“I am a healer and I heal. I cause harm to none for I am all too aware of the consequences. Think on it, Dawn, and do in your heart what you feel is right for you.”
Dawn wanted to hug the woman for giving her a choice but she didn’t. She simply nodded and pressed her hand to her chest to show her gratitude while she fought back the tears ready to spill.
Elsa squeezed her hand before she stood. “I am here if you need me.”
Dawn nodded and tried to smile but it barely reached her lips. As soon as the door closed she burst into tears. She spent the rest of the morning sitting in front of the hearth too numb to move.
When Sloan arrived telling her that Cree wanted to see her in his solar she gestured that she was sick and could not go.
“It isn’t a request,” Sloan said.
Dawn was pleased that the babe decided to protest just then and she ran to the bucket and heaved.
To her relief, Sloan left after telling her he would inform Cree that she wasn’t well.
Several hours later she heard Cree talking to the guard outside the door and she hurried into the other room, pulled her boots off, climbed under the covers, and curled into a ball. She didn’t want to see him, didn’t want to talk with him... she wanted him to leave her alone.
She heard him enter the room and walk over to the bed and lean over her.
His hand touched her brow. It was cool, his touch gentle and as always her body sparked to life but she refused to acknowledge it.
“Dawn,” he whispered.
She knew if she didn’t open her eyes that he would persist and so she fluttered them open as if she was waking.
“Are you all right?” he asked with such concern that it touched her heart but again she refused to acknowledge it.
She shook her head.
“I will send for Elsa.”
She shook her head. Placed her hands together as if in prayer and rested them to her cheek.
“You just need to rest?”
She nodded.
“If you are not better by late evening than Elsa will see to you,” he ordered and she nodded. He kissed her brow. “I will see you later.”
Dawn nodded and closed her eyes to keep her tears from falling and sighed silently when she heard the door close.
The hours wore on until she finally felt the need to get away from the cottage and not with a guard. She slipped on the wool, fur-lined cloak, and then moved the trunk to the window, relieved that Cree had not had it boarded up, but then she had not given him cause to after the last time. Now however was different, and she didn’t care about the consequences.
She eased herself out the window feet first so that she could grab hold and lower herself to the ground. She did not want to take a chance of hurting the babe by simply dropping to the ground as she did the last time.
Once out she snuck around the back of the castle. She knew where she would go... her safe place. It was where she went as a child when she wanted to escape and feel free. And she needed that now... a place to escape to and feel free if only for a short time.
Then she would return and face her fate.
Chapter Thirty-six
“What do you mean she’s not there?” Cree demanded, his head coming up to scowl at the young servant lass.
The servant trembled as she spoke. “I could find her nowhere in the cottage, my lord.”
Cree stood towering over the woman. “You looked in the other room?”
She bobbed her head. “After I called out to her and got no answer, I went in the other room to make certain she was all right, but it was empty, though the window was open.”
Cree waved the lass away and turned to Sloan. “Come with me.”
They arrived at Dawn’s cottage in no time and followed the footprints beneath the window until they dissolved into an utter mess.
“She covered her tracks well,” Sloan said.
“You sound as if you admire her,” Cree snapped.
“She does have a sharp wit.”
“Let’s see if your wit is sharper... find her!” He turned to storm away and stopped abruptly pointing to the window. “Board it.”
Two hours later and no success in finding Dawn, Cree stormed into Lila’s cottage causing Thomas to cry out. Elsa stepped in behind him. “Take the child.”
“No, my lord, please,” Lila begged hugging her son tightly against her.
Elsa reached out for the babe and whispered, “Do as he says and your child will be returned to you.”
Lila gave Thomas to Elsa and she left the cottage, Cree closing the door behind her.
Lila couldn’t stop her tears from falling. She feared she would never see Thomas again.
“You were the one who told Dawn that my future bride was on her way?” Cree accused.
Lila bowed her head. “I thought she already knew—that you had told her—and only sought to comfort her.”
“She was upset?”
“Aye, my lord, her legs grew too weak for her to stand.”
Cree let loose a low growl. “Where would she run to?”
Lila shook her head. “She would not run. There is no place for her to go, though...”
“What? Tell me.”
“There is a place she would go as a child when she wanted to feel safe, feel free.”
“Where is it?”
“I do not know; she never told me. She never shared its whereabouts with anyone.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Cree warned.
