Once again she felt two hands on her. This time, though, the hands lifting her off the ground were considerably gentler. She looked up to see Ewen ’s face only inches from her own, concern etched in his brow.
“Did I …?”
“Aye, lass, he ’s dead. You did well. Quiet yourself now. ” Cradling her firmly in his arms, he whispered, “You ’re a braw one aren’t you, Lil ’? I can ’t say I ’ve seen braver. ”
Lily shot up in his arms, renewed terror in her eyes. “But the other one! ”
In her panic, Lily’s forehead butted hard against Ewen ’s chin. He chuckled, “I said calm yourself, lass. I dealt with the nasty-faced one . No need to rile yourself.
“Do you think you can sit a horse? We need to be away from this place before some other soldiers wonder what all the gunfire is about. ”
Lily nodded weakly, only to regret it when she caught sight of the warhorse Ewen called a ride. No Highland pony this one. But for one dark red sock, the horse was as black as night and barely visible in the growing twilight. His mane and tail were long, unruly masses that stood in stark counterpoint to the silky sheen of his body. Lily gaped when she noticed the patchwork of scars webbing the horse ’s face and shoulders.
Ewen mistook her apprehension for admiration and praised, “Aye, he’s a bonny one, no? I call him Ares—like the god of war. He ’s seen me through many a battle, this one. Not the comeliest lad, but there ’s none braver.”
Ewen had barely lifted her onto the saddle when he announced gravely, “Now that you’re safe, lass, I ’d say my mind. ”
“Uh -oh.” She smiled, feeling at ease with him. “Here it comes. ” Lily turned to face him, eyebrows raised expectantly. It wasn ’t every day she had a life-and-death experience and the rush left her feeling muzzy and inexplicably close to the laird.
“This is not a light matter, lass. ”
She was taken aback. Rather than engaging in what she thought would be a continuation of their easy rapport, Ewen seemed affronted by her good humor. He chided,
“You ’ve no place outside the castle walls. I don ’t ken women of your time, but you’re my charge now and you must mind my word.”
“Don’t scold me like a child. ” Red blotched her cheeks as Lily felt suddenly piqued. “If you and your …your foster brother hadn’t been so secretive and dramatic and, well, bizarre, I might have listened to you. ”
“Och, you glaikit lass. ” Ewen pulled Ares to an abrupt halt. “Tell me, what about this isn’t dramatic and bizarre? I wonder that I even found you. If those men hadn ’t been such bawheided fools, it’s your dead body I ’d have slung over the saddle. ”
“I was just trying to get back to … where I was. How was I to know ”— Her breath shuddered as she tried to get air into her suddenly uncooperative lungs, “How could I have known that I couldn’t get back?”
“I’m just asking. ” Ewen’s voice gentled. “I ’m asking that henceforth you give a thought to your situation, aye?”
“That’s just it. ” Tears began to spill down her face. “How can I think about it when I don ’t even understand what ’s happened to me? I … I just want to go home. Please,” Lily sobbed, “you ’ve got to help me get home. ”
Ewen tucked her head under his chin. “Hush, lass,” he rasped. “I know the person who might can help you find your way. There ’s a woman, Gormshuil, she predicted your coming.”
Lily’s head bolted back up. “Predicted I’d come?”
“That someone would come, and” he smiled “I pray that — — none else has passed without my knowledge.” His eyes softened as he smoothed Lily’s hair from her face. “But you ’re best to guard your hopes, lass. Gormshuil is a canny old witch, but she ’s hard to track. And I ’ve first the need to settle affairs in my own keep—I ’ve redcoats ahead and MacKintoshes aback—but once I ’m able, you’ll have all the help you need. ” Cupping her chin, he added, “I’ll see you home. ”
Ewen nudged Ares into a slow walk, and Lily felt his body stiffen behind her. “But you ’re to trust me, lass. And part of that is the minding of me. If I ’m to keep you from harm, you ’re not to venture far without the keep, aye?”
“I… of course. ” His controlling attitude chafed, but Lily thought she didn ’t have to like it. She just needed to survive it. “I understand.”
Just get me home, she thought.
Chapter 9
For someone perched atop a formidable warhorse, Lily discovered she was surprisingly cozy. She ’d been so wound up after their conversation, it had taken her a long time to sort out her skirts and get comfortable on the unusually hard saddle. Ewen, in a wave of frustration, finally just whisked her onto his lap, settling her in the crook of his arm, Lily’s head nestled on his shoulder. Wordlessly, he’d unpinned the swath of tartan that was gathered over his shoulder and wrapped it around her for warmth.
