Free My Highland Lover by Maeve Greyson Page B

lightly stroked a finger down her arm.
Damn and for sure.
She was real. And her sweet warmth melting into him was quite pleasant. In fact, perhaps this gift from the heavens was no’ so bad after all.
    Gray tilted his head to better examine the intriguing present Fate had seen fit to plop atop his chest. What the hell was that strange pouch strapped to her back? Odd bits of metal fashioned into the tiniest teeth ran along several of the bundle’s seams. Knotted hanks of the silkiest rope Gray had ever seen dangled from various spots in bright, multicolored bits. Her oddly clothed—albeit verra nice, from all he had seen thus far—body rumbled against his chest with another humming moan as the woman shifted position again. Gray grabbed her by the shoulders and eased her to one side before her bent knee succeeded in squashing the part of him welcoming her with ever-hardening interest.
    The woman slowly lifted her head. She blinked up at him through a tangle of curls hanging across her eyes. Green eyes looked through him, blindly staring past him as if he weren’t there. Such an unusual shade of green. The fresh, deep hue of an angry sea when it crashed into the shallows. Dark pupils fluctuated as though unable to adjust to the light. Her dark-fringed eyes crinkled at the corners as the lass squinted through her hair. Her nose twitched. Her tiny nostrils flared as though she were a huntress scenting her prey. A split second later, she sprang away and stumbled across the rough ground until she was several feet away.
    “Granny?” The girl cried out, growing frantic as she looked all around her, her head whipping from side to side. “Granny! Karma! Kismet! Where are you?” Her voice rose to a higher note of hysteria with every name she called out.
    “Lass, calm down.” Gray shushed her quietly in the tone he used to gentle horses. The woman would surely harm herself if she continued staggering about. He reached out and tried to grab her flailing hands. “Tell me who ye are and where yer from?”
Lore a’mighty. The poor beauty is blind.
Gray sidestepped a wild kick and grabbed at the strange pack strapped to her back
. Damn, she moves swiftly for one who canna see.
Gently, he forced her to be still, then slowly wheeled her about and took a firm hold of her arm. “There now. Much better. Easy now, lass. ’Twill be all right.”
    The girl yanked her arm away and stumbled backward. “Don’t touch me. I’m not as helpless as I look.”
    “Easy now. I’m just tryin’ t’help ye.” Gray snatched hold of her arm again, hopping sideways when she jerked out of his grasp and kicked wildly once more.
Lore a’mighty. Be the woman mad?
    A deep warning growl sounded behind him. The chilling rumble transmitted such raw fury the hairs stood on the back of Gray’s neck. Without taking his eyes off the wild-eyed woman, Gray eased to one side until he could see the animal out of the corner of his eye.
Damnation.
That huge black beast with teeth bared dwarfed any hound he had e’er seen.
    “Karma! Karma come to me. I can’t see a damn thing.” The frantic woman bent low, holding out her arms.
    The black dog leapt across the clearing and pressed against his mistress’s side. The woman dropped to her knees, wrapped her arms around the brute’s neck and pressed a cheek against his broad head. “Karma. Thank goodness. Please stay with me.”
    Gray stood silent and studied the pair. The softly mumbling lass twisted him inside, made him wish to protect her. The helpless beauty obviously loved and trusted the animal with all her heart—and the hound returned her love and devotion. Guilt left a bad taste in his mouth as his hand fell away from the dagger strapped to his leg. Thank the gods he’d not caused the beast harm.
    “Trulie?” a weak voice called out from higher up the hillside.
    The sniffling girl raised her head, turning her face toward the sound. “Granny? Granny is that you?”
    So the lass’s name was Trulie.