Page 13 of Highland Spy

“Caleb MacKeefe, I dinna like what ye are insinuatin’. We – I mean he – only writes what we see or what we’ve been told. Nothin’, and I repeat nothin’ is falsified in the book. I am appalled that ye would even think so.”

“Whatever ye say,” he answered with a smile, clasping one arm over her and sliding his other arm underneath her as he drifted off to sleep. In a matter of seconds, he started snoring. Just like a man to fall asleep so quickly and when they were talking. Actually, she was glad for this, since she didn’t like the way the conversation was going.

“I need to leave,” she said, but he didn’t answer. She tried to pry his arm off of her, but even in his sleep his hold was tight and protective. Bridget, being a small woman, wasn’t able to release his hold on her. His arms trapped her there, and now she was unable to go.

She sighed, spying the flask of whisky on the ground next to him. Reaching over, she was able to grab it. After taking a sip, she swallowed it down, feeling the liquid bringing her to life and relaxing her all at the same time. Slink rummaged through her travel bag, finally curling up inside it, poking its head out as it went to sleep as well.

“I’ll just stay for a few more minutes,” she said to herself, her eyes drifting closed as her head spun and her muscles relaxed from the Mountain Magic. Then, without meaning to, she fell asleep in the hayloft, wrapped protectively in Caleb MacKeefe’s strong arms.

Chapter 5

Caleb woke the next morning with his arms around Bridget and his pine marten licking his face.

“Och, nay! Get away from me, ye little pest.”

Bridget’s eyes popped open with a start. Caleb stared down into her gaze of confusion.

“What?” she asked, blinking twice, her eyes darting back and forth like a frightened doe as she tried to grasp her surroundings.

“I didna mean ye, love,” he told her, pushing the pine marten away with one hand. “I was talkin’ to Slink.”

“Love?” She bolted up to a sitting position, clutching her cloak around her neck like a lifeline. “W-what happened between us?” she demanded to know.

“Nothin’! I swear.” Caleb sat up, raising his palms upward in a gesture of innocent surrender.

“Then why did ye get me drunk and why are ye now callin’ me love?”

“That’s just the way I talk, lass. And I didna get ye drunk,” he told her. “If ye canna handle yer Mountain Magic, dinna blame it on me.”

Her head turned and she spotted the sunlight streaming in the window. “God’s eyes, it’s mornin’! I’ve been here all night.”

“Aye, we slept wrapped up in each other’s arms.” He was smiling until he felt the sharp sting of her hand across his face.

“Och, bid the devil! What was that for?” Caleb scowled and cradled his cheek.

“That was for ruinin’ my reputation.” She stood up and brushed the hay off her gown.

“What? Nay,” he said, not understanding why she was getting so angry. “I told ye, nothin’ happened between us.” Caleb stood up as well.

“That may be so, but no one else is goin’ to believe it once they find out I spent the night in the barn with the likes of ye!” She stormed over to her travel bag that lay on the hay close by.

“I didna force ye to stay,” he pointed out. “That, ye did on yer own.”

“Well, I was trapped under yer rock-heavy arms and couldna leave and neither could I wake ye since ye were drunk to the world.”

“Rock-heavy? Really?” Caleb touched his bicep, feeling satisfied, and nodded. “Aye, I suppose my muscles are like rocks. Then again, I work out with a sword and lift heavy things every day to keep them that way.”

“So, ye’re no’ goin’ to deny ye were well in yer cups last night?” she asked him, tying the lacing on her bodice tighter.

“I canna deny what I dinna remember.”

“Well, what do ye remember?”

“I remember ye bringin’ me food. And I remember the way the moonlight glistened on yer bonnie, long, red locks, makin’ ye look like a goddess. I also remember the feel of yer silken hair against my hand as I brushed away a loose strand from yer face. And then the way yer shinin’ blue, shy eyes lit up when ye looked at me.”

She was quiet for a second, their gazes interlocked. The hardness of her face softened, and she seemed to like the way he’d described what happened. But then she shook her head and waved her hand through the air. “Stop it!” she said sternly. “Stop sayin’ those things, tryin’ to confuse me. I ken ye really dinna mean them.”

“Och, but I do mean them, lass. When I look at ye with yer hair loose instead of braided, ye dinna seem like a child anymore. Instead, ye’re a bonnie woman in every sense.” His eyes scanned down her body. “I’d be willin’ to bet that underneath those big, baggy clothes are the curves of an enticin’ siren that shouldna be hidden.”