Free The Highlander's Curse by Katalyn Sage

terrified as I’d just been, and the
Highlander was acting like it was no big deal. “So it’s like…dead?”
    “Aye.”
Cailen’s gaze wandered over me, and his gaze narrowed. “Och, ye must be chilled.”
He threw more logs onto the fire, stoking it by blowing on the embers. “Come,
get close. Wi’out a cloak tae keep ye warm, ye’re bound tae freeze.”
    I did
get closer to the fire, numbly making my way to it and sitting down. I stared
into the flames, feeling myself get almost mesmerized. It was probably far
better to get lost in thought as I gazed into the fire than by ogling the way
the flickering light played off Cailen’s magnificent body. I picked up the
black knife he’d given to me, and studied the design. It was actually
beautiful, with swirling patterns that seemed to all connect to one another.
This was more than a just a dagger, someone had gone through great lengths to
carve the handle into a work of art.
    “Here.”
I handed him the knife and gestured to his arm with my chin. “Does it hurt?”
    “Naethin’
a dram or two willn’ae fix.” He was still breathing heavily and wiping at the
sweat that slicked his skin. “Would ye mind terribly if I sit next tae ye? Tae
keep ye warm, ye ken.”
    “No. I
uh…I wouldn’t mind.”
    Cailen
stood and walked around the fire so he could sit by my side. I didn’t dare
watch him stride toward me, afraid that the sight of him would make my heart
beat even faster. My thoughts were already wandering into dangerous territory
as it was, and I didn’t know where my imagination would take me when I felt him
against me. Likely the same place I’d been when I’d felt him lying on top of
me, pinning me to the ground. When had he become so damned alluring? What if he
tried something once he was over here?
    Would I
stop him?
    He sat
next to me and we gave each other hurried, uncomfortable grins.
    I had
to think of something to say, this silence was too much, especially after what
the two of us had just been through. “So, shouldn’t the fire have scared off
that boar?”
    “Sometimes.
Ye ne’er ken what lengths they’ll go tae when they’re enraged like that. But
under normal circumstances, aye, they’d stay awa from the fire.” He stretched
out his legs, and leaned against the trunk before he opened the part of his
kilt that was wrapping his torso and shoulders. “Here, there should be enough
for the two o’ us, aye?”
    I
glanced at his bared skin, getting my first real look at him without the plaid
hindering my view. My breath left me at my first peek. The sudden loss was
attributed to the bitter cold outside though, and because I was still affected
by that boar. Not because of the very male, very enticing Highlander.
    He must
have misunderstood whatever expression on my face, because he said, “Dinna
fash. It’s safe now. I’ll no’ let anythin’ harm ye.”
    I
couldn’t manage to say anything as I scooted toward him, a sigh escaping me as
his body heat reached my skin through the fabric of the shirt. I drew my knees
in and pulled his shirt down around them as Cailen wrapped the two of us in his
plaid.
    He was
so warm that I dropped my head against his chest, humming in contentment as my
cheek began to warm. He chuckled, but I was too tired to look up at him.
    “What’s
so funny?”
    “Ye,”
he answered. “I think ye were only minutes from freezin’ solid.”
    I
smiled, staring out into the dark forest beyond the fire. “How do you keep so
warm?”
    “I’m
used tae the cold. I’ve lived out here for two years, mind.”
    Yeah,
who could forget something like that? I laid against him, closing my eyes as I
ran through everything I’d learned of the Highlander: He talked funny, saying
ken instead of know and mind instead of remember…I mean, who did that? He also
slummed it out in the middle of nowhere with just knives and swords to keep
himself alive, he was good at capturing and killing animals, and he battled
boars to the death.