Read Online Highland Troth (Highland Talents Book 3) by Willa Blair - Free Book Online

above her waist. She started to draw a breath, but squealed as she felt herself lifted onto her feet and wrapped in strong arms, hands probing the torn fabric on her back.
    “Caitrin, lass, what are ye doin’ away from the fire?”
    Jamie. Jamie held her. Catrin’s knees went weak.
    “Are ye hurt? Did the cat scratch ye or bite ye?”
    She managed to shake her head, even as she fought for breath to speak. “Nay, just my clothes. I’m unhurt. But we should move away from here in case she comes back.”
    “Let’s get ye back to the fire to be sure ye’re no’ bleeding,” Jamie said, scooping her up. His sudden stride startled her as he carried her back toward camp.
    “I’m fine. I just need ye to hold me...for a moment...until I can catch my breath.”
    Catrin leaned her head on Jamie’s shoulder and breathed in his scent, luxuriating in his heat and the strength of the arms cradling her effortlessly against him.
    “What are ye doin’ out here?” His tone demanded an answer.
    “I came to find ye.”
    “Find me? Why? Is everything all right at the fire?”
    “Aye. Jamie, stop, please. This should be far enough from its den.” Catrin lifted her head from his shoulder and cupped his face with one hand, capturing his gaze in the uncertain moonlight and bringing him to a halt. “I wanted to talk to ye, away from the others. There may be little time for that once we reach...MacGregor.” Jamie stiffened, his jaw clenching under her palm. How she wanted to soothe that tension away. Why had she said that name? She sighed.
    “To talk? About what?”
    “Us, Jamie. Who we were six years ago. Who we are now. I want to learn what ye’ve done these last years, who ye’ve become.”
    “Why do ye care? Ye’re on yer way to be promised to another man. And ye used to be sweet on Toran, no’ me.”
    “Toran? Are ye daft? I never cared for him. Ye ken how he treated me.” Caitrin swallowed as Jamie’s head tilted, dislodging her hand.
    “So what are ye up to, lass? What could we discuss that couldna be said in front of my men? Or yers? Ye didna need to follow me into the woods.”
    Could she admit to the feelings for Jamie she’d nurtured the entire time they’d been separated? Her doubts and dismay over her coming betrothal? Her grief that Jamie took her to meet a fate she’d always imagined with him? “But I do care about ye,” she finally confessed, glad the opportunity had come for them to talk about what lay between them. “Because I...”
    “There ye are!” Will’s unwelcome exclamation startled her into silence as he strode up to them. “What’s going on here? What are ye doin’ alone in the dark—with him?”
    “Just a minute—” Jamie interjected, but Will gave him no chance to finish.
    “Every time I turn my back, I find her in yer arms, Jamie Lathan. What game are ye playin’ at? Ye’re supposed to be taking her to her betrothal, yet ye canna seem to keep yer hands to yerself.”
    “Will!” Caitrin’s sharp exclamation usually stopped Will, but not this time.
    “Put her down, Lathan.”
    Jamie bent and lowered Catrin’s feet to the ground then steadied her until she gained her balance. “She’s unharmed, but she had a run-in with a wildcat.”
    “The only wildcat I see here is Caitrin. Are ye daft, lass? Do ye ken what yer father will do when he hears of ye dallying with him ?”
    “Hears what?” Caitrin challenged, her temper finally gaining sway over her tongue. “That he saved me, yet again?”
    With an oath, she stomped between the two men and gave them her back, heedless of any pitfalls on the ground she covered as she made her way back to the fire. Will followed on her heels, Jamie a few paces behind him.
    “Look at ye! Yer hair is mussed and yer clothes are torn. A wildcat did this? It looks to me to be the work of a man’s passion. Did ye think to have a tryst with yer old flame?”
    Heat scalded the skin of Caitrin’s face. Not from the fire as she reached it, but