Ryder pulled his horse to a stop at the top of the hill opposite the castle, allowing it to take deep gulps of air after its exertions. I must have ridden for miles today, he thought, reaching up to wipe the sweat from his brow, and yet it hasn’t been far enough, for everywhere I go, I still think of her. Her and her infernal green eyes, looking at me as if into my soul.
Meredith. Since that night in her chamber, he had done everything he could think of to drive her from his mind, and yet none of it had worked. She was still there, inhabiting his mind the way she had so cheerfully set up home in his castle, quickly befriending his staff with her easy manner and genuine smile. She had a way with people, he had to admit, and while he had always relied on fear to make others do his bidding, he couldn’t help but admire the way Meredith was somehow able to wield an equal amount of power without so much as raising her voice.
Meredith. He wished he could stop thinking of her, but he couldn’t help it, he saw her everywhere — even now, in fact, seeming to walk down to the loch that lay in front of the castle, accompanied by a tall man, who was supporting her by the elbow as she carefully navigated the muddy ground.
Ryder shook his head, disconcerted. It could not be Meredith. The thought was preposterous, for why would his betrothed be out walking and laughing — as he saw the figure on the lochside appeared to be — with another man, as if she hadn’t kissed him, Ryder, so passionately just a few days before?
His single eye narrowed as he squinted at the couple by the water, urging his horse to take a few steps further to afford him a better view. It could not be Meredith, and yet… and yet, he had only known her for a short time, but already he would recognize that soft figure and tumbling black hair anywhere.
It was her. And, what’s more, as the horse carried Ryder closer towards them, he saw with a surge of rage that the man who held her by the arm, pretending to help her across the uneven ground as a pretext for getting closer to her, was not simply a servant she’d asked to accompany her. It was Colby Green — the Laird of Moore himself — walking with Ryder’s betrothed, in front of Ryder’s castle, on Ryder’s land.
No.
This could not be tolerated.
With a bellow of rage which echoed through the valley, making the couple by the water look up, startled, Ryder kicked his horse into a gallop, pointing its head towards the loch. It would be the last time Colby Green would dare lay a hand on Ryder’s woman. He would make sure of it.
* * *
“Look! Did ye see that wee fish jump from the water?”
Down by the lochside, Meredith was thoroughly enjoying her walk with Colby, mercifully oblivious to the fact that she was being watched from the hillside by an increasingly furious Ryder. Other than Ellen, who she’d become firm friends with during her short time in the castle, Colby was the first person she’d really talked to since she arrived, not counting the brief conversations she’d had with the various servants she encountered.
She did not, of course, know him well enough to confide in him about how she was really feeling, but the Laird of Moore, it turned out, was good company. Unlike Ryder, from whom she had to draw out each word reluctantly, Colby talked smoothly and knowledgeably about the area she found herself inhabiting and which he’d lived in his entire life.
It had been his idea to walk down to the loch.
“Ryder and I used to fish here as wee lads,” he told her, taking her arm to help her across the pebbled shore which bordered the water. “We’d spend hours down here, just waiting for a fish to take the hook and passing the time o’ day.”
Meredith could not imagine what they could possibly have talked about during all of those hours. Indeed, it was hard to imagine Ryder engaged in friendly conversation with anyone — not even her, in fact. But then, she supposed, Colby was much more like her, always ready to fill in a gap in the conversation with some joke or other observation that made her throw her head back in laughter.
“I’m glad ye brought me here,” she said as they stood, watching the waves lap the shore. “It’s good to get out of the castle, and this place is so beautiful, I just cannae stop looking at it.”
“Aye, a thing o’ such beauty is hard to look away from,” Colby agreed, his eyes fixed on her. “I count meself a lucky man to get to see it.”
Meredith simply nodded, her face shining as she watched the low autumn sun begin its descent, turning the rippling waters red in its dying light.
All of a sudden, however, the tranquility of the scene was abruptly shattered as a loud cry split the air, the sound of a horse's thundering hooves accompanying it. Turning in shock, she looked to the horizon and saw a familiar figure riding towards them, his face a mask of fury.
“Ryder!” she cried, as his horse stopped just short of the pebbled shore, Ryder flinging himself immediately from the saddle and setting towards them on foot. “Whatever’s the matter? Has something happened?”
“Aye,” he growled, arriving in front of them. He spoke as if to answer her question, but he looked only at Colby, who simply grinned back at him, unperturbed.
“Aye, something’s wrong,” he spat furiously. “This is what’s wrong. Me wife and the Laird of Moore together is what’s wrong!”
“I’m nae yer wife…” Meredith began, but Ryder cut her off, gesturing angrily at Colby and completely ignoring her.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded. “Why do I come home to find ye here, Moore? And what’s yer business with me betrothed?”
“Why I have no business with the good lady,” Colby replied easily. “I merely stopped in passing to ask if ye’d like to accompany me on a hunt, and, finding ye gone, asked Meredith if she’d take a stroll with me instead. We were just passing the time until ye came back; ye must see there’s no more to it than that.”
He shrugged as if already bored with the conversation, and Meredith took the opportunity to jump in eagerly.
“He’s right,” she said pleadingly, attempting to take Ryder by the hand, and flinching when he shrugged her off angrily. “Ryder, please, we’ve done nothing wrong. And yer being very impolite to yer friend!”
“Friend?” Ryder’s eye narrowed in suspicion. “Friends daenae flirt with each other’s wives, do they?” he spat, and then, receiving no response from Colby, whose face remained impassive, “Och, away with ye, man. I’ve no patience for ye!”
Shrugging again, Colby made no attempt to dissuade him, simply raising his cap in Meredith’s direction as he turned to walk back towards the castle, where he’d left his horse.
“Ryder, I cannae believe ye did that,” Meredith began, her voice shaking. “He was just being a friend to me and keeping me company while ye were gone. And I’m glad someone thought to offer me kindness,” she added, her eyes flashing. “I’ve already learned to expect no such thing from ye.”
“Is that right?” Ryder responded, his voice ominously low as he stepped towards her. “Well, we’ll have to see about that.”
And, without another word, he swept her up into his arms and carried her back towards the castle, ignoring her cries of protest.
“We’ll see about that,” he said again, as the large door banged closed behind them.