Highland Escape Read Online Free

she disbelieve him? Or think he did not trust her?
    “We have no shelter for ye. Ye will set up camp outside this tent. Food is being prepared. Ye will eat with us.”
    “Thank you for the kind offer but that will not be necessary. I can take care of my own meal.” Her face and tone were as rigid as the finest steel blade.
    Duncan motioned for her to exit the tent. Her saddlebags and bedroll lay deposited on the ground outside, and she replaced the supplies in her pack. Glancing up, she stiffened. He followed her gaze to her stallion on the other side of camp, saddle removed, tethered to the other horses—one more route of escape denied her.
    Duncan watched with curiosity as the woman quickly set up her camp. She gathered her belongings and placed them beside a large rock away from the tent. Producing a small folding knife, she cut two saplings, laying them next to her ground cloth, using a third sapling to create a slender trident.
    She paced to the burn, moving quietly along the bank, her shadow falling away from the water, he noted with approval. Halting next to a small eddy created by a submerged log, she took a deep breath. With one swift movement, she impaled an unsuspecting trout.
    Duncan jerked with a snort of surprise.
    After cleaning the fish with precise, neat moves, she returned to her campsite. She dug a small fire pit, collected fallen limbs nearby, then pulled out a flint. When the stone struck the knife, sparks flew into the tinder cradled in the shallow pit. The wood caught and a fire grew.
    Duncan doubted he could have done it as quickly. Within a few minutes, she had a fire burning and the fish on a spit. She ignored him, not giving him even a cursory glance.
    How can such a lass, scarcely out of her youth, possess such skills? ’Tis unheard of, absurd. Not for hundreds of years have women been trained in combat and woodcraft, and ’twas then only to repel the Roman bastards .
    He resisted the growing temptation to approach her, a multitude of questions on his mind. It was clear she wanted nothing to do with him. He couldn’t blame her. They treated her as an enemy rather than an ally. What is Da about? He saw how she rescued Nessa.
    Even dressed like a man, he found her stunning, though the church would call her choice of clothing a sin. Try as he might, Duncan couldn’t tear his eyes from her. Her feminine curves weren’t completely hidden beneath the leather armor she wore. A matching black tunic and trews covered the rest. Leather bracers along with the cuirass were well fitted and spoke of wealth, as did her horse. It makes no sense. Why would anyone of means allow a daughter as beautiful as she to dress and behave as a man and travel alone? A mystery indeed.
    He remembered the challenge and his mood shifted. He struggled with a strong need to do something to intervene. He ran a hand over his face in frustration. He could not. Clan law bound him as tightly as his father. He could not even offer to stand in her place.
    Stand in her place? St. Filan’s teeth! What am I thinking? Go against a clansman for a strange lass? What was wrong with him?
    Why did he feel a powerful urge to protect her when she clearly didn’t want his protection? It must be gratitude for saving Nessa and her maid. A curiosity. A riddle to solve, no more . One of his men handed him a bowl of stew, causing him to push such thoughts away with another curse.
    * * *
    Finishing the fish, Anna produced one of the few remaining apples in her pack. With a pout, she inhaled its sweet fragrance before biting into the succulent flesh. Better to savor this, as there would likely be no such luxuries where they were headed. From the smell of the stew they passed around, she could assume her rations as a prisoner would be similar or worse. Her gut tightened as MacGregor approached, the same dark, brooding expression on his face.
    “Come. Did ye hear the request for challenge when we arrived at camp?”
    Of course she had. Did he think