Free Highland Song by Tanya Anne Crosby Page B

told her so. “There’s no water here,” he announced, thinking how foolish it was to believe they would strike well water in the first spot he had cast his spade—whether or not she had bade him to believe it.
    “ Oh ye of little faith,” she said.
    Gavin lifted a brow at hearing that phrase so familiar from his scripture. “Where did ye hear that, lass?”
    “ Hear what?”
    She scooted to the very edge and a cascade of soil spilled down the pit wall onto his feet. He frowned. “What you just said.”
    She arched a brow. “Well, I heard it from me, ye daft mon because I only now just said it. Didna ye hear me speak the words?” She grinned at him then, letting him know with her impish smile that she meant no harm.
    “ Never mind,” Gavin groused, disconcerted that not once but twice now she had alluded to his lack of faith.
    Was it true?
    Had he lost his way?
    How would she know, anyway? She was a pagan, painting herself with woad. In fact, perchance, just perchance she was, in fact, a faerie or a brownie—or one of those other annoying spirits.
    Except that she wasn’t annoying in the least.
    She was, in fact, the most pleasant person he ever didn’t know—particularly for someone who seemed to have no home, no clothes and who hadn’t eaten in so long that she had forgotten all semblance of manners.
    He still didn’t know a damned thing about her and that fact soured his mood with every stab of his spade.
    If she left him, how would he find her? He didn’t have the first notion where she’d come from!
    For the past few days, he had felt far more alive than he had in an age, and he didn’t want this feeling to end.
    It was like being drunk on Seana’s witch’s brew, except that he hadn’t touched a drop of whiskie .
    He just suddenly felt …
    Love, Gavin Mac Brodie, he heard Seana say again. If love is not some form of magik, then I dunno what is.  
    Gavin peered up at Cat, wondering… was it possible to lose his heart so quickly without even realizing? Didn’t two people have to agree to love one another?
    He thought about his sister Meggie, and how the Sassenach had simply stolen her away. He was pretty sure Meggie would have put up a good fight. And yet there she was … lovin’ that Sassenach anyway.
    And Colin? His brother surely would never have gone looking for love. And yet it had found him nevertheless.
    As for Leith, apparently, Leith had always loved Alison, though he had somehow kept that to himself.
    Confused by it all, he started shoveling again, and Cat held her foot out, giggling as she teased him with those adorable toes. Och, but he had a mind to bite them—not hard, but just enough to show her how dangerous it was to tease a grown man—particularly one who was weak as he was. And he was most definitely weak; it was all he could do to keep his mind on his work.
    “ Ye’re going to fall,” he warned.
    “ Not me,” she swore, and perched herself even more precariously upon the edge.
    Suddenly, she gasped and fell right into the pit atop him, knocking him backward, straddling him as he fell against the wall. He pushed the spade aside, not wanting it to hurt her. She settled squarely on his belly, her sweet damp bits hot against his skin and his heart vaulted into his throat.
    She gifted him with a throaty laugh and he swallowed convulsively as she wrapped her lean limbs about his waist.
    Her lovely lips curved wickedly. “You saved me,” she declared.
    Gavin barely shook his head—barely able to. “There wasna much danger,” he reassured her. “Ye fell but just a few feet.”
    Gavin’s heart beat faster. His blood simmered as he gauged her reaction to him.
    He was hardly unaffected, and his body felt alive.
    He knew she knew it too and her smile hitched a notch higher, the curve of it sensual and impish.
    Gavin swallowed. “Och, ye have strong legs,” he offered weakly, feeling the nob rise in his throat.
    And that’s not all that was rising.
    His hands grew moist