Breath of Yesterday (The Curse Series) (11 page)

C
HAPTER
14

A
fly kept circling my head, and I just couldn’t get rid of it. I worried that my not-too-pleasant smell had attracted it. I’d frankly had enough of
that
myself. It had been days since I’d been able to wash myself. On top of that had been the physical strain and a night spent in close embrace with Barra—neither of which had exactly made me smell of roses.

As the fly came at me again, I started thrashing as far as my tied-up hands would allow.

I thought the men had completely forgotten about me, because nobody had paid me any mind since Dougal had thrown a piece of bread my way in the morning. Nobody spoke to me. And Duncan—who had threatened me only yesterday—was nowhere to be seen.

Something was obviously happening, though, because all the men were standing close together, looking irritated and gesticulating. The wind carried only bits and pieces of their words over to me. Plus, I could only make out very little because the boy who had arrived here yesterday with Sean’s group was holding the reins of a horse that blocked my field of vision.

Just when I spotted Ross’s red shock of hair in the crowd, he was already making his way back to me. He crossed the campsite, lifting a few things here and there to stow in his horse’s saddlebags. He then strapped his sword to his back and tied back his long hair with a leather band.

It was truly fascinating how
normal
all of this seemed after such a short time. These men didn’t seem to miss running water or a warm bed. They just covered themselves with their thin plaids and inched up closer to the fire at night. Even I had slept fairly well, despite the rock-hard ground and the cold night air. Barra had not left my side all night, so I’d stayed snug and comfortably warm.

The dog now jumped up and happily scampered toward her master. But he pushed her off when she excitedly placed her front paws on his chest and licked his neck with her wet, sloppy tongue.

“
Sguir,
Barra! Stop it!”

Ross looked down at me.

“Get up so I can untie you.”

He wasn’t in the best of moods, so I did my best to quickly follow his orders.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Do you seriously think these gentlemen deem it necessary to share their high-and-mighty plans with me?” he griped. “You and I are just chess pieces in this game of kings—we are pawns, if you will. Good enough to put our necks on the line, or clean up after them!”

He kept muttering while pulling at the ties around my waist. He was in such a foul mood that even Barra lowered her tail and hung her head.

Once he’d untethered me from the tree, I held out my still-tied hands. But he shook his head no.

“Those you will keep. What do you think would become of me if I
lost
you? You should be glad that we’re in a hurry, because Dougal told me yesterday that he wouldn’t ride another horse into the ground on account of your comfort, and that as of today you would have to walk.”

Appalled, I pulled back my hands and did my best to fight back the urge to try to turn around and run.

Ross must have felt that, because he grabbed my arm and pulled me with him.

“As I said, we’re in a hurry, so don’t give me any trouble. Let’s get moving. You don’t have to be afraid of Dougal for now.”

I felt pins and needles in my legs, so I awkwardly stumbled after him as he led me to the horses. There I noticed Sean. He had his back to me, but it gave me fresh hope that I’d be able to talk to him in private—
if
he were to come with us. Then everything could finally be made right again.

As we reached the small group of men by the horses, Ross suddenly stopped—which made me slam into him.

“Ifrinn!”
he cussed, slapping his forehead. “I left something back there. You help this woman onto the horse, and I’ll be right back.”

He thrust the reins into the hands of a young Scot standing there, and he disappeared in the direction from which we had just come. I looked after him, irritated. But then I felt a tug on my hands, and I lifted my eyes.

For the duration of a heartbeat I looked into his face. Then the world stopped. Time and space ceased to exist. Endorphins flooded my brain, blinding me like a supernova, and everything was ablaze with an almost painfully bright light.

Payton!

Before that heartbeat ended, the light retreated and I realized that even though I had found Payton McLean, the man I would love more than life itself sometime in the distant future, there was no spark of recognition in his eyes.

That knowledge felt like a punch in the gut. I staggered backward, wanting to tear away and escape back to the world where Payton’s hands had touched me with loving tenderness. But his grip was merciless. His face was completely void of emotion as he yanked me back.

