Free Shipwrecked by Jenna Stone

so coldly.
    She followed after
the brothers, who were walking briskly towards the North end of the village. 
It was difficult to keep up with them, and she had to jog twice to close the distance
that their hell bent strides had put between them.  She wasn’t sure what the
hurry was, but it was evident that the Murray’s were on a mission to meet
Quinn, whatever he had been up to.  They followed a primitive road to the
North, closeted on both sides by densely forested terrain. 
    About a half mile
outside of the village, Quinn whistled, and stepped into the road from where he
had been concealed in the deep undergrowth of the forest.  Trailing obediently
behind him were two horses, their reins grasped tightly in Quinn’s right hand.
    “Good mornin’ tae
ye,” Quinn said, eyes sparkling mischievously.
    “Aye, it looks tae
be quite a good morning,” Rowan said, nodding in approval of his brother’s most
recent acquisition.  Quinn reached forward and handed the reins of a large
sorrel horse to Rowan, who took them handily, and reached his outstretched hand
up to the muzzle of the horse so that it could smell him.  “A canty lass, are
ye?” he spoke softly to the horse as she nuzzled him, stroking her velvety muzzle.
    Anna watched as
Rowan introduced his smell and his touch to the mare.  It was clear that he
loved horses, and evident that he had a way with this animal that he had only
just acquired.  She watched as his large hand patted the mare approvingly on the
neck, and slid down her whither. 
    She wished that
his beautiful and finely boned hands were touching her, and not the horse.  Her
heart began beating faster as she remembered how Rowan’s hands had felt on her
skin last night in the hallway.
    “I think that ye’ll
need tae pray for me again today,” remarked Quinn haughtily, snapping Anna out
of the trance of watching Rowan gentle the horse.
    “I’ll do that,”
she whispered, glancing up at Quinn as he pulled the larger black horse from
the forest and onto the primitive road.  In less than twenty-four hours the Murray’s
had both gambled and stolen horses.  Anna silently wondered what was next for
the Murray brothers.
    “C’mon Malcolm,”
Quinn said, deftly mounting the black horse.  “Ye’ll have tae ride with me
today.  I could only find these two.”
    Anna panicked,
realizing that if Malcolm rode with Quinn, she would have to ride with Rowan. 
She glanced wildly in Rowan’s direction, and it was clear from the way that he
gritted his teeth together and glared in her direction that he had reached the
same conclusion.
    “Actually, I think
I’ll ride with Quinn today,” Anna offered cheerily.  “We haven’t had much time
to get to know each other,” she said, walking briskly towards the large black
horse and raising up her hand so that Quinn could help her up onto the horse.
    “Suit yerself,” he
said, taking her hand and pulling her up onto his lap.  She settled her skirts
around herself and leaned back against Quinn.  “Ready?” he asked, putting his
left arm about her middle.  “Hold on!” was the only warning that she got before
he spurred the horse into motion and they took off like lightning down the
road, leaving Rowan and Malcolm standing in the road.
    They rode hard
until the sun was high above them in the sky, seeking to put distance between
themselves and the unlucky previous owners of the horses. 
    Quinn slowed the
horse to a walk when he gauged that they had covered sufficient distance,
deciding to give the horses a break from the hard pace that they had kept this
morning.  The stallion was lathered and sweaty, and snorted loudly in
appreciation as Quinn let the reins go slack, allowing him to amble along
slowly. 
    Following suit,
Rowan reined his mare to a stop and allowed Malcolm to slide down off the back
of the horse.  Malcolm walked next to Rowan who still sat astride the mare,
stretching his legs and giving her a respite from the burden of