Chapter Thirteen
Ian sat upon a rock and gazed out over the surrounding birch trees to the clearing below.
Jo stood at the edge of a small pool, dipping her toes in the water while her stallion drank.
She let go of the reins and pulled her tunic up above her knees, stepping further into the pool.
The hint of a smile curved her mouth. He licked his lips, so enticed was he by what he was witnessing.
Certainly, the shape of her comely calves tempted his gaze, but it was her bearing that he found so bewitching.
There was a lightness to her face that he had never seen before.
He chuckled softly when she suddenly kicked at the water playfully.
He was so accustomed to her pinched brow and the grim set to her lips.
Now, she seemed so young and carefree. She could not be more than ten and seven or eight, but so often she appeared older than that.
He leaned forward on the rock when her gaze suddenly darted around her, scanning the surrounding trees.
Then, she dipped under her horse’s neck to scan the other side of the pool.
What was she up to?
In the next moment, he knew the answer. He swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry, as she inched her tunic up over her head, revealing her thin kirtle, which hugged her sleek curves.
Despite how much he longed to see the womanly curves beneath her undergarment, he forced himself to turn away when she reached for the hem of her kirtle and started to pull that up, too.
Then he heard a splash. He turned back just to see her toes dip beneath the water.
Moments later, she broke the surface, her long hair slicked back, her face upturned.
Her laughter reached his ears, warming his heart.
He could have watched her all day, for the rest of his life really, but he knew it was not right to intrude upon such an intimate scene.
With a sigh, he turned away from the glory of water sluicing off her bare shoulders and decided to forage for mushrooms that he could leave in her path for her dinner.
Scanning the forest floor, he tried to focus on his chosen task, but his thoughts remained transfixed on her beautiful form, making it hard to concentrate.
At last, spying a cluster of plump mushrooms, partially hidden beneath a scattering of ferns, he bent over, reaching out his hand, but then he jumped at the sound of a piercing scream.
He whirled around and took off, head down, sprinting as fast as he could back to the pool.
JO DOVE BENEATH THE surface, the icy water rushing over her body, cooling her, and reviving her senses.
She felt free, unencumbered by layers of clothing.
Pushing off the bottom, she sprang toward the surface, but when her face emerged, Ruby’s snarling seized her attention.
She whirled around in the water in time to see a stout man in filthy rags rush at Ruby with a club.
Air rushed into her lungs, powering the scream that fled her lips.
Ruby sprang at her assailant. He cried out, dropped his club to shield his face and fell back, scurrying out from under Ruby who had left her mark on the man’s cheek.
Backing up to the shoreline, Ruby snarled and growled, daring one of the men to attempt to get past her to where her mistress remained, shoulder deep in water. The stout man wiped at the marks on his face and growled when he saw the blood.
“I’ll kill that stupid dog!”
“You stay away from her,” Jo shouted. She felt helpless. If only she had her own dirk. She would charge out of the pool and slit the man’s throat for even threatening Ruby.
But she was unarmed and naked.
Gripping a knife in his hand, another man, tall with broad shoulders and clad in a patched and greasy tunic, chuckled at his companion.
“Tomlin, that’s no dog. You just tried to best a wolf with naught but a stick.
What you need is a dagger,” he said, his voice thick and greedy, eying Ruby as if he was imagining what she would look like skinned and turning on a spit.
“Think you can do better with that,” Tomlin snorted, gesturing to the other man’s so-called dagger. “It’s smaller than your prick.”
Jo didn’t care how small his knife or prick were. All she cared about was Ruby. “Come here, girl,” Jo bellowed as the man slowly crept closer and closer to her beloved companion who was snarling, gnashing her jaws, her haunches ready to propel her toward the approaching menace.
But what if it was Ruby’s blood that was spilled?
“No Ruby!” Jo screamed, pushing through the water to get to her, heedless of her lack of weapon or her state of undress. “Get away from her!”
