Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

September slipped away far too quickly, and now everything was washed in brilliant hues as the leaves changed color and the weather turned cooler and rainy.

Gabriel didn’t care much about the scenery. He had arranged to talk about building new stills behind the inn with Finn and Archie, and he was late.

Kate crossed her arms and lifted her nose. “Now is the perfect time to talk about it.”

The hound she had rescued only a week earlier barked and charged the small tree full of birds, scaring them into the sky. They scattered into the gray morning in a quick burst.

“No’ now!” Gabriel strode away, fuming.

It didn’t matter what she wished to talk about. She had interrupted his swim.

He worked the buttons on his shirt and vowed to have a boxing match with near anyone in the village brave enough to challenge him this evening. Landing an uppercut would be satisfying.

“I am here because you asked me to be.”

That woman… that woman and her damn sunshiny integrity.

“I hired ye as a governess,” he shouted back, crossing the bridge over the moat. “And my niece is wearing pants!” The dog yipped again, nearly tripping him as it raced around his legs. “I should dismiss ye.”

“You can’t afford to lose me.”

Wasn’t that the inconvenient truth? Christ, Gabriel craved her. But he would never give in to that need. He couldn’t.

He heard a splash behind him as he marched away, then more barking, before a larger splash, and Kate’s undignified exclamation.

He paused on the bridge, his fists balled tight.

He preferred her undignified. It suited her better when she didn’t believe she was being watched. He liked the calm moments of sharing tea with her in the kitchen late at night just as much as he enjoyed her barging into the inn demanding to help. He enjoyed her singing and the way she floated into a room. He liked how she balled her fists or pointed at him when she was frustrated, and that pinched look that was supposed to be a glare. But there was nothing threatening about her, not even if she tried.

“What now, Kate?”

“No, Oscar, no!” Kate tripped, wading deeper into the water after the damn dog, her skirts preventing her to reach the beast from going after the swans.

“Oscar!” Gabriel bellowed, watching the swans turn toward the rambunctious dog. “Oscar, come here.”

“He won’t listen.”

“No one listens to me.”

“It’s not the time for understanding why, Gabriel. Help me—” She tripped and fell face-first into the water before standing up, flailing and sputtering. “You are supposed to be my friend,” she shouted at the dog with a wave of her arms.

Gabriel growled and stormed back toward the moat. “I’ve business to see to. I told ye this dog…”

“Then don’t help me,” she snapped back.

He barreled into the water and neatly hauled her backward by her dress, tossing her over his shoulder. Absolutely ignoring the way the weight of her body against his allowed him to breathe for the first time in weeks. As if her nearness rendered him calm.

“Put me down, you beast!”

He snorted when she wiggled against him, trying to free herself as he stepped over the stones in the water, nearing the shore.

“Ye’ll drown yerself.”

“Ohh, you…” Kate smacked his bottom, laughing triumphantly as his back stiffened. With two large steps, he dumped her onto the grassy knoll by the castle unceremoniously.

“ Umph .”

“Stay there,” he growled.

“Those swans will eat Oscar alive.”

That would be the hope. Except he didn’t truly mean that. And he didn’t want the swans to attack Kate either. But he couldn’t tell her that for fear it would go straight to that beautiful, gorgeous head of hers.

“Damn it, Kate.” He jumped into the water and called after Oscar, staring down the large swan that quickly approached.

“Dinna dare,” he threatened the swan. “Come here, ye stubborn dog. Now!”

The swans had been a present to his mother years ago. She enjoyed watching them from her bedroom window. From a distance, they were beautiful. In person, they were a nasty, mean nightmare that loved to bite and chase anyone brave enough to venture close.

Oscar paddled through the water, holding his large head up and peeking at Gabriel as he approached, but swimming farther away. Soon, the water would be over Gabriel’s head.

He lunged, wrestling the dog so he could secure his arms around the beast.

“Good, you’ve got him,” Kate cried from the grassy knoll beside the moat. “Oscar, we’ll be having a talk later, you traitor. Swans are not playthings.”

Gabriel turned toward shore with the dog clutched in his hands. “Ye couldn’t have found a smaller dog, Kate?”

She grinned. “Not up to the challenge? ”

He narrowed his eyes on her, the frustration in his chest suddenly melting into lust at her cheekiness.

Over eighty pounds of giant deerhound struggled to free himself from his captor.

“Stay still, ye bugger.” Gabriel tightened his grip and nearly dropped to his knees, his ankle twisting on a stone hidden under the dark, murky water.

“Oh.” Kate cleared her throat, then jumped to her feet. “Gabriel, you need to move faster,” Kate urged, her eyes wide. “Go, go!”

Gabriel peeked over his shoulder in time to catch the swan spreading its wings wide before bearing down on him and Oscar. Gabriel stumbled out of the water as the dog leaped out of his arms and bounded over to sit at Kate’s feet. But it was too late.

Suddenly, he felt the sharp pinch rendered on his arse as the swan bit him. Gabriel reared up and bellowed, then shooed the swan away before marching up to Kate.

Kate clamped her hands over her mouth, her shoulders quaking from the laughter that shook her. She fell over to the ground, unable to stop.

“Ye bring chaos wherever you go,” he growled. His arse was sore, and worse, he felt like joining in on her laughter.

At that, she shrugged and smiled at him, fully.

Gabriel was certain his heart stopped. That look in her eye. They sparkled as if gems under the late afternoon sun. She was so effortlessly beautiful, and she looked as if she belonged here in the Highlands on an autumn day. The skies might have been gray, and fog might have hugged the hilltops, but she was sunshine.

And bright like the whisky he currently had aging in sherry casks, waiting.

Only time would tell if he made a good gamble, but as for Kate? He no longer knew what to do because, try as he might, it was near impossible to avoid her, and he wasn’t certain he wished to any longer.

But what would it mean if he allowed her into his life ?

Her laughter died off, and that playful light in her eyes faded. “Don’t let me keep you now.”

Gabriel cleared his throat and fisted his hands, fighting the want of touching her. “Right.”

“Unless you have time now to talk?”

He shut his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. Certain the frustration he felt was nothing to do with this moment. And that troubled him. There was too much in his life at the moment, and what if he couldn’t handle it all and hurt Kate in the process?

She had been hurt enough.

“Tonight, over tea,” he said instead, his voice low and rough.

She tilted her head, biting her lower lip as she studied his eyes first, then, unfortunately for his cock straining his trousers, his mouth.

“Very well, tonight.” She petted her hand over the dog’s wiry coat. “Good luck with work at the inn.”

“You as well. See that Lorna doesna try scaling the keep again.”

Before she could say any more or he embarrassed himself, Gabriel spun around and stormed off toward the village on foot.

The walk would serve him well.