Page 6 of A Highland Healer Captured (Scottish Daddies #3)

Skylar’s cheeks burned hotter than the fire as Zander steadied her on her feet. He was still grinning, the brute, as if tackling a woman into the mud and pinning her beneath his hulking weight was something to jest about.

“Ye’ve two choices now, lass,” he said, still holding her wrist tight. His voice carried over the crackle of fire and the soft shuffle of his men watching from the shadows. “I can throw ye over me shoulder like a sack of grain, or I can trust ye to walk back with me like a lady. Which will it be?”

Her mouth dropped open. “A lady? After ye’ve just flattened me into the ground?”

Zander’s smile widened, infuriatingly calm. “Aye. Ye looked well enough sprawled there, but the choice is yers.”

Skylar’s breath came in sharp bursts, mortification warring with fury. She wrenched her arm, but his grip held. “I’ll walk, thank ye kindly. I’ll nae give ye the pleasure of tossing me about like a doll.”

“As ye like.” He released her at last, and she stormed ahead, stomping into the ruined hall with mud squelching under her boots.

She didn’t care that her cloak flapped wildly or that her hair was plastered to her face.

Better fury than the heat still lingering on her skin from his body pressed to hers.

Behind her came laughter, low and rolling. His men had watched because of course they had. They’d seen her thrash, heard her curses, and now their grins gleamed in the firelight.

Their unrecognizable burr wrapped around her like mocking music, full of jests she couldn’t untangle. She caught only a word here and there, “wild,” “mad,” “brave.”

She spun to glare at them, cheeks blazing hotter. “What are ye half-wits laughing at?”

One of the riders bellowed then muttered something in his dialect, and the others roared. Skylar’s stomach twisted. Not understanding their words was worse than any insult she could have heard.

Before she could demand translation, Zander’s hand caught her arm. He hauled her back against his chest with a tug so firm she nearly stumbled.

“Easy, lass,” he murmured, so close she could feel his beard scratch her temple. “They’re laughing because they’ve never seen anyone wriggle so hard against me and live to tell of it.”

Her face went scarlet. “Ye’re a brute!”

“Aye,” he said cheerfully, letting her go again. “But an honest one.”

The men’s laughter rippled louder, echoing off the ruined stone. Skylar wished the earth would swallow her whole. She wanted nothing more than to claw his smug face, but instead she drew herself up, chin high, pride wrapped around her like armor.

She stalked toward a dark corner of the ruin, muttering, “I’ll find me own bit of privacy, thank ye very much.”

But before she could take two full steps away, Zander’s arm snaked around her waist again, pulling her back flush against him. She was starting to get quite tired of feeling his chest pressed against her back… or was she?

He bent low enough that his words brushed warm against her ear. “Privacy? In camp with the best warriors the Hebrides have to offer? Ye’re bold, to be sure, but nae that clever.”

Skylar shoved at him, but it was like shoving a stone wall. “I could outwit ye if I had half a chance.”

His chuckle rumbled through her bones. “Ye’ve had a full chance,” he said and pointed toward Daisy. “And even if I gave ye another, I’d still wager against ye.”

The men hooted again, tossing more of their incomprehensible jests across the fire.

One mimed wriggling like a rabbit caught in a snare, and the others nearly fell over with laughter.

Skylar’s ears burned, but she snapped back anyway.

“Och, laugh all ye like, ye pack of overgrown sheep. I’ll see the lot of ye sorry when I slip out from under yer noses. ”

Zander turned her fully, gripping both her shoulders, his grey eyes pinning her where she stood. “Is that a vow, Skylar Dunlop?”

Her heart lurched, but she refused to falter. “Aye. I’ll escape ye, Laird Strathcairn. Mark me well. I’ll have the last word yet.”

For a long, taut moment he only studied her, the fire light painting his features sharp as steel. Then his mouth curved into that infuriating smirk again.

“Good,” he said, voice low and teasing. “I do hope ye try. I’ve nae had such fine sport in years.”

The words stole her breath more than his grip ever had and her stomach flipped traitorously.

She jerked back, stumbling, flustered beyond measure.

He only chuckled, deep and dark, then guided her toward the far wall.

Through a doorway, where a second, more private fire was lit, and makeshift bedding lie on the floor.

Her head spun with fury and shame, but also, traitorously, with heat. His body radiated warmth where their shoulders brushed, his presence overwhelming.

“I’ll nae sleep with ye in here alone !”

“Ye’ll have privacy here with me — if ye wish to dry out yer —”

“If ye have a shred of hope to see daylight again, ye’ll nae finish that sentence.”

Zander laughed and shrugged, his grey eyes glinting in the low light. “Just tryin’ to help ye stop all that… tremblin’.”

Skylar opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it again.

Failing to come up with a response. Memories flashed across her vision.

His arms gripping her tightly. The intoxicating heat and musk enveloping her while they rode.

His chest vibrating when he laughed, even at her expense.

She was all of the sudden grateful for the darkness, knowing that her skin was alight with an ever-revealing blush.

“It’s dark enough in here, should ye choose to dry yer soiled clothes, ye’ll be safe and intact. I’ve set out a tunic of mine over there in the corner. Either way, ye’ll need yer strength… ye have another attempt to escape ahead, to be sure,” he said with a smile lilting his voice.

And for an infuriating second, her thoughts ran wild with images of what his smile might look like under his beard?—

“I’ll never rest beside a brute like ye,” she snapped.

His gaze slid to her, hungry amusement sparking in his eyes still. “Then stay awake and plot. Either way, I’ll have ye where I can see ye.”

Skylar ground her teeth, fists clenched tight in her lap. I will escape, nay matter what it takes.

And beside her, even in the darkness she could see Zander smirking, knowing that her vow was the very thing he wanted.