The Highlander's Runaway Bride by Terri Brisbin Page A

realise that he would not even have to run to catch her. Uncertain what he would say or do when he did, he followed her, but staying a good distance from her.
    He listened as she ran through the bushes and low branches. The sound of her breathing could be heard in the silence of the woods. Rob followed her easily and, when the sounds of her movements stopped ahead, he slowed his pace and listened.
    â€˜Lady?’ he called out as he approached a clearing. Glancing quickly, he found her sitting at the base of a tree, leaning against it and breathing heavily. ‘Are you well?’ Walking to her, he looked at her leg. ‘Have you hurt your leg again?’ He crouched down next to her, but she swatted his hands away when he reached out to check her ankle.
    â€˜It is not injured,’ she said. ‘I just needed to...’
    â€˜Run away?’ he finished.
    â€˜Nay, not run away. Just...’ she glanced at him and then away ‘...away.’
    â€˜From me?’
    â€˜From your questions.’
    â€˜Why not just answer them? Surely, the truth cannot be worse than all the possible lies that I am thinking?’ He stood and took a pace back, giving her some space. ‘Running away never helps.’
    â€˜Spoken like a man with choices,’ she muttered. ‘Would running away from or running to make a difference? I ran, sir. I ran.’
    When put that way, Rob wondered if it did matter. Running from was a personal insult to him. Running to meant her heart and possibly her body were filled with someone else. Either way, one of them suffered more than the other.
    â€˜Nay, lady.’ He shook his head and walked away.
    He needed to get back to Glenlui, where he understood the people and the rules. Where the effect she was already having on him would be minimised, and he would have tasks to see to, diverting his attention and his thoughts from her.
    He needed to return to what and who he knew.
    Rob did not abandon her, but if she would not answer his questions, he did not want to speak to her, either. He walked halfway back to the clearing near the stream and waited until he saw her stand and begin to move towards him. When she did not limp, he walked the rest of the way and waited there.
    * * *
    Eva wanted to answer him, to give him something, but whatever she said would only lead to more questions that she could not and would not answer. Though her leg and ankle hurt, it did not feel injured again as she followed him down the pathway. It was just unused to such activity, and she knew it would ache this night.
    She deserved it by the look in his eyes when he asked her that damn question. He had no idea about the bairn. He thought she was running to a lover, to another man. Though he would deny it, she could tell by the way he held himself that he braced himself to discover his wife had a lover.
    Why? Why would it bother him so? It should not. They had just met. They were otherwise strangers. She watched other married couples, and as long as the wife did as she was told and was in her husband’s bed when he demanded it, there was no trouble. He was different, and she needed to offer him something in repayment for all the patience he’d shown her.
    Eva noticed he’d stopped near the clearing. She continued on, not knowing what else to do. She owed him something—for in other circumstances, this marriage would be a welcomed relief from life under her father’s control. He’d worn her mother down, and he would do the same to her, if he could. If not for... She stopped before him and took several deep breaths to regain her sense of calm before saying anything.
    â€˜Sir,’ she said.
    â€˜Rob.’ He ground his teeth when angry, she noticed. His mouth barely moved as he spoke. ‘I asked you to call me by my given name.’
    â€˜Rob, I pray you, give me some time to accustom myself to this marriage. I have left behind my home, my people, everything I’ve