Lila stiffened with fear. “I do not lie, my lord. If I knew where it was I would tell you. Dawn was very protective of it. She told me once that the only person that she would share her safe place with would be the man she loved and wed.”
Her words stabbed him like a sharp knife to the gut. She would never wed, for he would not let her. But she would share her safe place with him... he would make certain of it.
“If she didn’t want to return to the cottage where do you think she would go?”
“The only other place she felt safe,” Lila said sadly. “Home.”
~~~
Dawn sat holding her cold hands out in front of Old Mary’s hearth; her old hearth. She had taken her boots off, her feet cold as ice. She had stayed too long at the glen but it had been so peaceful that she hadn’t noticed that dusk had been fast encroaching. Night had settled on the land by the time she had reached the village. Not wanting to return to her new cottage she decided to go home and Old Mary had greeted her with a smile.
She rubbed her hands together and looked at the old woman sitting in front of the hearth on the floor beside her. She was wizened with age and knowledge and Dawn took this opportunity to question her about what she had said when last she had visited Dawn.
Before she could gesture, Old Mary laid her hand on Dawn’s knee. “He’s coming for you and he’s angry.”
Dawn scrambled to her feet, slipped her boots on and headed out the door, stopping abruptly when she caught sight of him.
He came out of the shadows of the night his cloak flying out behind him as he hurried toward her. Instincts took over and she ran.
She didn’t get far. He scooped her up in his arms and headed straight for her cottage. Dawn was glad night had fallen. There were fewer villagers about to see his fury and gossip about her dilemma, though no doubt she was already talk of the village. Everyone was probably wondering about her fate with the imminent arrival of Cree’s intended.
He kicked the door shut to the cottage and after setting her down on her feet, though keeping hold of her wrist, he latched the door. He then shoved her into the other room.
“Disrobe, and I will not tell you twice,” he ordered.
The fury in his dark eyes warned her not to argue or protest and so she did as she was told... she shed all her garments to stand naked in front of him.
He walked over to her and grabbed her wrist yanking her against him. “If I must keep you naked so that you don’t run off I will.” He shoved her onto the bed and ha
stily shed his clothes. He then dropped down over her pinning her arms above her head.
He kissed her then but so much more gently than she had expected and angry as she was, as much as she wanted to resist him, she simply couldn’t resist his loving tenderness. And either could her body. She heated with passion as his kiss deepened and when his hand began to touch her, gently, loving... she surrendered.
It was as if he paid homage to her body; kissing, tasting, touching and entering her with a tender control that had her writhing beneath him. When all was done and he had brought her to climax several times, he moved off her and rested on his side. He eased her over on her side, drawing her back against his chest. He wrapped his arm tightly around her and draped his leg snugly over hers.
Then he whispered in her ear. “You’re mine; you belong to me. I will never let you go.”
~~~~~~~~~
Cree and Dawn’s story continues in Forbidden Highlander, book two of the Highlander Trilogy. Available now.
Titles by Donna Fletcher
Single Titles
San Francisco Surrender
Untamed Fire
Rebellious Bride
The Buccaneer
Tame My Wild Touch
Playing Cupid
Whispers on the Wind
Series Books
The Wedding Spell (Wyrrd witch series)
Magical Moments
Magical Memories
Remember the Magic
The Irish Devil
Irish Hope
Isle of Lies
Love Me Forever
Dark Warrior
Legendary Warrior
The Daring Twin
The Bewitching Twin
Taken By Storm
The Highlander’s Bride
Return of the Rogue (Sinclare brothers’ series)
Under the Highlander’s Spell
The Angel & The Highlander
Highlander’s Forbidden Bride
Bound To A Warrior (Warrior King series)
Loved By A Warrior
A Warrior’s Promise
Wed To A Highland Warrior
Highlander Unchained
Forbidden Highlander
About the Author
Donna Fletcher is a USA Today bestselling romance author. Her books are sold worldwide. She started her career selling short stories and winning reader contests. She soon expanded her writing to her love of romance novels and sold her first book SAN FRANCISCO SURRENDER the year she became president of New Jersey Romance Writers. Donna is also a past President of Novelists, Inc.
Drop by Donna’s website www.donnafletcher.com where you can learn more about her, find out Book News, get a printable Book List, and read her blog.
Want to be alerted to Donna’s book releases? Sign up for Book Alert. Send Donna an e-mail at [email protected] with Book Alert in the message box and you’re all set.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Titles by Donna Fletcher
About the Author
Highlander Unchained (Highlander Trilogy 1) Page 29
