuries.”

“That’s why I can’t return to my time.” She leaned against him. “You won’t make me wish to go back there, will you? After I do whatever I was brought here for?”

“Never shall I force you do anything.” The chieftain guided her over to the hearth. There he sat down in the big chair and pulled her onto his lap, cuddling her like a child as he arranged the tartan over her shivering limbs. “You may stay at Dun Lasair as long as you wish.”

Being treated like a frightened little girl was undignified, and she should have gotten up. Being close to him, however, was the only thing that kept her from having another meltdown.

“I’m scared, but I’ve never been this angry,” Charlotte admitted. “I don’t understand it. I’ve always been a calm person.”

“Anger, ’tis brought on by the worst fear for some, I reckon,” Darach said. “As a young lad, thunder and lightning terrified me. One night I spent too long training, and the watch locked me outside the keepe. A storm soon came, and I crouched by the door, sure I’d be struck and killed. I couldnae stop shaking, but no’ just from fear. ’Twas as if the guards, they’d betrayed me. I wished to find them and beat them bloody.”

Charlotte realized he hadn’t shown a single indication of fear since she’d landed in that spring; not even when she’d held the sword at his neck. “Did you spend the whole night like that?”

“If no’ for my brother Kendric, aye, I would’ve.” He stared into the flames. “When I didnae return to the garrison he came looking for me. He dragged me inside and stayed with me until the storm passed.”

“You’re lucky.” The warmth of his big body finally made her trembling stop. “I don’t have any siblings, so I’ve always had to face things alone. I just wish I knew why your sword chose me. I have painted you and the sword, but how can my art save your clan?”

“Dinnae fret on such.” He looked down at her. “When the blade brought back our Lady Emery, we couldnae fathom how she might help us. She’s but a wee thing, and a scholar only just finished her schooling. Yet she used her training and skill to show what killed another lady. That truth stopped a clan war.”

“I would like to meet her.” Drowsy now, she tried to push herself upright, and then smiled as Darach rose and carried her over to his bed. “You don’t have to keep doing this. I can definitely walk now.”

“Indulge me, my lady.” He put her down and drew the linens over her. “Now you need sleep. We’ll talk more on the morrow.”

Charlotte reached for his hand, and curled her fingers over his. “Wait.” As he frowned she shifted over, making room for him. “Stay with me. Just for a little while.”

Chapter Four

Charlotte watched as Darach stretched out beside her and tucked his arm under her head. Cuddling up to him and resting her hand against his chest might have seemed brazen, but she’d already stripped in front of the man. She also really didn’t care about what was and wasn’t acceptable behavior in the fourteenth century. He hadn’t shown any sign of being embarrassed or unwilling, and right now she needed someone close to her.

No, it’s him. I need him.

She’d apologize for her behavior in the morning, she thought, when her sanity finally returned. For now she closed her eyes as she breathed in the heated male scent of him. He smelled clean and woodsy, as if they were still in the forest spring, and that made her remember what he looked like dressed in his soaking wet clothes.

Is that why I’m being so clingy? Because I’m physically attracted to him?

She had never asked a man to sleep with her, or stayed the night with a man after making love. Although she’d tried to work up some enthusiasm, sex had always underwhelmed her, so much so that she’d left as soon as possible afterward. Maybe that was why no one had given her such a sense of being warm and safe as this man did; she’d never given anyone a chance to.

No, it’s him. I never met him.

“You’ve a husband in your time?” he asked, startling her a little.

“I’ve never been married.” That question made her draw back. “I never thought to ask. Do you have a wife?”

“Who should want me, lass?” As Darach said that he turned his face a little more to hide most of the birthmark over his eye.