To Catch a Highlander: A Highland Erotic Romance (4 page)

So it was with something approa
ching real affection when I finally spoke up on my own some hours after lunch. “What if we went off together, Ewan?”

He looked startled. “What of it? We could never go home again, for starters!”

“Do you think I would ever go back there?” I demanded. “I mean, perhaps to rescue Penny from the fate I’ve now escaped thanks to you, Ewan, but –”

“Have I said you could call me by my first name?!”

“Lord Galbraith. I’m sorry. But as I was saying, I should never wish to return home anyway. Would you if you were in my position?”

To my pleasant surprise, he gave my question some consideration. “No,” he finally said. “I am quite certain I would not. But what you are suggesting, Brianna, well, it just isn’t possible.”

“It is if you should choose to believe it is,” I insisted. “With your resources, we could go anywhere! Except home, and I’ve told you I don’t wish to go back there anyway.”

“Has it not occurred to you that I do wish to return home when this is done, though?” he asked. “Not all of us are prepared to cast off o
ur entire lives on a whim!”

“Do you think I was?!” I demanded.

“Given your behaviour, Brianna, you should have been.”

“You are entirely too much like Father,” I grumbled.

We rode on in silence for an uncomfortably long time before he looked at me again. “You know, Brianna – and I shall have to insist you never repeat this to anyone – now that I know you were the Boy Avenger, I must admit I find your escapades most admirable. Such a high spirited young woman deserves a better fate than I am bringing you to. I want you to know that I do understand that.”

“And yet you’re dragging me there kicking and screaming all the same!”

“Your father is an old and loyal friend of mine. I owe it to him.”

“What did he ever do for you, Lord Galbraith?” I demanded. “What on e
arth do you owe to him, that you would participate in an injustice such as this and even admit to me that it is as much?!”

“I can never tell you that,” he said. “I’m sorry, but no one must ever know that. I will tell you this: if you knew the answer, you w
ould understand why I could never run off with you.”

Even I know when I am beaten, sometimes. I had no idea what he might be referring to; but I did know my father and his ideas about loyalty and friendship. Little doubt he had some horrible secret of Lor
d Galbraith’s to hold over his head for all time. It was just like Lord Galbraith to frame that in such positive terms, too. That could only add to my begrudging but growing admiration for the man as we rode on eastward away from the setting sun.

Somewhat
later, we came upon a large inn. Lord Galbraith looked over his shoulder at the sun. “Less than an hour of light,” he estimated. “I guess we ought to stop here for the night.” We clopped into the yard, where he dismounted and tethered his horse, and then looked up at me uncertainly. “I’m going to trust you to try no further escapes while I am inside,” he said. “Surely you can see even you won’t get far with your hands bound.”

“Of course,” I admitted.

“And even if you did run, others would take one look at your hands and assume you were an escaped convict.”

“I know.”

“And a night in gaol would be rather worse than a night with me.”

“I
said
I understand!”

“I know, Brianna. But I also know you.” With a glint of something approaching respect in his eye, he smil
ed slightly and turned inside. I did my best to look inconspicuous there in the dying sunlight sitting idly on Honey. I did my best to keep my hands out of sight, but burying them in the folds of my skirt only served to make it appear I was engaging in behaviour no lady should in public. Finally I had to settle for clutching at Honey’s mane and hoping no one would look too closely.

Lord Galbraith wasn’t long, thank heavens. “There is good news and bad news,” he said as he unlocked my hands and helped me of
f Honey. “The good news is, we’ve got a meal and a warm bed to look forward to. The bad news is their only remaining room has but one bed.”

“How very convenient,” I sulked, though privately I was not displeased. “How much did you tip the keeper to tell you
that?”

“Brianna! If anything, I have proven myself far more trustworthy today than you have! What sort of man do you think I am?”

A man after my very own heart, I thought to myself in silent satisfaction as he guided me into the noisy, crowded inn.

Dinn
er was pleasant enough; we got a table to ourselves in a relatively quiet corner, and with numerous boisterous parties just beyond us, we were left to our own devices over a carafe of wine and a nourishing stew. After my first glass of the wine had me feeling a bit free, I brushed Lord Galbraith’s hand and gave him an open, inviting look. “So,” I said. “Tell me what you can about my father in the good old days.”

“What do you want to know?” he asked. “I should think he’s told you all that matters.”

“He’s told me what he wants me to know,” I corrected. “I want to know what he wouldn’t want me to know. And what’s the harm when I’ll most likely never see him again anyway?”

“Harm to him?
None. To me? Little, I suppose, since you’d likely never have the chance to tell him if you wanted to. To you? I’ll tell you very frankly, Brianna, there’s a great deal of potential harm to you.”

“What more could he do to me?” I demanded. “He has already sent me off to marry a man I don’t love, hasn’t he?”

“Harm to your own spirit, Brianna. From what I’ve seen of you today, that is very much still intact. I’d like to keep it that way, my friend, because you’re going to need it to keep your wits about you once you’re stuck with Gordan. Men like your father do not get to such heights without making many an enemy and playing many a dirty trick. Regardless of your relationship with your father, Brianna, you have had a very pleasant upbringing, and your poise and maturity will serve you well in making a life out of your fate now. You do not need – or want – the pain of knowing just how that upbringing was possible.”

I was silent for a few minutes, considering all he had said. Father did always seem to keep an awful lot of secrets from me. Finally I admitted, “Perhaps you’re right.”

“I wish I weren’t,” he confessed, “But I know your father rather too well.”

“Well, riddle me this,” I said. “What is the harm if you should let me go my own way? Tell him you delivered me to
Gordan and he never needs to know the truth!”

