To Marry A Scottish Laird by Lynsay Sands

clearing, Cam stationed himself behind it and leaned to the side to peer at Jo. His noisy exit had apparently reassured her, for she already had her cap off. Cam hadn’t been able to tell the color last night, since the sun had set and everything had been in shadow. Now he saw that it was a wave of fine spun gold.
    “Beautiful,” he murmured, admiring the fair color until he noted the splotch of dark red just above and behind her ear. He scowled at the sight even as she covered it with the cloth he’d dampened at the waterfall.
    Cam watched for several moments as she cleaned and then explored the area blindly with her fingers. When the worry on her expression eased and she merely applied salve before carefully catching up her hair in the cap and returning it to her head, he relaxed and slid away. Cam still would have liked to see for himself that the wound wasn’t a bad one, but he trusted her skills. Besides, she’d only cleaned the blood away once and hadn’t had to do it again before applying the salve. That suggested the bleeding had stopped, which was a good thing.
    Glancing around the woods as he moved silently through them Cam briefly debated what to do about their meal. He could catch a rabbit, or hunt down that pheasant who had scared her out of the tree, or even catch fish . . . or he could head to the small village he knew was nearby and fetch them back a meal from the tavern there. While the tavern was small and didn’t offer lodging, it did serve some of the finest food he’d found on his travels. In fact, just the thought of his last meal there made his mouth begin to water . . . and that made his decision. The village tavern it was, he decided, and turned his feet in that direction.
    It wouldn’t take long to walk there and back. It would have been faster on his horse, of course, but he hadn’t thought of it while he was in the clearing. Shrugging, he picked up his pace, and distracted himself with wondering what the tavern owner’s wife had cooked up that day.

 
    Chapter 4
    J O SOAKED THE LINEN IN THE WATER AGAIN and raised it to press against her cheek until the cloth grew warm from her skin. She then glanced fretfully around as she dipped the cloth in the river water again.
    Cam seemed to be taking a long time. The sun was almost completely below the horizon, leaving the sky afire with an orange glow that darkened to deep purple around the edges. Night would soon descend and he wasn’t yet back.
    Perhaps he was having trouble finding game, she told herself, withdrawing the cloth from the water and pressing it to her cheek again. She didn’t have anything better to do while she waited.
    Cam’s mount shifted where he stood and she glanced toward him, stilling when she noted that the beast’s ears were pricked. The animal had heard something, she realized, and began to scan the woods around the clearing, her ears straining to catch any telltale sound that someone approached. Still, she was caught by surprise when Cam suddenly stepped out of the trees and crossed the clearing toward her.
    “I was beginning to worry,” she admitted.
    “No need. It just took me longer than I expected,” Cam said easily, dropping the bag she hadn’t noticed he carried beside her and then kneeling to quickly wash his hands in the water.
    “What’s this?” she asked curiously, eyeing the bag with interest as some rather heavenly smells wafted from it.
    “Open it and see,” he suggested, shifting to sit in front of her so that they faced each other, legs crossed.
    Jo didn’t even hesitate. The smells coming from the bag were amazing.
    “That’s what took me so long,” Cam announced as she peered at the food inside. “The tavern owner’s wife was still cooking the chicken when I got there, but promised it would only be a trice before it was done. Her idea of a trice is apparently a lot longer than mine,” he added dryly.
    “Chicken,” Jo almost moaned the word, but then glanced to him with