Marti Talbotts Highlander Series 1 - Anna Rachel u Charlet

Many families lived in cottages inside the wall, more lived outside and her brother-in-law, Kevin MacGreagor, was laird over them all. Her sister, Anna, was their mistress.
    The loch was to the east of the hold and a wide meadow, surrounded on three sides by forest, was to the west. Beyond that, were the hills and the Clan Cameron’s vast land. Rachel had never been any farther away than that -- not that she could remember.
    Suddenly , she realized someone was watching her; she could feel it. It was probably just Connor . H e was always trying to prove he was as sneaky as she was. Then again, Kevin just said two men were nearly attacked. She slipped behind a wide tree trunk, laid her back flat against it, pulled a dagger out of her sheath and listened. She stayed where she was for countless minutes trying to decide if she should attempt to catch whoever it was or just run home. It had to be Connor, she decided, no other man was as good at sneaking around as he was.
    Someone moved. The noise came from behind her , so she quietly turned around to face the tree and peeked out. It was Connor and he was only a few feet away. I nstead of smiling his success, he had a finger to his lips warning her to be quiet. She nodded.
    With dark hair and dusty blue eyes, Connor was too big to hide behind just any tree. He had to move and the tree Rachel was behind was his best choice. Drawing his own dagger, he was careful not to make a sound as he crouched down, quietly moved toward her, slipped behind the tree and stood up.
    Rachel had never let him get this close before. He was right behind her and she didn’t like it one bit. He was not touching her, b ut he was near enough to put her nerves on edge. Not quite convinced anyone else was nearby, she turned her head and glared up at him , b ut he wasn’t paying attention. Instead, he was searching the forest with his eyes looking for movement. Maybe there really was danger.
    Rachel turned to her side so he could move closer to the tree. He did the same and they stood back to back, each peeking around opposite sides of the tree. They heard a twig snap and then another. Not more than ten feet away, the lower branch of a tree moved.
    More twigs snapped, leaves on the ground rustled, another low branch moved, and it was clear the enemy would be easier to watch from her side of the tree. Connor turned around to face her same direction and felt her move closer until she was leaning against him. He smiled. He wanted her closer still, so he moved his dagger to his other hand, put his arm around her waist and pulled her firmly against him. Then he leaned forward to look around her side of the tree.
    She tried to look too, but he had her so tight , she couldn’t bend forward far enough, so she looked up at him instead. He wasn’t smiling and she held her breath. Another branch moved and she could see it, but it was farther away and hopefully the danger was leaving.
    Connor leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Go home.”
    She shook her head, but when she looked up , he was frowning at her. He was about to become third in command and command was something everyone respected and obeyed. That didn’t mean she had to obey him now. Still, she was not at all happy with the hold he had on her and it was the only way to get him to let go. She pretended to be disappointed by letting her head fall forward and finally nodded.
    He couldn’t believe she let him get this close to her, and he loved the feel of it. He fully expected her to disobey , and when she didn’t, he reluctantly released her. He watched her quietly h ead for home and softly sighed.
    Rachel was out of the forest before she realized she was still holding her breath. She relaxed, walked to the bridge and then turned around to wait. She wanted to know what was happening and she would hear it directly from Conno r if she had to wait all night.
    How did Connor get so close before she heard him or felt his nearness? It had never happened before -- not even once. Was he getting better or was she getting worse? She decided she would have to give that some very careful consideration later. One thing she was sure of, it would never happen again.
    Rachel turned her attention to guessing who might have been in the forest with them. She hadn’t smelled anything except horse sweat and that didn’t tell her much. Everyone rode horses and everyone sooner or later got horse sweat on their clothing. Fergusons smelled worse than most men, but