Page 14 of Hunted By the Hard Highlander

“Aye,” Willy conceded. “But they will be critical of yer decisions. They will see that ye are abandonin’ yer wife in the castle while ye are nay where to be found.”

“Then perhaps it is to me advantage that I am takin’ care of things now as opposed to waitin’ until after the bindin’.”

Willy remained quiet, and when Hendry lifted his head to meet his man-at-arms’ gaze, he realized that there would be no deflecting away from this conversation. With a huff, Hendry set his work aside to give the other man his full attention. The faster they finished their talk, the sooner he could get back to preserving what needed to be preserved.

“Ye are aware that yer new wife must bear ye an heir within the year.” Willy’s expression was serious. He might have been the only person in the castle that was not afraid to force Hendry to confront difficult truths. “The edict demands it. Ye’ve called the Managers off temporarily, but they will be back.”

“What I do in the next three weeks willnae effect whether or nae I produce an heir,” Hendry replied. “And Lady Aurora is well aware of her duties. I understand that ye are worried about the well-bein’ of Clan Anderson, but ye daenae need to remind me what is expected of me.”

“A year will pass us by more quickly than ye ken it,” Willy said, the tone of his voice not changing. “And ye are nay longer workin’ on yer own to appease the Managers. Ye are workin’ with her. I may nae ken her well, but she doesnae strike me as the kind of woman that will happily agree to givin’ ye an heir just because ye demand it.”

“I will keep that in mind,” Hendry said, grinding his teeth when he closed his mouth. After taking a deep breath, not wanting to admit to himself that the other man may have a point, he asked, “Is there anythin’ else ye needed from me?”

“Nay,” Willy said, moving back from Hendry’s workspace. “I will handle the land in yer absence. Lady Aurora and her brother will be kept comfortable and protected.”

“Good,” Hendry grunted, giving his right-hand man a nod of dismissal before he began his task once more.

He did not look up from the mess of jars and dried herbs as Willy left. In fact, it was not until he had closed each container and labeled it in neat handwriting that he glanced around the cabin once more. The morning sun filtered inside, making the familiar furniture glow in a way that was almost otherworldly.

The sight would normally have settled something in his spirit, but today it only reminded him of the way the sunbeams caught Aurora’s brilliant hair. It had caressed her in a way that felt deliberate. He had hardly been able to focus on anything but how beautiful she looked sitting in his garden.

He could not recall a time in his life when another person had stolen his attention in the way she had.

“It is the stress,” he said to himself as he stored the jarred herbs. “I havenae been feelin’ like meself since the Managers issued the edict.”

Finishing with the cleanup swiftly, he stepped into the late morning sun and locked the door behind him. It was nearly time for him to depart, and he was sure that the groom had finished readying his horse. He needed time to settle himself before he left, though.

The fields of herbs waved in the gentle breeze as he walked through them. He inhaled the fresh scent, letting it wash over him and bind to his nerves. It was a scent that meant security and health, the scent that had brought his people back from the brink of death.

For reasons he could not explain, it did not seem to ground him the same way it normally did.

Every turn he took reminded him of Aurora. When he came to a stop at the place he had found her, he stared down at the dirt, looking for her tracks as if to convince himself that it had truly happened. There was not a trace of her, though his own heavy footsteps were still indented into the ground.

“She did say she had been runnin’ for a long time,” Hendry mumbled, kneeling next to the ipecac.

It took him a moment to find the place where she had harvested it. Her movements had been careful, and the plant had already recovered from the slight trauma. Those soft hands of hers were skilled.

I suppose she wasnae in the position where she could rely on her bonnie face and sharp tongue.

The realization, coupled with the distinct sensation of admiration, annoyed him beyond belief. Aurora took his breath away, made him feel things that he had not felt before meeting her. And, she was infuriatingly adept, the kind of woman that would challenge him on everything she did not agree with, who would not stop until she got her way.

“She is a solution to me problems,” he said to the plant before he pushed himself upright and began to walk back toward the courtyard.

Even as he repeated the words in his mind, he did not think the statement was entirely accurate. Aurora was a solution, yes. But he could already tell that she would become a problem herself, and not because of the looming threat of her uncle.

Chapter Eight

“The man is insufferable, Adair,” Aurora said, ignoring the exhaustion she felt in her bones. Her hands tightened and released around the fabric of her skirt, a nervous habit that she wished she could kick. “Every conversation I had with him while ye were sleepin’ made me want to pull at me hair.”

“Laird Anderson doesnae seem that bad,” Adair replied, his wee tone teasing. “I enjoy speakin’ with him.”

It had been three days since Hendry had left the castle, and it was the first time that Adair had been truly alert since they arrived. His face was no longer ghostly pale. He was smiling, sitting up, looking like himself.

In the meantime, she had filled her days by helping Bella scrub every crevice of the healing room and meticulously caring for the herb garden. Finally sitting down and resting felt incredible. It felt deserved.

“Ye only think that because ye’ve been sleepin’ so much,” Aurora challenged. She reached forward, adjusting the blanket that was pooling around his waist. Even if he looked better, she would not let him catch a chill. “And I daenae think ye felt that way when ye first saw him.”

“I dinnae ken that he meant ye nay harm,” Adair said petulantly. His chest puffed out, and he squared his small shoulders as if he were trying to make himself larger. He would make a fearsome leader one day, that much was obvious to her. “I was tryin’ to protect ye. Now I ken that he willnae harm either of us.”