The Highlander's Thief

Chapter Twenty-four

"Rosa. Rosa!"

Hands, ever so gently, wrapped around her body. The smell of whiskey and musk, and heat. Then excruciating pain. Oh God, her shoulder.

"It's going to be all right. I'm going to take care of ye."

And then the darkness reclaimed her.

* * *

"What did ye think ye were doing?"

Rosa's eyes fluttered open. She was back in McWilliam's bedroom, lying on his bed, and he stood over her, his arms crossed over his chest, biceps bulging.

"What happened?" She struggled to sit. Her shoulder didn't hurt nearly so bad anymore. "Was it dislocated?"

He nodded, once. His gaze stern as he looked her over. "I heard you scream as you fell over the edge. Luckily it wasn't so steep and ye didn't fall too far."

"You heard me?"

"I was at the church. The vantage point from there is perfect to organize search parties." His expression darkened. "You haven't answered my question."

"I was doing the same thing you were. I was heading for the top of the hill. I wanted to know if I would see anything from up there." That sounded a little pathetic, but she didn't back down.

"Even after I told you to stay inside?"

"You're not my master. And I'm not your prisoner. I can come and go as I please."

He ran a hand through his hair with a frustrated growl. "I know that. But it's not safe. Not until I've caught the bastard who murdered Rodd." Rodd was a murderer and now he'd been murdered. Sweet heaven, their lives were beginning to sound like a penny dreadful.

"I can't sit around and do nothing," she snapped, equally frustrated. It was beginning to feel like they'd had this argument a hundred times before. "I can be just as stubborn as you," she threatened.

He pursed his lips, as though he was refraining from saying something particularly ungentlemanly. In the end, he pushed his way onto the bed, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest. She dug her elbow into his side "I'll not let you boss me around," she confirmed. "I'm my own person."

"I know." He pulled the pins free of her hair, so it cascaded around her shoulders. "But it's my duty to protect you."

"Only if you let me protect you too."

He pulled back, just far enough to brush his lips lightly over her own. Her insides melted.

A self-satisfied smile touched his lips, and his kisses became more persistent. "I thought..." he murmured, his lips pressed to hers, "when ye screamed..." A nip to her bottom lip. "Love..."

She entwined her hands in his hair, giving over to his inexorable attack on her senses.

His hold tightened, one hand running over her back to her bottom.

Rosa winced.

"What's wrong?"

"That hurt." She rubbed her own lower back, her brow furrowed.

"You must have hit it when you fell."

"No..." she said slowly. "I think I was pushed."

"Pushed?" McWilliam straightened. He could hear his own pounding pulse in his ears. "Do you mean someone pushed you with malice intent?"

"I think so." She tapped her forehead, a crease forming between her eyes. "I remember hearing someone walking up behind me, and then they pushed me down."