His gaze locked on hers until she looked back down.
The old scar had looked oddly pink this afternoon, but he’d reasoned that was likely a trick of the fading light. Or perhaps the result of her having elbowed him in that exact spot.
Surely it couldn’t be anything more serious than that.
“Of course, I am no a healer,” she muttered, cradling Jamie’s head in her hands as she slipped out from under him. She lay the boy down gently as she stood, then stretched out her back before hurrying to the other end of the room. There she bent over her wooden chest before returning, her arms wrapped around a thick woolen.
“I suppose I’d best take my own advice and get some rest.” Her eyes flitted nervously around the room, refusing to light anywhere.
Was she waiting for him to go?
“Well, then, I guess I’ll be out to the stable.” He rose to leave but she stopped him with a hand to his forearm, which she removed as quickly as she’d touched him.
“There’s no a need for you to do that. Yer welcome to take yer rest here by the fire, with the boy.”
She held out the bundle in her arms as if in offering. When he took it, his hands covered hers and her eyes widened, the spark he’d seen in the woods this afternoon returning. A tingling rushed through his body and the mark on his arm felt alive with movement.
Isa jerked away and stepped back. Averting her gaze to the floor, she clasped her hands tightly behind her.
“I... I’ve a boon to ask of you, Robbie.”
As if the look he’d just seen in her eyes wasn’t enough, her familiar use of his name sent a rush of heat chasing after the tingle that dove straight to his loins. He lowered the bundle in his arms, holding it in front of him like a shield to protect him. Or a screen, to hide the effect she had on him.
“Do you suppose you could find something for Jamie to do for you tomorrow? Odd jobs to keep him here for another day until we’re ready to travel to the castle?”
The thrill he’d felt building fizzled away like cold water tossed on embers. Was she so desperate to keep the boy here because of him? How ridiculous! Why on earth would she feel that was necessary? She didn’t need protection from him. He was sworn tobeher protection.
“I suppose he could... he could maybe help me gather the saplings and bring them down for the fence.” He stumbled through his response, stung by her lack of trust in him.
“I would be most grateful to you. It’s only that he tells me of his grandmother’s illness and I want to keep him here long enough to be able to check on the woman for my own self when we go to the castle. I dinna believe he’s being cared for at all, and he’s half starved every time I see him.” She gripped the edge of her apron, twisting and tormenting the material in her grasp as she spoke, her words racing out as if she couldn’t speak them fast enough to suit her needs.
As her words died out, her face a flaming red, it occurred to Robert there might be more to this situation than his injured pride was allowing him to see.
It might not be that she wanted the lad to protect her from him. It just might be instead that she wanted the lad to protect her from herself.
Chapter 12
Like proud roosters, they marched back and forth, Robbie and Jamie, admiring the fence they’d labored over the day before. They could well be father and son, those two.
Isa bit back a smile as she watched them through the opening in the door.
She couldn’t have imagined when she’d impulsively asked the big warrior to find a way to keep Jamie busy here that he would turn out to be such a kind and caring teacher for the boy. Over the past day and a half the two of them had been inseparable, Robbie patiently taking the lead, with Jamie at his heels like a noonday shadow.
She’d never seen Jamie so happy, not even when he was eating.
If she weren’t so determined to make the man leave, she might just find herself wanting him to stay.
“Which is exactly why he has to go,” she muttered as she closed the door behind her. The Fates had never been kind to her, but this—this taste of what other people have in their lives dangling in front of her—was the unkindest cut of all. Their last few evenings together had been idyllic, as if they were the perfect family she’d always dreamed of.
“Dinna you go brainsick now, Isabella MacGahan,” she said aloud, needing the encouragement.
Time to put away the fantasies and face what life had actually dished out to her.
Even if a man like him did take a fancy to her, she was too dangerous to live among people. One unguarded flare of her temper and lightning could take them all down or they could drown in the rains she thoughtlessly provoked.
No, fantasy would have to be packed away like the treasures in her little wooden box.
For now, it was time to head to the castle. She’d finished her preparations.