Read Online Ravished by a Highlander by Paula Quinn - Free Book Online

said, rising to her feet. She barely reached his chest but gathered her courage around
     her like a mantle. “My life has already cost too much. I will not have it cost you yours.”
    “Nor will I.” He turned away from her before he was tempted to ponder the extraordinary beauty of her eyes. Was it the filtered
     sunlight streaming through the canopy of summer green leaves that changed their color to deep cerulean? Damnation, he could
     find satisfaction gazing into them forever, stripping away all her secrets and…
    “Let’s clear up and be gone from here.” He strode to his horse, pulled a fresh tunic from his saddlebag and tugged it over
     his head. He disappeared behind a tree to empty his bladder, then thought better of it. He had to assume they might be followed
     by any soldiers who had survived the attack on the Abbey and mayhap saw him riding off with Davina. A good tracker would spot—or
     smell—whatever they were careless enough to leave behind.
    Peering around the tree, he watched Davina share a word with Finn while they saddled the horses. She possessed no airs of
     superiority, the way a noble lady might. She spoke softly and seemed to be even-tempered, save for when she’d tried to kill
     him with his own dagger. She’d prayed for him…. He studied the heavy robes concealing much of her form and found himself wondering
     what she looked like underneath. She was thin, that much he could tell. The coarse wool hung off her slender shoulders in
     folds and bunched at her waist, barely defined by the rope she had belted there. She needed to eat something besides berries,
     but there was no time to hunt. He prayed they were not being followed. “If we ride hard,” he told them all, stepping out from
     behind the tree, “we can reach Ayrshire in a few hours.”
    “Ride hard?” The lass turned to him, her eyes round with dread.
    “Are ye sore?” he asked her, noting her hand slipping behind her to give her upper thighs a rub.
    “I will be fine.” She offered him a quick smile then turned away.
    Rob stared after her for another moment, cursing the effect her most casual smile had on him.
    “We’ll need to cover our tracks from here on in,” he called out to the others. “We didna’ stop here. Will, ye and Colin haul
     that fallen branch atop the embers. Finn, toss some twigs around the place.” His eyes found Davina’s again. “Movin’ aboot
     will help ease yer soreness. Scout fer horse waste and cover whatever ye find with leaves.”
    Her nose crinkled at him before she turned away to her task. This time, he couldn’t help smiling.

Chapter Seven

    I t took Davina nearly an hour before she relaxed on Rob’s stallion. She hadn’t realized her fingernails were embedded into
     the Highlander’s wrist, or that her eyes were squeezed shut as they traveled northwest along pebbly streams and dewy glens
     scented with heather. She had never been on a horse before. Where was there to go? The size of the beast, the girth, the sudden
     snorts she was certain were warnings that the behemoth steed was about to fling them off its back… were completely new and
     terrifying to her. She suspected she’d been too numb yesterday to fully appreciate the force of wind that the mount’s slim,
     bony legs produced.
    But Davina had learned well how to hold back her fears, lest they consume her, so after an hour, she forced herself to loosen
     her grip and open her eyes.
    What she saw enthralled her. All around her the world burst forth in radiant colors of crimson and green and purple—a world
     she had never seen before. How many times had she lost herself to her daydreams, imagining a different life? One without gates,
     with a mother and father who welcomed her into their lives, a husband and children who made her life vital for other, purer
     reasons. A life without fear of what tomorrow might bring. If only she could abandon herself to the joy of feeling free as
     easily as she defied her fears.