Page 13

Ah! Distraction.

“What were ye doing in the castle?” he pressed.

“I don’t owe you an explanation.”

He was getting tired of her eluding his questions. He’d make her tell the truth—about time travel, about why she was here, and about what she wanted.

“Where do ye come from, lass?”

She looked petrified for a moment. “I don’t think you know the place.”

“Mayhap I do. Mayhap ye’ll be surprised.”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek as her eyebrows drew closer together.

When she didn’t reply, he pressed. “Tell me. I may be more understanding than ye imagine.”

Amber studied him dubiously. “Well, I’m a bit from everywhere, really. Recently, from the Middle East.”

“Middle East? Is that the caliphate?”

She nodded. “I suppose that’s how you must know it. Yes.”

That must explain her complexion. Aye, good. He’d play along while he kept finding things out for himself. “Why do ye speak Gaelic so well?”

A momentary expression of astonishment crossed her face. She touched her lips. “Gaelic?” she said. “I don’t…”

“Ye dinna what?”

“Uhm. Nothing. It’s an easy tongue to learn, that’s all.”

The cart rattled and shook as the wheel jerked over a rock. Amber jumped up with the cart, lost her balance, and was thrown at Owen from the impact. She landed with her cheek against his stomach, her torso between his legs. Her long, curly hair looked so seductive spread across his stomach and hips. An immediate image of being naked and that hair falling across his bare skin invaded his mind.

And made him hard.

His cock was pressed against her breasts, the leather of her short coat between them. God almighty, he hoped she didn’t feel his reaction. Normally, he’d be already plotting how to get under the lass’s skirt. But this one was so different. In every aspect. For one, she wasn’t wearing a skirt.

Being locked up in a prison cart wasn’t the best time to think about this. They were headed to Stirling, the strongest castle in the whole of Scotland. Owen didn’t know what de Bourgh had in mind, but he didn’t think they’d be welcomed with a feast and entertained as honorable guests. He should be thinking how to escape, not getting hot and bothered about a lass.

She looked up at him, and he could see a blush even through the brown color of her skin. Her eyes were so huge now. She couldn’t look prettier if she tried. She was unique and mysterious, and he craved to know more of her. His hands itched to reach out, pull her higher onto his chest, and kiss her.

“Sorry,” she said, breaking the spell.

She clambered back on her hands and knees and crawled away from him to the opposite corner of the cage. It wasn’t far. If they stretched out their legs, their toes would touch.

“’Tis all right, Amber,” he murmured, feeling empty without her weight on top of him. “I dinna mind ye staying a little longer.”

She blinked and pinched her lips. “Please don’t make comments like that.” She looked pointedly between his legs. “And if you even think of me in that way or make a move, you will be missing the precious part you obviously can’t control. Which doesn’t surprise me, by the way.”

Owen lost the ability to form words.

She folded her arms on her chest. “And stop with your stupid questions. I’m really not in the mood to give any answers.”

That willful tongue of hers. English warriors rode up ahead of the cart and at the back. He doubted they were within earshot, but their presence was as tangible as a smelly goat.

“Be careful, lass,” he said. “I am the only friend ye have here.”

She lifted her chin. “That remains to be seen.”