Free Sarah Gabriel by To Wed a Highland Bride Page B

burn searing his throat. Glancing down at her, seeing her dulcet smile and radiant gray eyes, he wondered what in blazes to do now. He was alone with the same young beauty who had appeared in his dreams too often recently.
    He set down the glass, then knelt and once again took up her injured ankle. “This ought to be wrapped,” he said. She laughed. He glanced up, her foot in his hands, and raised a brow in question.
    “I feel like Cinderella, about to get a slipper.” She giggled a little, then reached for the whiskey glass and took a good swallow.
    “Does it hurt when I turn it this way?” He rotated her foot gently.
    She winced and jumped. “Ow! Oh, it will be fine.” She dropped her skirts to cover her ankles, the soft folds covering his hands as well. “I’m sure it’s just a slight twist. I can manage—my home is eight miles from here. I should leave before dark.”
    “Eight miles?” He looked at her, incredulous. “You walked eight miles to get here?” He still wanted to know why she had been in the garden at all.
    “It’s not so long a distance to walk in the Highlands. I was going to my cousin’s home, another few miles from here. I can walk there instead of home tonight.”
    “You should not walk anywhere just now.” He was still holding her foot. “Your ankle is badly twisted, perhaps sprained, and a doctor should look at it. For now, a bandage for support would help. I advise you to avoid much walking for a week or more, until it heals.”
    “Perhaps I could borrow a gig or a pony cart.”
    “I would drive you, but for the weather. Besides, the landau and gig are both in use by the ghillie and a groom, who took the housekeeper and the servants elsewhere. The cart is here, but would not do well in the rain and muck. However, I could escort you home by horseback once the storm lifts.”
    She glanced through the windows of the drawing room, where rain and winds lashed at the glass. “Who can say when that will be?”
    “My ghillie predicted bad weather for days to come.” James set her foot on the stool and rocked back on his heels. “Miss MacArthur, I must tell you something.”
    She tilted her head. “Aye?”
    “You should be aware that we are alone here at Struan House just now.”
    “Alone?” She narrowed her eyes.
    “For the present, aye. The ghillie took the maids to Stirling, the other staff have gone to see kinfolk for a few days, and even the housekeeper is gone, called away to tend to family. She left the household in good order and food in the cupboard, and hired a local girl to come in to do some chores. But the girl will not be here for a day or two. So that leaves us alone in the house. I apologize for not saying so immediately.”
    “We were both distracted.” She frowned thoughtfully. “So with this storm, perhaps no one will return until tomorrow, or later.”
    “It is possible.”
    “My grandfather, who is my guardian, is away from home at present, and our housekeeper believes I’ve gone to my friend’s home across the glen. But she is not expecting me. So…no one knows I am here.”
    He frowned. His heart thumped very fast, and a peculiar thrill coursed through him. He ignored it. “An unfortunate set of circumstances.”
    She sat up and smiled. “These are perfect circumstances.”
    “Miss MacArthur, be assured that you are safe in my company.”
    “I know.” She leaned forward, her head angled as she studied him. Kneeling so close to her, James felt the soft whisper of her breath upon him, and felt the allure of her nearness. “I could be compromised by this,” she said.
    “Some might think so, but it is not the case. Nor will it be,” he said firmly.
    “But I do not mind being compromised.”
    What was this? He frowned. Did she think him a wealthy lord to be caught and then obliged to marry her? “As I said, there is no danger of that.”
    She smiled, impish and dazzling, her remarkable eyes sparkling. He saw that she had two dimples, darling