“Oh, but he will,” Lord
Galbraith said. “Gordan is a dear friend of your father’s, after all. Sooner or later word will get back to him that you never arrived, and you don’t want to know what would happen to me once your father learned that!”

“Oh yes I
do
want to know,” I insisted.

Lord Galbraith set down his spoon in his bowl and looked at me in thoughtful silence for a moment. “I’d be exposed,” he said.
“Exposed as a fraud of the worst sort. No one in all Scotland would ever trust me again.”

“I hope you’re telling the truth,” I
announced.

“I am, but why do you say that?”

“Because I believe you – I know not why, but I do – and I should never want to be the cause of any harm that should come to you if you did not do Father’s bidding. So I shall drop the subject. I only hope that I am right in believing in you and in doing so.”

“I assure you, Brianna, you are,” he said, taking my hand in his. I squeezed back, enjoying the press of warm flesh that I had had all day to think about. “Not only that, but you will be far happier in ignora
nce than you should ever be in knowledge of the truth. I promise you that.”

“I believe you,” I said again. “I truly do.”

Still holding my hand, he said, “I really do wish our time together could be on different terms than all this. You know I always have admired you, and never more than now – today’s escape attempt included. You’re just the challenge your father always deserved, and just the type of woman who would make me a very happy man if only I were younger.”

“Well now, Lord Galbraith,” I whispered. “W
ho is to say you’re too old for me?”

“Your father,” he said with finality, releasing my hand. “As I’ve said, this is the way it must be, regardless of what either of us thinks or feels.”

I nodded and, disappointed but not defeated, I poured myself some more wine.

He had the decency not to insult me by asking if he could trust me to retire to our room without making a run for it. When we arrived there, we found a single featherbed, large enough for two, and neither of us commented. I wasn’t in the least sor
ry for the challenge that presented, and even then I rather suspected he wasn’t either. Behind the bed was a screen hiding a crude half-barrel bathtub, and a fire pit with a kettle. “I should think we will both need a bath after today’s ride,” he said, and he lost no time in lighting a fire. At his directive, I went outside with a pair of buckets to collect water from the well. After three trips, I had the tub half-full of cold water; it would mix well with the hot water from the kettle for a warm bath. On that thought, I had a marvellous idea.

“You can bathe first, of course,” he said.
“Ladies first.”

“Oh, no,” I countered. “You first, I insist.”

“Why?” he asked.

Why indeed? I had no good answer to that, so I settled for flattery. “I put you through such a
great deal today, and you have responded with respect at every turn. It’s the least I can do, Lord Galbraith.”

“And how do I know you aren’t simply angling for another opportunity to run?”

I reached into the folds of my skirt and withdrew my purse. “Here you are, Lord Galbraith. All the money I have to my name. I am hardly going to run out at night without a farthing in a countryside I don’t know, now am I?”

“You are too smart for that, indeed,” he allowed, taking the purse. “Very well, then, if you don’t
mind, I should like to bathe first.”

Back on the other side of the screen, I relaxed on the bed and let my imagination run wild at the sound of the ruffling of fabric and clinking of buckles as he undressed. I also thought long and hard as to whether or n
ot I truly wanted to go through with my idea. It would certainly change forever my relationship with this gentleman who had known me all my life. But then, was that a bad thing? Did it matter that he had known me as a child when I was now every inch a woman? And after all, what did I have to lose?

I had made up my mind by the time I heard him pour the steaming water into the barrel. “I shall heat up some more for you now!” he called out to me. “It shall be ready when I am finished.”

“Oh, take your time!” I reassured him.

I heard him slide into the water. “My word, this is heavenly!” he said. “I owe you greatly for letting me go first, Brianna!”

“Think nothing of it!” I said with a grin he couldn’t see, but I imagined he could hear it. Even I thought my voice sounded absolutely musical in that heady moment, as I assessed what I was about to do. Before my nerve could desert me, I stood up and untied the sash of my dress. With a bit of reach and effort, I undid the buttons in back and soon had it off. Still in my bodice and girdle, I stood before the mirror and removed the pins and combs from my hair, and ran my fingers through it to smooth out the long dark locks as best I could. I looked a bit weatherbeaten from the road, perhaps, a warrior rather than a nobleman’s daughter; but I doubted Lord Galbraith would mind a bit! I opted not to look in the mirror as I removed my underthings; no point in drawing my own overly-critical eye to my body at a moment like that! I might not find my breasts and curves so impressive, but I trusted he would.

If he heard me undressing, he made no comment on the matter; I could hear him splashing about in the water as I walked naked toward the bathtub. Tamping down my embarrassment, I bit my lip and forced a smile, and stepped around
the screen.

“
Brianna!
” He averted his gaze immediately, just as I had expected. A split second later he splashed both hands into the water and cupped them over his cock and balls, but not before I had seen a very positive response to my presence.

“Relax
, Lord Galbraith,” I said, hands on my hips and feeling my nipples stiffen with the nervous pleasure of the moment. “No one ever needs to know.”

“But I will!”

“I’m sure your secret will be safe with yourself. And why on earth would I betray it?”

He pulled
his hands away and set them on the edges of the barrel, doubtlessly aware that they couldn’t hope to contain his rock-hard cock anyway. I couldn’t tell for sure due to the ripples in the water, but it looked like one of the bigger ones I’d seen, certainly bigger than those of Father’s ever-so-macho fighting men whom Penny and I had had occasion to spy on, and no surprise there given his humble demeanour. “Brianna, this is terribly inappropriate,” he hissed, trying to look anywhere but at my body and, to my great amusement, mostly failing. “I…I knew you when you were a
child
, for heaven’s sake!”