Lewdly urging Jo on, the man with the knife sneered, “That’s right. Come rescue your mutt. Let me see that beautiful body.”
Jo reached the shore and rose out from beneath the surface, water sluicing off her shoulders.
The men gawked at her wet, bare breasts.
Just as Jo lunged for Ruby, a ferocious battle cry rang out and a flash of red whooshed down from the high rocks on one side of the pool.
Before she knew what was happening, a familiar giant splashed down in the water between her and her assailants.
He rose up, his stance strong, ready to fight.
IAN SNAPPED HIS WRIST, sending his dagger soaring through the air.
It sunk deep into one the villain’s shoulders.
Crying out, the man dropped his club and fell back, his face twisted with pain.
The other two men charged at him, their faces ugly with rage.
Ian plunged his sword into his attacker’s belly just as the other man raised his hand, dagger flashing in the sunlight, poised to sink into Ian’s neck.
Ian jerked back. The dagger stabbed naught but air.
Then, in a flash of teeth and fur, Ruby clamped down on the man’s wrist. He cried out, Ruby thrashing her head, mangling his flesh before releasing her grip.
The man scurried backward, cradling his gushing wound, his face red and teeth clenched against the pain.
Leaving the dead man behind, the others stumbled off into the wood.
But for Ian the fight wasn’t over yet.
Ruby turned on him, snarling and snapping her jaws. He scurried back. Bending to seize a sturdy branch off the ground, he used it to fend her off.
Jo flashed past him, her long hair and arms concealing her nakedness, not that he could have taken more than a passing glance with the wolf-dog wanting to mangle his throat. “Call her off!”
Wrapped in her cloak, Jo appeared in front of him and grabbed Ruby’s leash. “Come on, girl,” she said, straining to pull her away. “She’s hard to control when she feels I am threatened.”
“I would never hurt ye.”
“Unless you know a way to make her understand that, then you’ll just have to go,” she snapped. “I can only hold her off for so long.”
“Ye’re mad if ye think I’m leaving ye alone in the woods after ye were just set upon by three lusty, drunken woodsmen.”
“I’m not alone.”
“If those men had been more than common thieves armed with more than kitchen knives and sticks, ye and Ruby would be dead. She can only protect ye against unarmed or poorly armed men...like me, at the moment,” he gritted, struggling to hold the stick that Ruby had lashed down on with her powerful jaws. “What ye need is an escort.”
Still Ruby struggled with lethal intent.
“I appreciate your concern, but it’s no use,” Jo snapped impatiently. “She doesn’t like anyone. Ruby,” she commanded, her voice booming. “Stand down!”
Finally, Jo was able to pull the powerful animal back a few feet.
Ian rested his hands on his thighs, catching his breath as he looked the beast in the eyes. Yellow eyes stared back at his, untrusting, challenging, angry—not unlike her owner, except for the color.
But what if he could change all that?
He stood straight and crossed his arms over his chest. “If I can get her to like me, may I journey with ye.”
Jo stared at him for a moment, her face a stony, unreadable mask. Then she looked away. “I don’t need a guard.”
He cleared his throat. “The dead man on the ground leads me to believe otherwise.”
She looked back at him, her eyes flashing. “Let me say it like this, I don’t want a guard.”
“Then how about a friend?”
She faltered. He knew he must have said the unexpected by the way she paused. Her gaze dropped to Ruby who was still struggling to reach Ian’s throat.
“It’s impossible. Look at her. In case you don’t realize it, she wants to kill you.”
“Just give me a chance,” Ian said. “I have a way with frightened creatures.”
“She’s not frightened. She’s angry.”
Ian stared at her for a moment before he said, “I just saved your life. She’s not angry with me; she’s scared. I just need to show her that I’m a good man, a man she can trust.”
