Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

M urdoch thought only of that kiss. Eloise might have done it at his request to complete an illusion, but God was she a good kisser when the time called for it. His hand at her waist softened, his fingers merely a caress as they rested on the curve of her corset. The hand that had pulled tightly on his waistcoat also grew gentle, her fingers toying softly with the top button.

Murdoch angled his head toward Eloise, capturing Eloise's lips completely with his own and sneaking something a little deeper, determined to taste her. Wrapped up in her scent of bergamot and rose, he could not pull away.

Her kisses. Aye, they are dangerous.

"Ye can put her down now," Avery called across the loch.

Murdoch pulled back sharply from Eloise, though his hand stayed at her waist.

"Avery!" Eloise complained loudly. "Did ye want me tae be yer guard dog before ye married Callie? Because there was a lot I could have said."

"She has a point, ye ken," Callie said as she clambered back out of the loch. "Ye should respect yer sister's wishes."

"Nae always as easy as it seems," Avery muttered, his glare settling on Murdoch once more.

He walked with Eloise back to the picnic, meeting Avery's gaze.

I willnae hurt Eloise. I will hold true tae that promise, but it is hard tae stop such kisses.

"Well, ye shouldnae be so upset by a kiss," Ian laughed at Avery's side. "If he'd seen what we had seen…" He trailed off and looked at his wife. Aila froze as she followed her sister out of the loch.

"Enough, Ian!"

"Saw what?" Avery sat forward, sudden panic on his face.

"Nothing." Murdoch hurried to the picnic blanket and tossed a small pork pie into the air toward Avery. He busied himself with catching it, and Murdoch prayed it was enough of a distraction to stop him asking anymore questions. The plan worked as Callie playfully tackled Avery, trying to get the pie for herself.

I dinnae need Avery finding out about how Ian and Aila saw us together. He'd kill me if he thought I had already taken her virtue.

Murdoch looked at Eloise at his side, who blushed the deepest shade of red he had ever seen. She put herself behind his arm, hiding a little, her quiet nature so plain to read that he stared at her. He'd accused her before of the demure and proper act, but as he looked at her now with that great blush, he knew it was not always an act. Eloise felt things keenly. Taught to always be the fine lady by her parents, he supposed people making such crude jokes around her made her ill at ease indeed.

He offered her his hand, drawing her to sitting on a log nearby. She perched primly as he sat beside her, his knees spread wide and his posture nowhere near as good as her own.

Aye, we make an odd match, the others must think it.

Food was passed around as Harper and Beatrice returned. Harper sat beside Clyde, and more than once he tried to draw her into conversation, but Murdoch observed there was a reticence to Harper today. It was not a match of love, but Murdoch prayed that in time, Clyde could love Harper.

"Sir? Sir!" one of the guards that had been trailing them at a distance appeared between the trees. In his hands was a slip of paper, one that he proffered in front of Murdoch.

"What's this?" Murdoch asked, staring uncertainly at the paper as the other guards approached the Loch. The three of them sat down by the water, passing their own food between them.

"A message from the warden of the castle. I forgot tae give it tae ye before we left."

"Thank ye." Murdoch continued to stare at the folded paper as the guard retreated to sit with the others.

They expect me tae read.

Murdoch was aware of Ian's gaze upon him. After all, Ian knew he could not read. Slowly, Murdoch unfurled the note, uncertain what else he should do. His eyes darted across the lettering, but he knew so little, he couldn't even form the words. Ian leaned forward, as if ready to take the note. Murdoch's embarrassment piqued. He had no wish for so many around him to discover the truth – that he was an ill-educated oaf who could not read.

"Let me see," Eloise declared, shifting on the log beside him and playfully snatching the note.

"Oi," he said in surprise as she laughed and leaned against him.

"Well, ye better get used tae my annoying ways if ye are tae marry me," she said loud enough for the others to hear. They all laughed and returned to their food. With their attention elsewhere, she leaned on his shoulder and whispered the note in his ear. "The warden warns ye that adders have been seen around the loch here recently. We should take care."

"Aye, very well." Murdoch took the note from her and hurried to place it in his pocket. Stunned that she had been kind enough to not only distract the others, but then to read the note for him, he shifted toward her, wanting to show his gratitude. He reached for a fresh pie and held it up to her, then wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. He had to pray she understood his silent gratitude, and she seemed to, for she smiled and hung her head a little as she tore into the pie. "That demure look again," he whispered.

Purposefully, she lifted her head and met his gaze with a smile.

"It's who I am, Murdoch. It isnae an act."

"I ken. I think I'm beginning tae see who ye really are, Eloise." The back of his hand caressed her waist. He had no idea if it was because of their act or not, but she didn't pull away.

