Chapter Sixteen #3
“She stumbled on the bridge, but I was able to catch her,” Grant said smoothly. “It is wise to close the bridge. It should have been done long ago.”
“Aye. Thank you. We are in your debt.” Keeping an arm around Catriona, Evan shook Grant’s hand.
“Not at all! Good day to you both. And I will see you soon, Kildonan. I’m happy to accept your invitation to go for a climb with your group.” He doffed his hat and walked away at a fast pace.
“Climbing?” Catriona turned, and Evan dropped his arm away.
“I saw him earlier when I came this way hoping to find you. He and Arthur were out hunting, and Arthur asked him to join our next climb. Our guests from the climbing club arrived a little while ago, you see, and so Arthur and I went down to meet them. I was just heading back this way to find you.”
She looked toward the castle. Its groomed landscape was deserted. “They arrived sooner than expected.”
“Aye, and went out again after refreshments, eager to explore. Jeanie sent them over to that round-top hill over there. The slope is respectably steep, and the view from the top spectacular. I remember climbing up there as a boy, but not since. I’ve done a good bit of climbing in other places, yet not much in my own glen. Yet,” he added with a smile.
“It is a good glen for climbing, with steep hills to either side and the Torridon range beginning at the far end of the glen. Oh, I see them now!” She shaded her eyes, spotting a few ladies in skirts and hats, and gentlemen in coats and caps making their way up a slope. “We call that hill Sgairneach Mhòr.”
“Skair-nyak-vor,” he repeated. “I’d forgotten. What does it mean?”
“Big stony hill.” He laughed, deep and easy, and began to walk over the moor with her. His stride was long, but she was tall and kept pace. But he slowed, glancing at her.
“I’m glad Grant saw you on the bridge. I was on my way there. I hoped you would not take the bridge, but I just had a feeling you would.” He gave her a wry smile.
Her heart gave a little flip. “I can cross the old bridge well enough, but the repairs you made did help. It felt sturdier underfoot.”
“Yet you almost fell. I feel responsible for that.”
“Do not! I was not in danger. Grant exaggerated.”
He glanced at her. “Why would he do that? It doesn’t seem to be his nature.”
She shrugged. “I am not sure.” Wanting to tell him the truth, she held back, aware that she had to protect Finlay from Grant’s threat.
“Perhaps he wanted to appear the hero,” Evan said. “Catriona, does he have some romantic interest in you? If so, he would not be pleased about the marriage.”
“Interested in the Plain Girl of Glen Shee? Hah,” she said.
“Why not? I am.”
Quickly, she met his glance, knowing her heated blush was not due to the brisk wind. Yearning to tell him what she knew, yet needing to hold back, she hastened to change the subject.
“Do you truly want me to come along on the climb with your friends?”
“Of course, but only if you want to.”
“You have a large party already if Mr. Grant is included.”
He stopped, tilted his head, looking puzzled. “You do not care for Mr. Grant.”
She glanced away. “I have known him a long time. He is a good doctor, but sometimes—he can be trying.”
“But he was your savior today, lass.” He said it lightly.
“Savior! I did not feel safe with him.”
A deep and immediate frown. “Why?”
“He can be—insistent.” She shrugged. “I feel safer with you. Simply that.”
“Catriona,” he said, and murmured something she did not quite hear, yet wished she had, for he reached out to sweep her into his arms, a hand at her waist, the other cradling her head, fingers in her windblown hair.
Then he kissed her suddenly, deeply, profoundly.
A wild response welled up in her and with a little gasp of need and relief, she leaned in to savor the strength and tenderness in his kiss.
Wrapped in his arms, standing in the windblown grass with her skirt and plaid wafting out, she felt enchanted under the dominion of the mountains and clouds above, felt something merge in that kiss, that embrace, something magical and mysterious.
He broke away, and she looked up, breathless, realizing his breath was coming hard, his hands gripped her, his hazel-green eyes intent.
“I meant to let you decide,” he said. “But when I heard you almost fell, it gave me the devil of a fright. Promise me you will keep off that bridge.”
“But I cannot promise that.” She blew out a breath. “Morag and I need to use the bridge. We have work to do. Even if I stopped using it and went the long way, she would use it.”
He set an arm around her shoulders to resume their walk over the meadow, drawing her along beside him. Suddenly she wished they had not spoken, wished time would turn back to a moment ago, or a few days ago, alone in the shieling hut before life became wrought with conflict and opinion.
“There are other ways into the hills,” he said.
“When I was young, my brothers and sisters and I would climb down into the gorge and leap the stones across the stream. But Morag is over seventy now, and cannot do that.”
“Then she should not leap the gap in the bridge either.”
“She has crossed that wee bad step countless times. She swears by the fairy charm.”
“If you nearly fell, the fairy charm did not do you much good today. Take ponies along the drover’s track if the other way is longer.”
“Ponies are impractical where the hills are steep and rough. And the track is in poor condition too. More sheep into these hills means fewer cattle drives to keep the roads smooth. And we need to go into the high hills. True, there are not many people left in this glen now,” she went on, “but those who are left look forward to our visits.”
“We will think of something. Come, lass, you look shaken and in need of hot tea.”
“I’m fine. I had tea with Morag and her husband John MacLeod.”
“She is always fine, this lass,” he said in a wry tone. He tucked her hand in his elbow. “Let’s go home to Kildonan.”
They walked in natural tandem, their bodies a complement of curves and hollows in motion. Though she did not really know this man, she felt as if she did somehow.
Falling literally and swiftly into her life, he fit as if there had always been a place just for him.
She did feel safe with him. And she wished they had never left that shieling hut, never learned more about each other.
Wished they could recapture the simplicity of that lost night, knowing they had each other, knowing they could survive and learn to love.
But that small world was gone, and the greater world held challenges and secrets.