Page 13 of Her Forbidden Highlander Husband

Without calling the memories, they rushed in. The foul breath of the men who’d captured her as they forced their lips to hers. The grotesque way they pushed their tongues in her mouth. The crack of a hand across her face when she’d bit them.

She recoiled from the man lying next to her, no longer seeing Liam, but a mottled memory of the men who had taken her. She no longer remembered their distinct features; instead her mind had mashed them into one disgusting fiend.

“Stay away,” she warned as she gasped for air. She didn’t know if he said anything in response. All she could hear was the sound of her blood rushing in her veins as she picked up Gwendolyn and carried her away from the fire.

They may be cold tonight, but they’d be safe.

Chapter Eight

Liam lay in the darkness, silently admonishing himself for his carelessness. He’d told Evelyn he’d wait for her to be ready for as long as she’d needed, and then had gone and straightaway pushed for a kiss. Not only had he frightened her, but he’d taken a step back in earning her trust.

When she’d put her hand on his, he’d wanted to strengthen the connection between them, but he’d moved too fast. His wife had been harmed by men in the past, and he didn’t want her to think he was like them. But what else could she think now? He’d allowed his desires to take over.

Keeping his distance, he found her and Gwendolyn huddled together by a tree.

“Please. Take her back to the fire and sleep there. I’ll stay here and leave you your space. I promise.” Hearing the words out loud only made him angrier with himself. What did his promises mean now?

Either because she trusted him or because she feared she and Gwennie would freeze in the night she took him up on the offer and went to settle the little girl next to the fire. He was certain it was the latter.

Liam sat next to the tree and gave his head a good knock against the rough bark for good measure. He’d made a grave error and would need to choose his next steps carefully.

As was normal, he woke before her. Keeping his distance from the opposite side of the fire, he watched the morning light change upon her face. The way her hair seemed to change color as the sun touched it. From darker gold to bright red. The freckles that reached out across her nose and cheeks.

He knew soon enough her darker lashes would flutter and her eyes would open. He’d be tempted to fall into eyes so dark it’d be impossible to distinguish the center from the rest.

He glanced down at the child at her side. So different from her mother when their eyes were closed. Gwendolyn’s hair was dark brown with only a hint of her mother’s fiery threads mixed throughout. Her skin was clear and pale without a freckle. Her nose, lips, cheeks, and chin were all given to her by a man who’d been vicious and dishonorable. Yet Gwennie was perfect in her innocence, and would be taught to be kind, by Evelyn and himself. She’d never need to know how she came to be or who sired her.

He placed a kiss on his fingertips and pressed it lightly to her head and snugged the cloak closer around them. Letting out a breath of contentment, he looked back to Evelyn to see her eyes on him.

“I worried you might hate her for who her father is,” she whispered, her voice barely moving the cool morning air.

He smiled at her and said vehemently, “I am her father.”

The dark eyes staring at him glistened and she swallowed. “Thank you.”

“It was easy enough for me,” he whispered. “She’s impossible not to cherish. I’d be the biggest hypocrite to not accept a child not my own when I was accepted by a clan that’s not mine by blood.”

Evelyn blinked and looked away, her silent warning that he was getting too close and she was uncomfortable. Despite the distance between them, he was learning her ways.

He stepped back. “She’ll be expecting breakfast and a new bunny for her collection this morning, so I must get moving. Stay for a bit and rest. I imagine in the past you didn’t get much time to hold her like this.”

Tucking the blankets around them, he pulled away to tend to things. He quietly placed more wood on the fire hoping the blaze would warm them and allow them to rest a little while longer. The morning was cool, but the sun was coming and would warm them soon enough.

Once his catch from the stream was roasting, he began working his knife over the wood. Evelyn came to sit near him, though he noticed she wasn’t close enough for him to touch her, not that he’d try again until he was certain he was welcome to.

“Do you think this resembles a seal?” He held up the crude rendition.

“I canna say. I’ve never seen one.”

“No? I’ll have to take you and Gwennie to Baehaven someday. The beasties come up on the rocks there to lie about in the sun. They’ve no legs, their backs slope down to wide fins. They rather lumber about on land, but in the water they float and swim effortlessly.” He laughed at himself for what he was about to share but went on.

“When I first saw them, I felt pity for them, unsuited for the land as they are. But then I felt a fool seeing them in the water, and I realized I was similar.”

“How so?”

He frowned. “I told you how I was found by the old laird wandering on his lands, half-starved and filthy. All alone, only a little older than Gwennie is now. He took me in, gave me a place. I know he and the mistress did their best to give me a home, but like the seals on land, I never took to it. I didn’t know how to go about being part of their family.”

He smiled widely when he looked at his wife and back to the carving. “Now, having my own family to care for, I feel like I might be good at it.” He looked to her. “I might be very good at swimming.”