“What do you think you’re doing? Stay here, woman!” he snarled.

I could not take my eyes off his face. There was irritation in his brown eyes as he looked me over.

His hair was a bit longer than in his modern-day edition. And the color was lighter, which made me think he must be spending a lot of time outdoors. He seemed so familiar, and yet so completely alien. I couldn’t help but feel drawn to him; my body tingled all over in anticipation of his touch. At the same time, I shook like a leaf because my feelings for this stranger frightened me to the core. I wanted to brush that stray strand of hair from his face and to trace his lips with my fingers.

I blinked when I noticed that he didn’t have that little scar on his chin.

“Are you deaf? Get on!” he snapped. He held out his interlocked hands to help me climb onto the horse. I shook my head to get rid of this confused chaos inside my mind.

But Payton was running low on patience. And with a mumbled curse I didn’t understand, he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me onto the horse in one forceful move. My skin under the old housedress tingled as though his hands had burned through the coarse fabric, and a muffled sigh escaped my lips.

The expression on his face was gruff and distant, and his eyes all but warned me not to cause any trouble. Then Ross returned, and before I could gather my thoughts, the redheaded Scot sat up behind me and drove his horse away from the man who held my heart in his hands.

He held it without even knowing me. And I knew he’d be willing to give his life for me someday in the distant future. But right now he was walking away without even turning around.

I watched him hurry over to a better, more handsome horse. He jumped on it with great ease and swiftly pulled past us. It hurt so much that he didn’t
see
me—that he didn’t realize somewhere deep inside who I was, and didn’t immediately fall in love with me all over again.

On the other hand, I wondered whether my feelings for him were wrong. Was I deceiving the Payton who waited for me in the present because I felt drawn to his former self? Could modern-day Payton, the one I loved so much, already be inside this rougher former version of him?

One thing was for sure. His presence completely threw me. The similarities between this Payton and
my
Payton were so strong that they evidently tricked my senses. I swore I could still detect his warm, familiar scent even as he rode well ahead of us. And I knew I could still feel his hand around my waist.

Time passed, and all I could do was stare at the strong back in front of me. Several times I tried to make Payton turn around by sheer willpower, but he stubbornly kept his eyes on the road ahead.

By now I was very familiar with every little movement of the muscles underneath his shirt, and I wished Ross would ride closer so I could see the tiny beads of sweat on the back of his neck. I could just imagine what it would be like to run my hands through his sweaty hair and pull him to me for a kiss.

A sigh escaped my chest, and Ross shifted nervously in the saddle behind me.

“Are you okay? Saddle sore?” he asked.

“Hmm? Saddle sore? No…I mean…I’ll be okay. But why are we falling so far behind?”

Ross clicked his tongue. He leaned over to examine his horse’s back hoof.

“Do you see the difference between my horse and theirs?” he said, pointing ahead with his hand holding the reins.

I nodded. Even I could tell that our horse was older and in worse shape than Payton’s or Sean’s.

“What does that mean?”

“Twice the weight is getting to him. He didn’t get much of a break because I was up all night with him, making sure the area around our campsite was safe. Dougal knows that my horse struggles enough with just my weight, and that was why he took you on his horse yesterday. But we have only a few more miles to go now. We’re already on McRae’s sheep pastures. Which is why it is no problem for us to go a bit easier on the horse.”

In actuality, the others had now disappeared from sight, and Ross was letting his horse go even slower than before.

Amid all this calm and quiet, I suddenly felt an urgent nature call, and I nervously drummed my fingers on my thighs. A few more miles, he’d said. How long would it take to travel
a
few miles
? And would there even be a restroom there? Or just a few more Scotsmen who could watch me disappear behind a bush?

I swallowed my pride and squeezed out my concern: “Ross…I’m really sorry. I know we don’t have time, but I really have to go.…”

“Have to go where?” he asked, still deeply absorbed in observing his horse’s hind leg.

“Jesus, I have to go
pee
!” I snapped. I couldn’t believe it didn’t seem to occur to him that I maybe had to use the restroom once a day or so.