Eloise lifted the meadow flower to her nose, inhaling the scent. There were so few flowers blooming at this time of year that their task had seemed almost impossible when Callie asked if they could pick some herbs and wildflowers to take back to the castle for her healing.

"What's this one?" Eloise called, holding up the small white flowerhead.

"Myrtle." Callie knelt beside her, smiling as she took hold of the flower and placed it in her basket. "Rare tae see it flowering at this time of year. I heard from a wise woman in the Chattan clan that it warns of bad tidings when flowering in winter."

"Truly?" Eloise smiled.

"Ye're amused?"

"I guess I've never believed in such omens." Eloise shrugged, thinking of the strangeness of her own birth, and how many would have said their mother was a witch for having identical bairns. Eloise knew the truth tough – her mother had been a kind soul indeed, with no powers or craft in her body.

"Well, we shall make use of it anyway," Callie said, tucking the flowers with the others. "Come on, if we diinae return tae the men soon, they will wonder where we have gone." She stood and walked away, collecting Aila from nearby who was pulling at wild celery leaves on the loch bank.

Eloise stood and looked around, realizing there was one that was missing from their group. The women had wandered off together after their picnic to pick the flowers, but Harper was now nowhere to be seen.

"Harper?" Eloise called.

Callie and Aila wandered back along the loch, arm in arm as they pointed to more unusual riverbank herbs. Eloise walked in the other direction, hunting for the woman that would soon be her sister-in-law.

"Harper?"

"Oh, oh!" Harper cried, from somewhere deeper in the woodland.

Eloise snapped her head toward two Douglas firs. There was a thin path, covered in the knotted roots of the trees, that Harper must have taken.

"Harper?"

"Oh, dinnae come, Eloise!" she shouted from within. "I… I dinnae ken what tae dae."

Eloise could not stay back after hearing such words. Grabbing hold of her skirt, she darted between the trees, her head turning back and forth as she hunted for Harper.

Pressed against a small fir tree was Harper, scrambling backward as if she had seen some ghost or monster before her. With pale skin, her hair wild as if she had pulled at it, she gestured madly in front of her.

"Eloise, dinnae come any further. It will get ye."

"What will?" Eloise stepped forward onto the path, only to have Harper wave at her even more madly than before.

Eloise's eyes shot down. Half in the path and half curled up on the tree roots was a snake. The adder slithered slowly forward, nearing Harper. The pattern on its back was a jagged mix of cinnamon brown and black. Its head was pointed toward Harper, its body strangely still.

"Harper?" Eloise whispered. "Step the other way around the tree. Aye, ye can avoid it. Just give it a wide berth."

"Nay, I cannae." Harper shook her head madly. It was as if she had been frozen to the spot, petrified by the appearance of the snake.

"Trust me, Harper, ye can." Eloise took a small step forward. The snake on the path froze, as if aware of her presence, though it didn't turn its head toward her. "Just step behind the tree and take a path through the grass. Ye can do it."

"Nay." Harper shook her head again, hands gripping to the bark of the tree behind her. "My legs. They are weak. I dinnae think they will hold me up."

Eloise had seen such fear before. A man could be stuck to the spot with terror, his mind working against him as much as the threat itself. She looked around, desperate to find another way to free the frightened woman. There was a broken tree branch nearby in the undergrowth and Eloise reached for it, snapping it up.

"What are ye doing?" Harper cried in panic.

"I shall spook the snake, and ye shall run. Aye?"

"Nay!" Harper sank back against the tree even more. "I cannae dae it."

"Harper, ye can. Trust me," Eloise called to her. "On me count, are ye ready?"

"Nay." Harper closed her eyes and dropped her chin.

Eloise clamped down on the frustration in her gut. Harper's fear may have been annoying at this time, that she couldn't even bring herself to walk around a tree because of her terror, but Eloise had to remind herself that fear could play all sorts of tricks on a mind.

"Trust me," Eloise pleaded again. Slowly, she stepped forward, trying not to spook the snake. With the branch stretched out, she was ready to strike.

"Eloise, please, be careful," Harper whispered.

"Stay quiet," Eloise begged. "We dinnae wish tae be too loud in case we spook it too soon." Her intention was to bat the snake away, frightening it so much it would have no choice but to slither into the undergrowth and look for cover.

"Eloise!" Harper abruptly shouted her name.

I said be quiet!

Before Eloise could even swing the branch at the adder, it lurched back, the lower half of its body coiling up even more than before. Its head turned and struck out in Eloise's direction. She could not get away fast enough and it reached up toward her, going for her leg. Eloise backed up, but the snake managed to reach her ankle. He dug his jaws into it, shooting such pain into her body that it radiated up her leg.

"Ahh!" an unearthly scream erupted from Eloise.