Once again she called Gram ’s song to mind. Hearing it in her head, she felt a shot of alarm—and more than a little fascination—as she considered the parallels to Ewen and Robert. Especially Robert, whose claims of traveling through the labyrinth—come from “a future grand”—were all too explicitly referenced in the lyrics.
But Gram’s song had been a tragic one, about the dead hero who had taken a bullet for his laird. The Robert she ’d met was very much alive. Surely Ewen and Robert were common enough names in Scotland. For the words to be about the same men was outlandish. It would mean the song foretold their future, that Lily knew the near future. A prospect, she supposed grimly, no more preposterous than her having traveled back in time.
Utterly exhausted, Lily decided she had no choice but to ignore it for now. She didn ’t know these men or their world. She could only wait, and watch, and keep the riddle of Gram’s lullaby to herself.
They rode in silence for some time. She was emotionally sapped, but somehow the knowledge that Ewen would help her find her way home—that he would take care of things just as he had taken care of those redcoats—made her feel safe. Her mind emptied itself of all the turmoil and she was left feeling tranquil and pleasantly blank.
The gentle swaying of Ares’s gait lulled Lily. She let herself become aware of all of her aches and pains—her raw fingers, throbbing heel, and, not least of all, the solitude that had overwhelmed her just before Ewen rescued her from the soldiers. Mesmerized by the play of the bright Scottish moon on Ares’s silken black coat, Lily forced her multiple injuries to recede into a single dull ache.
She had felt so starkly alone in the world. But for Ewen she would likely be dead now. Who was this man who now cradled her in his arms? The only person in the world who noted her disappearance and thought to find her. This man with whom she ’d had such an intense connection in a moment of life or death. Who, despite being a virtual stranger to her, would do all in his power to help her find her way home.
She inhaled his scent—peat, damp wool, leather. His raw, earthy vitality both invigorated and soothed her. He was unlike any man she had ever been in contact with. Ewen ’s body felt as if it was hewn from stone, his stomach a wall of solid muscle, the cut of his arms hard and unyielding. But there was a warmth there, a human solidity.
Lily became aware of the fluid motion of his pelvis, back and forth, following the horse ’s gait as if they were a single animal, and she shivered as a long-forgotten awareness of herself as a woman—a woman’s body with a woman’s needs—thrilled through her. Thinking her cold, Ewen merely pulled her closer, tucking the tartan more tightly around her chest. A lock of his hair fell from behind his ear and cascaded over her forehead. The smell of him filled her even more intensely than before, a male musk sparking her body to awareness, pushing all thoughts of her injuries to the back of her mind. She let her rational mind slip away and allowed herself to enjoy this flare of sensuality, her body responding to another body in a way that she had managed to stifle all of these years. Nuzzling deeper into the crook of his arm, she let herself drift into a dreamless sleep.
Ewen tried to look away, but couldn’t stop his eyes from returning over and over to the sight of her exposed thigh extended over Ares ’s saddle. He marveled at how long and smooth it was. It looked strong and lean, yet soft to the touch. He forced himself to keep his eyes on the path ahead and cursed the woman for her recklessness.
She should count herself lucky that her absence had been noted as quickly as it was. Just a few minutes more and he would ’ve been too late. Alone, he traveled swiftly, Lily ’s whereabouts simple enough to track. Three drunken redcoats and a retching lass carve as subtle a trail as would an injured bull elk in heat. Ewen shook his head. He had to allow that she was a brave one. His first instincts on that score had been correct. And a robust lassie too, for all her bonny appearance. She fought like a hellcat, unhindered by muscles weaker than a man ’s. Some of her moves had taken him aback. Leveraging her own weight to make battering rams of her feet against that lout ’s knee, that was one he ’d like to try himself.
He’d wager that this Lily would be just as tempestuous with a man whom she wasn’t trying to kill.
Och, but he needed to learn to censure his thoughts. She was rash, ill-tempered, and, he ’d not forget, a stranger to his lands. It was too simple to find oneself enthralled by her peculiar brand of beauty, but such traitorous lapses of judgment could hold grave consequences, no mistake. He replayed in his mind what had been an uncharacteristically distracted and nearly fatal error. Damned if the lass hadn ’t diverted his attentions from the task of finishing those beggars off as efficiently as he could have. Just a single glance with those eyes had unmanned him, jarred as he was to see the usual fire of her gaze dampened by a look of such fearful need.