He sat up in his saddle, stiff as a poker, and looked at me suspiciously.

“Now?” he asked skeptically.

“Now?” I gave a testy reply, mimicking him. “No, if you must know, I’ve been needing to go for, like,
ever,
but now I can’t hold it any longer!”

Ross stopped his horse but didn’t show the slightest inclination of letting me get off.

“Listen, Samantha, I really don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you try to trick me. For the first time in my life I’m on the right track—and I won’t make the mistake of letting you escape. Go relieve yourself. But if you’re not back in an instant, I will send the dogs after you. Do you understand?”

Did I understand? Oh yes, I understood all too well! This guy was insane! I was stuck in the goddamn past with a crazy person threatening to set his rabid dogs on me.

“I’ll be right back, I promise! If you want, I can keep talking to you for the entire time. Just please keep your dogs at bay.”

Although I wasn’t necessarily afraid of the dogs, I didn’t like the idea of them sinking their sharp fangs into my butt just because Ross didn’t feel like waiting anymore.

He dismounted in silence, helped me down, and nodded toward a cluster of ash trees.

“Go already! I’m really not too keen to still be here in the woods when darkness falls. Ye ken?”

I hurriedly fought my way through the underbrush and ducked behind the thick foliage. The leaves were already fading in the vanishing daylight, and I rushed to finish my business. Carefully I peeked through the branches and saw that Ross was still standing with his horse. He pulled up its hind leg and frowned with concern.

As quickly as I could, I tugged my dress into place and returned to Ross. Running my hands through my hair, I plucked out a few loose leaves that my little trip into the underbrush had yielded. They were yellow. Which month might this be if it got dark in the middle of the day and the leaves had already changed color? And what year was this, anyway?

I racked my brain for any hints. Payton looked different, yes, but not really younger. If the curse had already been spoken, then he would have felt pain when near me—just like he did in the present day. But his earlier indifference helped me exclude that possibility. This meant that the Cameron massacre had not yet happened.

“We can’t continue on horseback. The horse stepped in something, and I don’t want to risk laming it,” Ross explained, jolting me from my thoughts.

“What? What do we do now?”

Ross laughed. “What do we do now?” he mimicked. “Now we walk.”

And with that, he bowed before me and let me pass by the horse before he took his place beside me. The dogs came running and kept pushing their noses up against his palm until he finally opened his
sporran
. Every dog got a little something; they all ate their treat right out of his hand. Ross gently scratched their giant heads as he apologetically shook the fur pouch.

“Get lost, there’s nothing left!”

I had to giggle as I saw him struggle against the dogs that were constantly in his way, running between his legs and begging for more treats.

“Away with ye!” He shooed them while wiping his
slobber-covered hand on his tartan plaid.

“Pig’s ears?” I asked.

Ross nodded. “Aye, they love them.”

I giggled as I tried to imagine where someone might go to get a dozen or so pig’s ears. And I had to laugh even harder when I pictured Ross leaving his house in the morning and grabbing dried pig’s ears for his provisions.

“What’s so funny?” he demanded before finding it hard to stop himself from laughing, too.

“Nothing. But I’m so hungry that I wouldn’t mind eating a pig’s ear myself.” I chuckled.

Ross gave a wide grin, then stepped over to a saddlebag to grab a chunk of bread for each of us.

“I’m afraid I’m all out of pig’s ears, but I hope this will do.”

I nodded gratefully, tearing off a small piece and putting it in my mouth. It was hard and dry, but my stomach grumbled happily.

We walked side by side at a pleasant pace, making good progress. And for the first time since leaving the cemetery by Kintail, I felt like I could breathe.

I looked at this skinny, redheaded guy next to me and knew that I had nothing to fear from him. He was a nice person, even though it wasn’t up to him to decide what was to happen to me. But right now I didn’t want to worry about that. As soon as I caught sight of Payton again, I would have to find a way to talk to him about everything that had happened to me. I had to make him believe me. Plus—since time was running out for the Payton waiting for me in the present, I had to somehow get him to help me get Vanora’s blood. I didn’t know how, but I had to find a way.