“I’m going,” Glynis said, and climbed into the boat.
It appeared Alex was in for an adventure. Tearlag said three women would require his help, and he hoped to hell the old seer had miscounted.
“We aren’t the only ones leaving in the dark tonight,” Duncan said to Alex, after they had stepped away to speak in private. “I saw another boat go out a couple of hours ago.”
Alex waited, sensing Duncan had something more to say to him.
“Glynis is a good woman,” Duncan said at last.
“I know she is,” Alex said. “I don’t intend to take advantage of the situation.”
“Good luck,” Duncan said, squeezing Alex’s shoulder. “I suspect ye will need it.”
* * *
The moon shone between the fast-moving night clouds, revealing the occasional rock poking above the sea. Alex maneuvered the boat around them easily. He did not know the waters around the Mull as well as he did those around the islands to the north and the west. But the Viking blood was strong in him, and gave him a sixth sense on the water.
The only sound was the soft splash of his oars. The water was flat and silent, and neither he nor Glynis had spoken a word in the hour since they left the shore.
“Ye didn’t have to kiss me,” Glynis said.
He smiled to himself. Obviously, Glynis had been dwelling on those kisses, too.
“Ye could have pretended,” she said. “It was too dark for the guards to tell the difference.”
“And why would I want to do that?” he asked.
Glynis cleared her throat. “I fear I didn’t make myself clear. When I asked ye to take me with ye—”
“Forced me, ye mean,” Alex said.
“I didn’t mean it as an invitation to… to…”
Alex couldn’t help himself. “To make love to ye morning, noon, and night, all the way to Edinburgh?”
“Alex!”
Glynis sounded so scandalized that he laughed.
“Don’t jump overboard—I know ye were only looking for an escort, not a bedmate.” Under his breath, he added, “A shame, that.”
A damn shame. This was going to be one hell of a long trip.
“What do ye know of your mother’s family?” he asked to divert himself.
“I’ve never met them, but I understand they are a wealthy and respected merchant family,” she said. “One of my uncles is a priest.”
Alex would make sure that her mother’s family were good people before he left her with them. If they weren’t, heaven help him, for he didn’t know what he’d do with her then.
“Why do ye travel to Edinburgh?” Glynis asked.
“I have business for my chieftain,” Alex said. “And some of my own as well.”
He should have kept his mouth shut about his own business. Before she could ask about that, he said, “’Tis a dangerous world, Glynis. Like it or no, ye need a husband to protect ye.”
His own words caused an annoying sensation in his gut.
“Like my last husband protected me? No thank ye,” Glynis said. “My mother’s family will look after me. Besides, Edinburgh sounds like a tame place.”
Alex didn’t like the idea of her alone with only a family of Lowlanders and priests to protect her. “Ye should find yourself a strong Highland man.”
“Hmmph. I’ve had one of those,” she said
A heavy fog had rolled in. Alex heard a faint mewling sound in the distance and lifted his oars to listen.
“What is that?” Glynis asked in a hushed voice. “It sounds like a cat caught in a tree.”
That was no cat. Alex rowed the boat toward the sound through the billowing fog.
CHAPTER 11
Help! Someone help me!” The cry came through the dense fog.
“It’s a woman,” Glynis said, leaning forward and grabbing Alex’s knee.
“Aye.” He had known it was a female from the start. The question was, what kind?
Alex wasn’t a superstitious man—for a Highlander—but every story he’d ever heard about selkies came back to him as he rowed closer. A selkie was a sea creature who was known to take the form of a beautiful woman and lure sailors to their deaths. In nearly all the stories, selkies appeared to men when a dense fog lay over the water.
“Help me!”
In front of him, the black shape of a rock emerged out of the mist.
“I can see her!” Glynis stood in the boat, pointing. “She’s clinging to that rock.”