Keeping both herself and Ruby at a distance, Jo shrugged, imparting an air of indifference, which did not quite reach her eyes. Her gaze betrayed her nervousness, her worry, and something else Ian decided to believe was hope.
He shifted his gaze from the suspicious lass to her protective companion. Squatting down, he tried to make himself as small as he could. Dropping his gaze and lowering his head he said to the dog, “We just fought side by side—that makes us brothers."
“She’s a girl,” Jo interjected.
“All right, so not brothers, but definitely family.”
Ian lowered his gaze further still and got down on his knees, bringing his head low to the ground. He swallowed.
“Let her go.”
“Let her go? Are you mad?”
“Mayhap a wee bit but do it anyway.”
“She’s not just noise and bravado. She really will attack you.”
“I believe anyone can learn trust when the person asking is worthy. I am a flawed man, make no mistake about that, but I’m a good one. She knows I am.” He took a deep breath. “Let her go.”
“All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Ruby lunged at him, barking and growling.
Ian kept his gaze downcast but felt her hot breath on his face.
She was so close and so very fierce, but then she danced back.
He looked up, and an instant later she lunged forward again, snarling.
Ian kept his breathing steady, his gaze averted, and didn’t flinch.
Again, Ruby stopped short of sinking her teeth into his flesh.
Then, with a low-throated growl, her hackles raised, she bore down on Ian but did not snarl or snap her jaws.
She nosed forward, all the while issuing the same low, warning growl.
She sniffed at him, then retreated back to Jo’s side, still issuing a muted growl in the back of her throat.
“Good girl,” Jo exclaimed, scratching Ruby behind the ear while she gripped her cloak tightly around her naked body.
Ian rolled onto his back and expelled a long breath. “Well, that was a start.”
“She didn’t eat your face. I hope that’s not how you measure the start of every good relationship.”
He lifted his head to meet her gaze. “Ye can pretend to be unaffected by what just happened, but ye and I both know that was momentous.”
“All right,” she conceded. “That went much better than I expected.”
He sat up, smiling. “Then we have an accord?”
“I suppose I did give you my word, but...” Her eyes narrowed on him suspiciously.
“But what?” he asked.
She straightened, clasping her cloak tightly around her. “Have you been following me this whole time?” she said accusingly.
He nodded. “Aye, in fact, I haven’t taken my eyes off ye...except, of course, just now before ye were attacked.”
She seemed to consider his words before saying, “Why did you take your eyes off me?”
“Ye were taking a bath. What kind of rogue do ye think I am?”
She shrugged. “Not all men are as honorable as you.”
“I know plenty of men, all my brothers included, who wouldn’t spy on a woman bathing.
Yer body is just that, yers. Now, with a clear invitation, I would certainly be inclined to see more of ye, but not without yer permission.
With that in mind—” Ian turned around to give her privacy.
“Ye need to situate yerself. We shouldn’t linger just in case that fool on the ground over there has more friends hiding in the woods. ”
After a few moments, she said, “I’m decent.”
He turned back around. “Then let us head on our way.”
She stood with her hands on her hips, giving him a hard look. “So, it’s our way now, is it?”
“Ye did say that if I could get Ruby to like me, that I could travel with ye.”
As if the dog understood, Ruby growled at him.
“Not biting you is not the same as liking you,” Jo said defensively.
“I concede she’s only being cordial and is not yet ready to have a warm cuddle with me by a roaring fire. If ye prefer, ye can pretend yer traveling alone, and I can just go back to following ye.”
“Fine,” she said, her voice clipped. “You can join me and Ruby but keep your questions to yourself. All right?”
Ian contained the smile that fought to spread wide across his face. God’s blood, but he loved her gumption. “I learned long ago not to question a woman, especially one with secrets.”
Her eyes flashed wide. “What makes you think I have secrets?”
He cocked a brow at her but said nothing. “Where are we heading?”
“You’ll see,” she said stiffly.
He chuckled. “I told ye, women always have secrets.”